The One Ball: Small Kaizen

Find the all in small.

Click on any of the balls above to see how one small click can expand Kaizen!

Kazien. Kaizen is is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. Robet Maurer wrote a wonderful book called The Kaizen Way: One Small Step Can Change Your Life. Maurer does a superb job of helping us focus on the small. He encourages and guides us to take small comfortable steps towards improvement.

Small steps. His six suggested small strategies:

1. Ask small question to inspire creativity and dispel fear.
2. Think small thoughts to develop new habits and skills.
3. Take small actions to guarantee success
4. Solve small problems embedded in bigger problems
5. Give and receive small rewards to produce better results
6. Recognize and dwell in the small, often ignored, crucial moments.

Moon shot. As Neil Armstrong stated when he stepped on the moon. “that’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Our small steps, actions, and thoughts can take one giant step through fear while also moving us much closer to our desired outcomes.

A small energy boost. We seem to believe that small = insignificant. I believe that small is the new significant. We are so overloaded that we often neglect to see the power in small acts, questions, or interactions. For example, Jane Dutton demonstrated the power of small interactions (HQI: High Quality Interactions) to be the single greatest contributor to organizational energy. One of these interactions can occur in two seconds and many of them woven through the day energize other people, ourselves, and our organizations.

Small Toss. Have you ever thrown a ball to a young child. You often get them to cup their hands, you stand very close, and you make a very small toss of the ball into their waiting hands and watch the glee spread over their face when they catch the ball. Start thinking of the glee you can create for yourself by thinking small thoughts, asking small questions, or taking samll actions. Here are 3 suggestions:

1. Read Maurer’s book, The Kaizen Way – transfrom his small suggestions into small and significant actions.
2. Practice small acts such as taking a few second to really look at a co-worker or to voice something you noticed or appreciated about them.
3. Chop stress into managable chunks by continually thinking about the smallest and most significant actions you can take to handle various strssful situations.

Confront the difficult when it is still easy;

Accomplish he great task by a series of small acts.

~ Tao Te Ching.

This moment. Maurer concludes his book with this small question: What more important task does this life hold than to draw out the possiblity in each moment?