So far in the "Art of Steady Progress" series, we've talked about...

Today, we're going to focus on how to make this process work for us to reach our goals quickly and with the least amount of effort.

We do this by combining 3 things.

Kaizen

Let's start with Kaizen. 

Kaizen is the idea of continuous improvement. While it has been mostly used in business, we can use the concept to reach any goal.

We can use Kaizen to make tiny consistent steady progress on a goal every day. Tiny improvements. Not big gigantic leaps every once in a while. Small steady progress. 

Kaizen by itself will do wonders to help you reach your goals (and help your clients do the same).

But, we're going to combine it with the Pareto principle to make it extra powerful.

The Pareto principle

You may have heard of the Pareto principle as the 80/20 rule. 

The idea behind it is that 20% of your effort will get you 80% of the results. So you want to make sure that the improvements you choose are the ones that will make the most difference.

So Kaizen will help us make our 1% improvements every day and the Pareto principle will help us decide which improvements to make.

What We're Willing and Able to Do

Finally, because we want to make sure this works for us, we'll add on what we're actually willing and able to do.

In part 2, of this series, I gave the example of losing weight and shared an average day:

and the various improvements you could make...

These are all small improvements that fit Kaizen.

Using the Pareto principle, you can then figure out which improvements will give you the most bang for your buck.

For example, you might choose to increase your water intake because you know that drinking more water can help you have more energy, feel fuller, and help your body do what it needs to do more efficiently.

And it sets you up nicely for the improvements you'll want to make later on.

But here's the thing. You have to take into account what you're willing and able to do.

If you're like me, drinking plain water throughout the day is not exactly easy.

I've tried various times throughout the years to drink the 96 - 128 ounces we're supposed to drink. I’ve never been able to do it consistently.

So adding more water might not be the most realistic plan.

Unless you ask yourself...

"How could I turn this into something I'm willing and able to do?" 

Drinking 96 - 128 ounces of plain water was never going to be something I was willing and able to do, but I knew it would benefit me. It was that 20% that would make a significant difference.

So by asking myself the question...

​What am I willing and able to do? 

​I came up with two things that made this a realistic plan for me.

The combination of these two things made drinking 96-128 ounces of water per day a realistic plan. Something I'm more than willing and able to do. Every. Single. Day.

Ok, so to sum this up so far...

for any given goal...

That wraps up part four of the "Art of Steady Progress" series.

In the next blog article (and the final one in this series), I’ll share what can get in the way of all of this and how to overcome it.

With love & joy,