No, I haven’t just sneezed, I’m talking about the Japanese concept of ‘continuous improvement’ or literally from ‘Kai’ = change/correct   and ‘Zen’ = good . This produces a mindset of always looking for ways to improve things, thus being creative rather than reactive. Compare this to mottos like ‘ If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ or as we say downunder ‘She’ll be right mate’ , even  ‘Hakuna Matata’ no worries!

While the The Kaizen Way is normally associated with Big Business like Toyota or Canon and evolved from the postwar rebuild of Japan, it can be applied by anybody, to any process or product. It doesn’t mean revolutionary change, but more sustainable, gradual improvement in ‘baby step’ fashion, and it needs less time out of your day. By implementing simple small steps, you avoid  fear and stress, which tend to lead to procrastination, blocking success and the achievement of desired goals. The other benefit is that it implies that we can never attain complete perfection, that there is always room to improve, and reflects the dynamic nature of  time and tide, which waits for no-one )

For example, I noticed while reading another blog, that the author was replying to comments with a bracketed answer below the comment, thus avoiding a separate post. I would rather my blog sidebar just references the comments from visitors, without my answers. I can do this from my control panel. This saves space and streamlines the post. Perhaps an associated small improvement would be to notify the commenter by email when I answer the comment, which gives a good reason to revisit my site and look around again, perhaps subscribe if not already, and make my visitor feel more valued.

This thought process involves me looking at what’s around in a positive way, giving credit to fellow ‘netizens’ where it is due, and allowing me to have small successes on the way to a profitable online presence. I opted-in to this big name blogger, and on his confirmation page he had shrunk all the whitelist stuff to a small box with links, and then a video popped up which built more recognition in my mind – I noticed that it didn’t stream that well because my wireless broadband is a bit patchy, but it is an upgrade for the future. Then I thought how about a little audio file, which makes me more real to my visitor, would be an improvement …… and probably download more easily.

Anyway Dear Reader, I felt this was an important subject to enlarge on, so I’d love to hear your thoughts.