I will be the first to tell you that the reason major life changes are so traumatic is because there is no Kaizen approach to them. Life changing results have been marketed and have been rumored to be successful when you turn your life upside down. Truth is, it doesn't work that way. Kaizen literally means "good change" in Japanese and refers to the philosophy is continuous, small daily improvements over a long period of time.
Kaizen has the ability to compound the daily effects of positivity. Kaizen requires you to use baby steps to get to the bigger picture. The mind and body will signal some overwhelm when the decisions become too heavy. With small, incremental changes and baby steps, the body doesn't know it's changed it's trajectory to a healthier body! Think about it as a "double down". One positive thing leads to two, two to four, four to eight and so on. Want the math?
“If you start out with $100 at the beginning of the year and you were able to increase what you have by 1% every single day, at the end of the year, you would have $3,778.34 = $100 * (1 + 1%) ^ 365. That is 37.78x what you had at the beginning of the year. Get that 1% every single day!” — Zappos. Zappos urged it's employees to change by 1% a day to become better employees by the end of 2016.
So, how or why is this relevant? Well, as we discuss meditation, spirituality, weight loss, water intake, calories in/out, etc. we have to consider how much are we changing and is it a reasonable amount. When we approach this using the Kaizen method, then yes, it will be reasonable and we are more apt and geared for a lifestyle change as opposed to a fad diet or a 2 week break from reality.
If you need a great book to read about habits and how to evolve gracefully through some tough times, Atomic Habits by James Clear was a great read! Click the picture below for the link to purchase on Amazon.
Comments