Kaizen- Book summary
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Let us begin with one simple question
"What were your new year resolutions and are you keeping up with them?"
No,wait! This is not to make you feel guilty. My this year's resolution was to keep up with the resolutions from 2016.It is not very rare that we lag behind our resolutions. Almost everyone does(no, i am not justifying myself). 25% of resolutions are discarded in first 4 months.
The problem with abandoning goals is that it massively impacts our self-confidence and the quality of our life.
Kaizen advocates "small actions" that everyone might find trivial and even laughable.The trick is to bring down the resistance to change one day at a time and tiptoe past our amygdala that triggers fight or flight response.
Example 1 : If your goal is to stop overspending, then the kaizen action would be to remove one object from the shopping cart before heading to the cash register.
Example 2 : If your goal is to begin an exercise program,then the kaizen action would be to stand-yes,just stand on the treadmill for a few minutes every morning.
Example 3 : If your goal is to keep the house clean, then the kaizen action would be to pick an area of the house,set a time for five minutes and tidy up.
I see you shaking head in disagreement, "don't small steps yield slow results?".
Definitely, one step isn't enough but it comfortably leads you to second step and then third. The act of change isn't physical but psychological, the trick is to get your defenses down so that change doesn't feel like a monster-in-closet but a welcoming friend and one step does perfectly for that.
The book places a lot of importance on the word "small" and brings our attention to the fact that small actions done consistently can bring drastic improvements in our health,relationships and career.
I'd like to close this piece with the quote,
"How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time"
"What were your new year resolutions and are you keeping up with them?"
No,wait! This is not to make you feel guilty. My this year's resolution was to keep up with the resolutions from 2016.It is not very rare that we lag behind our resolutions. Almost everyone does(no, i am not justifying myself). 25% of resolutions are discarded in first 4 months.
The problem with abandoning goals is that it massively impacts our self-confidence and the quality of our life.
The need of kaizen.
. Dr.Robert Maurer has formulated a very simple and incremental approach towards goal setting. Incremental approaches need a reintroduction since they seem on brink on extinction in our clickbait era. It is important to understand that though the clickbaits we are bombarded with are attractive ("lose 10 kgs in 2 weeks" or "become an astronaut in 2 days") they seldom bring a sustainable change.Kaizen advocates "small actions" that everyone might find trivial and even laughable.The trick is to bring down the resistance to change one day at a time and tiptoe past our amygdala that triggers fight or flight response.
Examples for further clarification
Let me clear the air of mystery by giving a few examples from the book.Example 1 : If your goal is to stop overspending, then the kaizen action would be to remove one object from the shopping cart before heading to the cash register.
Example 2 : If your goal is to begin an exercise program,then the kaizen action would be to stand-yes,just stand on the treadmill for a few minutes every morning.
Example 3 : If your goal is to keep the house clean, then the kaizen action would be to pick an area of the house,set a time for five minutes and tidy up.
I see you shaking head in disagreement, "don't small steps yield slow results?".
Definitely, one step isn't enough but it comfortably leads you to second step and then third. The act of change isn't physical but psychological, the trick is to get your defenses down so that change doesn't feel like a monster-in-closet but a welcoming friend and one step does perfectly for that.
The book places a lot of importance on the word "small" and brings our attention to the fact that small actions done consistently can bring drastic improvements in our health,relationships and career.
I'd like to close this piece with the quote,
"How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time"
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