I have always been the "safety girl." I'm the one that is careful, over thinks, over analyzes. New situations have always caused me to pause and assess what embarrassments, dangers, results can come from any new experience. I've given up a lot of fun and joy because of this nature. Of course, I've remained relatively unscathed to the tender age of 48. No surgeries, no hard casts, no speeding tickets (really! ever!) I'm the one who holds the "stuff" while people go on roller coasters. You'll never find ME, hanging upside down in a stuck roller coaster! I pick people up, I drop people off. I'm the DD. I'm the one who can tell you how to be safer on the trip, ride, adventure, etc.
All I ever had was a broken foot and it wasn't from rock climbing, or biking, or hand gliding. It was from running out the front door of a building at work and tripping on my sexy high heels on the 2nd of 3 steps and falling. Rear in the air, down on all fours (very graceful). I did go back and consult my Safety Girl manual and running in high heels is strictly prohibited! Safety Girl Note: IF you ever break your foot and are so inclined to jump up and walk really fast in tight circles you can NOT walk off a broken foot! No matter how determined you are. And so.....your friends will try hard not to laugh at the same time they load you into the car for the ER. And for that great adventure, I even got a walking cast. It wasn't even bad enough for a real cast.
Me
My point? I am very true to my nature. I am careful. And while this careful nature has its rewards, it can also prevent growth, change and better times for me. Ultimately, it is hard for me to change. I'm proud that I have the strength to be loyal, faithful, committed (not to an institution - just to people and tenets LOL) I am a safe person. That's a good quality - being a dependable and true person. But still, it can be defeating to be too rigid. It is in this place in my nature, that I have found kaizen to be very helpful.
So What is Kaizen?
It is the process of making small, very small, incremental changes that are barely noticeable. The point is to remove the stress and strain of dramatic change. These small changes build, one upon the next upon the next, until you arrive at true change in a manner that is almost stress free, and not shocking, yet as good or better than what you anticipated.
The book that I am currently reading is not my first introduction to kaizen, but I am enjoying it very much. It is written by Robert Mauer, Ph.D., The Kaizen Way. Mauer states: "Despite the foreign name, kaizen, small steps for continual improvement, were first applied systematically in Depression-era America." (pg 8)
Kaizen teaches the beauty, the spectacular, the STRENGTH of the small. Sometimes ridiculously small. I am very attracted to this method and it works well for me.
If you are interested in the business application of kaizen, from which this principle is highly attributed to have come from, he explains the history of kaizen and how it was born out of Dr. W. Edwards Demings work with the Japanese in their study of continuous improvement.
Maurer launches his book with:
"Small things with great love....It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into the doing. And it is not how much we give, but how much love we put into the giving! To God there is nothing small." Mother Theresa
From Lao Tzu he shares: "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step."
I love the application of: "When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don't look for the big quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That's the only way is happens --and when it happens, it lasts." John Wooden, basketball coach. (pg 11)
I've read different interpretations of this word. I am most fond of the translation of this practice from the Korean language; as "change for the better." (I think this translation may have come from Wikipedia but I'm not sure. I just jotted it down in my book. But I like this translation. )
Consider the opposite of kaizen to bring additional understanding: "Kaizen and innovation are the two major strategies people use to create change. Where innovation demands shocking and radical reform, all kaizen asks is that you take small, comfortable steps toward improvement." (pg 13)
Accidental Kaizenite
I tripped into kaizen (not literally this time.) I was in an ugly battle with a diet coke addiction. You might laugh but I was sick from drinking at least 6 a day and I couldn't stop! But I broke a 6 can a day habit of drinking diet coke in exactly the kaizen way - however I had never heard of kaizen beforehand. I was just desperate. Weaning myself off, slowly, was all I could think of to do. In hindsight, I recognize the kaizen process.
How I did it:
I drank six cans a day, every day for a week. I made myself drink six even if I didn't want that last one. Then the next week, I drank 6 cans a day and every day I would not drink the last few drops of each can... Really - drops! and then each day I would leave just a little bit more. I would leave a swallow, and then two swallows. I wasted a lot of diet coke, right! No way - I was on my way to freedom and I never, every felt pressure. I'd rather pour it down the drain than through my kidneys and my liver!!! It took two months and I never got to what I thought would be 6 cokes a day and only a few swallows from each can. Instead, I got down to a can or two a day and and then only a few swallows from each can.
And then one day......I....just....didn't.....drink....diet....coke!!! Yea! It was the ONLY way it would work for my type A, intense personality. Then when I read about kaizen, I was like, wow! I know what that is! I did that!!
