You can become effective and efficient not only by doing something, but also by refraining from doing something.

For instance, you might ask yourself how you're currently wasting time, energy and money - and how you could eliminate the causes. The Toyota Production System (TPS) takes this to a higher level. As you can tell by the name, the system is about manufacturing cars. Anyway, if you take a closer look, you realize TPS can provide strategic extensions to your personal organization system, too.

How does TPS define waste? Wikipedia summarizes the 7 sins of manufacturing companies, seen from a TPS perspective:

1. Over-production
2. Motion (of operator or machine)
3. Waiting (of operator or machine)
4. Conveyance
5. Processing itself
6. Inventory (raw material)
7. Correction (rework and scrap)

Get organized by wasting less

Your personal organization system must process your tasks as fast as possible and get them done. Lets try to define what waste could mean, seen from a personal organizing perspective.

1. Over-production

Can you produce too many tasks that are done? Of course! By doing excessive overtime work, for instance. Also, by committing to no-brainers only. or to tasks clearly within your comfort zone.

Whatever the cause, the remedy is the same: delegate. In case you feel exhausted. When you're dodging trickier tasks. If boredom isn't really what you're after. Don't waste your energy, don't waste your talents.

2. Motion

Can you complicate a task by enforcing too much motion? Sure! If you let cut loose your passion for deeply-nested structures, you can easily maximize the number of mouse clicks until you arrive at the information you need. Whatever is in constant requisition - can be stored «somewhere» in your living room instead of close to your desk.

Distinguish clearly between your archive and your daily essentials. Don't file according to philosophical categories. Instead, watch yourself working, every day. Don't waste your time, your high spirits, your moments of pure flow.

3. Waiting

Can you be forced to wait for yourself too much? Easily! By avoiding any context ("At the office", "At home", "Errands", "Topics for appraisal interview"…) on your todo lists, or if your lists are not available in the respective context you can be sure you'll be caught flat-footed. Imagine arriving at the supermarket - and your errand list is lingering on your computer. Imagine one of your phone conferences gets canceled - you gain an extra 30 minute time slot, but every task you could complete now is buried in your project folders. Too bad it takes half an hour to retrieve some small todos. Don't waste opportunities.

4. Conveyance

Can you transport a task too much, bevor it gets done? Definitely! Do I need to give examples? Probably not.

Accept your share of tasks. Complete them. If somebody else doesn't perform, that's no reason for you to slack off. Would you stop taking showers in the morning because your neighbor smells badly? Don't waste the meaning of your work.

5. Processing

Can you over-work a task? Yes! Fall prey to perfectionism and never get anything done again. Fear of failure is an alternative way to extend working on the task at hand..

A solution today that covers 80 percent of the problem is always better than a 100 percent mirage that is never to come. Even worse: if you insist on achieving that mirage, all subsequent tasks look even more unmanageable. Don't waste the time of other people by fondling your quirks.

6. Inventory

Can your stock of tasks be too high? Certainly! Leo Babauta over at zenhabits has a lot to say about the myth of multitasking and how to avoid it.

Just consider this: 10 tasks each done by 10% equate to zero done tasks. But having one task completed by 100% and the remaining 9 by 0% equates to what? One completed task. Don't waste your reputation of being a reliable performer.

7. Correction

Can you deliver too many half-baked or defective results?

I take the liberty to not close this posting by an inspiring paragraph. Can you feel your dissatisfaction bubbling up? It may easily suppress the positive feelings you had about this posting so far (I hope you had them!).

Don't ever waste the chance to deliver satisfying, excellent quality results.

Food for thought

If you'd like to immerse yourself further into this topic, I'd like to recommend

• a somewhat older, but still excellent book by Taiichi Ohno: Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production
• an excellent, up-to-date summary by Jeffrey K. Liker: The Toyota Way
• an interesting application of Toyota's Lean Management method to software development: Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers by Mary & Tom Poppendieck. It's very helpful when you try to figure out what exactly is methodical difference between manufacturing physical things and manufacturing software.