Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Kaizen - change for the better

The Japanese have a word that embodies a concept of striving to always improve. A "change for the better", the English translation being a "continuous improvement", or "continual improvement." It is something embraced within business improvement models such as Six Sigma.

The Japanese way encourages small improvements day after day, continuously. To understand that this is an on-going, never-ending improvement process. A "soft and gradual" method opposed to western habits to scrap everything and start with new.

Even though the term is applied to business, it can certainly be applied to your daily life. Making small changes in how you approach your daily life. One can use cigarette smoking as an example. For some, going 'cold turkey' is a method to accomplish something all at once. Yet statistics show it's one of the less effective ways of quitting. For every 100 smokers who quit without aids or counselling, only 10 will remain non-smokers for 12 months.

So maybe a more gradual and persistent move to change a habit is better. In turn one can make changes in attitude by taking small and gradual steps to improve. Staying on a path to change can be difficult but the reward is much greater. Big steps or small steps to change, at least take a step in a new direction, a new attitude.

"Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better." - Richard Hooker (English Theologian, Author and Preacher, 1554-1600)

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