All I ever had was a broken foot and it wasn't from rock climbing, or biking, or hand gliding. It was from running out the front door of a building at work and tripping on my sexy high heels on the 2nd of 3 steps and falling. Rear in the air, down on all fours (very graceful). I did go back and consult my Safety Girl manual and running in high heels is strictly prohibited! Safety Girl Note: IF you ever break your foot and are so inclined to jump up and walk really fast in tight circles you can NOT walk off a broken foot! No matter how determined you are. And so.....your friends will try hard not to laugh at the same time they load you into the car for the ER. And for that great adventure, I even got a walking cast. It wasn't even bad enough for a real cast.
Me
My point? I am very true to my nature. I am careful. And while this careful nature has its rewards, it can also prevent growth, change and better times for me. Ultimately, it is hard for me to change. I'm proud that I have the strength to be loyal, faithful, committed (not to an institution - just to people and tenets LOL) I am a safe person. That's a good quality - being a dependable and true person. But still, it can be defeating to be too rigid. It is in this place in my nature, that I have found kaizen to be very helpful.
So What is Kaizen?
It is the process of making small, very small, incremental changes that are barely noticeable. The point is to remove the stress and strain of dramatic change. These small changes build, one upon the next upon the next, until you arrive at true change in a manner that is almost stress free, and not shocking, yet as good or better than what you anticipated.
The book that I am currently reading is not my first introduction to kaizen, but I am enjoying it very much. It is written by Robert Mauer, Ph.D., The Kaizen Way. Mauer states: "Despite the foreign name, kaizen, small steps for continual improvement, were first applied systematically in Depression-era America." (pg 8)
Kaizen teaches the beauty, the spectacular, the STRENGTH of the small. Sometimes ridiculously small. I am very attracted to this method and it works well for me.
If you are interested in the business application of kaizen, from which this principle is highly attributed to have come from, he explains the history of kaizen and how it was born out of Dr. W. Edwards Demings work with the Japanese in their study of continuous improvement.
Maurer launches his book with:
"Small things with great love....It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into the doing. And it is not how much we give, but how much love we put into the giving! To God there is nothing small." Mother Theresa
From Lao Tzu he shares: "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step."
I love the application of: "When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don't look for the big quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That's the only way is happens --and when it happens, it lasts." John Wooden, basketball coach. (pg 11)
I've read different interpretations of this word. I am most fond of the translation of this practice from the Korean language; as "change for the better." (I think this translation may have come from Wikipedia but I'm not sure. I just jotted it down in my book. But I like this translation. )
Consider the opposite of kaizen to bring additional understanding: "Kaizen and innovation are the two major strategies people use to create change. Where innovation demands shocking and radical reform, all kaizen asks is that you take small, comfortable steps toward improvement." (pg 13)
Accidental Kaizenite
I tripped into kaizen (not literally this time.) I was in an ugly battle with a diet coke addiction. You might laugh but I was sick from drinking at least 6 a day and I couldn't stop! But I broke a 6 can a day habit of drinking diet coke in exactly the kaizen way - however I had never heard of kaizen beforehand. I was just desperate. Weaning myself off, slowly, was all I could think of to do. In hindsight, I recognize the kaizen process.
How I did it:
I drank six cans a day, every day for a week. I made myself drink six even if I didn't want that last one. Then the next week, I drank 6 cans a day and every day I would not drink the last few drops of each can... Really - drops! and then each day I would leave just a little bit more. I would leave a swallow, and then two swallows. I wasted a lot of diet coke, right! No way - I was on my way to freedom and I never, every felt pressure. I'd rather pour it down the drain than through my kidneys and my liver!!! It took two months and I never got to what I thought would be 6 cokes a day and only a few swallows from each can. Instead, I got down to a can or two a day and and then only a few swallows from each can.
And then one day......I....just....didn't.....drink....diet....coke!!! Yea! It was the ONLY way it would work for my type A, intense personality. Then when I read about kaizen, I was like, wow! I know what that is! I did that!!
Applications:
How to move towards a more vegan, healthy lifestyle, aka: "Meatless Mondays" started by Lauren and found on Kris Carrs' My Crazy Sexy Life!
Start with one meal on one day and go meatless. In the next week, continue to go meatless on that one meal during that one day and add another meal in the same day that is meatless. In the third week, go meatless all day, only on that day. Then the fourth week, start with another day...and continue in this manner. Or maybe you add a new day every month instead of every week! Who Cares? Are you changing? Are you moving forward? Is it working? :)
When you consider meatlessness now, it may be unfathomable. But could you give up meat for one meal..and slowly, slowly make a change? (to learn more about how to transistion into a vegan and/or more healthy lifestyle, please visit Kris Carrs' My Crazy Sexy Life!)
