1% Better Every Day (part 2/6)

Why We Need Kaizen
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what Kaizen is and why it works, let’s first consider the alternative and why it’s so important.
As mentioned in Part 1 of this blog series, the approach many of us impulsively make toward self-betterment is to try and change everything all at once. That example of starting a new training program where you train four times a week and cut your caloric intake is one that a lot of people can relate to.

Perhaps you have done something similar yourself?

The only problem is that this kind of approach completely misunderstands human psychology and the reality of our
lifestyles.

Think about it.

If you are currently out of shape, then it’s probably because you aren’t working out enough, and because you aren’t eating right.

But why is that the case?

Chances are, it’s because you’re currently too tired and too demotivated to do those things. Probably you come home in the evening and you feel absolutely exhausted. You just don’t have the energy or the willpower to exercise, and that’s completely understandable.

And so you expect to now all of a sudden pull this kind of energy out of nowhere? You think you can go from being too tired to work out at all and to being able to work out four times a week?

And let’s break down what that actually means for a moment. It means coming home from work and then getting changed into your gym clothes. In normal times you’ll then need to drive to the gym in the cold, shower after your workout and get changed, then drive home. Online workouts save time in travel but require added discipline. Then get your stuff ready for the next workout.

So that one workout actually takes more like two hours, which means you’re dedicating a whole new 8 hours to your new regime. Do you realise that’s an entire working day? Including lunch?

You’re going from NOTHING to 8 HOURS?

Can you see the problem here? Meanwhile, you’re also expecting yourself to go out in the cold. You’re expecting yourself to be organized the night before. You’re expecting yourself to run and sweat in front of strangers, and to
miss out on your favorite TV.

You’re not trying to learn one new habit, but rather learn a whole bunch of new habits. While at the same time unlearning a bunch of other habits. And that’s not all. Now that you’re burning 8 hours of extra energy, you are also planning on eating 500 fewer calories?

You’re going to work twice as hard while taking in half the amount of energy.

This is looking like a great plan

The Neuroscience

As though this wasn’t already enough of a challenge, what you probably don’t realize is just how much your neuroscience is working AGAINST you in a situation like this. Our brains are highly plastic. That means they are adaptable to change and can physically restructure themselves according to our behaviors. You might think that would be good news when trying to form new habits or lose old ones. But in fact, it also works against us. That’s because the brain adapts hard to repeated stimuli.

The brain adapts and changes shape according to a very simple rule: neurons that fire together, wire together. So if you repeatedly do one thing followed by another, then those two experiences become linked in the brain
over time. And each time you do those things together subsequently, you further reinforce and strengthen that link. The connections become myelinated, meaning that the tendrils are insulated and signals travel faster down them. They grow more nodes at the connection points. Eventually, it gets to the point where you no longer have to think
about the association. Doing A automatically triggers B. Changing this takes a HUGE amount of work, and in some cases is nigh impossible.

So to attempt to make this kind of wholesale change across multiple different habits all in one go… well it’s somewhat futile

That’s where Kaizen comes in.

And it’s why this is such a powerful and transformative tool. In the next blog, you’ll learn more about it and how to put it to maximum use.

How it Happens

At this point, you might now be wondering how this happens. When you lay it all out like that, it appears obvious that making gigantic changes to your routine would never be effective. If that’s true then, why do we still spend our time determining that we’re going to “change our lives starting tomorrow.”

There are a few reasons. The first is that it’s simply that much more appealing. Nobody likes the prospect of hard work, or of something taking a huge amount of time. On the other hand, the idea that “everything can change” in a
single day is immensely gratifying. And so it should come as no huge surprise that we can get caught up in this notion.

The other issue facing us is the media. Because of course, it makes a whole lot of sense for advertising agencies to want us to take a more one-and-done approach to our self-transformation. Gyms want to sell gym memberships. They do that by telling us that we need to go all-in or go home. They tell us that we should buy all the workout equipment, the expensive protein shake, the year-long membership.

Then of course what comes next is that we feel guilty watching the money come out of our accounts every month. While we get no fitter or stronger…

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