Making Changes, One Minute at a Time

Do you think one minute can change your life?

Recently, my husband shared something that he had read about a Japanese practice called Kaizen. The principal of the practice is to choose something to do for one minute, at about the same time, every day. The task can be something for self improvement or even work related.

It made me think about all of the artists that I see participating in daily challenges and projects. I love seeing what other creatives do on a daily basis to build their skills and stoke their creative fire. I follow many that sketch or paint every day for a set amount of time or that focus on a specific medium. How wonderful to be able to look back and see your progress and growth. It also provides lots of new material for future jobs and projects.

I have always liked the idea of having daily rituals or joining a creative daily activity  but honestly, I usually start off great and then end up forgetting about it. I do "create" something every day (usually painting or drawing) but I don't count that because it's my love and usually my work.

It makes sense that doing something every day (no matter how small) will help to build a strong foundation for a new habit so, I started thinking about how I could use the tool of Kaizen in my personal and professional life and what habits I would like to establish.

The first thing that came to mind is that I really like the idea of meditating every day and always feel better when I'm done. The problem is that I often forget or don't chose to make the time for it. I might do it daily for a week or two and then forget about it for a month.

I find that meditation helps stimulate my creativity, so this habit would benefit me both personally and professionally.

One minute a day? I think I can handle one minute a day.

I am about a week in to my experiment and only missed one day…because I forgot. Agh! It seems that in the beginning, I might have to set an alarm.

I am interested to see where this goes, as right now it feels a little like a chore (defeating the whole purpose of meditation) but I am going to give it a chance and keep an open mind.

Is there anything you would like to incorporate into your daily life that the Kaizen, one minute a day practice could help with?

If you do a web search for "Kaizen, one minute practice" you will find a lot of reference material and can also read about the history of it.

Until next week,

Pam