Mojo Monday - Beyond Productivity: The Kaizen Mindset with Carly Taylor

Published Aug 25, 2024, 2:00 PM

Most of us have heard of Kaizen and it's relevance to productivity and processes. However, this is not the true Japanese meaning of Kaizen. Kaizen is more than productivity. It is a deeply personal mindset that we can all adopt in order to live life aligned with what is truely important to us. In this episode, Carly will shed light on what Kaizen is and gives you a practical tool to develop the Kaizen mindset.

 

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Connect with Carly - carlytaylorcoaching.com.au

Hi, everybody. Welcome to Mojo Monday. I'm Carl Taylor, and today we're going to dive into the Japanese philosophy of kaizan. Now, many of you may be familiar with kaizan, but I will say that this podcast may change your approach to kaizan, and you will find out why as we go on. But before we get into it, if you're anything like me, you might have a big dream or a goal that feels so huge and so daunting that you just avoid it altogether. It's like there's this invisible barrier between you and getting started. It's like a wall built from fear or procrastination. And kaisan is an approach to gently breakdown that wall without getting overwhelmed by it. So what is kaizan? So most people have heard of kaizan as continuous improvement, and it's a framework that's been popularized by Toyota for productivity and processes. But through my study of Japanese psychology, I've learnt that much like the word iki guy, which I have spoken about before, Japanese words and phrases often have this deeper meaning than what our Western interpretation is. And this s applies to kaizan. So this is why I have discovered the true meaning of kaizan isn't just about continuous improvement. While it's been used effectively in business, Kaisan's actually very deeply personal. It's a mindset that we can all tap into. And this caught my attention because anything related to understanding and strengthening the mind is very much my passion. So kaisan is made up of two Japanese words, Kai, meaning change, and zen meaning good, So at its simplest, kaizan translates to good change. But it goes even deeper than this. So in Japanese, each character can be broken down into these smaller components, each with its own meaning. Kai is made up of two symbols, one meaning self and the other actually represents a whip, and it's a visual so if you saw the characters, you can kind of make out that it looks like somebody whipping themselves on the back. So this may sound a bit weird and intense, but what it really signifies is that, or what it's really about, is self discipline. It's this idea that change starts with you and it's up to you to take charge of your your own growth and then zen, which we know there's zen Buddhism, but this zen actually has a different meaning, and it's made up of two symbols as well, and this is even a bit stranger. One is sheep and the other is old, so together it suggests sacrifice, but it's a sacrifice for the greater good. So this brings us to the question of how do we develop this kaisan mindset? How do we find the discipline to make the changes that we need and to make the sacrifices for our own growth. And this is where intention comes in. In Japanese, the word for intention is shiko, and when you break that down, it means heart and direction. I love that to live with intention is to follow your heart, to align your actions with what truly matters to you. For me, this means that kaizan is about personal responsibility. It's up to you to do the work, to make the sacrifices in pursuit of what truly matters to you or for the greater good. And so while kaizan is often used in business and processes, we can apply this mindset on a personal level, and that's when intention comes in. Living with intention, following your heart and aligning your daily actions with your purpose. So in order to achieve Kaizan, you really have to connect with your purpose. It's not just about goals, it's about your why, knowing what's deeply important to you. What sacrifices are you willing to make to live intentionally and with purpose. And these sacrifices aren't just the external sacrifices like skipping that third glass of wine, but also the internal sacrifices dealing with the discomfort that comes with change. So Kaisan goes beyond just taking small steps. It's about how you show up, how you spend your time, and how you use your purpose as a compass to move forward and grow. And a really effective tool that you can use to help you live with a Kaisan mindset is a ritual board. So to create your own ritual board, you start by drawing a table. So you can use a whiteboard, or you can put it up on your computer or a piece of paper, or you can even get a whiteboard marker and put it on your bathroom mirror. Whatever works for you as long as you can see it every single day. So across the top of the ritual board you write the days of the week, just the first letters fine, and then down the side you're going to list all your actions or your behaviors, or what we're calling rituals that you're going to commit to each day. At the very top of the table, write down your purpose. This is your why. Now this is different to a goal. Your why is your north star, the thing that keeps you heading in the right direction. So, for example, why do you want to make these changes? Do you want to be a good example for your kids? Do you want to make a difference in your little corner of the world. Do you want to live authentically? So think about your daily habits now do they align with this purpose? What do you need to start to do every day that moves you towards your north star? What sacrifices are you willing to make to do this? Write these down in the left hand column. It's not a to do list, it's daily rituals. So they can include, for example, the fundamentals of health. These are your non negotiables because when you are fit and healthy, you have the energy and the focus to pursue your goals. The fundamentals are like setting that foundation. So for example, on my ritual board, I have a cold shower, so I'm sacrificing comfort there. Cold showers can be really hard, especially in the middle of winter, so there's a sacrifice there. Eighty twenty days, so eighty percent of my food is real whole foods and twenty percent is my treat So I'm trading off one thing for another, or maybe I've got an urge to have, you know, that extra piece of chocolate, so I'm making that sacrifice. I do CrossFit three times a week, so I can tick that off, and let's face it, CrossFit is hard. I do yoga. I have alcohol free days, so you get what I mean. So you put those down on the left hand side, and then you can add small rituals relating to other areas of your life. So it could be connecting with others, you know, making sure you phone your mum and your dad once a week, or honoring a boundary that you've set around time, or including deep work time with no distractions, which always helps you move towards what you want to achieve on a business level. So that's the ritual board. But I also encourage my clients to journal each day, and this is to develop their self awareness. It's to increase that self awareness. Notice their thinking, notice the habits that they're doing currently doing, and helps them to live intentionally. So if you've got this dream like I do, and it's aligned with your purpose, write that dream and purpose in your journal every day and accept the inner struggle that often comes with it, because achieving any dream isn't easy, and have the discipline to do something each day. Tick those rituals off that moves you towards that dream. So KI is more than just productivity and processes. It's about personal growth. It's about acceptance and having the courage to show up every day. So I hope this has been helpful. I encourage everyone to have a ritual board. We've found that it really helps you keep accountable as well. Just having those ticks every single day, you get that little dopamine hit and it's a little push for motivation. So thank you for joining me, and have a great week and I will see you next week.