FIGURE 38-11 EC for the type of training dilemma.

FIGURE 38-12 EC of the training schedule dilemma.

I will never forget the day when my full plan came together. Greg and I went out to breakfast the week before the 1996 trials because I was getting nervous about swimming. He and I had developed an action plan two years prior for how we were going to swim a 2:00 in the 200 freestyle (much of the action plan was derived from my MAN 577 paper). He pulled out that plan while we were eating. He read down the list, asking me if I had kept my promise throughout the past two years on every item on that list. I could answer "yes" to everything. He looked at me and said, "I don't know if you are going to make the Olympic team next week, but I do know that you are going to have the best swim of your life. You have already succeeded because you did everything in your power to give yourself a chance."

He was right! The weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders at that moment. We drove to Indianapolis and I had the best swim of my life. I made the Olympic team by a fraction of a second. Then, beyond my wildest dreams, in Atlanta, in the 4 200 free relay, on which I swam the third leg, won the gold medal in an Olympic and American record time. My preliminary time in Atlanta: 2:00.57, my target time!

FIGURE 38-13 Prerequisite Trees of implementing Sheila's swimming program.

Upon returning from the 1996 Olympics, I went back to my job in the auto industry as a quality representative. About nine months later, I saw the opportunity to start my own speaking business, and for 2 years I traveled the country giving swim clinics and motivational talks. Finding myself terribly out of shape in 1998, I decided to try a local triathlon (in Ann Arbor, Michigan). The race director saw me and approached me to say that he thought I had some potential in the sport and that he would be happy to give some guidance if I wanted to pursue it further. I initially turned him down, but then I decided to join his running group to stay in shape. It turned into a fun hobby, and before I knew it, I was flying to Africa to race (first pro race in March 1999). I made the Olympic team in 2000, and placed sixth in Sydney. The distance is in kilometers: 1.5 K swim (approximately 1 mile), 40 K bike (approximately 24.8 miles), and 10 K run (6.2 miles). That is the Olympic distance. I am staying in the sport as long as my body agrees and as long as I see that it is the direction God has planned. The 2004 Olympics are in my thoughts, but nothing is definite. Perhaps I will try the Ironman distance one day (2.5-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run).

Our Epilogue on Sheila

Sheila certainly exceeded her personal goal of making the Olympic Swim Team as an alternate. She credits the use of the TP for her success.7 We recognize that the Thinking Processes are quite useful for helping one attain or exceed one's life goals. Since Sheila's experience, we have seen numerous students use the Thinking Processes to improve their grades, get that special job, lose a significant amount of weight, get in great physical shape, and so on. It is not uncommon to see them go beyond what they were originally striving for.

FIGURE 38-14 Input-output Map of part of Sheila's implementation plan.

Summary

Achieving one's life goals is generally only a dream for most people. Without having goals, strategies, supporting objectives, actions, and a measurement system indicating your progress toward your objectives and goals, it is virtually impossible to achieve them. Developing a detailed life plan in your life facets is extremely time consuming but quite rewarding. However, obstacles block the achievement of your goals. Conflict is a major obstacle draining the motivation, concentration, and energy, and thus increasing the time and effort required to complete even the simplest tasks. A conflict in one facet of your life reduces the ability to focus on the task. Identifying and resolving these conflicts with a win-win solution is the key to gaining and maintaining the motivation, concentration, effort, and energy, and thus reducing the time required for the tasks at hand. Many of these conflicts, particularly with family members and associates at work, are actually chronic conflicts periodically surfacing repeatedly in different situations. You must recognize these situations as emanating from the chronic conflict and devise win-win solutions to these specific dilemmas. Once this approach (construct the EC, provide your assumptions, and best guess at the other side's assumptions) is taken, better short- and long-term solutions are surfaced. This will certainly make your life more pleasant.

