Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [724]
Reward yourself. Plan a rewarding activity for the completion of a difficult activity or a successful week. The reward might be as simple as a night out or a weekend trip with friends. Push to finish tasks before leaving so that the reward is meaningful.
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Using the Thought Processes to Achieve Life Goals
This section presents one of the first applications of Goldratt’s TP to achieve one’s life goals. In 1992, after attending a workshop on the TP taught by Dr. Goldratt, I (Jim Cox) came back to campus with the idea of teaching these tools to my Advanced Operations Management class. I wanted to attack what I thought was one of the biggest barriers for students—personal productivity. I felt that the tools were extremely powerful in providing students a framework for logical analysis of any problem. What better area to study than keeping the many challenges of student life in balance?
After I made the assignment of using the TP to improve personal productivity, Sheila Taormina came to my office and asked not to have to do the assignment. Sheila was an exceptional student—swimming several hours every day, maintaining a near 4.0 grade point average, and active in numerous student organizations as an officer. Instead of analyzing her personal productivity, Sheila wanted to analyze her swimming. I really didn’t have much hope in convincing her that she needed to study her productivity. However, I was somewhat perplexed at the time. I can’t even float, so how was I going to help her analyze her swimming? She was an All-American swimmer! I verbalized my concerns, but agreed, knowing that she was not trying to get out of work, but really wanted to learn something that might help her swimming career. This story is the result of that “personal productivity” project.
Sheila’s Story
By Sheila Taormina
In November of 1996, I opened the doors to my very first house. I certainly did not have much furniture to fill the rooms, but I did have a van-load of boxes containing mostly knick-knacks that I had collected throughout my college years at the University of Georgia. As I came across the box filled with my old college papers (the ones I saved that I thought would be fun to look over in future years), I remembered a project I had done, and I prayed it would be in the box.
There it was . . . MAN 577, Spring 1992, Dr. James Cox, Personal Productivity Analysis. A flood of emotions came over me because I knew that the work that went into this project was the catalyst that led me to a dream come true. As I read the pages, I relived every feeling that I had in 1992—a time in my life that was filled with questions and anxiety, but most of all a fearful kind of hope. Now, in order to understand the rest of this true story, you will need some background information that will take you to the point of the spring of 1992 when I wrote my paper for Dr. Cox.
I have been on a swim team since the age of six, and in 1988 and 1992 I qualified to compete in the Olympic Swimming Trials. I was 18 years old in 1988 and 22 years old in 1992, which typically are the peak years of swimming for females; however, I missed making the Olympic team both times. I was not disappointed in failing to make the team though, because I never expected to make it. After all, I believed that the people who make the Olympics are a level above all of us average people . . . they have some special talents.
My plans were to retire from the sport of swimming after the 1992 trials, but when my friend made the team to Barcelona that year, it was as if a light bulb went off in my head. I suddenly realized that I had been defeating myself all of these years before even stepping up to the starting blocks. My friend was not superhuman; he had no special talents! I immediately had a desire to make an attempt at the 1996 team.
My problem was that I was already 23 years old, so if I stayed around