The Unexpected Value Add

Photo by Gold's Gym Nepal on Unsplash‍ ‍

All Winter around 7:30am, I strolled into the gym looking absolutely ridiculous in my hat, scarf and giant coat, doing everything in my power to keep the cold New Jersey winter from touching my soul. But I somehow made it through, day after frigidly cold day, because I finally found the formula that works for me.

Part of that formula is simple: I go with my husband (accountability). I set my clothes out the night before and follow the same morning routine (consistency). And in my right hand, without fail, is a travel mug of coffee.

You might be thinking: Coffee? At the gym?

Yes. I bring it with me. My water bottle goes in the left cup holder of the treadmill, and my coffee sits proudly in the right. By the end of my workout, the mug is still almost full. From the moment I brew it to the moment I finish my run I’ve probably taken ten sips total.

So why bother? What’s the point?

The point is that the idea of that warm cup of coffee is part of what gets me out the door. Even on the days I barely drink it, it works. In Lean Six Sigma, we’d call this a value‑added activity; something small that meaningfully supports the outcome you want.

A value-added activity can be any step that directly improves the product or service in a way the customer actually cares about. Everything else is considered non‑value‑added (aka Muda), meaning it takes time or energy without meaningfully improving the result. The goal is to identify the small actions that truly move you forward and minimize the ones that don’t.

In this case, the coffee isn’t about drinking it; it’s about the psychological boost that helps me follow through. That makes it value‑added: it meaningfully supports the outcome I want, even if it’s not the star of the process.

What I’ve realized is that these tiny, almost laughably simple supports matter more than we give them credit for. They’re the quiet nudges that help us follow through when motivation is low or the weather is miserable or the bed is warm. Your version might look nothing like mine, but the principle is the same: find the small thing that helps you move and keep it in your routine. It doesn’t need to be efficient or impressive. It just needs to work.