During WWII, with high demands for production of wartime equipment, and little extra resources to allocate towards making sweeping company-wide innovations, the Japanese concept of “kaizen” made its mark on the business and manufacturing world. Kaizen, which literally means “change for better,” was adapted as a business strategy for making small, easily applicable changes to business practices that add up to large and significant change. This concept of small and simple changes worked, and became pivotal in the business philosophy of many large-scale manufacturers (such as Japanese automakers) and spread to business practices worldwide. And, more recently, the concept has also caught some traction as it applies to personal development and growth.
You’ve likely heard of the notion of “1% better everyday.” While I think the numbers game of this specific idea can get a bit distracting, the concept offers us a meaningful and effective way to look at making progress in any personal or business endeavor. This concept of kaizen simply directs us to focus our attention not on the massive sweeping changes that we eventually hope to reach, but on the little thing that we can do today. There will always be more to change than you can feasibly handle at any one time, and so keeping your attention bound up in the depth and breadth of what can change is a futile exercise. Instead, kaizen reminds us: you know what little changes you can make right now; make those changes, and let them add up. This approach has value both for the record-chasing top performer and the layperson.
We’re here to get a little bit stronger, move a little bit better, work a little bit faster, to do a little bit more than we did yesterday. You know what to do. Keep moving the needle, folks.
- PS
20 min AMRAP
2 rope climb ascents
10 ring dips
30 squats
Posted on 11/19/2017 at 02:45 PM
