I am current working on a project with graduates from IIT on Self-Development; I thought I would share this small extract from a segment of my future book that is being used for the Graduate Development Program. The power of small deliberate daily actions.
Kaizen means constant and never ending improvement in Japanese. There is no pursuit more noble or important than the pursuit of self- improvement.
As Confucius said many years ago “good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly”.
Consistent and constant improvement in all areas is essential to reaching your true potential the personal trademark of almost every high achiever and successful person is a dedication to daily improvement in both their personal and professional lives. From Ben Franklin to Mahatma Gandhi, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Ivan Lendl and from Nelson Mandela to Mother Teresa, effective people do things daily to advance confidently in the direction of their goals and dreams.
You must also apply the Kaizen principle on a daily basis to condition your mind to peak performance. It has been said that the mind is terrible master but a wonderful servant. By seeking to improve your mind and condition it to excellence of thought, this wonderful servant will most certainly bring you all the peace, prosperity and joy you now search for.
Study any great success story and you will undoubtedly learn of their commitment to Kaizen. They will be dedicated to small, daily improvements is the key of their lives and becoming the very best that they could be.
Personal mastery is like a Bank Account; call it the personal Excellence Account. By improving daily, whether it is by spending some time exercising, reading, visualizing or forging better relationships, you are making regular deposits into your account. After only one month, for example, you will have improved the richness and quality of your world by at least 30%. And after a single year, your life will have improved by more than 365% (factoring in the power of compound interest). But when you sleep too much, worry too much, watch television too much or eat too much, you make withdrawals in your personal Excellence Account.
We now have the choice of what level of Personal mastery we would like to have under our belt. The continuum stretches from Zero to One hundred percent.
We choose.
Why?
“Destiny is a matter of Choice not Chance.”
Friends to be at the cutting edge, we need to practice Kaizen every minute of our life.David Nair.