Lifestyle changes can be overwhelming: It's hard to take on major goals without falling prey to self-doubt. But with 'KAIZEN', big goals become small, approachable steps. This Japanese method first made waves in the business world by launching Toyota to success; it also adds magic to Marie Kondo's life-changing method of tidying up. As Kondo puts it: "You can take the first small step toward your dream today, and keep taking small steps to grow your passions". Rather than trying to fit in your new activity when you have a small break from all of your other commitments, allocate some set time to your new hobby. Fill out the time in your calendar and set a reminder so that you definitely don’t plan anything else in its place. The philosophy is simple: Great change is made through small steps. And the science is irrefutable: Small steps circumvent the brain's built-in resistance to new behavior. Just do a little bit. Five minutes a day--anyone can carve out that much time. So I would read on the bus or the subway. And sometimes it was only 5 or 10 minutes. I did 10 minutes on the exercise bike. I worked on an unfinished project for 10 minutes.

García, J.L., Rivera, D.G., Iniesta, A.A.: Critical success factors for Kaizen implementation in manufacturing industries in Mexico. Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 68(1–04), 537–545 (2013) Marianne Power, author of Help Me! This wonderful book explains the Japanese art of turning small kizuki (realizations) into improvements. A great kaizen on the subject of kaizen itself, it will help anyone interested in lifelong learning, mental and physical health, career success, and happiness to achieve inner harmony. One of the primary goals of the kaizen philosophy is to reduce waste. This includes waste in terms of time, materials, and resources. By using the PDCA cycles, organizations can identify areas where resources are being wasted and take steps to reduce or eliminate this waste. The result is a more efficient organization that delivers high quality products/services a lower cost. Improvement for the Long Term This beautifully colour illustrated and photographed book offers a way to build good habits and remove bad ones, without being too hard on yourself along the way. The focus is on having patience, shaping solutions for yourself rather than following others and not giving up when things aren’t working. Rather than being critical of your faults, the emphasis is on mindful, positive change. Well-known in the business and sports worlds as a method for mapping incremental goals, Kaizen is also a wonderful tool for slowly improving aspects of your life, without feeling daunted or overwhelmed by the challenge. Day 1: Kaizen blitz introduction from top management, blitz team training on process improvement, and project review with a high-level map of the blitz process

The Toyota Way

One of the biggest barriers to continuous improvement is clinging to old practices or assuming new methods will fail. The 5S principles aim to enhance workplace efficiency by constantly looking for ways to eliminate waste. Organizations should refrain from thinking that just because something worked before means it will continue to work. The 6S of lean added safety to 5S, emphasizing the setup of preventive controls for safe work operations. “Progress cannot be generated when we are satisfied with existing situations.” Electronic History Records (eBR/eDHR) Future-proof your operations with a right-the-first-time eBR/eDHR Kaizen is a Japanese word that refers to "achieving great and lasting success through small, steady steps," an interesting—although not necessarily intuitive—place to start for a person like me who sometimes thinks all good change comes in one fell swoop! In practicing kaizen you begin by making tiny but regular steps toward a goal so that you can circumvent whatever (fear, inertia, etc.) keeps you from starting out, and it eventually snowballs into real movement and significant change. So, for example, you might begin a workout program by exercising one minute per day at first or try instituting portion control and healthy eating habits, not by cutting out sweets cold turkey, but just by throwing out that first bite of dessert for a couple weeks and working your way up to the rest.

Labai lengvai skaitėsi, su daug pavyzdžių (kas man patinka!) ir praktinių patarimų...Man patiko, kad joje gali rasti konkrečių idėjų, kaip keisti įpročius įvairiose gyvenimo srityse - sveikatoje, darbe, piniguose, namuose ar santykiuose. Taip pat įdomu šiek tiek susidurti su japoniškos kultūros įpročiais ir požiūriu, iš kurio tikrai yra ko pasimokyti.

Clear is known for distilling complex topics into simple behaviours that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and top their field. I have not tried Kaizen to confront my fears, although Maurer gives advice and examples for that too. Awad, M., Shanshal, Y.A.: Utilizing Kaizen process and DFSS methodology for new product development. Int. J. Qual. Reliab. Manag. 34(3), 378–394 (2017) Choose Yourself is a relatively short and cheap book, and I would advise anyone to read it, whether or not you are interested in kaizen or self-improvement. James is a funny and vulnerable writer who has lived an interesting life and is not afraid to share it with the reader.

Moyano-Fuentes, J., Bruque-Cámara, S., Einsenberg, J.: La influencia de las redes sociales en la adaptación de los trabajadores al cambio tecnológico. Cuadernos de Economía y Dirección de Empresa 1(31), 147–170 (2007)

When your personal life goals are in harmony with the challenges that lie before you, that’s when the magichappens. As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote: By asking small, gentle questions, we keep the fight-or-flight response in the “off” position. Kaizen questions such as “What’s the smallest step I can take to be more efficient?” or “What can I do in five minutes a day to reduce my credit-card debt?” or “How could I find one source of information about adult education classes in my city?” allow us to bypass our fears.

In Choose Yourself, James argues that the world is changing, and the jobs market will likely never look the same again. If anything, this is even more true post-COVID. All the things we were taught were “safe” options are under threat. On top of that, robots are coming to take our jobs. James says that it’s up to us to choose ourselves and use modern tools and channels to build the life we want by serving other people.People who struggle with kaizen do so not because the steps are hard but because they are easy. They can’t overcome the cultural training that says change must always be instantaneous, it must always require steely self-discipline, and it must never be pleasurable. Confront the difficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.” Tao Te Ching This book guides individuals to employ Kaizen’s principles– the famous Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement – in achieving personal success. It provides a step-by-step approach enabling you to start right away. Just six minutes of reading before bed has been shown to reduce stress levels by two-thirds and promote good sleep. Choose a couple of nights of the week where you read before bed rather than look at a screen and see if it makes a difference.