One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way

At first glance, this appears to be nothing more than an example of a rock band’s narcissistic excess. Van Halen’s tours were among the first to bring highly technical, very complex stagecraft to venues. Their legendary lead vocalist David Lee Roth says, “We’d pull up with nine eighteen-wheeler trucks full of gear, where the standard was three truc

when you’re landing planes atop a ship in the middle of the ocean, one error, even a tiny one, could spell disaster. Officers and crew are trained not to assume the system will run perfectly on its own. Instead, they look for the slightest signal that things are going awry. They listen for subtle signs of tension in pilots’ voices when they circle

low-key change helps the human mind circumnavigate the fear that blocks success and creativity.

When we face personal crises, the kaizen strategy of solving small problems offers consolation and practical assistance. If we are involved in a lawsuit, or fall ill, or find that the economic tides are leaving our business high and dry, or our partner is falling out of love with us, we cannot fix our circumstances with one quick, decisive moment o

This common but counterproductive phenomenon is captured in a familiar joke: A drunk is on his hands and knees looking for his keys under a streetlight. A policeman approaches him and asks, “What are you doing?” The drunk replies in a slurred voice, “I’m looking for my keys.” The policeman further inquires, “Where did you drop them?” The drunk says

Kaizen Tip You want to do something creative: write a story or a song, paint a picture, dream up your perfect career, or come up with a zinger of a solution to an office problem. But you have no idea where to start. Your mind keeps coming up empty. During times like these, kaizen can help you summon your powers of inspiration. Although you can’t fo

I’ve developed a theory about why kaizen works when all else fails. I outline this theory in the first chapter. The succeeding chapters are devoted to the personal application of kaizen and encompass six different strategies. These strategies include: asking small questions to dispel fear and inspire creativity thinking small thoughts to develop ne

Take George, a police officer who hated his job but just couldn’t think of a more suitable career. I asked him to find one moment each day when he enjoyed his police work. As he wrote down these small moments, he noticed a pattern. He felt most satisfied when he talked to prisoners in the squad car, asking them about their problems and giving them

“Confront the difficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.” —Tao Te Ching