Both the classic student and the classic burnout ECs and their assumptions should be studied carefully. Do you exist in one of these ECs? Does a child (or children) exist in the college dilemma? There are simple and effective solutions to both dilemmas but they have to be constructed and understood by the person with the problem. For example, many students have decided to identify the facets of their life (school, work, personal, family, friends, etc.) and the dimensions in each facet (personal might be divided into physical, spiritual, and mental, for example). They then identify the necessary conditions, goals, supporting objectives, and measures in each dimension. Once identified, they then determine the actions to be completed each day to help them accomplish their supporting objectives. Some turn their day upside down (because of the interruptions in their normal day): they wake up at 4 or 5 AM and study until classes start, they attend classes, they socialize with friends in activities such as exercising, and they go to bed around 8 or 9 PM. They set up a reward system for a productive week by partying on the weekend, visiting family and friends, etc. They try to focus on one task at a time and complete that one as much as possible before moving to the next task. The same routine applies to business professionals-many get to the office early so that they have quiet time to work before the chaos begins. In this manner, they complete 1 hour of focused work, which may have taken 4 hours of normal office time.

Many devices have been suggested to increase your productivity; the best one we have seen is the daily "to-do" list of the top 10 items to be completed. The buffered "to-do" list works extremely well for students and also for some professionals. Murphy is going to strike; the buffered to-do list allows you to be prepared. Identifying and minimizing the causes of Murphy increases personal productivity even more.

References

Covington, J. 2009. Enterprise Fitness. Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing.

Cox III, J. F., Blackstone Jr., J. H., and Schleier Jr., J. G. 2003. Managing Operations: A Focus on Excellence. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Cox III, J. F., Mabin, V. J., and Davies, J. 2005. "A case of personal productivity: Illustrating methodological developments in TOC," Human Systems Management 24:3965.

Goldratt, E. and Winter, L. 1996. The application of TOC for the individual. Presentation (video) presented at the Jonah Upgrade Workshop, Washington, DC: The Goldratt Institute, March 1821.

Goldratt, E. M. 1993. "What is the Theory of Constraints?" APICS-The Performance Advantage. Reprinted in Selected Readings in Constraints Management. Falls Church: APICS, 1996.

Goldratt, E. M. 1994. It's Not Luck. Great Barrington, MS: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 1995. Management Skills Workshop. Workbooks 15. New Haven, CT: Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute.

Sullivan, T. T., Reid, R. A. and Cartier, B. 2007. TOCICO Dictionary. http://www.tocico.org/? page=dictionary

About the Authors

JAMES F. COX III, PhD, CFPIM, CIRM, holds TOCICO certifications in Production and Supply Chain, Performance Measurement, Critical Chain, Strategy and Tactics, and Thinking Processes. He is a JONAH's JONAH, Professor Emeritus, and was the Robert O. Arnold Professor of Business in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. He has conducted numerous academic and practitioner Theory of Constraints workshops and programs on performance measurement, production, supply chains, management skills, project management, and the thinking processes.

Dr. Cox's research has centered on the Theory of Constraints for over 25 years. He has authored or co-authored three books on TOC and almost 100 peer reviewed articles. He was the co-editor of the APICS Dictionary, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th editions, and an invited contributor on the topic of Constraints Management to the Production and Inventory Management Handbook.

Dr. Cox has been a member of APICS for over 30 years, holding chapter, regional, and national offices. He served on the APICS Board of Directors for four years with two years as VP of Education-Research and served on the APICS Educational and Research Foundation Board of Directors for nine years with four years as President. He was a founding member and elected to the founding Board of Directors of the Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization (TOCICO), a certification organization founded by Dr. Eli Goldratt. He later served as Director of Certification responsible for implementing TOCICO's certification program.

Now retired, JOHN G. SCHLEIER, Jr. was President and Chief Operating Officer of the Mortgage Services Division of Alltel, Inc., Executive Vice President of Computer Power, Inc., and Director of Office Systems and Data Delivery for IBM. In these positions, he directed major software development projects, sales administration, and financial functions. He was also Director of Information Systems for IBM's General Systems Division, where he provided oversight for Development Engineering, Manufacturing, and Headquarters systems. He developed information systems for manufacturing, sales, and IBM strategic planning functions and was winner of an IBM Outstanding Contribution Award. He was a regular lecturer on Strategic Planning at IBM Executive Briefing Centers over a period of 15 years, speaking to CEOs and top executives of major corporations. He frequently took consulting assignments dealing with complex project management issues around the world.

