Darwin once said: “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
It is a fact that trying to achieve some goal for improving our life, like losing weight, overcoming procrastination, stopping smoking or bingeing on TV is a challenge. We get trapped into a comfortable way of behaviour and changing is not easy. This happens even if we have the will to do something about our plights that are not serving us anymore and are even being detrimental to us. Change can often prove to be overwhelming and is often abandoned.
In Japan they adopt a tool for such a purpose: Kaizen, meaning “good change” (kai = change, zen = good). The core philosophy behind Kaizen is simple: you can always make or do things better, even if all seem to work well.
Masaaki Imai, the Japanese management consultant who introduced the concept of Kaizen to the West, says: “The Kaizen philosophy assumes that our way of life – be it our working life, our social life or our home life – deserves to be constantly improved.”
Indeed, many companies today adopt Kaizen to inspire continuous improvement around their facilities. It is mainly used to cut down on waste and streamline processes. Toyota is the first company to have implemented this approach.
But besides corporate entities, Kaizen can be successfully adopted for our personal lives as well. It encourages us to move forward in a manageable way, by making incremental changes and keeping the momentum going. Even achieving a one percentage improvement towards our goals is crucial as long as one keeps doing so.
It is better to seek simple solutions rather than perfect ones and taking action right away
Kaizen encourages us not to settle for mediocrity. There is always space for improvement on anything with constant small changes. One should not be scared to take risks, and if need be, seek guidance. Putting our ego aside is often necessary so as not to be deterred by others. It takes patience and dedication to deal with any changes.
When faced with hardship, we develop wisdom. Discarding fixed ideas and staying open to change is imperative. It is better to seek simple solutions rather than perfect ones and taking action right away.
There are many ways of improving every aspect of our life. This can be achieved by simply looking at a situation from a different angle, such as doing something more efficiently, less costly or more eco-friendly. Motivation is crucial as it needs persistence. resilience, consistency, self-discipline and commitment.
Every day is a challenge to keep improving in any way. Some Kaizen pointers to remember are:
• Developing standards for our life to increase its quality;
• Embracing self-discipline;
• Making a decision to finish what we started;
• Removing temptations that deter from our intentions. By observing our language and thoughts we can catch ourselves thinking thoughts such as what we are missing in our life, our past/circumstances or other’s expectations of us. These are all deterrents to our intentions;
• Checking if we are using our resources well, such as time or money – or being surrounded with people who are draining our energies and add no value to our life;
• Striving for continuous improvement at whatever stage it is. Things can always get better;
• Questioning traditions and old ways of doing things − and if necessary, discarding for new ways;
• Tapping from various sources of wisdom – not from just one;
• Avoiding excuses and looking for solutions;
• Taking decisions based on facts, not opinions;
• Getting to the root of a situation or a problem, by asking ‘why’ five times;
• Starting improvements straight away, even if all the answers are still not apparent;
• Celebrating small wins.
It is important to have fun adopting the Kaizen principles in one’s life as the constant process for improvement is a struggle and involves hard work. But with a positive approach, pride in the achievements made, and seeing everything as a challenge, Kaizen can be fun.
Through Kaizen we would adopt a way of living that helps us to live in the present, and therefore be able to take stock of where we can enhance the quality of our life.
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