One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way

by Robert Maurer

Kaizen has two definitions: using very small steps to improve a habit, a process, or product using very small moments to inspire new products and inventions

As John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, expressed it, “You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” Other luminaries have spoken of the essential element of service:

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” —Martin Luther King Jr. “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.” —Mother Teresa

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” —Albert Einstein

“I would rather have it said, ‘He lived usefully’ than ‘He died rich.’ ” —Benjamin Franklin

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step.” —Lao Tzu

Kaizen Versus Innovation 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.

Change is frightening. This human fact is unavoidable whether the change is seemingly insignificant (visiting a new nightclub) or life-altering (having a baby).

large goal ➞ fear ➞ access to cortex restricted ➞ failure small goal ➞ fear bypassed ➞ cortex engaged ➞ success

If your expectation is that a well-run life should always be orderly, you are setting yourself up for panic and defeat.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” —Mark Twain

“What shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think to ask.” —Sam Keen

Negative Questions: A Toxic Mental Brew

respect for others, even those whose attitudes and answers we think we already understand.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” —Aesop, “The Lion and the Mouse”

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” —Desmond Tutu