Paul Abraham: How to make Kaizen work for you

By Paul Abraham of www.headingonwards.com

After introducing you to the Kaizen philosophy in my last article then let’s see how taking small steps the Kaizen way can help you.

Individuals generally have an instinctive desire to improve themselves whether this be physical, emotional, mental, or spiritually. When you first start your Kaizen journey then it will probably be in the physical area of your life such as exercise, sleep, and diet.

We have all made New Year resolutions to get fitter or lose weight only to fail as we challenge ourselves to completely change our diet or set a fitness programme designed for a marathon runner when the only exercise we presently do is walk to our local shop!

Running a whole marathon is a daunting task, seemingly impossible for some people, which may mean that they will never get started. Running over 26 miles sounds such a long way to a non-runner.

If, instead, you focus on running the first 100 yards, then 200 yards and so on, you can conquer the task by taking small manageable steps.

To put Kaizen in to context and how it can work for the individual is, for instance, if you want to get fitter but do nothing apart from pressing the TV remote or walking to the fridge, then you could start your new fitness regime by standing in your lounge and marching on the spot for 60 seconds and then increase it to 90 seconds the next day and so on until you feel like doing a gentle walk outside.

If you wish to increase your routine to jogging then you can do by walking for 120 seconds, jogging for 30 seconds and so on, again increasing the times as and when you feel confident enough to do so.

By achieving these small goals on a regular basis, then this can also improve your mental health and give you the confidence to change things in other areas of your life. Continuously improve, achieve, and aspire!

Should you desire to lose a few pounds in weight for your next holiday or family celebration, Kaizen will give you the opportunity to do so in a healthy and stress-free environment.

Nutritional experts inform us that it is far better to have a gradual weight loss over time than going on a crash diet losing a lot of weight initially but then getting frustrated as you stop losing any more pounds.

Losing one pound a week equals losing a stone in weight in 14 weeks without having to starve yourself and causing you extra mental stress.

You could start by reducing your biscuit intake at lunchtime from two biscuits to one or changing a snack from a bar of chocolate or bun to an apple or orange which will help you lose weight and is a more healthy option for your body. Small steps could be replaced by small portions!

“It would be so great if it were possible to go through life without making a single mistake but there is no such path. Falling, tripping, losing the way, making mistakes, little by little, walking one step at a time, this is the only way.” Natsuki Takaya

Next article “Stress Management using Kaizen”.