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Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, once said, "A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step." Kaizen is all based upon this single principle. Begin with just one little step and then continue to improve. The definition of the word Kaizen, in Japanese, is "improvement." The Kaizen approach is uncomplicated: 1. Seiri - being tidy 2. Seiton - being orderly 3. Seiso - being clean 4. Seiketsu - cleaning according to basic standards 5. Shitsuke - being disciplined Breaking a persistent bad habit or acquiring a positive new one is tough, as all our shattered New Year's resolutions can attest. If you know someone who's tackled a major life change like quitting smoking or losing weight, they would probably agree that it's done not all at once, but one smoke or one calorie at a time. Small changes strung together add up to surprising results. Kaizen is a tool that can help you effect change both in your personal life, and in your career. Anyone who has been successful in attaining an objective has probably done so by making minor and gradual modifications. Minor modifications produce results due to the formation of fresh habits. For instance, if your objective is to get organized around your house, you might begin by taking a few minutes each evening to sort through your mail and discard anything that's junk. Focused practice brings about results. Creating a little adjustment over a period of time is what makes the big difference. Anybody who has attempted to live up to their New Year’s resolution and failed is aware of this. It’s tough to make big changes. Let's say you want to de-clutter your home. Take five minutes per day and start going through papers you have piled up everywhere. Look things over and throw out what you don’t absolutely need. Think of bad habits that you may have: perhaps you started eating that morning Danish and now have 30 extra pounds. Going on a crash diet is unlikely to help, but replacing that Danish with an apple, over time, will. Kaizen is applicable in the office. It can be tedious to always push workers to perform. Kaizen however does that for you. Here is an example, I spotted a list of things that workers of a certain supermarket would do with their free five minute. Cleaning the counters, lining the counters and so on. Then it dawned to me, suppose you have to learn a new program to use in your work. If you just dedicate 10 minutes a day you sure will learn it efficiently. The most efficient way to learn a language is not by dedicating 2 hours a week to it but by giving just 20 minutes per day of your precious time. Ponder the following questions: How might you want to improve? What's your end-goal? How will you figure out when you've attained that milestone? An old paradox asks how do you eat an elephant, with the correct response being, one bite at a time. Figure out what it is you want to make headway with, then set about accomplishing this! Steve Wilheir is a project management consultant and expert in Kaizen. If you like the Kaizen concept, Learn more about What is Kaizen?
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