Home Inventory Management

Upfront Honesty

1) I should have been doing this earlier in my life. Its embarrassingly basic, at the same time I can understand why I didnt do this before. I didnt have any role-models that does this and what role-models I had exists from my studies.

2) I gotta be honest about how much “fail” i am and have it on record, or this doesnt work. Usually when I blog I cut and paste the same knowledge into my Personal Notes, my central repository and reference of everything I learned. The habit is “Did I do this already?” or “have I figured this out before” is then routed to checking my Personal notes. There with Ctrl+F I will try to find what I did before and build over that.

Bad Habits

1) buying stuff I don’t use. Tempted to buy stuff to fix things Instead of Trying to fix things and beginning with a documented attempt.

Attempts without documentation are doomed to repeat the same failures and mistakes. Same goes to trying anything new – without documentation I may not be learning everything that can be learned.

Feedback loops, because we can never know enough to act. All we can really do is correct what we do. Set up a Feedback loop (documentation, criticism, a witness or observer) and then JUMP in and act. Acting without setting it up is a wasted opportunity to learn from mistakes.

Other similar habits:

1.1) Buying without Use Schedule. If I dont know when I’m going to use it then maybe I should not buy it.
1.2) Buying stuff because I can afford it. This is the most common conditioned response to any opportunity or purchase. Just because its convenient, accessible, or cheap doesnt mean its worth trying out. (Free shit bias Dan Arielly). This is a hard habit to shake because herd mentality, influence from others, and of course emotional triggers
1.3) Buying stuff out of pure emotional trigger. Hoarding begins with sentimental and fear triggers. The irrationality of depending on stuff instead of depending on Me first and foremost.

2) ambiguity of taking action. The lie I tell my self the a lot is: Later, justified with the argument of time and place. The ambiguity of action is aided by ignorance and the lack of training I need. I need a set of criteria When to take Action. Before shit hits the fan, or a problem gets bigger I need the procedural skills and techniques to quickly worth through

3) You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take is fucking Bullshit. Pareto 80/20 and SMART criteria that shit – prioritize and filter shots worth taking, and have good criterias.

Fundamentals

1) Push-Pull Systems. Buy only when there is a hard demand.

Criteria.

Did I bothered to write down the Triggering Condition that created the Demand? If I didnt, I didnt think about it enough.
Hard demand is something happened, there is a tangible or documented event of the need.

2) Cost Benefit Analysis. I, like many people, dont really have a codified cost benefit analysis. If I had a procedural trained response that allows me to do Cost-Benefit how much easier my life would be. Like everything in Ops-Sci its better to write down what I do know (the feedbackloop) and learn as I try.

2.1) Time Cost Benefit Criteria. Does having this thing save me time in the long run? Time is the most immediate resource I can have control over, so for me Time is my first Criteria for Cost Benefit.
2.2) The cost of time for everything. Time Cost benefit requires an awareness of how we spend our time on anything and everything. Lets limit that scope with Pareto 80/20 – Reading, Listening, Writing and Composing my thoughts is the 20% of the things I do, that gets 80% of my work done.

Criteria of Time Awareness

1) If I’m uncomfortable/embarrassed about how I use my time then I should know it better.
2) I don’t know enough unless I can measure my Waste and Distraction.
3) Its only when I can measure my waste can I make time for what matters. The information is prerequisite to being able to act on the problem.

Activity Methodology

Step 1. Get my notes (I should be using a centralized note taking system, or working towards one).

Step 2. Update my Notes. Either log the activity in my daily, or log it in the Specialized Gdoc (typically I keep it in my General Notes unless I have a lot of details)

Step 3. Plan Objectives for 30-45min Tasks. Time Flies when I’m concentrating on a task.

Especially tasks that take me away from pen and pad, or my computer. I need to check in with my notes and keep my notebook handy. When I’m moving shit around the house I can completely forget all the other things. I cannot hold more than one task at a time. All I can really do is condition my Note taking and checking. I dont know who loses track of time and thoughts when they move to different rooms in the house.

Step 4. Execute objective, give my self 2/3rds the time to limit the scope when it doesn’t look like I can finish in 45mins.

Step 5. Organize my Notes for the next task.

Sorting Methodology

Step 1. Sort by In Use, and Everything Else. These things are near the workspace or space of use. Workspace is Easy access in the area. Less than a couple of seconds to access.

Step 2. Sort Everything else by Useful and ToBeDetermined. Useful should be One space removed (around the strike zone) of the Workspace. It should be One adjusted motion in access.

Step 3. Document (picture) the TBD. Time helps be more objective as well as all my studies coming to me as I write down what I plan to do next.

TBD comes in many forms.

There are Reference and Documents Material. Shit we have to keep like Documents.
Then there is stuff we dont use often. These things need a plan. Our Useful or In-Use shit needs to be converted to be able to perform these Seldom (few times a year) tasks.
Critical Items. First Aid, Safety Systems (Ladders for me), Fire extinguishers, etc…

The stuff that needs to be Disposed needs a plan. Some of them can mean a lot of money and can be converted into something better. Example – my airsoft stuff needs to be converted into more mobile gear.

Feedback is welcome always.

Game in the Brain