This week, I've been thinking about Kaizen – the Japanese approach to improvement or change for the better. Some business places may know this better as 'continuous improvement', but it is also a word meaning 'small changes' for optimal results.
And here's the thing that made me sit up: small changes are exactly how brains like mine work best.
If you're late-diagnosed ADHD like me, you'll know the pattern well. You get a big idea, you're fired up, and you try to overhaul your entire life by Tuesday. Then the novelty wears off, the system collapses, and you decide you're someone who "can't stick to things". But the problem was never you. It was the size of the step. ADHD brains struggle with sustained effort towards distant goals, but we're brilliant at tiny, interesting, achievable ones. Kaizen is that principle, with a century of Japanese manufacturing behind it.
There are five traditional elements to the practice of Kaizen which include teamwork, personal discipline, improved morale, quality circles and suggestions for improvement.
I'm reframing "personal discipline" here. For an ADHD brain, it's less about willpower and more about building scaffolding – external structures that hold the habit, so your working memory doesn't have to. That's a form of discipline too. Probably a kinder one.
But I see Kaizen as a whole practice which looks at ways to improve our workflow or work practices to achieve the best outcome – and we do this by taking small steps towards our end goal.
Sometimes we must also look at improving single steps towards our goals more than once in order to perfect that step. For those of us with ADHD, this is permission-giving. We're not starting again from scratch when we tweak a system. We're on step four of a process that was always meant to loop.
Kaizen has been used successfully by many major businesses and there are plenty of examples if you fancy a Google search, but in simple terms the practice can be used in our own small business routines and even for our personal lives.
For practical application there are also another five steps of Kaizen – the 5 S's:
· Seiri (Sorting) – putting your work in a designated area and then keeping it organised there
· Seiton (Systematic Arrangement) – putting items together in the best way for the most efficient retrieval
· Seiso (Shining) – making sure your workspace and any equipment is clean
· Seiketsu (Standardising) – using a standard process you have developed, or which has been previously developed, which can be repeated, tested and fixed to improve its efficiency
· Shitsuke (Sustaining) – keep doing the previous four S's
You can apply the principles to everything. For instance, if you want to attain Inbox Zero, you could take the following steps:
· Seiri (Sorting): Set up folders and sub folders in your email management system
· Seiton (Systematic Arrangement): Setting up ‘rules’ so emails of a certain type, from a certain sender or which have certain content are automatically sent to the folders and subfolders you designate
· Seiso (Shining): Delete all unwanted subscriptions as they come in to maintain an uncluttered/clean environment
. Seiketsu (Standardising): Create a simple routine for when and how you check, file and action your email so you’re not reinventing the process every day.
· Shitsuke (Sustaining): Rinse and repeat!
Here's the ADHD magic in that email example: every rule you set up is a decision you only make once. Decision fatigue is a genuine tax on the ADHD brain, and each email that lands asking "what should I do with me?" takes a small toll. Automation answers that question before it's ever asked. It's not laziness. It's engineering your environment so your executive function is spent on the things that actually need it.
But the ultimate trick to practicing Kaizen is to not leave your process at the final step – always be alert to ways you can optimise your steps to make them even more effective. For instance, regarding emails, is it better to have someone else manage the sorting and checking for you to save time and have them flag emails of importance, rather than having to check through everything yourself? Or do you have to set aside a certain time every day to go through those folders and files and action items? How can you best do that to adhere to the principles of Kaizen?
(That outsourcing question is worth taking seriously if you're scattered. Handing off the sorting isn't "giving up". It's recognising which steps drain you and which ones only you can do.)
Where our general office management or home management practices can fall down is forgetting about the continuous improvement aspect of the systems we have set up. What was good and efficient when we initially envisioned it may have improved technology available, or we have thought of a better way.
And for ADHD brains, there's a second reason systems fall down: out of sight, out of mind. A beautiful system hidden in a folder three clicks deep might as well not exist. So if you're applying the 5 S's, build visibility in from the start – the notebook on the desk, the folder pinned to your sidebar, the repeating calendar reminder. Shitsuke isn't just sustaining the habit. It's sustaining the cue that reminds you the habit exists.
Always go back to the start and take another look – it'll be worth it in the long term. One small improvement at a time is still improvement, and for the beautifully scattered among us, small is not a consolation prize. Small is the strategy.
If you'd like to explore small, sustainable strategies with a group of women who truly get it, come and join us at The Dandelion Clock. We meet monthly, one thing at a time, no overwhelm allowed. Founding membership is $25/month and locked in for as long as you stay. Come and find us at www.nanberrett.com/the-dandelion-clock