Finding Success One Small Step at a Time

Smart men are always looking for ways to improve their lives. To be fitter. More successful in their careers. To be better husbands and fathers.

Only problem is, change-at least the way most of us attempt it-is incredibly hard. The average guy makes the same New Year's resolution seven years--before abandoning the goal. And so our waistlines increase, or our relationships suffer, and our careers stagnate.

But I've found a remarkably simple tool for self-improvement-one that brings big changes in just about every aspect of your life. It's called kaizen, and it's all about taking tiny steps to achieve big goals. Sounds implausible, I know. But 70 years of research suggests that it really does work. A few examples:

• A Mayo Clinic study suggests that thin, fit people may be that way simply because they move more during the day. They take stairs rather than elevators, pace about when on the phone, stand rather than sit at large meetings, etc. This results in a 350-calorie-a-day difference from sedentary men, adding up to a 30-pound difference over the course of a year.

• Researchers have found that successful marriages tend to be those in which positive interactions between husband and wife outweigh negative interactions by a factor of at least five to one. This isn't about expensive gifts or vacations. It's about small moments. Does your voice light up when your wife calls--or does you make it sound as if she's interrupting you? When she walks through the door, do you put down the newspaper, phone, or remote control? When she has a doctor's appointment, do you remember and ask her about it that night? These small moments are more predictive of success than anything else you do.

• Toyota, the world's largest and most successful car company, calls kaizen their corporate "soul." They train the worldwide work force to look for small ways to improve every process and product.

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