Continuous improvement has been -and still is- one of the mantras with which the latest generations of managers and professionals have been raised. The organizational models of the Japanese companies have therefore opened the way in various sectors, total quality management above all. So, starting from the late 1980s, the whole world has raised awareness and familiarity with this business perspective: a kind of continuous improvement.
Kaizen is something born in the oriental spirit and is an idea that applies to the whole society in Japan.
It happens very often, nonetheless, when a practice is de-contextualized from the environment and culture in which it was born,that there is the risk of taking only the form and forgetting the substance. Continuous improvement has therefore become a chimera, a god to whom the professional interest of a lot of people is sacrificed. It only matters to produce and produce well. Better than anyone else.
Instead, kaizen is a fundamental practice that begins and ends for oneself. And in doing so, it also ends up impacting the people and situation around the person.
Everyone can find, if desired, an increasingly subtle dimension for walking on a path on whichrecognizing today to be a little better individual than yesterday. The world is full of life coaches and publications and motivational content abounds.
Here we want to offer, based on our experience, made up of many failures and small satisfactions, a sort of checklist for anyone who wants to live the feeling of living kaizen. It’s a small list, you can print it and stick it in the mirror, keep it on the desk. Everywhere it is not possible to ignore it.
- Check your sleep: do you take good care of yourself? You’re the only one who can do it.
- Check your posture: Any contracture that makes you asymmetrical? Relax and live in your own body.
- Check your smile: you can give it to yourself and others along the day.
- Check your time: what is it worth spending today for?
- Check your relationships: who will I learn from today, who will I serve?
- Control your heart: who and what shall I love today?
- Control your breathing: you are crossed by life, who do you want to say thank you to today?
- Check your word: there must be a good reason to break the silence.
- Check the environment around you: take care of everyone’s home.
There are people who are approaching the world of Martial Arts with the declared perspective that it is only a technical and physical path. It is a choice and it must be respected.
However, we firmly believe that everything we try to live at the Dojo must be useful to be better people even beyond the technical perspectives. We would say: above all.
We, who choose a discipline, are neither angels, nor protozoa. We are people who fail more times than being successful. We are people on the way for something.
To improve ourselves, continuously.
Disclaimer: Photo by Jungwoo Hong on Unsplash