I mentioned about Kaizen in my previous post, of which Kaizen is the Japanese method for transforming habits one small step at a time. Through the Kaizen concept, Japanese are encouraged to formulate their own goals and work towards achieving the goals at their own pace. Mr Masaaki Imai states that
‘The Kaizen philosophy assumes that our way of life – be it our working life, our social life, or our home life – deserves to be constantly improved’.
Imai, Misaaki. (1986). KAIZEN: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success. New York: McGraw Hill: 3.
I would like to relate this concept of Kaizen to a Malay proverb, which is belakang parang kalau diasah pasti akan tajam, which means even the back of a machete can be sharp if we keep on sharpen it. Like Kaizen, the message of the proverb is we can achieve our goal, no matter how impossible we think it is, if we work on it bit by bit.
