The reason of discussing this subject because “continuous improvement” has a vital role in your preparation to face challenges and take opportunities. Embracing self-improvement is essential to your life. It has a profound benefit to you, the individual person. Building your personality is a process that requires self-improvement. Regardless of your experience level or role and expertise, it is essential that you continuously improve knowledge and skills to be competitive. While the notion that term “self-improvement” has been associated with a sign of weakness, it is indeed a vital weapon that you should have in your arsenal to avoid obsolescence and to make you being in sync with the changing times.
As you mature, you tend to realize that learning is not restricted to the walls of the academia after all. Realize that to become more rounded individual requires learning outside class rooms. It is learnt in the arena of real life, which you get to design and structure your own. Self -improvement seems lofty and inherently logical to begin with, yet the spectrum of improvement that is possible for an average person is intrinsically huge and complex. And when you consider the fact that it is a continuous process, it makes the whole thing overwhelming and often you prefer to stay in your comfort zone, instead.
Even if an individual knows that he or she is the one who controls his or her destiny, yet like most people do, they look at other people and consume much time and energy trying to do the impossible, namely, to change and control the actions of others, that they wrongly know that they cannot do a normally possible thing, which is change or control their own thoughts and acts. In their book, A New Guide to Rational Living, Albert Ellis, Ph. D. and Robert A, Harper, Ph. D. wrote about people that, “they firmly hold and rarely challenge what we call Irrational Idea No. 5: The idea that emotional misery comes from external pressures and that you have little ability to control or change your feelings. They explained that this idea makes no sense for several reasons - “First, outside people and events can do nothing, at worst, but harm you physically or cause you various kinds of discomfort or deprivation.” They stated that most pains that can cause you stems from your taking their criticism or rejections too seriously: by your falsely telling yourself that you cannot stand their disapproval or cannot enjoy life without their acceptance.
Nevertheless, knowing other peoples’ perception about you can also be helpful in a positive way as a check. As you live longer in your social community, you may be exposed to criticism and rough time, taking others’ words and actions, nevertheless, you can convert negativity in the long run to productive results if you do not force yourself to do so, in the short run. This should not stop you from controlling your own destiny. Therefore, to avoid this experience, you should earlier start forming and carefully select your support system of subject matter experts whom you have confidence as your ally – Quality Sphere of Influence. You can start with your family, relatives and friends, who have been very instrumental to your upbringing.
For over 15 years, I have been working with a person, so dear to me, who has been drinking. His drinking habit had tremendously hurt me. Nothing hurts more than being disappointed by the single person you thought would never hurt you. Most often, my emotions drove me to a fight with him. I could not fathom to see him suffer at the influence of alcohol. Yet, I took care of him so preciously with pity. In 2015, the summit of his and my agony reached to a point that my wife and I went to an AA meeting, a group of parents. In our first meeting, I heard the meeting leader discussing “Tough Love” and said, “We should let our problem go and let God.” Then, I commented and said, what do you do about Matthew 25? (Which says, 35 – 37: “For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you covered me, sick and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.” 40: Amen I say to you, whenever you did this for one of these, the least of my brothers, you did it to me.”). The forum understood what I mean by Matthew 25.
Toward the end of the meeting, I could not seem to be able to imagine how could I kick out a loved one and forget it because that is what ‘tough love’ is. Finally, the group prayed and it is a powerful prayer, which relates to the fact that it is difficult if not futile to change others. The prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.” My wife and I went home with this message lingering in our minds, with a question how can we do this? Through our meditation during the week, we found the meaningful answer: that once we let go and let God, we should leave it up to God to do His work. This prayer taught me a lesson that if we keep worrying, that means we really are not trusting God to do His work and because we are blocking the way, we become the obstacle to God’s grace that should go to our loved one. So, together with my wife, we had to really change our mindset on this new process.
Before Christmas of 2015, I have found that God has answered my prayer for serenity, acceptance and wisdom. Thus, I found love between us and have expressed our sympathy to this person. There is now light at the other end of the tunnel as we see the outpouring of God’s grace in our family. I have received peace and serenity and my wife and I together with our family are enjoying them especially with this son of ours.
