4-step Kaizen Strategy to Re-aligning Your Life (plus, a free printable!)

What do your choices say about your values?

Taking the kaizen approach, you can make tiny adjustments to re-align your life. Whether it’s more time with your loved ones and/or pets, more creative activities, or more plants, you get to decide how to spend your time.

This portal opening moment, as Rha Goddess calls the pandemic, is (was?) the moment we are forced to confront our daily lives.

We’ve become so focused on output and results that we’ve completely forgotten about the input.

As I reflected back on my daily living, I learned that many of my daily activities didn’t align with my values.

Values, things that guide our decision-making in our personal and professional life, can change over time.

For many of us, this pandemic altered life as we knew it. Pre-COVID, hard work equated to endless hours of producing results for our bosses and/or clients. We thought these outputs led to a meaningful life.

It’s no wonder at the end of the day, so many of us were left feeling drained, exhausted, and unfulfilled.

Instead of reading and doing yoga, two activities I say I like to do and yet didn’t, I spent any free time I had scrolling through social media. I spent my hard-earned money on meals and drinks to feel connected with my friends, instead of directing them toward my credit card debt.

Don’t get me wrong: These things can be good so long as we’re mindful of how much we’re directing our attention and energy toward them.

Get out your journal or download this printable and something to write with.

Happy kaizening!

Kaizen Activity N°1: Write down your values

Before we can re-align our days, we need to lay the foundation.

We need to figure out our values first.

As life slowed down, many of us realized that more hours at the office don’t always mean better.

Taking care of the home, that is, mind, body, and spirit became my new mantra, and hopefully yours too.

Tending to our well-being fills our cup. Doing things that we enjoy is a form of self-care and self-love.

Doing things that are aligned with our values bring meaning and purpose. This leads to feeling fulfilled and achieving our goals.  

In your journal or this printable, write down some of your values. Be as specific or as broad as you like. Take your time with this section.  

Remember, values help us figure out what’s important in our personal and professional life.  

Some of mine are:

• financial freedom,
• holistic health,
• nature,
• learning,
• deep listening & helpful questioning,
• rest & recovery,
• creativity,
• and meaningful connections

Once you’ve written down your values, it’s time for kaizen activity n°2:

Record how you currently spend your time

Think of it like starting to budget your finances. You can’t budget what you don’t know.

You can do this two ways:

1. Reflect on your past day and write down an agenda of what you did.
2. Today or tomorrow, record your activities as you go about your usual day.

Where did you spend the most time doing something you wanted to do?
When did you spend it on things that weren’t aligned with your values?

Being honest and withholding judgement is key. You don’t have to be exact, though, you’re more than welcome to.

The idea is to get it down on paper. We may think we know, but until it’s in front of our faces, we can’t fully grasp it.  

It takes self-reflection and self-compassion to incite the will to change.

Kaizen activity n°3: Shift your perspectives

Now that we’re starting to have an idea of how we spend our time, the next thing to harness is the power of our minds.

So many times, I’ve heard myself say, “I have to go running,” or “I have to stop spending.”

No one likes “having” to do anything!

KAIZEN TIP! Replace those two words with: 

“I get to...”

“I have to go running” becomes “I get to strengthen my cardio and use my body,” or “I get to be outside in nature.”

“I have to stop spending” becomes “I get to be closer to becoming debt-free.”

Now you try! What’re some things you find yourself saying, “I have to…”? Write down 2-3. Then, rephrase the endings.  

Here are some examples I’ve heard others say:

·        “I have to lose weight”  “I get to prioritize my health.”

·        “I have to get more sleep” “I get to focus on refreshing my mind and body to take on the next day.”

Realistically, there are many things beyond our control: this pandemic being one of them.

Rest assured, there are some things we can control.

Attitude is one of them.

Kaizen activity n°4: What to do more of/less of

Now that we have the foundation in place, we can think about what we want to do more of and what to do less of.

Use the questions to below to get started, but please feel free to improvise.

• What brings me joy? (Or similarly, what’re the things I really want to do?)
• Am I inventing anything to avoid the important? (a biggie!)
• What do I want to do less of?
• Where do I need to draw some boundaries?

Once you’ve figured out what you’d like to do more of less of, make a plan to do them (or not do them) asap.

Draw boundaries as necessary. Make a plan with a friend or pair it with a strategy.

It might be hard at first, but I’m here to cheer you on!

As in Yoga, As in Life

In yoga, we focus a lot on alignment.

Alignment of the body, of the breath, and of the mind. Sometimes we come out of alignment.

Here’s a chance to practice self-compassion.

All it takes is awareness and a micro-adjustment somewhere to re-align once more.

Assess. Adjust. Apply. The method of 

REFLECTION

What was this activity like for you? Comment below which values changed for you.