What is Kaizen?
- Rekindle your Dormant Passion!
- Welcome to DanielNgari.com
- What does Success mean to you?
- What do you Focus on?
- You reap what you sow.
- What is Kaizen?
- Run your life like a Corporation.
- Financial Freedom Manifesto
- The Amazing Power of Compounding
- Travel Light to Success
- The Law of Giving
- Write your Living Obituary
- Rising above Mediocrity
- Shun Intolerance
- Are you a Prisoner or a Hostage?
Kaizen is the process of reaching your goals in life by harnessing the amazing power of baby steps. It is a simple concept imported from Japan, that can transform your life if you apply it.
According to Wikipedia, “Kaizen (continuous improvement) is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. When applied to the workplace, Kaizen activities continually improve all functions of a business, from manufacturing to management and from the CEO to the assembly line workers.”
Instead of focusing on giant leaps towards your life goals, you can apply the principles of Kaizen to better yourself each and every day. Kaizen is all about making small changes and monitoring results, then adjusting. Instead of big overwhelming goals, you can have smaller goals, which can be rapidly adapted and accomplished.
Kaizen requires continuous improvement through standardization and improvement of processes. Let us look at practical ways of applying this concept to some aspects of your life:
- Physical Health
- Job & Career
- Finances
- Relationships
- Mind
1. Physical Health
Your physical health determines the quality of your life. You may decide to loose weight or train in a particular sport for example. Instead of setting overly ambitious goals that may dampen your spirit if you don’t meet them, why not set smaller achievable goals?
Instead of driving to work, you may consider cycling instead. This is not only good for the environment, but it may be a good “standardized process” that will help you get to your goal of weight loss or fitness.
Focus on areas of your life that you can turn into little standardized processes that take you towards your goal. Then focus on improving those processes over time. In our earlier example of cycling, you can improve that “process” by investing in a better equipped bike and appropriate cycling gear.
2. Job & Career
The job market is constantly changing and you need to continuously improve your qualifications and abilities to stay competitive. Get into the habit of applying Kaizen to your job and career.
You can attend evening classes, short courses or seminars. You can also subscribe to relevant newsletters and magazines to stay abreast of changes in your industry and to stay on top of your game.
Kaizen can also be applied in the area of networking with people in your field. You can use Kaizen to refine your contacts building strategy.
Think of all the little ways you can improve your job and career every day. From time management to mastering specialized skills. There are a lot more ways of applying Kaizen to your career than I can list in a single blog post. Take out a notebook and write down at least 10 things you can do to improve your career prospects, not by giant leaps but by simple baby steps (Kaizen).
3. Finances
To become financially free, you need to have a plan. This would be a great place to apply Kaizen.
Kaizen is all about standardization of processes and continually improving those processes. Think of all the standardized processes you can apply to your finances. I will give you a few examples:
- Setup an automatic investment account and deposit 10% of your pay before you even see it. Invest in mutual funds, stocks or whatever. But do it every month.
- Create a monthly budget. Many people don’t create and stick to an earnings and spending budget. You will be ahead of the pack if you create a budget and continuously improve your spending habits to maximize your quality of life and minimize wastage.
- Create a new stream of income. Consider turning a hobby into a side business that brings you some extra cash to take you towards your financial freedom.
4. Relationships
Relationships love Kaizen. You can apply Kaizen to your love life, your friends and your family. Continuously improve how you relate with other people. You can read books on this, or learn by observing others.
Spending quality time with your partner and listening to them can do wonders to your relationship. It is the little things that count (or so I have heard). Find lots of these little things and apply Kaizen on them, every day.
5. Mind
Your mind is your biggest asset. Improve your mind by feeding it everyday and planting good seeds in your brain. They will germinate and grow and determine the level of success you will get.
Success or failure is all in the mind. Think of all the little things that you can do to improve your mind. Is your mind clouded by jealousy or fear? Fight that battle. One battle at a time.
Kaizen can be applied in the following areas:
- The kind of thoughts doing the rounds in your mind.
