Kaizen
Kaizen is a japanese work philosophy that is based on the idea of making small, incremental changes towards a bigger goal, and its focus is on the process of improvement rather than an end goal.
It is a fascinating approach to business that encourages employees to voice their ideas about how they feel something could be improved upon, rewards them for fixing errors, and views any mistakes made within the company as an opportunity to learn and change for the better.
In short, kaizen is all about constant improvement.
The One Minute Practice
Born of the kaizen philosophy is a simple way to break one large task down into something much more manageable. Instead of procrastinating on one overwhelming goal, we can set about it by taking very small steps.
By committing to working on a given task for only one minute at the same time everyday we can combat procrastination and kick start productivity.
Does It Really Work?
Yes it really does! I was a self help book junky for years until I reached the realisation that none of the books I read actually helped, as interesting and insightful as they can be they just didn't provide what I needed to get myself out of the funk I was in.
However there was one thing I did take from the books which was the simple act of breaking things down in to manageable chunks.
It Really Works
I'm quite a fitness fanatic these days and really enjoy pushing myself to my limits, but, there are times when the thought of doing 50 push ups makes me feel like getting back to my bed and snuggling up under my quilt instead.
If I bring it back to the moment and just tell myself I only need to do one push up, because it is a simple task for me I will get down and do one push up, because I found that one easy I will naturally do another, then another and another and so on.
The same thing with jogging, the thought of going out into the cold and rainy English countryside and slogging my guts for half an hour didn't really appeal to me, but if I just put my jogging stuff on, then just walked to the front door, then just lightly jogged to the lamp post, before I knew it I found my rhythm and managed a thoroughly enjoyable run.
I'm currently in Asia so generally keep fit inside a gym away from the heat.
If your procrastinating on something, just try doing it for one minute consistently.