All In on Kaizen: Use Kaizen to Create Your Life Goals

How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time. That’s more than just a little obvious, right? Of course, it’s impossible to scale a mountain in one step. If it’s steep enough, even one day. The same is true for life goals.

It’s impossible to accomplish them in one step. And that’s the issue right there, isn’t it? We can’t accomplish our goals in one step. In our have-it-now society, we almost insist on being at the top of the mountain before we even start to climb. 

Story Time

Recently, I was faced with needing to meet an urgent goal of preparing my body for a knee replacement. Many years ago, as a teen, I injured my right knee jumping hurdles. After all these years it finally gave out on me. Even though I’d known for years it was an inevitability, my body was not prepared. I didn’t meet the BMI requirements and my overall health was just ok. I needed to make fast adjustments so I could improve the chances of my new joint lasting. 

I’d tried to lose weight and get in shape an untold number of times over the years. I’d set goals and honestly, they were all too overwhelming. It was too big a mountain to climb in one step. So, my efforts failed. I couldn’t fail this time if I was going to be able to get a new knee and be able to move again.

Using Kaizen to Set a Life Goal

That’s when I remembered training I’d had several years ago. At the time the LEAN management style was all the rage. The focus for my Company was to find ways to increase productivity, processes, and efficiency. A big part of the LEAN process is a Japanese philosophy called Kaizen, which means change for good by making small incremental changes or improvements. It’s been used in manufacturing for decades, but the principles can also be used to create life goals.

Kaizen focuses on building habits through small continuous improvements over time to create real change. Doing this takes the pressure off the outcome and can help you stay consistent with moving toward accomplishing goals at a comfortable pace. Who doesn’t need less pressure?

Remembering this, I used the five tips I’m sharing with you today to set my goal.  It’s still a work in progress because that mountain is steep. But, that’s the point of Kaizen, continuous improvement. My personal health goal is my example, but the tips can be used on any life goal.

There is only one way to eat an elephant: A bite at a time.

Desmond Tutu

Tip 1: Start Small

Kaizen teaches you to break down the end goal into manageable chunks you can do in blocks of time and by taking small steps toward achieving it. 

The mistake I made in the past was setting a goal of losing weight. That’s nice and all, but it’s too vague and in my case too big. See, I didn’t have 10 lbs. to lose, try 10x that much! 

I decided that I didn’t need to lose all 100 lbs. before surgery. Research shows that healthy weight loss is about 2 lbs a week. That allows your body to acclimate and studies have shown slow and steady leads to a more positive lasting outcome. 

There were 5 weeks until my surgery, so my goal became to lose 10 lbs. in 5 weeks. A nice round number. As it happens that 10 lbs. put me right at the top of the suggested max BMI for joint replacement.

Tip 2: Set Clear Expectations

The second tip is to set clear expectations and establish a timeline for each small step. Well, this worked out great! Using my end goal of losing 100 lbs and knowing that I could safely lose 10 lbs in 5 weeks, I broke my ultimate goal into 10 five-week chunks. That sounds way more manageable and far less scary than “lose 100 lbs”, doesn’t it? 

Think carefully about what you would like to improve. Once you’ve identified it, how can you work towards that improvement? What are the small clear steps you can take to reach that goal?

Tip 3: Make Your Plan

Third, Kaizen encourages you to break your goals down into small, manageable tasks that you can complete daily or weekly. This helps you to stay focused, and motivated, and to see your progress over time. With the goal broken down, it was time to make the plan.

I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started brainstorming what I could do to reach my first goal. I asked myself what three to five small things could I do to keep moving forward toward my goal.  

As I planned each step, I tried to identify any potential obstacles or challenges I might face. Some examples I came up with were my limited mobility at the moment and an upcoming birthday celebration. I thought of ways to overcome them and added them to my plan. 

Be mindful of how you’re spending your time and energy. Make sure to focus on the tasks that will help you progress. Put it on the calendar. I scheduled my workouts, menu creation, shopping, and meal-prep time. Getting them on the calendar and setting reminders made them a priority. 

Tip 4: Keep Track of Progress

In Kaizen, tracking results and measuring progress is a big component of success in achieving your desired result. Otherwise, how do you know what’s working and what isn’t? Having a way to track and measure your progress helps keep you motivated and on track. 

Once you’ve laid out your goals and the steps you’ll take to reach them, consider how you’ll measure each step and goal to know when they’ve been reached. What milestones will you put in place? Add those to your plan. It’s important to reflect on your journey and to think about what you have accomplished so far. 

To track my progress I made a spreadsheet to keep the numbers. I tracked, and still do, my weight and body measurements to help me know if what I put in place was working. But, weight loss is not just about the food you eat and how much you move. A huge part of successful weight loss is mindset. 

In addition to the spreadsheet, I use journaling to measure my physical and emotional progress. Each day, week, and month I take 5-10 minutes to do a review. I track my food intake and movement, but it’s more than that. I also ask: What did I do to move forward toward reaching your goal? What went right? What challenges did I run into? How did I overcome those? This helps me stay on track and make adjustments.

Tip 5: Stay Flexible

Patience is a key component of Kaizen. The changes and improvements are meant to be deliberate and will take time. Along the way, mistakes are inevitable. Not everything will go according to the plan you laid out. When that happens, use those mistakes and road bumps as learning opportunities. Take the lessons you learn and adjust your plan. Like Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

By encouraging progress over perfection and taking bite-sized chunks out of the big picture, Kaizen is a great way to approach personal growth and development. Kaizen is a process of continual improvement, so be prepared to make changes along the way.

Celebrate Your Accomplishments

Bonus tip time! The best way to keep yourself motivated and confident as you work on your goals is to celebrate as you reach your milestones. Find a way to reward yourself and reflect on what you’ve accomplished. Journal about it, share it with friends, or maybe even buy yourself a little gift.

With time and dedication, you can make significant changes in your life using Kaizen principles. By applying them to your personal life, you can make lasting progress toward your goals. It’s a great way to stay focused and motivated and to make small improvements over time. Start by setting meaningful goals, breaking them down into small tasks, taking action, and celebrating your successes. Before you know it, you’ll be standing at the top of that mountain!

Download my digital journal below. Leave me a comment with any questions. Also, if you want to share, I’d love to hear how using Kaizen helps you achieve your goals. Wishing you much happiness in your unique journey.