If you had to option of taking £1,000,000 right now or taking 1p today that will double in value for the next 30 days which would. you choose?
Most people will choose the £1m right?
What if I told you that the 1p that doubles in value even day for the next 30 days would equal approx £5.3m in that time, you'd think again yes?
Kaizen = Compound interest
Compound interest is a bit like Kaizen. If you can improve yourself by just 1% every day, where would you be after 1 year? Where would you be working? Would you be working at all? Who would you be with? What would you daily schedule look like?
These are some interesting questions to reflect on and the truth is that the steps you take today and the behaviours and attitudes that you cultivate, will be one of the main driving forces around where you will find yourself in 12 months time.
Everything from what you eat, how you exercise, who you spend time with and what you watch and read all have an impact on the reality that you can choose to create for yourself.
Kaizen in Action
Back to Kaizen though, and how can this help.
One of the most famous examples of Kaizen implementation in recent history must surely be Sir David Brailsford's success with the GB cycling team. The British cycling team had a legacy of mediocrity spanning decades. Whether in track cycling or the famed Tour De France you could pretty much count the British successes on one hand in the post war period.
That all changed when Brailsford took the reigns and began a programme of change he called "the aggregation of marginal gains" which is pretty much based on the principles of Kaizen. Brailsford states:
"It struck me that we should think small, not big and adopt a philosophy of continual improvement through marginal gains. Focus on progression, not perfection, and look to compound the improvements"
Over to you
What small changes could you make that would compound up to massive benefits over the course of the year......