At 80, I have learned many lessons and I’m still learning. The above experience has caused me many sorrows, heart aches and disappointments because I thought I could solve problems and change others. The only foundation which keeps me standing is my embrace of continuous improvement, the fundamental tenet that I should never stop improving. For over 45 years, I have strived for continuous improvement of myself and adhered to some basic principles and methodologies that make this process easier. I have embraced continuous improvement philosophy and proud that I’m leaving a successful life and still improving.
As a background, here is the challenge you’re facing: A world renown guru of Continuous Improvement, Dr. W.E. Deming once said, “It is not necessary to change; survival is mandatory.” Following this quotation from my perspective, to change depends on “how bad you want it”. If you want it as bad as you want to breathe, then you will succeed with the change. In the digital age and the millennial generation, if you won’t change, others will. Adapting to change is therefore mandatory. For example, if you want to be a successful leader, the responsibility to change is yours. Therefore, as a leader, change should be transformational – a culture of relentless pursuit for improvement, which encompasses psychological and physiological change. Building your personal infrastructure to face the challenge of change requires study and preparation so that you will be ready for the opportunity.
In Spring of 2015 in Los Angeles, I was one of the guests at the commencement ceremony of a great private high school, a college preparatory school, Viewpoint School for the graduation of my youngest grandson, Zae Alcedo. The guest speaker was Mr. Pierce Brosnan, a 007 James Bond actor. The story of his life has gained my interest because of how he struggled and worked hard when he migrated to America at a young age. In that speech, he said that the chance for opportunity requires preparation and hard work. His life success proved this statement. Born in Ireland (May 16, 1953), he has survived long years of challenges. He said that he did not even graduated from high school. Per his biography in his website, after leaving comprehensive school at age 16, he began training in commercial illustration. He then went to train at the Drama Centre in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television and appeared in films, one of which is James Bond 007. His story tells that he has achieved tremendous success as an actor, producer and environmentalist because of his preparation, hard work, and unleashing his potential.
Many people have reached their potential by preparing to face opportunity. By improving their skills and knowledge. Many have also failed because they started training and stopped on the way for certain reasons. Remember, it is one thing for you to face the challenge of improving your skills and knowledge to meet the objectives of leadership. Yet it is significantly another thing to maintain the course of action and have the energy that will sustain a culture of ongoing improvement.
Another success story that proves early preparation is required so that one can have the opportunity is the work that my son, Jose, Jr and his wife, Gina who prepared their son, Zae Alcedo with the goal for a College Scholarship. At elementary school age, Zae’s parents saw the potential of their son and they placed Zae in a good elementary school. During that time, Zae had shown excellence in academic and athletic arena, with consistent “A” grade and football skills. This has become a powerful leverage for Zae’s future education and athletic career because from here, Zae had raised his ladder to a higher level every year. Zae’s dedication to improve himself from within had proven to be of stunning success. Through early training and preparation, Zae was awarded scholarship by top private middle school and high school in the country. He graduated as a stellar student with honors in academic and football.
The bright future for Zae started shining at high school as he was being watched by college football coaches in the country. He was in the radar screen of ESPN Sports TV and having been on active watch by Ivy League schools. After his high school graduation, he was awarded college scholarship grants by many universities such as Harvard, UPenn, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Stanford and Washington University in St. Louis and many more for a total of 25 universities who sent Zae letters of intent for scholarship. In the summer of 2015, Zae have chosen the top school of medicine in the country, Washington University in St. Louis where Zae is a Pre-med student at this time and playing football with the varsity football team – Bears. Together with his parents, Zae lived and embraced the philosophy of continuous improvement, which gave him the competitive edge.
