There is a Japanese concept called "Kaizen" whcih simply means working or living in a way where you are making constant improvement. Of course, in order to make any improvement at all, you need to know where you are at the moment. You need some sort of "baseline" from which you can measure your improvement. So you can start writing down where you are.
I like this Kaizen concept better than the "goal setting" that you hear so much about. For years I have heard about setting goals within different areas of a balanced life. Maybe there is no difference between Kaizen versus setting goals. But I am more motivated when I think of Kaizen.
Of course, you could always wait til you are in the twilight of life and then start making your "bucket list" like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman did in the movie with the same name.
But my personal Kaizen method consists of making a spreadsheet with maybe 30-40 different things that I want to do or improve upon. To the left I give each item a number from 1 to 10 with 1 having the greatest priority and 10 having the least.
To the right I have four cells. One is labled "Not Started", the next is "Started", the next is "Almost Complete" the last is "Completed". And I fill in colors for each item I want to work on, depending how I am proceeding.
At any point in time, I can add and delete items. I can then select and sort the entire list based upon the priority.
This works for me. It is a visual illustration showing me what I want to improve or do and how far along I have gotten. Sometimes I don't start and complete an item for months and months. It is usually a low priority item. Other times, I quickly add and remove items that are of high priority and that are completed.
Whatever works, works. Good luck.
This was a good blog John! I will have to create a Kaizen. It is some many things I want to do and I have been threatening to put them down on paper but your method will work and help tremendously.
Thank you,
Sharon
Posted by: Sharon | October 15, 2011 at 07:16 AM