You can apply these seemingly inconsequential, almost silly changes (small, minute, almost invisible) and you will suddenly find yourself in a new place where the ride is almost a nonevent.
Kaizen teaches the opposite of cold turkey, drastic, dramatic measures. While sometimes "the drastic" is an acceptable, necessary, even better way to go...kaizen teaches a practice that appears so minor - it's strength is hidden in its process.
Lifestyle Changes:
My favorite author on Kris Carrs' My Crazy Sexy Life, Jerome, wrote about a great suggestion that he uses with his clients to help them design their life. Daydreaming about what if money was not an object, what would one do with their life? Jerome gave me the courage to think and dream in a unique and wonderfully new way. He suggests that what you daydream about will give you a window into what you would like to do. I am finding his suggestion very helpful and empowering. (Thank you Jerome!) Dr Mauer suggests a similar practice of daydreaming about leaving an unsatisfying career (pg 16.) He suggests applying kaizen principles and daydreaming a few seconds each day...and building and adding seconds onto seconds until you get to your end result, your truth, your discovery!
Maurer includes significant explanation about how this works in our brains and I find it fascinating but almost secondary to my excitement in my successes of applying these principles.
How To "Do" Kaizen
The first part of kaizen, to my understanding, is to identify areas that are of concern to you (ie: a messy desk, having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, not exercising.) He suggests asking small questions of yourself that reduce anxiety and open your mind to being creative to new ideas and thoughts. You need to determine what is contributing to or causing your problem...(ie: "I have a hard time getting up out of bed in the morning because I stay up late watching t.v.) Suppose you stay up until 1am. You know it's nuts but you can't sleep. So you start going to be just a few minutes earlier every night (or turning off the t.v. a few minutes earlier, or putting down the book a few minutes earlier...) You work in small incremental measurements to get to where you want to be (ie: asleep by 10pm for example) The point, the discipline, the leverage of kaizen is to go in very, very small incremental stages. Never rush, never double up. Discipline yourself in slow movements, slow changes while always improving in small measures.
Personal Examples From My Life
The elliptical machine in the gym. I could only do 20 SECONDS when I got on that machine the first time! SECONDS. It took me a couple of minutes to clean the machine before and afterwards (typical gym practice on shared machines) to use it for 20 seconds!!!! I finally, now can go 30 minutes. Now, 30 minutes is like 20 seconds to some people. But the principles of kaizen got me to 30 minutes. Without applying those principles, I would still be one of those people walking past that elliptical machine, everyday, wishing and never starting.
In the last few years I have done some pretty crazy things for me, kayaking with alligators, snorkeling, climbing over lava rocks to get to a beach, got on a bike, rode in traffic(!), rode a motorcycle, bought a house, started my own business life, and especially important...dedicated myself to being Greener Than The Day Before. All have been realized by applying the principles of kaizen, making small unobtrusive habits.
It gave me the patience to learn to grow wheatgrass. The patience to learn to juice. The patience with myself when I would juice and then go to Chick-Fil-A and have a coke and sandwich.
The Patience To Change
The Patience. The patience IN time of which, as human beings, we are subject. Time passes and takes us with. We can not step off of time. We can flow with time or fight it or even use it to improve ourselves. I find that the theories of kaizen help me partner WITH time and allow me to change in so many ways!
Onion
Layers to Learn. It is the proverbial onion. I'm not an expert on kaizen. I have only recently started applying it to my personal life (within the last 2 years) and to becoming Greener Than The Day Before. If you are very knowledgeable about kaizen you will likely find fault with my writings or see where I am missing some part of the process. However, I believe that part of Kaizen is about the process of learning the same and therefore in my practice of kaizen I believe there exists grace for mistakes :)
How to move towards a more vegan, healthy lifestyle, aka: "Meatless Mondays" started by Lauren and found on Kris Carrs' My Crazy Sexy Life!
Start with one meal on one day and go meatless. In the next week, continue to go meatless on that one meal during that one day and add another meal in the same day that is meatless. In the third week, go meatless all day, only on that day. Then the fourth week, start with another day...and continue in this manner. Or maybe you add a new day every month instead of every week! Who Cares? Are you changing? Are you moving forward? Is it working? :)
When you consider meatlessness now, it may be unfathomable. But could you give up meat for one meal..and slowly, slowly make a change? (to learn more about how to transistion into a vegan and/or more healthy lifestyle, please visit Kris Carrs' My Crazy Sexy Life!)