Originally applied in manufacturing industries and businesses, Continuous Improvement philosophy played a very important role in all systems and processes because it becomes a crucial strategic engine that drives change when improvement starts from within the individual person. Continuous Improvement, (CI) is a philosophy of ongoing effort to improving products, services and processes and people, which was introduced by Dr. William Edwards Deming in late 1930. These efforts can seek incremental improvement over time or breakthrough improvement at once. First applied in the United States in streamlining processes and improving product quality, it has gained popular demand for the application of tools and methodologies used to produce precision quality armaments for the military during World War II. Additionally, U.S. industries have benefited in the quality of their products and services. After World War II, the Japanese government invited Dr. Deming to
come to Japan to teach his philosophy of Continuous Improvement, a major economic leader. Called Kaizen in Japan, Continuous Improvement involves not only the improvement of processes, systems and products but also focused on improving the individual person.
Continuous Improvement Philosophy
Applied in businesses, the Deming philosophy teaches organizations strategies for implementing quality improvement program by creating an environment of trust and teamwork within the organization. The foundation of CI is rooted on Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge, as follows: 1) Appreciation of a System, 2) Theory of Knowledge, 3) Knowledge of Psychology, 4) Knowledge of Variation. This theory says that success of the whole organization is dependent on the leaders’ capability to orchestrate the delicate balance of each component for the optimization of the entire system.
The improvement wheel requires the use of tools and methodologies for systematic study and thorough analysis, evaluation and meaningful conclusions. Accurate determination is achieved by using data and facts, instead of making decisions based on opinion. This is the essence of Continuous Improvement. Deming has said, “Without data, it’s another opinion.” The methodology of CI follows a systematic approach of first taking a hard look at the system. Appreciation of a System is one of Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge which is a very important principle one should consider in the desire for self-improvement. He explained that a system as the whole and complex unit with clearly defined and shared goals. Everyone in the system must share a distinct understanding to aim the common goal of the system. Applied to self-improvement, you should recognize that your system includes not only yourself but your family, friends, relatives, business associates, the environment, academia to name the basic group. Remember that this basic group in your system influence your thinking and actions. They are your resource people who have the experience and the knowledge that you may not have. They are your support system.
Burning Desire to Improve
The need for self-improvement is mandatory to anyone. Born in 1936 in the Philippines, which was then a commonwealth possession of the United States, I and my family had experienced many hardships affected by the worst downturn in economy - The Great Depression, a severe economic depression worldwide (1929-1939). Then, World War II erupted when I was 5 years old and ended six years later. I was in the elementary school during the liberation period.
During these times of difficult life (10 years Great Depression, 6 years of War, several years of Liberation) I didn't mind whether hard time will end or not, because at the time, I didn’t know I was living in hard times. How could I know hard times when I have not tasted good times? Unsure of what event may follow did not mean any difference to me. I could not even dream of my future nor plan for my destiny. At the time, to survive was my only dream for my future. My family's focus was how to live with what was available and improvised things to make them work.
So, obviously, I was raised poor, my parents had nothing materially. Our family values and principles are what kept us going. I was in high school during the beginning of the Restoration period. Luckily, my father, though handicapped due to leg injury, was gifted with ingenuity to invent business industries during the war until the restoration period and this sustained us.
At my teens, seeing great opportunities ahead, I started planning for my future. I recall that my plan was very simple and humble. It was a three-step plan for the main purpose to lift my family from poverty. Step 1- Finish High School in four years. Step 2-Finish College. Step 3-Work as a Professional Chemical Engineer. I believed then that once I have realized my plan, good things will follow. I have strong faith in this, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8-28, KJV. The result is history.
Know Your Purpose
I believe that to know your purpose, then set up your goal, plan and stick up with it are essential requirement to your success. This process starts with a mindset of beginning with the end in mind. First, be guided by God’s purpose for your life, which is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Then pattern your vision towards this divine objective. You can think of lofty aspirations for your objective but if you don’t offer it to glorify God, it will be just vanity. Having said this, think and discover your purpose and be ready to define it.
From an article, “Experiencing God’s Renewal” it said that God has a purpose for each one of us. Some of us know our purpose while others are still in the process of uncovering it. When we know our purpose, God uses it to enable us to renew His kingdom, but to renew His kingdom, we must continually renew our purpose and ourselves. Don’t let God’s purpose for your life become stale and feel old to you. Allow God to renew His purpose in such a way that it feels as fresh as the day you first uncovered it. Ask Him to expand your purpose and show you specifically the ways you can contribute to renewing His kingdom in the same way He has renewed your life and purpose.
