🌸The Power of Kaizen: One Minute for a Better You

[#1]

Hey Atlassian Community! It’s Hind from Jaanga, and I'm about to steal a minute of your time for something that might bring joy to your daily routine. Ready to hit pause on the clock? Let me share a one-minute exercise that can bring you delight and satisfaction. Okay, one minute is over, but the real fun is just about to start!

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I've always found Japanese culture to be fascinating, and in my research, I learned something you might find interesting. Ever heard of the Japanese word, Kaizen? - ‘kai’ for (change) and ‘zen’ for (wisdom). It's more than just a word; it's a one-minute secret to self-improvement that's beautifully simple. The idea behind this practice is that a person should practice doing something for a single minute, every day at the same time. The trick? The more you feel you’re accomplishing something, the more time you’ll want to spend on it. It's like a mini ninja routine for your day!

Now, what can you do in those magical 60 seconds? Check these out:

• Mindful Breathing: Practice a minute of mindful breathing to center yourself. 4 counts in, 4 counts hold, 4 counts out. Ah, refreshing!

• Stretching Routine: Dedicate a minute to stretch your body. Roll your neck, reach for the sky, and get a tension-free minute.

• Express Kindness: Shoot a quick appreciation message or compliment to a colleague or friend. Who doesn’t love a positivity boost?

• Quick Desk/Board Clean-up: Organize your workspace for a minute, or you can refine tasks on your Trello or even Jira board. A tidy desk/board can enhance focus and productivity.

• Learn a Word: Expand your vocabulary by learning a new word each day. Spend a minute understanding it, and voila—smarter in 60!

• Laugh Break: Watch a short, funny video or recall a humorous memory with your team members. Laughter is a great stress-buster.

• Ideas Shared-Space: Create a Confluence page for quick knowledge-sharing within the team! You can contribute short, one-minute reads insights and useful tips.

Try practicing Kaizen at work - create 60 seconds of routine that will bring you joy and satisfaction. These tiny moments? They're the gems that make you, well, you!

Have you tried the Kaizen challenge before? Tell us about your minute-to-win-it experiences!

[Patrícia Fortunato Montenegro]

I love that. Thank you so much for sharing these fantastic tips as a Kaizen practice.

Have a lovely day, @Hind Kadiri From Jaanga

😍🙌😊

[Hind Kadiri From Jaanga]

You're very welcome @Patrícia Fortunato Montenegro ! I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the tips. Have a fantastic rest of the week.

[Linda Paulson]

Love this! Just acted on this with Mindful Breathing. Thank you @Hind 

[Hind Kadiri From Jaanga]

You're welcome @Linda Paulson !

[Vronik]

It has been practical for many years and it would be impossible for me to live without it and I do it for much more than 60 seconds

[Hind Kadiri From Jaanga]

Good Job @Vronik Keep up the good work! and thank you for the comment.

[Mel Policicchio]

I love all these ideas! This is much better than scrolling between meetings =)

[Hind Kadiri From Jaanga]

Yeah absolutely @Mel Policicchio 😂

[Asha Goyal]

@Hind Kadiri From Jaanga Amazing!!! love it!!

[Hind Kadiri From Jaanga]

Thank you @Asha Goyal ! Glad to hear that you liked it

[Josh Shepherd]

I love this concept. As one who gets easily distracted by the net challenge, it's easy to slip into the routine of mindless 8h or back to back meetings.

One thing our team is working on is scheduling all meetings to start 5 minutes late. So a meeting might run from 10:05 - 11:00. Now there isn't currently a way for Google Calendar to automatically default to that so we rely on everyone to practice it. Now Google does have a way to default all meetings to end 5-minutes early (10:00 - 10:55) but we found that it was just re-absorbed quickly as everyone was programmed to keep talking until the end of the half-hour. 

This article is a great way to make use of these 5-minute blocks! I will be trying more myself.

[Hind Kadiri From Jaanga]

@Josh Shepherd , I liked the idea of starting all meetings 5 min late! Guess we should merge our techniques xD Thank you for your comment!

[Sunil Sarathy]

Very nicely written about the Japanese Kaizen practice. Does any of the team members use music for focus and relax at your work. I'm trying Endel, Brain.fm, Focus@Will for my university exams. Has a good impact on my study pattern. I'm on the nature relax music on Endel, while typing this comment.

[Hind Kadiri From Jaanga]

@Sunil Sarathy Hey, I'm happy that you liked it! and for the music tip, I'm listening to it while writing you this comment, it's sincerely helpful. Thanks for the tip!