How The Best Get Better

The Japanese have a word for it—kaizen. It means continuous and incremental improvement. The top performers, those who accept the best and nothing less from themselves and their organizations, live kaizen as an essential part of their lives. How do you, as the best performers do, improve yourself professionally? Read on for some tips on how the best get better.

Learn from the Best

Here are some ways in which the best get better:

1. They look ahead. While they’re working in the moment, the best are always keeping one eye ahead on their dreams, their next big objective, and their long-term goals. They understand the value of working here and now. Simultaneously, they are putting things in place to start or gain momentum on another front. They plan ahead. The best tend to think on paper. They are inveterate planners, even though they may appear, in many cases, to be woefully disorganized.
2. They read ahead. Leaders are readers. There’s no way around this. There are great rewards for reading and you don’t have to read very much to find yourself in the top one percent of the population. Reading and the continuous learning that comes with it is a critical component of how the best get better.
3. They forge ahead. The best have a bias toward action. There may be a time for study and due diligence. That said, the best tend to want to learn through the outcomes of decisions they’ve made with great focus and relatively short times for study and research. It may come as no surprise to you that the best promise something and immediately go to work to tool up and get it done, regardless of the fact that they’ve never done this particular thing before. The promise is a sort of forcing system that keeps them in action mode. Remember Eleanor Roosevelt’s recommendation: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
4. They connect ahead. The best know the value of relationships. They find ways to connect with like-minded individuals; with those who are smarter, faster, better; and with mentors and coaches. 

How to Implement these Steps in Your Life

Here are five things you can take action on immediately to improve your performance and your results.

1. Look ahead. Be thinking all the time about goals that are still just out of reach and some that are farther away. Get excited about them and dream about them.
2. Plan ahead. Have a plan B, C, and D and be ready to pull any or all of them out when things don’t go as planned. If you’re trying for anything worthwhile, there are always setbacks, so be ready for them.
3. Read ahead. Have so many books on hand that it’s not a matter of whether you’re going to read but what you’re going to read at this moment. Read wide and deep. Find one or two authors whose thinking intrigues you and read everything they’ve written. 
4. Forge ahead. Take action. Refuse to be immobilized in your goals. Move and watch as the universe rewards your action with lessons, results, and greater options for your next action.
5. Connect ahead. Meet someone new. Call someone whom you’d like to meet and invite them to lunch. Ask someone you know to introduce you to someone you should know.

Check out the second part of this series for additional ways to implement continuous improvement, both personally and professionally.

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