Episode 8: One Trip at a Time

From where did you receive your brightest, most memorable achievements?

Would it be outlandish to say that some of your very best would feature some challenge?

Usually, they emerge when we face discomfort. Asking out that crush, delivering the perfect pitch, or a breakthrough moment of brilliance. Growth is born where comfort ends.

However, it has also been proven that too much discomfort is not beneficial either.

I am a chess fan, okay? And I am not so horrible at it. Yet, if I were to play one hundred games with Magnus Carlsen - arguably the best chess player of all time - I would lose all 100 of them. Then curl up in my bath tiles with the water fully heated, and bawl my eyes out.

Going nuclear seldomly works; maybe when cold-turkeying addictions, sure, but with other things in life, there is a Japanese term that shows the way: Kaizen. Change for the Better.

Kaizen is a business philosophy popularized by Masaaki Imai, a Japanese organizational theorist and consultant. Its most famous practitioner remains Toyota, the pioneer and role model of the Japanese industrial revival & economic miracle.

It shares five principles:

• Know your customer.

• Let it flow.

• Go to Gemba.

• Empower people.

• Be transparent.

Now, I’m fully aware that this is not a business consultancy podcast, and while I have been a marketer for the past decade and could very well support that, again, this is still After The Dragon: a podcast about navigating life’s changes.

Yes, this is After the Dragon, Episode 8 - The Observer; so… Kalispera, Good evening, Buenas Tardes, Dobry Wieczór.

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Where was I? Oh, yes.

Business of the 21st century is similar to what the military was in the 20th century.

While the US and the Soviets were antagonizing one another for decades, it led to applications that revolutionized our daily lives: the internet, GPS technology, and even… the cool aviator glasses.

Nowadays, the same happens with corporations. New companies pop up antagonizing the status quo, with the old ones resisting, and through this tension, advancements trickle down to the public: such as what is AI nowadays.

The same logic applies to Kaizen. It is a simple but spot-on philosophy for self-improvement if you rework it slightly.

Remember its five steps? Know your customer. Let it flow. Go to Gemba. Empower people. Be transparent.

Let’s rework them a bit.

First requires only a change of words. You are, in this case, your customer, so… “know yourself.” You cannot begin a journey of self-improvement without knowing your current state, its strengths and limitations.

Second, letting it flow is ok by itself! Taking a lesson from the Stoic school of thought: understand what you can and cannot control.

Control is not binary, of course, but a scale; on one side, you have things like the global economy (unless you’re Trump wrecking the economy one tariff at a time), and on the other side, at least according to the Stoics, your reactions. Kaizen complements this beautifully, guiding us on how to steadily improve those responses, day by day. Everything in the middle, however, is grey, depending on your position, leverage, etc. The point is to know what exactly is controllable, and not lose time on things you just cannot influence.

Let's leave both Stoicism and Buddhism for now, though - I promise I will do a later episode on it.

Third is Gemba: a Japanese word for “where things actually happen”. This is strongly related to our previous episodes; if you are an underground man, you are far away from where real life is unfolding - in fact, you are in its polar opposite.

You can spend all your time fantasizing, planning, strategizing. And sure, you have to do that at some point (thanks to my dear friend & listener of the show Luca, who had this feedback about episode 7), since you indeed have to know yourself. But, eventually, someone needs to do the actual groundwork. And that someone is you!

Now, the fourth step. Empowering people can remain as it is! Your life will become better when you find the right people around you and empower them to live their lives in the best way possible. Similarly, you can empower yourself. Let yourself and others understand where their strengths lie. Encourage yourself and others to utilize them, employing that green side of life, focusing on what you currently have, not what you would wish to be.

And, finally, arguably the toughest, transparency. At some point, you’ve got to be honest with yourself and others. To visit your bad faiths, to see your humps for what they are, to find the courage to face your dragons; everything is interconnected, and I’ll always refer to Nietzsche and Sartre’s earlier episode references. If you've somehow just started this podcast, you'll benefit from starting it from the beginning, so head back to the earlier episodes after this.

Kaizen: the art of continuous improvement. And continuous means gradual. Gradual means that you cannot address all of them at once.

And while there are always some low-hanging fruits to tackle first, some easy fix solutions for some issues, behavioral change takes time. You wouldn’t expect to be jacked after one visit to the gym. How can you expect you fix years of constant habit and behavior by utilizing one simple life hack, a life coach influencer snake oil seller guru mentioned in that TikTok reel some days ago?

I’ve left 2024 with the knowledge that I have to restart, day by day. That there will be humps along the way, that the progress won’t be that obvious at first, but I will have to persevere.

Unknowingly at first, I recalibrated myself towards Kaizen. And with Kaizen in mind, I began 2025.

Early 2025 tested this philosophy. Freshly discharged from a hospital and still in pain, I spontaneously joined a friend's road trip from Athens to Tirana, Albania. No detailed plans, a tight budget, and surrounded by unfamiliar faces. It was pure Gemba, real life unfolding outside my comfort zone.

Albania surprised me. Despite its challenging past under Enver Hoxha’s oppressive regime, Tirana vibrantly mixed history with modernity, resilience with creativity. The experience reminded me how often we disregard places, people, and experiences based on preconceived notions.

Travel, viewed as a simulation, powerfully demonstrates Kaizen—pushing boundaries gradually, thoughtfully.

And such a simulation reinforced the clarity about who I am.

I am getting better at recognizing what I can and can’t control.

I increasingly get out there and dare to live life on its own terms.

I improve at interacting with others, helping them see their pitfalls but increasingly focusing on their strengths, as I strive to receive treatment from them.

And I remain honest; with who I am, what I want, with my limits and beliefs. With whom I match or not.

"May I receive only failures, and so I may fester from them". That was the rationale of a sick mind I leave behind, its screams echo first, then fade from a distance. The shackles I held for so long, for what reasons I don't know.

I don’t succeed every time. I make mistakes often, as I did occasionally during that trip.

But I understand, it’s a process. With its simulations, but also with real-life occurrences.

It’s a turn back to Kaizen.

And day by day, trip by trip, dare by dare, I get stronger and better.

And I hope you’re doing well too.

Why don’t you give Kaizen a try?

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Thanks for reaching the end of Episode 8.

Please like, follow, and leave a review to help others discover our journey of growth.

For more on Kaizen, check out the provided sources, including the VIA Strengths Test and Ryan Holiday’s “The Daily Stoic.” Remember: the best time to start improving is now.

The next episode arrives on April 25th. Until then, keep improving!

Thank you for reaching the end of the 8th episode.

As always, leave a like, follow the show on the platform of your choice, and review us to help the show reach more people in their self-improving, navigating-life-changes journey.

For sources, I’ll share some links on Kaizen. As I’ve referred to individual strengths and weaknesses, if you are not fully aware of which ones are yours, I will also be providing the VIA Institute Strengths test, which is backed by research. Finally, I highly suggest you start reading Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic. The book is supposed to be read from day one of the year, but don’t just wait for a new New Year's Resolution. The best time to initiate change is at this very moment.

The next episode will arrive on April 25. Until then, continue to improve!

Marketing Materials: ⁠⁠Strategaze⁠⁠

Music Credits: ⁠⁠A ship Sailing in the Red Sea by Hesham Hanafy⁠

Sources:

• ⁠Investopedia: Kaizen⁠⁠

• VIA Institute of Character ⁠Strength Test⁠

• ⁠Daily Stoic⁠ by Ryan Holiday