Terre Pruitt's Blog

So we are over halfway done with the Daily 10 Minute Practice.  How are you doing?  Are you really discipline and able to do it at the same time every day?  I have recently seen an article via Facebook about a Japanese practice said to end laziness called Kaizen.  The method is to practice something for one minute every day at the same time.  Since it is only a minute, the idea is that it is something easy to do . . . even if what it is you are doing is not easy or is unpleasant.  The fact that the task was done (even just for a minute) provides a sense of accomplishment and helps make the task bearable and perhaps even enjoyable.  With that theory, the tendency to increase the time doing the task is probable.  The theory also contains the idea that little changes can add up to big rewards.  So the practice is believed to be a way to end laziness.

There actually is an institute, the Kaizen Institute founded by Masaaki Imai in 1985.  Masaaki Imai is credited with bringing the practice of Kaizen to “the West.”  According to that website, Kaizen is more of a way to improvement.  According to the glossary on the website:

“Kaizen is continuous improvement that is based on certain guiding principles:

• Good processes bring good results
• Go see for yourself to grasp the current situation
• Speak with data, manage by facts
• Take action to contain and correct root causes of problems
• Work as a team
• Kaizen is everybody’s business
• And much more!”

The Kaizen Institute is geared towards businesses.

Wiki says that “kaizen” is Japanese for improvement or “change for the better.”  Perhaps the people who say the practice of Kaizen is a way to end laziness might say that ending laziness IS a way of self improvement.

I am guessing that somewhere in Masaaki Imai’s book he described the practice of doing something for a minute a day and how that simple and small act repeated over and over every day at the same time could lead to improvement and possible better and bigger changes.  Perhaps he tagged it as a way to end laziness or perhaps over time it just has been presented that way.  Or maybe the practice of Kaizen is older than Imai, his book, and his institute and it really is the Japanese people’s way to end laziness.  Either way, I do believe that doing something that might help “improve” or “enhance” you in some way as a practice every day could lead to a big change.  It just depends.  If there is something that you want to improve upon and it seems like a BIG challenge, then why not start small?  Start small and let it build up.

So the ten minute daily practice is just a way of possibly doing that.  As I mentioned in the first post about it, I had several people mention to me that they wanted to do something daily.  Everyone had a different thing they wanted to do and the time ranged from five minutes to ten.  I’m still doing my daily ten minutes.  Although I kinda feel that doing it at the same time every day might be more beneficial.  I have not been able to nail that part down.  But I am getting in my ten.  I hope to not miss any more days.

How are you doing?  Have you seen that article that was posted on Facebook?  Are you familiar with Kaizen?