Most people fail because they try to change their entire life overnight. They rely on a burst of motivation that inevitably burns out. There is a better way: Kaizen.
01. What is Kaizen?
Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that means "continuous improvement." It’s not about making one giant leap; it’s about making tiny, incremental changes every single day.
Imagine improving by just 1% every day. It feels insignificant in the moment. You might not even notice the difference tomorrow. But over time, the math of compounding takes over.
1.01365 = 37.78
If you get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.
02. Why Motivation is a Trap
Motivation is an emotion, and like all emotions, it fluctuates. You cannot build a reliable life on an unreliable foundation.
When you set a massive goal—like "I will workout for an hour every day"—you need a massive amount of motivation to start. The moment you're tired, stressed, or busy, that motivation evaporates, and the habit dies.
Kaizen bypasses motivation. By making the task so small that it’s impossible to say no, you remove the mental friction.
03. The 2-Minute Rule
To implement Kaizen, use the 2-Minute Rule. Scale down your habit until it takes less than two minutes to do.
- ✖ "Read 30 books this year"
- ✔ "Read one page."
- ✖ "Do 1 hour of yoga"
- ✔ "Take out my yoga mat."
The goal is to master the art of showing up. Once you start, it’s much easier to continue. But you have to start small.