Kaizen : Incremental Change

Continuing in our exploration of the 8 Japanese Concepts, we discover the power of Kaizen, and how small, incremental changes can lead to big changes over time. And just how this relates to our thinking, our understanding of our thinking, & our overall Mindset changes that bring about better versions of ourselves.

Ged Roberts is the author of 4 books:

1. “Amazing-A voyage of self-discovery”
2. “The Amazing Sequel-A sojourn into self-awareness”
3. “Think Amazing-A guide to Mental well-being” &
4. "The Amazing Mindset Podcast Series"

All 4 books are available on Amazon.co.uk.

If you would like to know more about Ged & his Amazing Mindset mentoring and coaching, you can visit his website, www.amazingmindset.co.uk, you can connect with him on LinkedIn, on Facebook/Meta at his 'Amazing Mindset' page, or you can simply email him at gedroberts@hotmail.com

The music that accompanies this podcast series is composed, arranged and performed by Ged Roberts.

The music playing during the introduction and ending of the "Summer" & "Autumn" Series is an original recording entitled "Arran", from Ged's instrumental album called "Celtic Dreams".

The accompaniment to the podcast itself is part of a recording entitled "Night Rain", featured on Ged's album, "Night Dreams".

The music in the introduction to the "2025" & the "2025-26" Series, "Night Hunter", is also from that album.

The music that accompanies the '8 Japanese Concepts" podcasts is entitled "Mantra", and is featured on Ged's other instrumental chill-out album, "Oriental Dreams"....

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Welcome to the amazing mindset podcast series for 2025. I'm your host Jed Roberts and together we will be going on a journey to explore our thinking and just how that thinking from moment to moment creates the world as only we see it. As well as the tapas style podcasts which I introduced in July of 2024 I will also be introducing the amazing chat room, where I invite guests from different walks of life to chat about all things mindset. Our journey is still very much a voyage of self-discovery and of self-awareness, and I'm hoping that the podcasts are not only interesting, but also inspirational and insightful. It's great to have you on board. Now, let's go explore. Hi everyone, in this week's Amazing Mindset podcast, we return to the eight Japanese concepts of which we have studied already two. Kintsugi, with Kelly Tabana in the chat room, and Wabi Sabi, brought to my attention by Bhavnathur, and exquisitely described and explained by Omar Itani. I realized that we have already inadvertently studied another one of these concepts called Ma, which is all about space or the space between, the pause. And I recommend you listen to my two podcasts called Space and The Power of the Pause. And so to a fourth concept, and another which I really enjoyed discovering. It's the concept of Kaizen. Kaizen is a term that refers to ongoing or continuous improvement. The definition of Kaizen comes from two Japanese words, Kai meaning change, and Zen meaning good. The Japanese philosophy, which translates to good change, was first introduced by Toyota back in the 1980s and has since been adopted by thousands of companies around the globe. The father of Kaizen is said to be Masaaki Imai, a Japanese organizational theorist and management consultant known for his work on quality management. Put simply, the Kaizen approach is based on the belief that continuous incremental improvement adds up to substantial change over time. Incremental improvement rather than drastic change. It's all about small steps. And when we apply Kaizen to our mindset, and particularly these short podcasts, What we are doing is unlocking gradual change in the way that we think about things New perspectives and new ideas don't necessarily have to be more than just minor shifts in our consciousness The little aha moments rather than massive light bulb moments One of Kaizen's core principles is what they call waste reduction and it comes into play in more scenarios than you might think a key to unlocking more productivity is to do less not more for the mindset to think less and not think more If you can never find the time to devote to the projects that are important to you it's possible that some of your time is being wasted by unnecessary tasks and unnecessary thinking Kaizen encourages us to take stock of what you need to stop doing or stop thinking about Asking yourself what small steps you can make to be more productive or efficient, less stressed or simply clearer in your outlook. As you start to identify areas for improvement, the key in Kaizen is to start with bite-sized changes. Think tiny. Often our instinct is to think big. we get impatient and we want results if not overnight then within a week or a month but when you consider that incremental improvements over time are much more likely to stick as opposed to sweeping cataclysmic changes then starting small seems increasingly appealing although it does take patience when we get busy we don't often take the time to evaluate what's working and what isn't but for Kaizen to work we need to reflect on how things are going the philosophy of Kaizen as mentioned earlier has become a kind of blueprint for businesses but apart from being a business blueprint Kaizen can apply to our everyday lives the same principles apply it's all about incremental improvements over time that's how we can best become better versions of ourselves there's no need for seismic change but rather little improvements that over time add up to a better you a better you in everything you do we're not going to discover an amazing mindset overnight but rather over time and through small changes in our thinking and through these small changes in our thinking we will see eventually bigger changes in our thinking as we move from obscurity to clarity and this is what I'm hoping for by sharing these podcasts small shifts in our thinking small shifts in our understanding of how we think small shifts away from reaction towards reflection Small shifts to allow for pausing Incremental change over seismic shift Small shifts that allow for change Change for the better Kaizen, good change See you soon Thank you for joining me on today's podcast. It's been an absolute pleasure. And I hope you've enjoyed it enough to join me on the next one. If you'd like to find out more about me and my amazing mindset, you can visit my website, which is www.amazingmindset.co.uk. You can find me on LinkedIn. or you can simply email me at jedroberts at hotmail.com. And just to remind you that the 2024 podcast series, the summer and the autumn series, are still accessible on all major podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify, and of course, our host platform, Buzzsprout. Thanks for joining me, and I hope to see you again really soon.