He served on the faculty of The University of Georgia College of Business Administration as IBM Executive in Residence and later as Executive Professor of Management, serving on both the Management Information Systems and Production Operations Management faculties. Mr. Schleier holds TOCICO certification in all disciplines. He co-authored Managing Operations: A Focus on Excellence, a college text emphasizing TOC concepts (North River Press, 2003). He also published Turkey Tales, a children's book (Tate Publishing, 2010).

Selected Bibliography of Eliyahu M. Goldratt

James F. Cox III and John G. Schleier, Jr.

Entries are listed by type and year except where revision and newer editions are available. Several entries have been translated into a number of languages.

Books

Goldratt, E. M. and Cox, J. 1984. The Goal: Excellence in Manufacturing. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. and Cox, J. 1986. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. Rev. ed. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. and Cox, J. 1992. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. 2nd rev. ed. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. and Cox, J. 2003. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. 3rd ed. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. and Cox, J. 2000. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. Audio book. Minneapolis, MN: Highbridge Audio Book.

The Goal was made into two movies (the book story and a how-to version for training). These are listed under video movie/presentations.

Goldratt, E. M. and Fox, R. E. 1986. The Race. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 1990. The Haystack Syndrome: Sifting Information Out of the Data Ocean. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 1991. The Haystack Syndrome: Sifting Information Out of the Data Ocean. Audio book. New Haven, CT: Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute.

Copyright 2010 by James F. Cox III and John G. Schleier, Jr.

Goldratt, E. M. 1990. What is this Thing called Theory of Constraints and How should it be Implemented? Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 1992. Late Night Discussions 112 with Alex and Jonah. New Haven, CT: Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute.

Goldratt, E. M. 1994. It's not Luck. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 1996. Production: The TOC Way Work Book. New Haven, CT: Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute.

Goldratt, E. M. 1997. Critical Chain. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 1998. Essays on the Theory of Constraints. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 1998. Late Night Discussions on the Theory of Constraints. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M., Schragenheim, E. and Ptak, C. A. 2000. Necessary but not Sufficient. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 2003. Production: The TOC Way including CD-ROM Simulator and Workbook. Revised edition. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 2005. Beyond the Goal: Eliyahu M. Goldratt Speaks on the Theory of Constraints. Your Coach in a Box. New York: Gilden Audio. Audiobook: 8 CDs.

Goldratt, E. M. 2008. The Choice. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Goldratt, E. M. 2009. Isn't it Obvious? Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Theory of Constraints Journal Articles

Goldratt, E. M. 1987. "Chapter 1 hierarchical management-The inherent conflict," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(1):117.

Goldratt, E. M. 1987. "A visit-Modine, the McHenry plant," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(1):1940.

Goldratt, E. M. 1988. "Chapter 2 laying the foundation," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(2):120.

Goldratt, E. M. 1988. "Apologia or in the move towards the third stage," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(2):2338.

Goldratt, E. M. 1988. "Chapter 3 the fundamental measurements," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(3):121.

Goldratt, E. M. 1988. "A visit-When quoted lead times are too long," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(3):2346.

Goldratt, E. M. 1989. "Chapter 4 the importance of a system's constraint," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(4):112.

Goldratt, E. M. 1989. "A visit-(fictional visit-real plants). Looking beyond the first stage: Just in Time," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(4):1346.

Goldratt, E. M. 1989. "Chapter 5 how complex are our systems?" The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(5):114.

Goldratt, E. M. 1989. "Looking beyond the first stage-Just in Time: Part two," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(5):1548.

Goldratt, E. M. 1990. "Chapter 6 the paradigm shift," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(6): 123.

Goldratt, E. M. 1990. "Looking beyond the first stage-Just in Time: Part three," The Theory of Constraints Journal 1(6):2543.

Journal/Magazine Articles