How Kaizen can Help With Self-Improvement

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophical concept and Lean manufacturing tool which believes that processes can always change for the better and there are no limits to how much they can improve. Translated from Japanese, the word Kaizen is made up of two words, kai which means good, and zen which means change. Although the term and philosophy were designed to serve business and company services or products, it can also enable people to improve themselves and evolve.

1. Getting Started

To start growing and improving, the Kaizen philosophy reveals that a person only has to start doing something. That means that one step a day is infinitely better than no steps a day and that growth may eventually come out of just one simple effort made every day. This speaks about the power of habits and the power of daily activities as they are the ones that really turn things around and can shape a human being. For example, if a person wants to be more physically active, they can walk or run each day for 5minutes and when they feel prepared they can increase the amount of time. The same goes for people that want to write a book, one sentence or two per day are better than only imagining and thinking about doing something.

2. Simple Math

Daily improvement is achievable as the Kaizen philosophy teaches people that if they grow and improve with 1.01% percent every day, they will be up to 38 times better by the end of the year. Slow and steady wins the race as it is also showcased in the story of the hare and tortoise. The hare may be fast and can run 100 times faster than the tortoise but the resilience and steady progress of the tortoise eventually outruns the hare as they avoid tiredness and exhaust.

Another simple comparison can be done with normal habits and activities such as brushing teeth, while it may not change much in a person’s life, it sure as hell keeps dental health problems away.

3. Continuous and Infinite Improvement

One thing that Kaizen can teach people is that improvement is infinite and that there’s never a time when something or someone cannot further improve. This can keep people engaged and never let go of the healthy activities as success is a long ladder and falling from it is fairly simple. This means that even if a person improves nearly every day, they can still fail and fall as improvement should be a daily habit and one day of stoppage can mean very much, especially in the beginning.

4. Eliminating Bad Habits

Improving continuously means letting go of everything that is stopping the improvement. This means that to fully grow as a person and human being, a person should identify shat’s stopping them from achieving a certain objective. After eliminating the objective, a person can try and visualize what they have to do to improve and reach their target in detail and small steps that can be followed every day.