Kaizen. Kaizen (改善?) , Japanese for "improvement" or "change for the best", refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, business management or any process. It has been applied in healthcare,[1] psychotherapy,[2] life-coaching, government, banking, and other industries. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions, and involves all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers.
It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain.[3] By improving standardized activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see lean manufacturing). Overview[edit] The Sino-Japanese word "kaizen" simply means "good change", with no inherent meaning of either "continuous" or "philosophy" in Japanese dictionaries or in everyday use. History[edit] Implementation[edit] See also[edit] Toyota Production System. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota, that comprises its management philosophy and practices.
The TPS organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and customers. The system is a major precursor of the more generic "lean manufacturing. " Taiichi Ohno, Shigeo Shingo and Eiji Toyoda developed the system between 1948 and 1975.[1] Goals[edit] Waste of over production (largest waste)Waste of time on hand (waiting)Waste of transportationWaste of processing itselfWaste of stock at handWaste of movementWaste of making defective products The elimination of waste has come to dominate the thinking of many when they look at the effects of the TPS because it is the most familiar of the three to implement.
Origins[edit] This system, more than any other aspect of the company, is responsible for having made Toyota the company it is today. Principles[edit] Continuous Improvement[edit] 50 Ways You Can Be Brave Today. 7 Ways to Enhance Focus, Creativity, Productivity and Performance. Back in my corporate lawyer days, there was one guy who everyone hated. Not because he was mean or underhanded or cut-throat. He was actually quite nice and always willing to help. People hated him because he was good. Superstar good. While everyone else fretted and froze under the dizzying pace and pressure of the job, he seemed to always keep it together, to thrive and even come alive as the fire got hotter.
He wasn’t an adrenaline junkie or cowboy. He was actually a pretty level-headed guy. I used to wonder what he was doing differently. Because if it wasn’t genetic, if it was something that could be learned, I wanted to know. I never figured it out before I left the law. Turns out, there are a handful of things most super-performers do different that underlie or, at least substantially accelerate their success. Time for Mindset Domination Strategy #2. Now, it’s time to add to our arsenal with strategy #2 - – Attentional Training I wonder when the last time you felt any of these was?
Mental Health. Resilience. 19. Skills You'll Need to Beat Anxiety. {*style:<b> Anxiety and Perfectionism 1. The Ability to Tolerate Uncertainty </b>*} Studies have shown that intolerance of uncertainty is a key factor in anxiety and depression ( Study example ). Intolerance of uncertainty is anxiety when you can't be 100 percent sure a negative event won't happen. People who can't tolerate uncertainty often avoid situations, procrastinate, ressurance seek, delay taking action, do excessive checking, and refuse to delegate. Rumination is when you're repeatedly bothered by a worry thought. If you can learn to recognize when you're ruminating, you can use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques , defusion techniques , or mindfulness techniques to help you stop ruminating.
The key is recognizing thought distortions is to ask yourself what thoughts you're having when you feel distressed. Mindfulness techniques help reduce anxiety and increase willpower . Photo credit: Mikamatto via photopin . cc . Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work. What Not To Do (when you're depressed, anxious, drunk or high) I've met clients over the years who, in various conversations, said quite emphatically that one of their regrets is that they did something really impulsive when they were in a less than functional mindset: they were really really depressed, unbelievably anxious, or drunk or high on something like... (fill in the blank). A good part of successfully surviving your life is knowing when not to listen to yourself. You've probably heard the standard advice over the year: don't try cut your own hair or get a tattoo when you're drunk; don't decide to tell your boss off and quit your job when you're really angry; don't go to a mall or hit the internet when you're depressed and have a strong craving for shopping therapy ; don't ever decide out of the blue to call or text your mother-in-law (or mother, best friend, ex boy/girlfriend) and tell them what you really think; don't handle heavy machinery unless it's between 8 and 11am and you have on full protective gear.
