The Kaizen Approach to Achieving Your Biggest Goal

Kaizen, which means continuous improvement in Japanese was originally developed by Depression-Era management gurus in the US. The Japanese embraced the idea of improving and thriving in small steps, as opposed to working on a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal).

The long, hard process looks difficult but is actually easy if we just focus on the small step that needs to be taken today, and do that consistently.

• We are never done improving ourselves. We need to do certain things daily to achieve and maintain our success. The first steps are not easy, but taking small actions is progress, while not taking any action isn’t.
• Kaizen is about the 1 percent improvement that we can focus on, and those daily 1 percent improvements compound over time.
• Initially the improvements may not be noticeable, but in a span of months or years, the breakthrough improvements will start to be visible.

Setting a goal is easy, just like marking a date on the calendar. The real challenge is always the willingness to accept what we need to do daily to achieve those goals.

We need to design a system that has to be practiced daily, as the commitment to a process provides the compound effect. Example: Learning should not be limited to college, but should be a lifelong system imbibed in your pursuit of knowledge, enriching your life and making you a better person.

When we improve a little on a daily basis, big things occur over time. We need to stop focusing on radical, sudden improvements, as quick-fixes aren’t lasting anyway.

Consistent and sustainable gains are only achieved by small, incremental improvements on a daily basis.