Rock Bottom Rise Part 1: Kaizen and the Power of M&Ms
You probably haven’t heard the term Kaizen before. Most people haven’t.
Kaizen is a Japanese word that means, “change for better.” According to the Wikipedia page, “The word refers to any improvement, one-time or continuous, large or small, in the same sense as the English word ‘’improvement.’”
I first came across the word while reading the book, “One Small Step Can Change Your Life” by Robert Maurer. Since then, I’ve seen it in various forms all over the web.
After reading Mr. Maurer’s book and doing a little light perusal on the web in search of ways to apply Kaizen to specific areas of my life, I would sum up the kaizen working philosophy this way:
Continued and incremental improvement or progress toward an event, goal, or achievement, every day.
That’s it. Notice I didn’t say “huge improvements” or “major progress.”
BUT, you have know and be able to demonstrate the progress you’ve made or results you’ve gotten in a given day to someone else. So you can’t just say, okay, I thought about doing the dishes for five minutes, that’s enough kaizen on that subject.
In my example, a good example of a productive kaizen task with regard to dishes might be, “Wash one plate.” Now don’t laugh, because this is where the power of kaizen comes into play.
I can hear you right now, Mr. Nay-sayer. “I have a family of six! How is washing one plate progress toward an end goal?”
To you, nay-sayer, I would say this. Washing one plate might not seem like much, but it’s infinite progress compared to the guy who washed zero plates. And the people around you will notice that. And the other point is, once you wash one dish, you’ll probably pick up a second one because you’d feel silly or selfish walking away from a sink full of dirty plates while holding your one clean plate high above your head in triumph.
It’s not about getting tasks done that are stupidly simple. It’s about starting small and silly, and then building momentum.
Right now I’m trying to implement a kaizen-like system into my daily routine. Or rather, I’m adopting a kaizen system because I have no daily routine right now.
It’s laughable, so let’s all take a shameless minute and laugh at this picture. A man in his mid-30s with two kids of his own and three stepdaughters, all under the age of 19 and at school-age or transitional points in their lives. And we have Mid-Thirties Man (MTM) and his amazing girlfriend living with MTM’s family in their basement bedroom, because MTM hasn’t been able to achieve zen with kaizen.
That’s enough of that. It’s not the point.
I like to combine the power of two gurus sometimes, to see if I can achieve something exponential with the combination. Plus, it allows me to study more and different kinds of mentors, which is something I enjoy doing. So this way, by looking for combinations of two mentors, I can automatically search and find twice as many mentors and use their teachings. Rather than pressuring myself to find or listen to one mentor and stick with it, this puts a creative spin on something I definitely struggle with. That’s why I’m writing it here.
Sometimes, Medium is my epiphany journal.
Anyway, in this case, the two gurus are Robert Maurer and Jack Canfield. Maurer is the author of the book I mentioned above, and Jack Canfield is a personal development “guy.” He’s the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul empire and continues to teach business in various ways online and in workshops.
Canfield’s teachings around goals center on the idea that there are seven major areas of life we need to be focused on. Those areas are:
Financial, Career/Business, Free Time/Family Time, Health/Appearance, Relationship, Personal Growth, and Making a Difference
Jack recommends having a vital and vibrant list of 21 goals. Quick math means that he suggests carrying a revolving list of three goals in each of the seven major areas.
I’m aiming for one goal in each of these areas right now. I’ve been at rock bottom, emotionally, financially, and spiritually for about three years now. Some days are better than others, but I don’t want to overwhelm myself with a list of things that won’t get done because I’m too overwhelmed with pressure to do them all perfectly.
As I said earlier, the beauty of the kaizen method is breaking things down into laughable chunks. Chunks so small you feel a little silly or stupid writing them down, and then you feel it again when you go to do the task. But THAT’S THE POINT.
We’re using silly little chunked-down tasks to trick our anxiety, stress, procrastination, laziness, overwhelm, depression, mania, or just our natural tendency to try and bring order to chaos.
I could go on, but this post is long enough now. Well, almost.