You can apply these seemingly inconsequential, almost silly changes (small, minute, almost invisible) and you will suddenly find yourself in a new place where the ride is almost a nonevent.
Kaizen teaches the opposite of cold turkey, drastic, dramatic measures. While sometimes "the drastic" is an acceptable, necessary, even better way to go...kaizen teaches a practice that appears so minor - it's strength is hidden in its process.
Lifestyle Changes:
My favorite author on Kris Carrs' My Crazy Sexy Life, Jerome, wrote about a great suggestion that he uses with his clients to help them design their life. Daydreaming about what if money was not an object, what would one do with their life? Jerome gave me the courage to think and dream in a unique and wonderfully new way. He suggests that what you daydream about will give you a window into what you would like to do. I am finding his suggestion very helpful and empowering. (Thank you Jerome!) Dr Mauer suggests a similar practice of daydreaming about leaving an unsatisfying career (pg 16.) He suggests applying kaizen principles and daydreaming a few seconds each day...and building and adding seconds onto seconds until you get to your end result, your truth, your discovery!
Maurer includes significant explanation about how this works in our brains and I find it fascinating but almost secondary to my excitement in my successes of applying these principles.
How To "Do" Kaizen
The first part of kaizen, to my understanding, is to identify areas that are of concern to you (ie: a messy desk, having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, not exercising.) He suggests asking small questions of yourself that reduce anxiety and open your mind to being creative to new ideas and thoughts. You need to determine what is contributing to or causing your problem...(ie: "I have a hard time getting up out of bed in the morning because I stay up late watching t.v.) Suppose you stay up until 1am. You know it's nuts but you can't sleep. So you start going to be just a few minutes earlier every night (or turning off the t.v. a few minutes earlier, or putting down the book a few minutes earlier...) You work in small incremental measurements to get to where you want to be (ie: asleep by 10pm for example) The point, the discipline, the leverage of kaizen is to go in very, very small incremental stages. Never rush, never double up. Discipline yourself in slow movements, slow changes while always improving in small measures.
Personal Examples From My Life
The elliptical machine in the gym. I could only do 20 SECONDS when I got on that machine the first time! SECONDS. It took me a couple of minutes to clean the machine before and afterwards (typical gym practice on shared machines) to use it for 20 seconds!!!! I finally, now can go 30 minutes. Now, 30 minutes is like 20 seconds to some people. But the principles of kaizen got me to 30 minutes. Without applying those principles, I would still be one of those people walking past that elliptical machine, everyday, wishing and never starting.
In the last few years I have done some pretty crazy things for me, kayaking with alligators, snorkeling, climbing over lava rocks to get to a beach, got on a bike, rode in traffic(!), rode a motorcycle, bought a house, started my own business life, and especially important...dedicated myself to being Greener Than The Day Before. All have been realized by applying the principles of kaizen, making small unobtrusive habits.
It gave me the patience to learn to grow wheatgrass. The patience to learn to juice. The patience with myself when I would juice and then go to Chick-Fil-A and have a coke and sandwich.
The Patience To Change
The Patience. The patience IN time of which, as human beings, we are subject. Time passes and takes us with. We can not step off of time. We can flow with time or fight it or even use it to improve ourselves. I find that the theories of kaizen help me partner WITH time and allow me to change in so many ways!
Onion
Layers to Learn. It is the proverbial onion. I'm not an expert on kaizen. I have only recently started applying it to my personal life (within the last 2 years) and to becoming Greener Than The Day Before. If you are very knowledgeable about kaizen you will likely find fault with my writings or see where I am missing some part of the process. However, I believe that part of Kaizen is about the process of learning the same and therefore in my practice of kaizen I believe there exists grace for mistakes :)
Greener Than The Day Before
Small changes:
Small changes:
Changes that barely stir the dust in your mind and your emotions.
Very small. But, what if you embraced the smallness of this kind of change?
Where could that take you?
This is kaizen for me. Everyday incremental steps. Loads of patience. A goal. A focus. I ask myself the "why" questions. And I use these principles to get to my answers. The incremental is the process to the reward. So go be Greener Than The Day Before with patience and incrementality when needed. Practice kaizen to reduce stress, anxiety and embrace the patience and joy of the change of your hearts' desire!!
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WOW! What an awesome post!! And I feel honored to have been mentioned in it!! :) You rock Isabelle, thanks for this, I needed it!
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