Keeping our surrounding space spick-and-span is the first step in self-improvement. By reducing redundancy and putting things in order, we can improve productivity effectively and efficiently. This post will introduce one of the most commonly used methodologies – 5S (Methodology) in the manufacturing industry and will explain how to put it into our daily lives.
5S (methodology) was first developed in the Toyota Production System of Toyota Motor Company in Japan, to facilitate a workplace to improve productivity without wasting unnecessary money and time. With the concepts of “Organise”, “Clean” and “Repeat”, this methodology contains FIVE phrases to implement.
Sort
In order to create an effective environment, we have to get rid of unnecessary items, which is also known as minimalism. First of all, we have to define what items are necessary to keep. For example, clothes, when you open the wardrobe and you may realize the actual amount of clothes is more than necessary. Simply separate those clothes that you may never wear again and donate to charity.
Perhaps you are having too many miscellaneous items at your place, spend some time and check them one by one. This once-and-for-all action helps to implement the other 4S. After that, you have to control yourself from buying unnecessary goods in the future. For some items in the grey area, it is suggested to keep them far from reach for a period of time, say a year, to test their importance.
Set In Order
After decluttering, we will have a clearer picture of the space and items that we need to deal with. To reserve our brain’s RAM from processing to fetch things around all the time, we have to conduct rearrangements to convenience ourselves.
Firstly, categorise and prioritise those items according to their importance and frequency of use. Secondly, make good use of storage containers for grouping, and lastly, assign them to the designated area for storage by using our logical system, so that when next time we want to get the item, we can memorize the location automatically and instantly. This also applies to our digital filing system, e.g. how do you keep your photos?
Shine
Visual clutter may cause anxiety and distraction, so we need to keep our surroundings neat and tidy on a daily basis. However, housekeeping may be quite annoying to some people, so we can think of some ways to make the work easier, e.g. using covered shelves and cabinets for easier cleaning, and custom-made furniture to avoid dust from being conducted in between gaps. Besides, getting familiar with cleaning agents like soda powder, could help the cleaning more efficiently.
Standardized
In order to maintain the environment as tidy as it has to be, we need to get consent from all the stakeholders, namely family members in the household, by identifying their responsibilities, the designated place for storage and the mechanism of 5S. At first, we could put labels on the cabinet’s cover to remind all before we get used to it.
Sustain
In order to sustain 5S, we could set up a decluttering schedule and routine review of the system, so as to turn this one-time effort into habits.
5S can be literally applied everywhere, no matter to physically maintain a tidy place or manage notes and documents virtually, to organise and keep everything in order systematically, they are just cut from the same cloth.
Having a cozy environment is a way of maintaining PMA (Positive Mental Attitude), and levelling up our inner peace. Roll up your sleeves and kickstart to build your own 5S system on the coming spring cleaning ritual（大掃除）before CNY, a superstition of Lunar New Year etiquette to renew ourselves physically and energetically.