- You self control, self mastery and self confidence.
- The image you have of yourself and your abilities.
- Time management and discipline.
Summary
Kaizen – A concept imported from Japan, is a process of continuously improving your life by making incremental changes in your life. It involves turning your actions into standardized processes. Instead of making giant leaps, you improve your life everyday in small baby steps.
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This is a load of crap. We cant just rely on small continuous improvements. Sometimes we need break through changes, and the sudden change of habits to better our life and our behaviour. Small steps improvement is to slow and risky when our success requires big changes quickly.
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Haha, Dan, Kai Zen right here!! It (might be) very hard, if not impossible for a new guest to your blog to go back and read all the posts from the begining of the year, but you my friend, make it easy for everyone by gradually read all your posts by doing what you’ve done here!! Once again, Thanks man. I love reading especially this one.
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daniel its been impressive reading your stuff on kaizen,its good nourishment for the mind.Keep it going brother.
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Daniel Ngari Reply:
September 6th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
@ Fred. Thanks bro.
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hi daniel,am actually encauraged that someone is hangry for success!i thought i was nuts for me to want more from me.you see,am never comfortable were i am,i dont believe that any human being should get comfortable with what they have,when you think you have made it there is someone else making hundred times better than you.am not saying that you become greed for money but success never ends.and thats me in short!i think love for success is the best gift anyone can give themselve.
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Daniel Ngari Reply:
September 6th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Yep Christine… the hunger for success coupled with a spirit of gratitude will open floodgates of riches and happiness.
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great stuff.. thanks.
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@ Nyomi – Yeah most of the ideas we talked about will eventually find themselves here. All the best with your new site. Can’t wait to visit.That clip was a goodie lol
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@ Ken – There is so much knowledge on the Internet sometimes I get overwhelmed. At the end of the day, it depends on what you are looking for. If you look for, say, Personal Development stuff you will find heaps. Never heard of discipline for the sake of discipline’s case. But it does not hit me as particularly evil.
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@ James Karuku – Good to hear from you and thanks for your inspiring message on facebook.
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@ Paula – you seem very eager to move on from baby steps to adult steps hehe. You will. All we are doing at the moment is setting up the foundation, covering all the bases and incrementally succeeding. Eventually that will gain momentum, and we can then call ourselves “adults” in success. All the best.
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@ Hilda – all the best as you apply Kaizen in your life. It was great meeting you and wish you all the best in 2009 and beyond.
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I’ve been a self improvement junkie since I was a kid and I’ve used the concept of baby steps in many areas of my life for years. It works for me! I remember you mentioned Kaizen to me a few months ago, Daniel; it’s great to see you advocating it here mate.
Cheers,
Nyomi
P.S. Watch the award-winning 1991 comedy “What About Bob” with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss to see baby steps in action. It’s an oldie but a goodie!
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Kaizen, its been applied at work but never thought id integrate it into my personal life. Thanx mate.
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What i honestly have an issue with is eastern philosophy of discipline for discipline sake…dangerous stuff in the wrong hands. but thats a whole different topic…otherwise the concept of baby steps and improving yourself everyday by doing small things…guarding your thought life etc is a very good thing.
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Never heard of the term Kaizen. Where do u get some of this stuff my boy??? Not that its wrong dont get me wrong.
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I love the Kaizen concept.. never heard of it but now I know what it is and I think it is awesome.
Even those giants once took the baby steps so I guess we all begin from there..
Then as we grow in life we can make bigger ones.
May your steps never slide… You shall never miss any of the steps but learn to enlarge your bounderies..
Thank again Dan.
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What a great concept! I had heard the term kaizen being usee by people i knw but had never understood wat it meant & didnt bother 2 ask.i agree that its so much easier 2 do anything in small increamental steps rather than large leaps as the task won’t appear unacheivable.its such a good concept 2 apply in all aspects of one’s life as u have pointed out and frm now on i will endeavour 2 lead a ‘kaizen’ lifestyle.
Great blog Daniel,keep up the great work!
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