The Happiness of Rhythmic Progress
My friend Cristina has become a big proponent of kaizen, a new movement that teaches the age-old method of moving toward your goals one tiny step at a time. And I do mean tiny! If you wanted to be an artist, for example, you might start by pulling out a blank canvas every day for awhile. Then you would add the action of setting out your brushes for several days. You might do no more for a month. Then you would get your tubes of paint, and later, uncap one of them.
The point is to move in the direction of your dreams by taking one tiny action every day—even if your action is no more than giving your dream a minute or two of focused thought.
One of the reasons it works is because you’re gently training yourself to tuck easy little bits of time into your day’s routine that are devoted to your desired objective. In essence, you’re creating an intentional habit, a practice. And as with any conscious practice, eventually it takes on a life of its own and begins leading you down your unique path toward realizing your goal.
But the bigger reason it works is because it tastes of happiness. In one tiny moment every day, it compresses a whole bunch of elements that create happiness: It allows you to feel self-directed and in control. And while the moment may be tiny and fleeting, it’s full of meaning for you. It yields a little flash of pride and satisfaction inside you and builds positive new pathways in your neural networks—paths with heart.
If you have a dream sitting in the back room of your mind somewhere, try adding this technique to your happiness practices. Make it a daily dance of rhythmic progress in the direction of that dream. The multi-layered results it yields may very well surprise you.
Posted in 