Psychologists have correctly said that “when one is truly ready for a thing, it puts in its appearance.” From the book, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, here is a story of a man who thought his way into partnership with Thomas Edison. This man was Edwin C. Barnes. The story told that Mr. Barnes had a definite purpose of working with Edison as a business partner, but he had not enough money to pay his railroad fare to meet Edison. Despite his difficulty, because he had a burning desire to meet Edison, he finally decided to travel by “blind baggage”, rather than be defeated. He traveled many miles on freight train. Barnes did not get his partnership with Edison on his first interview. But per this story told, he did work in the Edison offices at a very nominal wage, that was not important to Edison but most important to Barnes, because it gave him the opportunity to display himself as a merchandize where his intended partner could see it.
Accordingly, Barnes was ready for a partnership with Edison and he was determined to remain ready until he got that which he was seeking. He finally became a business partner with Edison. This story tells of a man who found his fortune from nothing to start with, except the capacity to know what he wanted, and the determination to stand by that desire until he realized it.
Make your Personal Business Plan
A business plan is your road map to achieve your goal. It should be simply an outline of what, when, how, and who will execute your plan. Make your plan realistic and easy to implement.
Avoid the pitfalls of spending much time planning and failing to implement, even not having the courage to start. To make it easy, make a short-range plan and a long-range plan. Make sure that your personal business plan is written.
The “what” of your plan refers to the activities to carry out your plan. Your improvement activities should include working on your weaknesses and threats, and reinforcing your opportunities and strengths. In business, they use this technique called “SWOT” for strategic evaluation; then when, how, and who of your plan are self-explanatory.
Every plan has a review and evaluation technique. Many computer programs are available in the internet for building a business plan. You may use a Gantt Chart type of business plan to be simple. At work, as Industrial Engineer, I had used Microsoft Project for a simple project management plan, which can be applied for self-improvement plan. This software has a Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) capability. You still can make your plan by writing it, listing the activities and assigning timelines and responsibilities.
Drawing a business plan is not simply following the mechanical steps of activities and timelines. I’ve learned that beyond scientific tools and methodologies, you need first to accept the fact that to reach your goal, understand that this requires a transformation on your part, both physiological and psychological transformation; and have the determination to go through a process of adapting new habits.
In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey shows that the seven habits he wrote are not a “quick fix” but rather a step-by-step pathway to the principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity that give us the security to adapt to change in our family and business lives, as well as the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities such as change creates. As a prerequisite to understanding these Seven Habits, Covey said that we need to understand our own “paradigm” and how to make a “paradigm” shift. Per Covey, “paradigm” means a model, theory, perception, assumption or frame of reference – it’s the way we see the world not in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving, understanding, interpreting.
Your plan is like a road map. He gave the example that suppose you wanted to arrive at a specific location in a city, a street map of that city would be of great help to you in reaching your destination. But if you were given a map of another city instead, you cannot reach your destination and this would be frustrating to you. He said: “You might work on your behavior – by trying harder, be more diligent, double your speed. But your efforts would only succeed in getting you to the wrong place faster. You might work on your attitude – you could think more positively, yet you wouldn’t get to the right place. He stated that the problem has nothing to do with your behavior or your attitude. It has everything to do with having a wrong map.
As a process improvement consultant, I found the power of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” very effective in the transformation of successful people. Stephen Covey discussed the following habits in his book: Habit 1 – Be Proactive. Habit 2 – Begin with the End in Mind. Habit 3 – Put First Things First. Habit 4 – Think Win-Win. Habit 5 – Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood. Habit 6 – Synergize. Habit 7 – Sharpen the Saw. Per Covey, this list of habits discusses the corresponding principles of Personal Vision, Personal Leadership, Personal Management, Interpersonal Leadership, Emphatic Communication, Creative Cooperation, and Balanced Self-Renewal.
