Kaizen Health

It was the Kaizen philosophy of continuous and incremental change enabled Toyota to rise from shambles to become the leading auto manufacturer in the world.

The same philosophy can help us to gain great strides in the area of health.  A study was done in which two groups of similar demographics began a health campaign.  The time and financial investment were the same for each group.  The difference was that with group “A” the money was given to the employee in the form of free health club membership.  The only requirement was to keep a log of exercise time and activity at the gym.  Group “B” was given half the investment up front and the other half at the end of the year.  Their only requirement to earn the money was to walk one flight of stairs up and down three times per week.  In other words, they could fully meet the requirements for the money witth thirty minutes activity per week.   At the end of the time period, group “B” had outperformed group “A” significantly in both weight loss and aerobic capactiy.  Most of us have experienced the cause for this difference.  Group “A” got all excited and spent every day in the gym early in the cycle, but by the time the period ended they had tapered off and were back to sedentary.  Group “A” on the other hand built new, sustainable habits.  They noticed small improvements in energy and began to slowly increase the number of stairs well beyond the requirement.  Some of them joined the gym on their own initiative.  Group “A” experienced what’s often referred to as the New Year’s Resolution syndrome.  Great excitement followed by return to normal.

Meditation:  What tiny step can I turn into a new habit to improve my health?