A number of years ago I was introduced to the term “Kaizen”. Originally a business theory used in Japan after World War II, now can be used in our day to day lives to bring lasting improvements. The idea is to make small steps or changes to continual improvement. It’s a tremendously powerful philosophy that can be used to really bring some lasting changes to our lives. There is a tendency for most of us to get desired outcome quickly. “Lose 10 lbs in one week!” “Trim 3 inches from your waistline in 10 days!”  We’ve seen the commercials, we want the results, and then we end up doing some pretty drastic things to get there. Then after all that trouble, the 10 lbs and 3 inches come back, if not more!Why? Well, yes we do the drastic task to get the quick change, but after that we go back to the same lifestyle that gave us the 10 pounds and 3 inches to begin with.  Instead of a quick-fix, use kaizen to bring about some lasting, positive change in your life. Try this: Take a particular habit that may not be your healthiest habit and make a small, reasonable change to it.  My Achilles heel for the longest time was my night time snack of a bowl of ice cream.  I decided I was going to make a change (but something small that I could live with at the time) and instead of a full bowl, I had ¾ of a bowl of ice cream along with some frozen fruit. YES!! I made a healthy choice. Over time, that full bowl turned to ½ ice cream and 1/2 fruit, then 1/4 ice cream and 3/4 fruit, and within a few months the bowl was completely full of frozen blueberries and raspberries and get this, I enjoyed it.  So what kaizen can serve to remind all of us is that although incremental changes may be a bit slower, they actually stick and keep inspiring us to move forward on our journey to our healthiest selves!

BF Challenge:  What’s one habit you can begin to “kaizen”? Remember, one small and attainable change you can begin to make.