Here are my seven stupidly-small kaizen goals for this week. And by the way, I suppose I’m including the work of three gurus here, technically, because I’m going to attempt to write each goal in SMART format. This is something Mr. Canfield recommends as well, but I believe it originally came from somewhere else.
Think about how bad “Rock Bottom” is as a concept. Make it worse. No, a little worse. Now you’re right about where I am sometimes these days. Keep that in mind as you read and chuckle at my list. Remember that the key is to get the snowball rolling.
Each of the goals below will be Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. S.M.A.R.T.
Financial: I will order copies of my credit report from each of the three bureaus, by Friday, November 8, 2019, in an effort to get a clear picture of my finances and debts going forward.
Career/Business: I will apply to three more transcription companies and 14 brick-and-mortar jobs by November 8 2019. I have started working as an independent contractor, but I’m not making money worth speaking of yet. It’s better than zero, but it’s also a not-so-funny kaizen-size chunk compared to what I need to be making. This needs to change in a hurry.
Free Time/Family Time: I will schedule a family dinner and include as many my kids as possible one night a week. I will make the arrangements and put a date on the calendar by November 8, 2019. I want to spend more and more valuable time with my kids. Life moves pretty fast and I want to teach them what I think is a vital skill in today’s hyperspeed world. How to slow down. Sitting down at dinner once a week should send that message loud and clear.
Health/Appearance: I will make doctor, dentist, optometrist, and physical therapy appointments for myself by November 8, 2019. I need to get an accurate picture of my health situation before I figure out what areas need the most work. I know putting all these phone calls in one goal might seem dangerous. For me, the phone isn’t really a barrier-of-entry. I consider one phone call to be such a small task that it gives me no anxiety whatsoever (except for maybe the dentist) to lump them together. This one should go over easy, and we’ll definitely be dissecting reasons why if it doesn’t.
Relationships: I will reach out to a loved one every morning at 10:00AM, either through text or a five-minute phone call, to find out how they’re doing and offer a listening ear. I’ve spent a long time in my depressed, anxious, selfish bubble, and the fastest way out is to let my loved ones know that I still care about each and every one of them every day. These phone calls will hopefully make everyone’s day better. If not, my intentions are unclear and I’ll need to re-evaluate this one.
Personal Growth: I will (I’ve already started this one) read one personal development book at a time, and use my Blogger site (Anthony Studies Personal Development, possibly to be renamed Tom Bilyeu is my Morpheus) to provide summaries, definitions, opinions and actionable steps that come out of each chapter. That’s my goal with this! I want one actionable goal at the end of each post, which I will then go and do in an effort to make myself feel good. Momentum!
Here’s the kaizen version I’ll really use: I will read at least one chapter of Michael Strahan’s book, Wake Up Happy, every day. After that, I will develop a piece of content for my blog (and social media for possible branding) using information from or talking about something relevant to that chapter. Remember that strict adherence to this formula (read-post-repeat) is not necessary. The exercise here is that we’re focused on a balance scale. On one side, you’ve got throughput. Results. Measurable achievements. And on the other side, you’ve got the actionability or usability of the information.
In other words, I need simply (but not easily) to make sure I’m not going through the book so fast that I can’t extract value. And whenever I can’t extract value, I need to figure out if it’s my lack of commitment to the work or if it’s some weakness or irrelevance in what I’m reading.
But the best way to extract value at a high rate is to get good at extracting value. Speed will come with the confidence that comes with great results. This one’s very measurable. I think I’ll see great returns in approaching my philosophy with this tool. Anyway, I’m starting with “Wake Up Happy” by Michael Strahan. In the coming days, you’ll see a link as I mark the birth of said blog with a celebration.
And finally…
Making a Difference: I will research a list of five charities I will begin donating to in 2020. Giving back is important, and even though I’m not in a position to do so right now, I’m in a GREAT position to position myself to donate even a small amount to five worthy organizations in 2020. And the best way to move forward on that goal right now is to compile a list of charities.
That’s it for now! Next up, in Part Two I’ll address to Power of M&Ms and the role they’ll play in my daily life.
For now. Peace.