Left in Limbo. Depression has many phases. It comes on. It rages. It remits. It recurs. In many ways, the most awkward phase of depression is when the worst has passed, when a depressed person is better, but not fully well. Residual depression is a state of limbo in other ways. The first limbo is being part way back in your life. There is also a social limbo.
Clinical practice likewise leaves people with residual symptoms in limbo. Recently, there's a growing recognition that these yardsticks set the bar of success too low. Millions of people remain in limbo states for long periods of time. Are you left in limbo? What if We're Wrong About the "Cause" of Mental Illness? This may be the month we put together enough evidence that childhood trauma may not be the "responsible" agent in causing serious mental disorders to at least make us reconsider our popular theories. Of course there's been plenty of prior evidence, but fixed ideas, even wrong ones, are hard to change. On March 2, a story by Jeremy Laurence appeared, reporting that a common acne antibiotic was found, quite by accident, to alleviate symptoms in patients with schizophrenia . This was a shocking surprise for some, especially clinicians I imagine.
The belief that curing mental illness happens by overcoming childhood trauma has been the anchor of psychotherapy since the last century, despite plenty of contrary evidence. The story linking antibiotics and relief from symptoms of schizophrenia is just another piece of empirical data, suggesting that we might be off base in the assumption that childhood trauma explains the etiology of serious mental illnesses. Chaotic parenthood might be fun. Affirmation on Your Desktop. — Muhammad Ali I took an airplane flight the other day, which was smooth but nonetheless eventful. I was glancing through the that I found in the seatback in front of me and saw an item for sale that put a smile on my face, in part because it was silly and in part because it was not silly and therefore made me think. The item is called , and it is a small wooden box in which the sorts of things you might keep on your desk at work can be stored.
Every time the lid is opened, it says something positive*. Apparently, all these comments are addressed to someone named Bob: Maybe someday there will be a version of the affirmation box that can be personally programmed with your name or mine, but Bob's Affirmation Box costs only $24.95, so we should not criticize. While I was smiling, I was also thinking, and I did so from the vantage of positive psychology . I wish it were that simple. Why? Personal Growth: Do You Have Needs or NEEDS!
Just as your basic physical needs (e.g., food, water, shelter) must be met to ensure your physical survival and growth, another set of needs must also be satisfied to guarantee your psychological and emotional survival and growth. These needs include: Feeling loved ("I'm worthwhile"), Allaying insecurity ("I'm safe"), Feeling competent ("I'm capable"), Feeling in control ("I'm in charge"), and Guarding against negative emotions ("I feel good").
Every human being has these needs and they, in and of themselves, are neither healthy nor unhealthy, functional nor dysfunctional; they are simply a part of what drives us as humans. We don't have the capabilities at a young age to satisfy these needs ourselves, so we rely on parents and other caregivers to meet these needs. What makes these needs beneficial or harmful to us—and whether our life inertia begins in a positive direction—depends on how they are satisfied by our parents and others when we were children. Needs or NEEDS! These NEEDS! Welcome to Yi-Yuan Body Mind Science. Dr. Yi-Yuan Tang Dr. Tang was born in China and started eastern traditional practice and training when he was very young and learned different body-mind methods and techniques from more than 20 teachers.
He has been working at the universities over 20 years since he got the first faculty position in 1987. He has been a full Professor of Neuroinformatics, Neuroscience and Psychology, and the founding director and director of the first Institute of Neuroinformatics and Laboratory of Body and Mind in Chinese university since 2001. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. The Yoga Revolution... and Its Opponents. Yoga has established health benefits, and some risks Yoga is an ancient Indian discipline with the ultimate goals of uniting mind, body,and spirit, and of transcending the boundaries of the self to become one with the universal consciousness. It began in India thousands of years ago, taught by swamis to their students.
