KAIZEN BY SARAH HARVEY

The Key Concepts

• The 1% Rule: The heart of Kaizen is the belief that if you improve by just 1% every day, you will be 37 times better by the end of the year. It focuses on the "marginal gains" that are too small to fail.
• Small Questions to Bypass Fear: Our brains are wired to trigger a "fear response" (the amygdala) when we face massive changes. By asking tiny questions—like "What is one thing I can clean in this room?"—you bypass that fear and trick your brain into taking action.
• Continuous Improvement (Over Perfection): Kaizen isn't about reaching a destination; it’s a permanent mindset. It encourages you to fall in love with the process of refining your life rather than obsessing over a final, "perfect" result.
• The PDCA Cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act): A structured way to apply Kaizen to any problem:
  1. Plan: Identify a small change.
  2. Do: Test the change on a small scale.
  3. Check: Review the results.
  4. Act: Implement the change permanently or pivot.
• Waste Elimination (Muda): Borrowed from the Toyota Production System, this involves identifying the "clutter" in your life—unnecessary habits, toxic thoughts, or physical mess—that drains your energy without adding value.
• The "Five Whys" Technique: To solve a recurring problem, ask "Why?" five times. This helps you get past the symptoms and fix the root cause of a habit or failure.
• Environmental Design: Small changes to your physical surroundings (like placing a book on your pillow or a glass of water by your bed) make the "right" choices effortless, aligning with the Kaizen spirit of low-friction growth.