Today, I stand at the end of my 49 days of the Kaizen Challenge and in a way I am sad as this has become the pivot around which I created my daily routine and business tasks. This is the first time ever in my life that I have stuck to a plan for 49 days! I used to get started on a specific plan all motivated & excited, only to loose interest along the way when the ups and downs of daily life came my way, emotionally tossing me to & fro, thinking that I do not have any control over what came my way at all. Today, I am celebrating the fact I had the discipline and commitment to diligently do every day’s small tasks, which now in hindsight looks really majestic!
Reflecting now on how my life has changed, I can only say that the most profound changes are my inner world, my self talk and the realization & understanding of how I have been manipulated by the media and how consumerism ran my life.
The meditation practice was something that I always wanted to do and mostly admired other people for doing. Somehow, I never had the discipline and commitment to actually do it daily & keep it up. During the initial days of the challenge, while meditating, I had a distinct awareness that my mind/head was not connected to my body! My mind and my thinking was not in control of my body, in fact, my body was operating on auto-pilot! It was strange for me to become aware of tension points in my body and to actually discover or “feel” the presence of my solar plexus and my subconscious mind.
By doing the Kaizen Challenge and applying the principles I have significantly changed my approach to any plan I tackle – I used to set such high goals with steep timelines, mostly not realistic, only to secure my failure and confirm & agree with the inner voices that I could not achieve the goal anyway. I was used to over committing, over planning which usually resulted in disillusion and burnout. Now, I start with the big things first, complete those and then attend to all the small ‘to-do’s’ on my list. I do not over commit, but rather over-deliver! It gives me a great sense of achievement when I say “I only planned to do x,y,z, AND, I achieved x,y,z,a,b,c,d,e,f,g! My days became so productive and focused. Even my weekends became productive and after each week, I just stood amazed. I also became aware of how much time and money I wasted on meaningless things. Things that distract and depletes not only money but energy too! I have become a Wealth Creator, in all aspects – managing my money, taking responsibility, managing my health and mind and blessing my loved ones and business relationships with a servant leadership approach.
A big challenge for me was to give attention to the Relationship part of Kaizen everyday. This area in my life was really very ‘bare’ and empty. I became aware of how incredibly selfish I lived my life up to now. By doing little bits daily, I realized how all of us need acknowledgement, recognition, empowerment & love – people thrive on it and suddenly by giving this I received so much support and love, I needed so much! Now, I am so much more ‘connected’ to people around me, in my business, my family and friends. Other challenges for me were, when I overcommitted & felt deeply disappointed in me for a missed task or when I did not complete something I promised. I soon realized that this is at the heart of the Kaizen challenge, to acknowledge it, take responsibility, and make adjustments and plans, or strategies for the future - for it not to happen again, rather than just give up.
It is my earnest desire to extend this challenge to become a way of life for me, because I have received so much value in terms of ‘de-cluttering’ my thinking, focusing my attention on what I want for my life and business and developing a deeper understanding & relationship with myself. I will keep up my morning routine of spiritual reading, meditation and exercise, and then preparing the plan for each day in the 5 important areas – spiritual, mind, body, financial and relationships. I will also catch myself when I ‘outsource’ my responsibilities – and quickly rectify the situation. I will also keep up my thirst for knowledge and wisdom by reading & learning books, publications & works of philosophers, scientists and wealth creators like Hannes Dreyer.
My dreams and expectations for my life now are huge! Before Kaizen, I would shrink my dreams, thinking that they were too far fetched and impossible. Today, I plan to build my business into an international concern, develop my property portfolio into a multi-million Rand estate so that I can travel to all the beautiful places in the world. I plan to build my dream home for when I would like to retire. I am also treasuring myself and my loved ones to have them around me to share my future and life of health, wealth and abundance.
Only I can tell how huge the changes are in my life – others may not see them today, as I have been working on developing and growing a solid foundation – Boy! Am I excited about my future and the plans I have, that I just can’t give this up.
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