As much as I try, I have a tendency of not being as productive as I could. I’m that guy that does nothing about a problem until I am forced to act. I either give the situation 110% or I simply do nothing. This all or noting attitude isn’t the best way to live your life. I would work myself to death and then recover just enough to do it all over again. With no moderation or consistency, balanced living becomes an even more daunting goal.
To change the way you see goals and carry out their execution, is easier than you think. First, you’ll start by ‘tricking’your senses and perception of the task and resources. Take cleaning the kitchen for example. The dishes, stove top, counters, floors and cabinets are a few of the standard surfaces that must be cleaned. This task seems huge in your head, it seems like you’ll be cleaning the kitchen until you die. Using Kaizen, this task takes on a new identity.
Kaizen is a Japanese principle of time management. It is common for people to view goals as needing huge immediate changes and long uninterrupted chunks of time. Kaizen is the idea that every task can be broken down into a series of small changes and a longer period of time.
Kaizen translates as ‘improvement’ or ‘continuous change for the better’. The idea is to eliminate overly hard periods of work, spreading the goals over a period of time and making the process of whatever the work is more efficient. It is a philosophy of work that makes Japan the manufacturing giant it is today and is used around the globe by many top competing companies.
So how do we apply this to the kitchen? Applying many efficient tiny goals to achieve the big objective in the most energy-efficient manner possible. Kaizen is all about moving forward in an interval that shows instant, tangible results as a form of motivation. Set a timer for one minute. You can work for a minute, no problem right? After you set to work and the timer goes off, look at what you’ve done in the minute. Could this have been done in a better manner? Is there something that takes precedent?
Take the time to ask yourself questions about what you are doing during your break. As you resume to work you can move the timer up to be a longer length of time. After every interval, look at what you have accomplished. Its pretty impressive right? as the cycles shift forward, you’ll find yourself doing the tasks in a better and better manner. This incentive will keep you on track and motivate you to finish. It could even motivate you to continue working in other necessary practices.
source and courtesy: educateinspirechange.org