Recently, one of the leaders at my company, while discussing productivity with a small group of us, mentioned a test involving washing dishes.
He said that the test proved it is actually more productive and efficient to wash, rinse, dry and put up each dish separately than it is to wash all dishes, then rinse them, then dry them, then put them up.
This is counter-intuitive to how productivity is thought of today. Think cars-Ford revolutionized the industry with the assembly line, the equivalent of washing all the dishes before rinsing (i.e. make all the doors in one place, all the steering wheels in another, as opposed to building each car completely before moving on to the next one).
Stay with me, I promise this post gets less boring.
Anyway, during the discussion he asked us for our thoughts and I piped up and said, I think there’s a third way. I’ve washed a dish or two in my life and I posited that washing and rinsing could be done in a ‘batch’ and then drying and putting could be done in another ‘batch’, kind of a mixture of the two methods.
Then, because I love a good test, I tried out all three methods one Saturday and wouldn’t you know it, my way was the fastest.
This isn’t me telling you I’ve come up with the next idea big idea in business productivity. The methods this particular leader was discussing absolutely make sense in terms of the making of goods and services.
What I am saying is that life is often presented to us in similar either/or scenarios. You wash all the dishes before drying them or you wash each dish then dry. You go to college and then get a job and get married or you live in your parents basement the rest of your life.
Life is not an assembly line. There are certainly more defined paths you can take through life and they are valid. But so are overgrown trails. Or starting on the paved path and then veering off on to the trail.
I was thinking about all the paths we take, all the paths I’ve taken, as I painted Ganesha. She is the remover of obstacles and I envision her, covered in flowers that symbolize good luck or courage or strength, as a companion on my journey. She doesn’t show me which way to go, she just stays at my side, showing me how to get through wash outs and over the boulders.
What she doesn’t do is tell me which path to take. Because she knows, I think, that each path has it’s own challenges. Even the defined ones can have roadblocks and construction. And the overgrown ones may require more work but often, they lead to amazing views.
She is just there to help me see through the rubble.
And I think she’s there for you too. Trust you know which path you should take (or get off of, or re-route) and look for her as a guide.
I believe in you.
~Brandi