Commit to Constant & Never Ending Improvement

Commit to Constant & Never-Endingto improve upon the quality of your product or
Improvementservice, your customer service program, or
 you’re advertising. Professionally, you might
WE HAVE AN INNATE DESIRE TO ENDLESSLYwant to improve upon your computer skills, your
LEARN, GROW AND DEVELOP. WE WANT TOnegotiating skills, or your communication and
BECOME MORE THAN WHAT WE ALREADY ARE.decision making skills. At home you might want to
ONCE WE YIELD TO THIS INCLINATION FORimprove upon your parenting skills, cooking skills.
CONTINUOUS AND NEVER-ENDINGYou could also focus on improving your health,
IMPROVEMENT, WE LEAD A LIFE OF ENDLESSfitness, your knowledge of investing and money
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND SATISFACTION –management. Or perhaps you want to develop
CHUCK GALLOZZIgreater inner peace through meditation, yoga, and
 prayer. Whatever your goal, decide where you
In Japan the word for constant and never-endingwant to improve and what steps you’ll need
improvement is KAIZEN. Not only is this anto take to achieve that kind of improvement.
operating philosophy for modern Japanese 
business, it is the age old philosophy of warriors,To keep yourself focused on constant and
too – and it’s become the personalnever-ending improvement, ask yourself
mantra for millions of successful people all overeveryday, “How can I / we improve today?
the world.What can I / we do better than before? Where
 can I learn a new skill or develop a new
Human beings are born to achieve andcompetency?” If you do constantly,
achievement is what differentiates a man fromdeliberately, regularly on a day to day basis with a
the animal. Achievers – whether in business,bull dog determination, you will embark on a
arts, sports – are committed to continual andlifelong journey of improvement that will ensure
ceaseless improvement. If you want to be moreyour success.
successful, you need to ask a lot of questions to 
yourself.Do not Dare to Skip Steps
  
- Going about doing the job at the workplace howHe who stops being better stops being good. One
can I make it more interesting, better in terms ofof the realities is that major improvement takes
quality, quick in terms of efficiency, profitable intime; they don’t happen overnight. What you
terms of fulfilling customer’s satisfaction?are today is the sum total of your personality
 which you developed over a period of time.  For
- How can I motivate myself and myexample: If you want to be better in terms of
subordinates to consistently accomplish superiorleadership, communication at work place, you
results?need to come out with a different set of thought
 process which ultimately sets a new behavioral
 pattern. In other words, you need to unlearn
The Mind – Numbing Pace of Changethose things which you have learned in the past
 and put your new learning habits to set a
In today’s world, a certain amount ofmomentum. Learning new things and making a
improvement is necessary just to keep up withcommitment to get better each day, every day
the rapid pace of change. Change is inevitable. Weyou eventually over a period of time become
need to keep pace with changing times or yousuccessful in achieving goals.
are lost into the oblivion. New information, new 
technologies, new processes, new methods areBecoming a master takes even more time. You
being discovered and used more often. Newhave to practice, practice and practice! You have
words come into use anytime a trend or fadto horne your skills through constant use and
catches on. And what we learn about ourselves,refinement. It takes several years to have the
about our health, and about the capacity fordepth and breadth of experience that produces
human thought continues almost unabated.expertise, insight and wisdom. Every book you
 read, every class you take, every experience
Improving is therefore necessary simply toyou have, every mistake you correct is another
survive. But to thrive, as successful individual do, abuilding block in your career and your life.
more dedicated and concerted approach to 
improvement is required.Don’t shortchange yourself by not being
Improve in Small Incrementsready when your big break appears. Make sure
 you have done your homework and honed your
Whatever you set out to improve your skills,craft. Actors usually have to do a lot of
change your behavior, or better your family life orpreparation – acting classes, community
business, beginning in small, manageable stepstheater, bit parts in movies and television, more
gives you a great chance and opportunity ofacting classes, voice lessons, accent training,
long-term success. Even if you decide to improvedancing lessons, martial arts training, learning to
1% every day, in a year you are going toride a horse until one day they are ready for the
improve by 365%. Doing too much too fast notdream part that is ready for them.
only overwhelms you (or anyone else involved in 
the improvement), it can doom the effort toMake a commitment to keep getting better and
failure – thereby reinforcing the belief thatbetter every day in every way. In doing so, you
it’s difficult. When you start small, achievablewill enjoy the feelings of increased self-esteem
steps you can easily master, reinforces yourand self-confidence that come from
belief that you can easily improve. For example: Ifself-improvement, as well as the ultimate success
you have decided to climb 100 steps, you need tothat will inevitably follow.
take incremental steps to achieve the feat. 
 The author of this article / write up is Iyer
Decide What to Improve OnSubramanian. He has been writing a number of
 articles in Business Manager, Hospitalitybiz, Express
At work, your goal might be for your organizationHospitality.