HOWE Q. WALLACE BLOG

If It Stinks, Change It: Eliminating Waste and Stress in Life

I received a poster once. It showed a small baby, dressed only in a diaper, with a face that perfectly captured a mix of despair and disgust. The caption read: “If It Stinks, Change It.”

That message prompts reflection on the things in our lives that aren’t quite right. You know there’s something that needs attention—a messy corner of your life, a nagging issue you walk past, or a metaphorical junk room you keep closed up. It starts to stink, but you keep ignoring it.

We all have these things. As I write this, I’m forming a mental list: details I need to clean up, relationships that need mending, habits that need to be formed.

In our company, we study “lean management.” This process challenges us to identify wasted time, wasted materials, and wasted motion. Then, it asks us to address those inefficiencies, eliminating or reducing the waste.

Take a moment to think about your own life. Reflect on the past few weeks: What around you has been wasteful? More importantly, what have you done to improve it?

So much of our success—and peace—comes from eliminating the stress and stink that cling to our days.

What stinks in your life? What changes do you need to make?

-Howe Q. Wallace Jr