Do you ever put off doing stuff? I know I do! I would say I’m pretty well organised and highly self-motivated, BUT there are still things I would rather not do! The thing is, the more energy you put into NOT doing something, the harder it gets to start doing something. We create all kinds of reasons why we don’t want to do a particular thing. Perhaps we are easily bored or distracted, maybe the thing we need to do is mentally or physically challenging, or time consuming. We might have a fear of failure at a particular task or feel completely overwhelmed at the sheer volume of chores we need to get done.

Well, there’s a simple technique that’s a principle of ‘Kaizen’, which can be applied to just about anything that’s causing us to feel stuck, ‘blocked’ or demotivated.

Kaizen is a Japanese word which is literally translated as ‘Kai’ meaning change and ‘Zen’ meaning good or better. It is now generally interpreted as ‘continual improvement’ and consists of several main principles which focus on self-discipline, commitment, time management, working collectively and finding solutions.

‘The One Minute Principle’ of Kaizen suggests that we can focus on one small change at a time, by doing little things each day for one minute, and this will gradually lead to great progress over time.

What a wonderful shift of thought that can create! Often, the greatest difficulty is starting something. Yet, if you develop a mindset of only having to do something for one minute, resistance melts away and mental blocks disappear. Not only that, once you start the thing that you’ve been putting off, you might just realise that it’s easier, more enjoyable, or at least rewarding than anticipated.

Why not give it a try, if you just spend one minute a day –

you could tackle that pile of papers on your desk…

or start that assignment…

or open that book and read the first couple of pages…

or sit in silence focusing on your breath…

or write a few words of gratitude in a journal…  

or say kind words to yourself…

or do a few simple yoga stretches…

just for a minute.

I wonder where it will lead you.