Your Life Needs an MVP - Minimal Viable Process

3.5 Minute Read

Start with:

1) Determine the Minimum, Viable Process for Improvement.

2) Assess the Results.

3) Progress the process, or abandon it for a smaller one or different course.

In business, a minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development. (Wikipedia, Minimum Viable Product).

If you’re business minded, it’s simple to understand the allure of an MVP. It’s less time-consuming, less risky, and more adaptable to the need of the consumer than creating a fully fleshed-out, complex product. If the product isn’t serving your client the way you hoped, it is much easier to pivot to another feature, or an entirely different product.

Why put all of that time, energy, and effort into a complex product that may or may not produce results?

But here’s the catch….you have to produce SOMETHING, right? You have an idea for a better product, a better service, and better solution. And you know the world needs it. So using the MVP, you start with the smallest version of “better” that you can conceive, and you put it out there. And once some people have tried it out, you access; did people find value in it? Did the market think it was well worth the value? Did my return on investment outweigh the time, energy, and effort placed into it? And then, ask one of the most vital questions related to building something meaningful:

Can I make it better?

So if this is such a viable process for building a successful business, why not use it to build a successful LIFE?

Making Yourself the Client

Let’s imagine that YOU are the market/customer, and you’re looking for a way to improve yourself in some way. You could create a 80 Year “Life Business Plan”, analyze market trends and create the most elaborate Organizational Structure anyone has ever seen. But just like our new technologically accelerated world has done to the business plans of old, life has a way of nullifying your “plans".”

Instead, let’s make an Minimum Viable PROCESS for your future. What is the smallest conceivable, VIABLE action that you could take TODAY that could provide you a better future?

Let’s say we pick our Financial future from the 8 Dimensions of Wellness. The smallest conceivable action you could take to improve your finances would be to save $0.01 in the bank. Unfortunately, the interest you pay on your mortgage or a credit card eats that up faster than you can drop that copper into your piggy bank. To make it viable, you could take a lesson from Clason’s Richest Man in Babylon and put away 10% of your income for yourself (as he says, if you can’t live off 90%, you can’t live off 100%!). Or perhaps you could pay $10 more on your highest interest rated credit card, to avoid spending more “empty dollars” in interest?

Let’s say you want to improve your Occupational wellness? If you are unhappy at your current job, you may be looking for a way out. What’s the smallest action you could take in the next week to move towards a better future at work? Perhaps it’s finding a free skills assessment online to determine what you are truly good at. Maybe it’s watching 10 minutes of YouTube a day on woodworking, and sharing it with a friend who finds it interesting (so that you benefit from retaining what you are teaching).

Assess and Progress

Once you’ve determined the smallest, viable action, and have applied it for a reasonable amount of time (you’ll want to determine that time frame and stick to it…is it 10 days, 10 weeks?), you must then ASSESS the results. Did I see growth or progress from my actions? Was I able to see the results I set out to see?

In a business MVP, you’d ask your customers their thoughts. Here, YOU are the client. So be truthful to yourself.

Then comes the most challenging, but rewarding, step. You must PROGRESS your PRODUCT. No one ever climbed a mountain by repeatedly taking the first step. Jeff Bezos didn’t create an empire by sticking with bookselling. And you won’t create a meaningful life by only fixing the smallest thing. But now that you have a START, you have momentum. So you’ve saved $1,000 in the bank. Now what? Can you apply some of that money to investments with dividends? Can you pay off that high interest credit card and continue to save that previous $200 payment along with the 10%? Can you start to offer free wood carvings to your loved ones in an attempt to hone your skills?

If you’re on a roll, and you’re seeing progress., then keep it up. If not, you’ll find that it is much easier to change course or abandon the process, as you’ve only invested the minimal amount of resources needed to see it through.

Start Small, but START

People are mortified, petrified, and debilitated by the idea that a successful life is at the end of decades of toiling and suffering….so much so that they don’t even begin. But the next 5 years of your life are going to pass, whether you choose to start a new endeavor or not. So why not start? Find the most minimal, viable process you can think of to progress an area of your life that you feel needs improvement, and (1) determine an MVP . Then, after some time, (2) assess if it is working. The smaller the change, the quicker you can assess. Finally, (3) progress the process if it is working, or abandon it if not.

As for figuring out what course your MVP should put you on? That’s a longer, deeper conversation. I look forward to having it with you.

Actions to Take/Thoughts to Ponder

• From the 8 Dimensions of Wellness, what is one area of my life that needs progressed?

• What is the smallest thing I can think of to start making this area of my life better?

• If I followed through for a reasonable amount of time on that action, what is the worst possible outcome? What is the best possible outcome?

• What time frame would I give myself so that the process had a chance of actually working? What would “success” look like? Failure?

• What would be my next step to progress the action if it worked? What could be a smaller action to take if it didn’t? Why not take the smaller action first?

For guidance in answering these questions, set up a Free Consultation with Coach Woody.