Introduction: How to Set Goals with Kaizen and Ikigai by Anthony Raymond

I saw the book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life everywhere on the internet, so I got a copy for myself. I have so many books I want to read that this book wasn’t at the top of the pile. When someone who isn't from a certain culture writes about that culture, I am also hesitant. Three months after I bought Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, I got a daily newsletter with How to Set Goals with Kaizen & Ikigai by Anthony Raymond being offered for free, so I snagged a copy.

I read this book expecting I’d get a better sense of what Ikigai is. I’m big on self-improvement and if I learn concepts to make me more effective and successful, I’m willing to try them, so that I can apply the concepts in work and life. It was important to understand so you could use the four concepts mentioned in this book to Set Goals. Would the book teach me anything that I don’t know?

Summary of How to Set Goals with Kaizen and Ikigai by Anthony Raymond

I’ve read about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and being motivated by internal forces is always better. I consider myself as a self-directed person, so when I saw intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in How to Set Goals with Kaizen & Ikigai, I was eager to read more. To achieve your goals in life depends on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Are you motivated by internal or external forces? Let's be honest here.

To achieve goals depends on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The book mentions four important concepts to become familiar with. They will help you with your goal setting and achievement.

Four Concepts

1. Lingchi: Death by a thousand cuts.
2. Hansei: Honest self-reflection.
3. Ikigai: Finding your true calling.
4. Kaizen: Continuous improvement.

Lingchi

Personal failures are often not the result of one problem. They're usually the result of many little problems. Taken one by one, each problem is negligible. But taken together, they have a profound negative impact on your life. Becoming mindful about these things can make a difference in your life.

Seven Deadly Sins

1. Lust: Unbridled sexual desire.
2. Gluttony: Overindulgence.
3. Greed: Pursuit of material possessions at the expense of others.
4. Sloth: Reluctance to do the work.
5. Wrath: Feelings of anger, rage, and hatred.
6. Envy: Resentment of others.
7. Pride: Misplaced self-confidence.

You can use each of the seven sins in a more powerful way.

1. Lustful: Sexual desire is important for procreation.
2. Gluttonous: Hunger signals us to eat.
3. Greed: Material goods are necessary to survive.
4. Sloth: Trigger that can tell us where to refocus our energies.
5. Wrath: May be necessary for self-defense.
6. Envy: Trigger to improve our situation in life.
7. Pride: Can be useful for developing self-confidence.

When you take any of the above to the extreme, they become problematic.

Three Goal Killers

Inactivity 

This causes us to lose value. If you keep not taking action, this has a cumulative effect. And over time, you don't achieve goals that are important to you. Years from now, you realize nothing has changed in your life. Value your time. Inactivity forces you to rush because you wait until the deadline to work on a project and end up making hasty decisions. You miss opportunities because you refuse to act in a timely manner. Consistent daily activity is critical to achieving life goals.

Toxic Company

There's truth to the adage, show me your company, and I'll tell you who you are. It's also been said that you're the sum total of the five people you spend most of your time with. Remove toxic people from your life. If you want to achieve your goals, they can destroy your dreams even if it's not intentional.

Crippling Fear

Fear and progress are often at odds with each other. You want to feel safe, but you must step outside your comfort zone. Sometimes what you fear is warranted, but don't live a life with fear because you will always be an underachiever. People fear change, so they'll stay in an uncomfortable situation instead of stepping into the unknown.

Hansei

This is self-reflection. You can use this concept to examine past work performance to devise a strategy to improve your future performance. This is also a way to take responsibility for what happens to you in life, and to learn from your mistakes.

Develop the habit of meditating and reflecting on your life.

Definition of Hansei

“The practice of carefully identifying, considering, and taking responsibility for past mistakes or shortcomings, followed by the implementation of changes to ensure that these errors do not reoccur.”

First Steps with Hansei

Find a time and a place for quiet contemplation.

Devote time for Hansei-kai or reflection meetings. For me, it's the first thing in the morning after devotion. Sit alone with your thoughts for 20 minutes.

Review a Past Failure or Mistake 

Set a timer for 10 to 20 minutes to engage in introspection. Select a recent incident when you failed to accomplish your goal. Ask the following questions:

• What was my original intent in pursuing the goal?
• What actions did I take to achieve the goal?
• What outcome was I expecting from this effort?
• What was the actual outcome?
• Why is the expected outcome different from the actual outcome?

Look at how your actions contributed to the situation you find yourself in. What could you have done to better handle the situation?

Log Your Negative Tendencies 

After doing the Hansei-kai ritual for a few days, you'll notice how you make the same mistakes all over again.

Make a Commitment to be Better 

Recognizing the mistake is important, but correcting the mistake is more important. After you’ve assessed your mistakes, devise a strategy to prevent them from reoccurring. You'll also discover how difficult it is to break a bad habit.

“Hansei is really much deeper than reflection. It is really being honest about your own weaknesses. If you are talking about only your strengths, you are bragging. If you are recognizing your weaknesses with sincerity, it is [a sign of] strength. But it does not end there. [You must also commit to change, and strive to] overcome those weaknesses…” Bruce Brownlee, Toyota Technical Center Manager

5 Hansei Principles

Be honest with yourself during your time of reflection. Evaluate your performance critically.

Principle 1: Avoid Self-Justification 

A cataclysm happens after a series of many missteps. Look at the role you played. Don't pass the buck. Acknowledge mistakes, and accept responsibility. Figure out how to identify and halt repeating bad habits. Implement the changes needed, so you can achieve future goals and benefit from past lessons learned.

