Kaizen - small steps for improvement
We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.
Max DePree
One of the way I invite my coaching clients to approach goals is to use Kaizen - a philosophy that comes from Japan and that build a great process of development for Toyota. Maybe you have heard about it. The Magic of Kaizen is not speed, it is safety. Small steps keeps our nervous system calm, our brain creative and resourceful, with our motivation alive. What begins as one minute, one sentence, or one tiny action can often become something much larger - without burnout.
If you have ever started a journal, a new goal, or a personal growth plan with excitement (only to lose momentum a week later), I feel you and let me tell you: you are not alone! There is this book that we recommend during coaching school written by Robert Maurer called One Small Step Can Change Your Life. In this book the emphasize is on using small, non-threatening steps to bypass fear, your natural bran mechanism of safety and building lasting change.
Kaizen simply means continuous improvement through very small steps. Instead of asking for dramatic change, it invites you to begin so small that your brain does not resist.
In this article I will give you some examples of how Kaizen can transform coaching, goal-setting and journaling.
While I coach my client - Kaizen is a powerful because it reduces overwhelming feelings and build confidence. For example, there is a very common and handy question that shows up naturally in the coaching space: what is one tiny step what would make this 1% better? I invite them to celebrate micro-progresses - one small step towards their goals and together we design experiments not expectations: trying something new once and discover what shows up, rather than commit to do something forever. This builds trust in the process, and in the client’s own ability to change.
Another example where I use Kaizen is when a new client comes for coaching or mentoring with a goal for the process. In the beginning I invite them to split the goal of the process into small achievable stepping stones (smaller goals) in order to carry on during our work together. And I even explain about Kaizen and the fact that big goals often fail not because they are wring, but because they are frightening to the brain and it will teach for a way to get out of it. With Kaizen you keep the goals but you make them in a way that the brain stays relaxed about the. For example: I want to get fit - I explore what fit means, until when and so on. The Kaizen start could look like - I will walk every day for 1 minute before dinner. Here is how to implement it: break every goal into ”ridiculously doable” steps, track consistency, not intensity, and let the goal evolve naturally as fear decreases and confidence grows.
Since my Journaling Challenge is one corner away here is how I use Kaizen in starting to journal with my coaching clients - as a reflective practice between the sessions. Many people quit journaling because they think it has to be deep, daily, and time-consuming. Kaizen flips that assumption. I invite them to journal for one minute or write one sentence at a time, or even open the journal and date the page - if anything else comes good - if not - they expose the brain to the habit.
Even my journaling challenge that will start in January 2026 it will have Kaizen approach - one reflective question per day - some days might be one sentence or a doodle or a picture, and by the end of the challenge people write to me and tell me that they have become accustom with writing several pages at a time.
At its heart Kaizen is the idea that real change doesn’t come from big dramatic moves, but from tiny improvements done consistently. Instead of forcing yourself to overhaul your life, you start with steps so small they don’t scare you. Those small steps slowly rewire your habits and make bigger change feel natural. Kaizen is about making things better 1% at a time instead of trying to fix everything at once.
Photo: Håkon Grimstad
