The Kaizen Approach

Kaizen in Japanese means “continues improvement”. It was created by American business management theorists. While it was originally applied in business sector, specifically to improve manufacturing processes, this approach is very much applicable to personal lives as well.I really like this article by Thomas Oppong, titled “The Kaizen Approach to Achieving Your Biggest Goal (The Philosophy of Constant Improvement“).

Cliffs Notes:

• The Kaizen philosophy makes it easy to commit to our goals.
• Find and implement small changes or actions that lead to fulfillment of the goal and make/take them today.
  • “Compounding is the greatest mathematical discovery of all time.” – Einstein
• Personal change is a marathon, not a sprint – focus on the work that needs to be done, the next step that moves you incrementally toward your goal.
• Create achievable goals that don’t stress you out, take baby steps toward a bigger goal.
• Design a system, a process that will bring you to your goal. “Having a system is what matters. Committing to the process makes a huge difference.” Focus on the daily process and sticking to your schedule. “When you focus on the practice instead of the performance, you can enjoy the present moment and improve at the same time.”
• Kaizen Approach: self-improvement is not a destination. To change life, you need to change things you do daily. Focus on getting just 1% better every day, maintain the improvements you make.
• Why Kaizen works? Improving something slightly is easy, less intimidating and more manageable.  As long as it’s done consistently and improvements are maintain, it leads to achieving big goals . Also, compounded improvements eventually redefine the norm – what you pensive is normal, status quo. Which means results are stronger and more sustainable.