Principle 2: Don't Beat Yourself up during Hansei

During your time of contemplation, don't allow your inner voice to take over. Managing your inner voice will be a challenge you'll have to deal with during your life. Don't allow her to lead you down a path of hopelessness and despair.

Principle 3: Accept That Painful Memories Might Resurface

Be aware that during Hansei negative memories will come to the forefront.

You can find the other two principles on Art of Learning Leadership Academy.

Ikigai

Definition of Ikigai

That which brings benefits to life. The thing that gives your life meaning. The reason to get out of bed in the mornings.

How do you feel about your work day that awaits?

1. Excited to get going?
2. Close your eyes in sorrow and wish your life was different.

If it's the second, you haven't found your Ikigai.

Have you read?

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, Summary

Four Parts of Ikigai

Passion: How much do I love the skill?

Vocation: How good am I at this skill?

Mission: How much will this skill benefit the world?

Profession: How likely am I to get paid well for this skill?

Ikigai to Defeat Procrastination

You must act to achieve your goals. Inactivity is often a result of apathy, sloth, despair or fatigue.

“To procrastinate is to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay.”

Kaizen

According to a 2007 study by Richard Wiseman of the University of Bristol, 88 percent of New Year’s Resolutions fail within a few months of the party’s conclusion.

Kaizen is a goal achievement technique that encourages continuous improvements via daily incremental progress.

6 Principles of Kaizen

Principle 1:  Start working toward your goal immediately, even if your first step is small. Make the challenge real. What small step can you take today, which may improve your situation in the long run?

Two-Step Approach

1. Break the goal/objective into its smallest parts. Identify the challenge that's easiest to tackle.
2. When you overcome the smallest hurdle first, you build up psychological momentum.

Kaizen Principle 2: Use a continuous improvement process (CIP) 

Observe, Plan, Do, Check, Adjust (OPDCA) 

Step 1: Observe

When you face a challenging situation, simply observe. This can be difficult to do. Be honest and take note of your shortcomings.

Step 2: Plan

Come up with a process to improve your situation. Your strategy may not give you the results you expect, but that's fine. Learn, evaluate, and try again.

Steps 3: Do

Execute the plan. Collect data. Data collection can be as simple as how many articles I published or the number of sales calls I made.

Step 4: Check

Analyze the data you collected. What progress did you make against your expectations?  Note the big discrepancies.

Step 5: Adjust.

Analyze all data points in the previous steps. If the desired outcome did not meet the expected outcome, formulate a hypothesis to identify the root cause of the problem. Change ensures the problem doesn't reoccur. Once you make changes, go back to Step 1, that's why it's called a Continuous Improvement Process.

Kaizen Principle 3: Interpret Success and Failure Correctly 

In Kaizen, you'll stick to the all OPDCA process indefinitely, regardless of the outcome. The mindset cultivated via this framing is critical to the success of the process. A setback is not a reason to quit. It's simply a data point you evaluate during the adjustment phase. Develop the habit of framing things.

Obstacles are opportunities for learning and not excuses to give up. In Kaizen, there is no such thing as ‘good enough’. You cannot be set in your ways. Look for ways to fix the inefficiencies in your life.

Kaizen Principle 4: Use the “5 Whys” Technique to Identify a Problem’s Root Cause 

The goal of the method is to get a final response, that's most likely the real root cause of the problem. You do this by asking why five times.

Starting with Kaizen

What small steps could you take today to improve your situation in the long run? Kaizen forces you to focus on the steps you can take right now. If you resist acting, answer the following question.

Question 1: What's holding you back? 

You may discover annoyances that have a cumulative effect that can prevent you from achieving your life goals.

Question 2: Are You Motivated Enough to Start Building Good Habits Today?  

Imagine how your life would be different in the future if you build good habits today. A glimpse into the future is a strong motivator. Using Kaizen, you start the journey with tiny, immediate steps. Each step you take is a victory in your mind, and it gets them accustomed to the process of goal attainment.

Question 3: What Challenging Obstacles Have You Already Overcome in Your Life? 

Keep a record of your triumphs and obstacles. This helps you when you’re having a down day, or are facing obstacles.

Question 4: How Would You Define an Ideal Work Day?

The book defines an ideal work day as one, where you can complete all your objectives that you control. When you get up each morning, you should know what your ideal work day looks like.

Consistency + Time is important.

You can complete the most difficult task if you act every day. Kaizen is continuous improvement, so do your best every day. Get out of your comfort zone.

Deliberate practice makes the impossible possible.

Conclusion: How to Set Goals with Kaizen and Ikigai by Anthony Raymond

This summary is a lot longer than intended although I've excluded a lot of information. If you want to read the full summary, please join Ar of Learning Leadership Academy.

How to Set Goals with Kaizen and Ikigai by Anthony Raymond has a lot of solid information that you can use. However, once again, this is a book that could have been a lot shorter. I’ve included the information that I think is most relevant. I always emphasize the importance of reading several books on a topic, so you get diverse perspectives.

I’ve never heard of Hansei and Lingchi before, so this was new to me. However, I’ve heard the phrase death by a thousand cuts before.

Next Steps

Wondering what to do next, you can do all of:

1. Buy my new book, Leadership Reading: Spilling the Tea on How Top Leaders Read

2. If you want to Consult 1:1 about Effective Reading Strategies

3. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

4. Join the Art of Learning Membership Site

5. Download Unlock Your Genius Power Reading Tips Sheet

6. Buy me a cup of coffee!

If you want access to my Bookish Notes, please consider joining my membership site, the Art of Learning.

This post contains affiliate links and The Invisible Mentor® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

The post How to Set Goals with Kaizen and Ikigai by Anthony Raymond, Summary appeared first on The Invisible Mentor.