“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity, and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Do you create New Year’s resolutions? Many people promise themselves that this is the year they’ll quit eating junk food, write their first book, be nicer to their mother-in-law, clean out their garage, etc. Did you know that over 80% of New Year’s resolutions are dropped after two months? According to Forbes, one poll survey showed “that the average resolution lasts just 3.74 months. Only 8% of respondents tend to stick with their goals for one month, while 22% last two months, 22% last three months and 13% last four months.”
Maybe it’s time to try a new approach. How about a resolution to do the things that make all your goals more achievable? You can’t lose a lot of weight if you don’t have the habits that will support your efforts. You can’t have a successful online business if you just start a blog and then quit after the first month. You have to change your mind before anything else will change. Here are some new ideas for you to consider.
Kaizen For The New Year
What Is Kaizen? (pronounced ˈkīz(ə)n, ˈkīˌzen) Kaizen is a Japanese term that means “change for better” or continuous improvement.
Kaizen: “Japanese for continuous and incremental improvement, a business philosophy about working practices and efficiency.”
First came the “continuous improvement” theories of efficiency expert W. Edwards Deming in the 30s and 40s. After the war, his ideas were picked up by the Japanese and developed into “Kaizen,” a method for efficiently creating quality products through small and continuous changes.
What does this have to do with self-improvement and New Year’s resolutions? A lot, because it can be a good approach to accomplishing your personal goals, too.
Do you want to quit smoking? The kaizen way might be to stop smoking in your car, as the first small step. Then you could switch to a brand with less nicotine, stop smoking in the house, and so on.
Maybe you want to get into the habit of reading every day. Begin with short reading sessions. Set realistic goals like reading for 10 minutes each day. Gradually increase the time as you get comfortable.
Kaizen uses “small questions.” In factories, this meant no more questions like “What are you going to do to improve the company profits this year?” That elicits fear more than creative ideas. A better question is, “What small change could we make in your department to reduce expenses or improve quality?” This approach was found to be far more productive.
For purposes of improving your life, this means asking small suggestive questions, like, “How can I spend five minutes writing today?” or “What small change could I make to improve my eating habits today?” Small questions get rid of fear, intimidation, and procrastination that come with facing the issues head-on.
Small questions, small comfortable changes, and continual progress – that’s kaizen. Imagine where you’d be if you had consciously made one small change in your life each week for the last few years. Better yet, imagine where you’ll be next year if you start the process today.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” – Lao Tzu
Forget The Affirmations
Stand in front of that mirror if you want, repeating to yourself “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” If it doesn’t do what you hope, though, here’s a new idea (okay, an old idea revamped) because evidence is more convincing than affirmation. To that, I add: What you look for, you find, and it changes your mind.
Prove this to yourself by taking note of any nice people that come across your path for a few days. Make a mental note each time you see someone who’s friendly. It’ll change your perception of people in a positive way. Then, to test the idea further, watch for rude people for a few days, and you’ll see them all over. Do this exercise, and you’ll quickly come to understand that you experience the world not just according to what is there, but even more according to what you pay attention to.
Use this to motivate yourself towards positive change. Focus on your successes. If your New Year’s resolution is to exercise more, take note of when you remember to park farther away from the store so you have to walk. You may even want to mark it on a chart. Or maybe you’ve decided you want to spend less time watching television and spend more time reading self-development books. Every time you pass up watching television and pick up a book instead, even if it’s only for 5 minutes, pat yourself on the back.
The more you focus on your successes, the more of them you’ll experience. If you want to lose weight, note every time you walk past the refrigerator without opening it. Focus on and remember any success. You can start doing this right now.
This is how you do first things first. Can you see the wisdom in this method? Instead of making the typical New Year resolutions, resolve to change your mind and it’ll affect your habits.
“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.” -Robert D. Maurer
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*”Imagine Big: Unlock the Secret to Living Out Your Dreams,” By Terri Savelle Foy. In today’s world, it can be difficult to envision a future that’s successful, purposeful, prosperous, stable, meaningful and even lucrative. However, as Terri shares in IMAGINE BIG, we cannot allow what we see happening today to limit what we can imagine God doing for us supernaturally in our lives. Purchase her book and find out more: IMAGINE BIG