The Kaizen principle

If you have ever been on the internet, you may have seen the term Kaizen principle mentioned somewhere.

Okay, that’s a bit of an understatement: it’s everywhere. From shady only-there-to-sell-you-something self-help sites to some actually quite good lifestyle sites to business, you name it.

It’s so omnipresent it’s almost boring.

But, it is an important principle. Or you could even say a common and normal behaviour turned into a formal principle. As such, it’s absolutely worth knowing for the sake of general knowledge if nothing else, and probably a good idea to implement as well at least on some aspects of your personal life.

Kaizen defined

Simply put, Kaizen refers to continuous improvement – an all-permeating desire and activity to to improve, often through generally minor actions on their own.

And the very nice thing about it is, it’s really easy to implement. Whatever you are doing, just ask yourself “how could I do this better”. Changes are, you can come up with at least one idea for improvement, if not several more.

Like are you sitting with a good posture right now?

Gotcha.

The brief history of Kaizen

Kaizen is usually associated with the Japanese culture, if not straightforwardly called a purely Japanese principle. However, I remember reading that it was in fact originally developed in the US.

Indeed, during WWII, the country as a whole had to improve the productivity of its industry sector, to cope with the continuously growing critical demands. However, there was obviously no time at all for any large overhauls, like ordering and installing new machines for a particular factory.

Instead, businesses of all sizes were instructed to look for any small way to improve something a little bit. Sound familiar?

And it obviously worked.

After the peace treaty, the same set of instructions was introduced to Japan, to help the country kick-start its economy and industry section after the devastation of the war. Kind of like the Marshall aid that Finland received (among with a significant portion of Western Europe).

And the rest is history. Japan succesfully managed to brand – whether intentionally or not – and rename the entire ideology as their own, while the US simultaneously completely forgot about it all. Talk about good business.

But, why?

So, obviously Kaizen is a powerful philosophy. We get that. But why the fascination with the small stuff?

True, the principle is often associated with small incremental steps forward. And equally true, the majority of your success will be determined by a few fundamentals, rather than lots of separate minor factors. But, the changes are you already have those big rocks in place. And even if you don’t, there’s nothing to stop Kaizen taking care of them, provided that you can identify them correctly and assign them a high-enough priority.

But the power of small things is not to be neglected – something that I’ve already written about. Even small things do add up, if there are sufficiently many of them. And Kaizen is an awesome way of making sure that there will be lots.

Additionally, sometimes small things are all you have left. Remember the Americans not being able to overhaul their factories in the middle of the war? Quite easy to come up with some personal-life equivalents of that, isn’t it? Like needing more time, but not being able to sleep less (nor should you).

In situations like that, Kaizen can provide you with a way to keep moving forward.

Don’t overdo it. Just. Don’t.

A word of caution, though. As you may have figured out on your own, there’s plenty of room for unhealthy obsession here. The principle is not intended to become an overwhelming, suffocating shadow of must that sucks the joy out of everything you do.

By contrast, there is a level that’s enough for any single aspect of your life.

It may be very little (like vacuuming once a week if you are not a cleanliness enthusiast), or it may be very much indeed (if you want to be among if not the very best at something), but it is. And once you reach that point, there’s no need to keep forcing your way forwards.

Instead, here, as anywhere, proper balance is crucial.

Best,

-Antti

The Kaizen principle