Pateira

"One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The kaizen Way" by Robert Maurer, Ph. D.

Workman Publishing, New York

First step:  what is kaizen? By simple words: continuous improvement. 

The word Kaizen is a compound Japanese word. "Kai" means "little," "ongoing," and "good". "Zen" means "for the better" and "good".  The word has become part of the Toyota Production System (TPS) where it means "small continuous improvements on everyone's part". 

Second step:  So, Kaizen is one more theory about leadership and management, one elaborate sert of smoke and mirrors for consulting firms to charge you an arm and a leg?  Not quite..the key issue here is that the elimination of wastes is the fundamental, bottom-line, measurable objective of kaizen.  As you guessed, It is also a philosophy, a way of living.

And that is what this books talks about:  dealing with you day-to-day life as well as companies, sure, but aiming at continuous improvement, taking small steps, eliminating waste.  So what waste are we talking about?  Your smoking, drinking, gambling bad habits;  you weight excess, your stress, your forgotten heart, maybe? 

As Dr. Maurer says, "when failure isn't an option" - imagine the pilots who take off and land from navy decks, or a cardiac-risk behaviour -   you must do something!  By training yourself to spot and solve small problems, you can avoid undergoing much more painful remedies later.  So, what about doing something for that belly of yours that cannot stop growing?    And, as Lao Tzu said:

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step."  So start by reading this small book. 

Robert Maurer is an Associate Clinical Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, a behavioral health instructor at the California Health & Longevity Institute in Westlake Village, California, and runs The Science of Excellence, a consulting firm.