How a Japanese philosophy helped me improve my life

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View our Twitter (X) feed View our Youtube channel View our Instagram feed View our Substack feed Search Popular SearchesCritical thinkingPhilosophyEmotional IntelligenceFree Will Latest Videos Latest Articles How a Japanese philosophy helped me improve my life

Kaizen taught me that tiny, consistent changes can be more powerful than dramatic overhauls.

by Sarah Harvey January 29, 2026 An abstract illustration shows overlapping target patterns, tally marks, and a dart hitting the bullseye—capturing a kaizen spirit—with pink gridlines and muted beige, yellow, and red tones.

An abstract illustration shows overlapping target patterns, tally marks, and a dart hitting the bullseye—capturing a kaizen spirit—with pink gridlines and muted beige, yellow, and red tones.

Vincent Romero / Big Think Key Takeaways

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that emphasizes improvement through tiny, consistent changes rather than dramatic overhauls.
Starting as small as possible increases the likelihood of long-term success because progress can be tracked more closely.
Over time, small wins compound, allowing sustainable improvements to quietly transform a business, a team, or a person’s daily life.

I first discovered the Japanese concept of kaizen during a sometimes stressful but ultimately wonderful time of my life. I had turned 30, quit my job in London, and moved to Tokyo with just a small pot of savings to survive on. I had only a rudimentary command of Japanese and knew just a handful of people in a city with a population of 14 million. To say I was a fish out of water would be an understatement.

Despite Tokyo and London both being huge international cities, the lifestyle in Japan was dramatically different, and like many people, I often retreat into old bad habits for comfort during periods of significant change. I was freelancing and fell out of having a regular schedule, often working late into the night to keep up with London and New York hours. I drank far too much takeaway coffee (because of the aforementioned lack of sleep) and stopped going to yoga — something that really helped me deal with stress — as I wasn’t brave enough to navigate a class in a different language. My diet was turned on its head, too. I’m a huge fan of Japanese cuisine, so I ate out a lot, and because the ingredients I would use to cook healthy meals in London were expensive or difficult to find in Tokyo, I wasn’t eating healthily even when I did stay home. In short, I was having a great time, but I was tired, overstimulated, and not looking after myself.

Then I discovered kaizen — a concept that proved to be life-changing for me, not only during the rest of my time in Japan, but also on many occasions following my return to London.

The power of small, consistent change

Roughly translating to “good change,” kaizen originated as a business development theory in post-war Japan. It was introduced by the American business leaders tasked with getting the Japanese economy back on its feet, and the core idea behind it is that, when something isn’t working or seems like could be improved (e.g., Toyota’s production line in the 1950s), tweaks should be made in very small steps — just 1% of the process — rather than in big, sweeping transformations. The theory was that making changes incrementally would increase a business’s chances of long-term success because it could monitor progress more closely. Once the initial change proved successful, other incremental changes could follow, with the small successes eventually building into something greater.

Though kaizen was first adopted by the business world, the concept is very adaptable and is now popular in many other areas, including healthcare, personal development, and sports — several NFL and NBA teams credit this type of incremental change (sometimes called “marginal gains”) as the key to their success.

While researching my book, Kaizen: The Japanese Secret to Lasting Change — Small Steps to Big Goals, I interviewed experts in the field and psychologists who specialize in habit change. They revealed that starting off as small as possible can help circumvent the brain’s natural inclination to resist change. Another of kaizen’s strengths is that, because it is mainly a mental philosophy, it is accessible to anybody. You don’t need to spend any money to get started — you just need to shift how you think about changing your behavior.

Identify an area that you want to improve: This can be any aspect of your life, including your health, studies, spending, relationships, or work-life balance.
Think about the smallest initial step you could make towards that change: Not having your phone in the bedroom as a way to stop looking at it so much at night might be daunting. If you instead start by keeping it out of immediate reach, though, you might find yourself seeking it out far less often. You can then build up to not having it in the room at all, if you still think it’s necessary.
Keep track of your progress: I find it helpful to log the changes I am making and how they make me feel in a journal or simply as a note in my phone. Writing down my successes gives me something to refer back to and encourages me to want to make further changes.
Set reasonable targets and find a way to stay accountable: This is a reminder to keep it small. I have also found it helpful to tell my partner, friends, or family about what I’m trying to achieve, as it makes me more likely to stick to my goals.
Decide on your next step: To build on the changes that you’re making in a certain area, think about how you can expand on what you’ve already achieved. If there is a new area that you want to explore, decide on the smallest first step you can make and go from there.

How kaizen helped me improve my habits

As I learned more about kaizen through my research, I found myself wanting to practice the theory in my own life. I have attempted to make dramatic changes to my lifestyle many times — adopting a brutal new exercise regime or vowing to never spend any money on clothes again — only to retreat back to my old ways after a few days. Deciding to make a really small change in an area of my life I was unhappy about was less daunting than trying to completely overhaul everything, and as I started to see results, I was emboldened to make further changes.

One way I started to transform my life in Tokyo using kaizen was that I set some boundaries around my work. These were just small changes, such as starting to keep set office hours on certain days. I also bought a yoga mat to do some practice in my tiny apartment. For this, I started with 15 minutes a day and then built up from there. I also limited myself to one coffee per day. I immediately felt far less wired and got fewer headaches. After a day or two, I didn’t really miss the caffeine buzz.

The more small wins I achieved by following the kaizen method, the more motivated I was to change other areas of my life. When I returned to London, I found myself walking less and spending more time in front of screens, so I used kaizen to get myself exercising more. I started small — just one lunchtime exercise class per week — but I enjoyed it so much that I was exercising between four and five times a week within a year.

Since then, I have turned to the kaizen technique at other pivotal moments of my life. It helped me sustain new hobbies and healthy daily habits while living by myself in London during the COVID-19 lockdown. More recently, it has helped me navigate the crazy sleep-deprived months following the birth of my baby, when my routine was entirely thrown out the window. Returning to the kaizen principles has encouraged me to slow down, take stock, and really focus on how best to get through the days — not always easy when you’ve had just two hours of sleep. Sometimes, simply committing to leaving the house for a walk feels like a huge achievement. It reminds me how good fresh air is for my mental health and makes me want to get out more (if the baby lets me).

Since publishing my book, I have heard from readers who also found kaizen to be a life-changing tool. A musician recounted how it helped him finish an album that he had been stalled on for years. A woman told me how using kaizen to make positive changes in various parts of her life had made her realize how unhappy she was with her partner, so she ended the relationship. You don’t need to aim for such dramatic outcomes — starting off small is the key to sustainable change in the long term — but these are examples of what is possible when you pay attention to what you want to change in your life. Success really does breed success, and small wins, repeated, can quietly become big change.

Sarah Harvey Sarah Harvey was living in Tokyo working as a freelance book scout and publishing consultant when she was introduced to Kaizen. Full Profile A person with straight blonde hair and bangs, wearing a red and white striped shirt and layered necklaces, stands in front of a plain light-colored wall.