The mind-body benefits of Yoga have been widely touted by health magazines and celebrities, yet some experts have warned that there are risks in practicing complicated Yoga poses without correct mental preparation and spiritual mindset. has added fuel to the fire by publishing an article describing serious injuries resulting from Yoga, such as spinal stenosis, stroke, or nerve compression. Yoga loyalists retort that these stories of injury are anecdotal and not based on controlled studies. It is the opinion of this author that we shouldn't be hanging up our Yoga mats just yet, although some precautions are in order. Here 's why... What is Yoga? Who Practices Yoga? 7 Ways to Enhance Focus, Creativity, Productivity and Performance. Understanding Intuition and How the Mind Works. Steve Jobs, in his famous Stanford University Commencement Address (2005), advised students not to let the “noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice”, but rather “have the courage to follow your heart and intuition”.
Few psychologists would deny that we possess a subtle mind that can be a great source of strength, joy, and creative insight. However, as psychological scientists, our task is to understand how the subtle, ‘intuitive’ mind works and thus avoid any simple-minded, romantic proclamations. Perhaps by seeking to understand how our intuitions can deceive us we can learn to master our subtle, intuitive mind and cultivate greater strength, joy, and creative and reflective capacities.
In their fascinating book, Christoper Chabris and Daniel Simons provide readers with unique insights into the illusions of the mind and how to master them. Notably, it has become fashionable to argue that intuitive methods of thinking and deciding are superior to analytical methods. Overthinking It? Einstein Beware! Mavericks Not Welcome.
In 1905, Albert Einstein produced four papers that revolutionized physics -- changing science's and society's entire view of the universe and our place within it. He proposed that light existed as discrete particles rather than purely as waves (called quantum theory), determined the size of atoms and the impact of atoms and molecules on the motion of microscopic particles on the surface of water (at a time when the existence of these building blocks of nature were in dispute), and modified Newton's centuries-old view of space and time by proposing them to be variable (relativity). These things scared people! They certainly offended the large majority of scientists. Oh, he did all of these without a Ph.D., his thesis offering having been rejected, and without a scientific or academic job.
Einstein got no job offers. Einstein's theories were a hard sell. We know many of these things about Einstein, but we can't fully recognize what it says about him and about our own mindsets. Owning Your Life. “I concern others and they concern me” ( Ethics of Ambiguity ). French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir sums it up. We’re not alone. Our actions and omissions affect others. If I don’t work at creating good qualities and going after my worse tendencies, you’ll be left with the ugly consequences. Beware fallout! I thought of the existentialist philosophical focus on respecting the freedom of others as an essential requirement for valuing one’s own independence after an extremely unfortunate incident. At a standstill in a traffic jam, I slowly backed up to allow a school bus to turn down a side street, thereby tapping the fender of the stopped car behind me.
Clearly, he had demons lurking no longer below the surface. Each of us owns our lives whether we are taking good care of ourselves or not. 1) A man, who suffered childhood trauma which he had left buried, sought help and gave voice to his wound for the first time. When we tackle our personal weaknesses, we take charge of our lives. The 'Busy' Trap. The manic defence is the tendency, when presented with uncomfortable thoughts or feelings, to distract the conscious mind either with a flurry of activity or with the opposite thoughts or feelings. A general example of the manic defence is the person who spends all of his time rushing around from one task to the next, and who is unable to tolerate even short periods of inactivity. For this person, even leisure time consists in a series of discrete programmed activities that he needs to submit to in order to tick off from an actual or mental list.
One needs only observe the expression on his face as he ploughs through yet another family outing, cultural event, or gruelling exercise routine to realize that his aim in life is not so much to live in the present moment as it is to work down his never-ending list. If one asks him how he is doing, he is most likely to respond with an artificial smile and a robotic response along the lines of, ‘Fine, thank you—very busy of course! ' The Most Powerful Word in Your Life. Standards of Critical Thinking. Self-Sabotage: The Enemy Within. Why We Self-Sabotage Our Success. Why Quitters Win. Are You Proactive or Reactive. Character Development: The Heart of Any Story Worth Living. Is Conscientiousness Compatible with Creativity? 7 Ways to Enhance Focus, Creativity, Productivity and Performance. Exceeding Expectations. How to Keep Your Cool with Competitive People. Finding Flow this weekend. 12 Laws of True Power.
10 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence. Self-Control. Stress Management.