How Kaizen Changed MoMo's Life

How Kaizen Changed MoMo's Life

Hi, I hope you are enjoying the last warm days of summer. 

Today, I would love to show you a video I made. It is a daily reminder to live my life using the Kaizen philosophy. The simplest way to explain Kaizen is "Lifelong learning in small incremental steps.” I also used this philosophy and its principles while running my successful business. Please view the video below:

I want to share how I used the Kaizen philosophy to teach MoMo to overcome her worst fears.

                                                                      Who is MoMo?
MoMo is a dog I adopted three years ago. She was rescued from a Korean dog meat market. I vividly remember how scared she was traveling from Korea to the Sea-Tac airport on an eighteen-hour journey. When I first saw her, she was packed in a crate with another dog, shivering like a leaf and too scared to come out.

Since then, MoMo and I have worked hard so she can learn the skills needed to live a successful life in her new home. She quickly learned about grass and decided it was an acceptable place to pee. Sleeping on a blanket was more comfortable than lying on a slate floor by our front door. Toys were fun to play with and were not scary to be around. Perhaps most importantly, she learned to trust that I would not harm her.

There was one thing, however, that she refused to learn…going up and down the stairs. She was terrified of the stairs. Each time I tried to drag her down, I felt guilty. We live on the third level of a condo with an elevator, so I finally relented and let her run to the elevator each time we needed to travel to the ground floor and back.

One morning, on our way down for her routine bathroom break, MoMo ran to the elevator. I was surprised to see a bold sign on the elevator door that read, “OUT-OF-ORDER.” It instantly dawned on me that there was no way for MoMo to get to the ground level unless I carried this forty-pound dog down and back up three flights of stairs! Every time I tried that, she struggled to jump out of my embracing arms each step of the way! After this horrifying experience, I knew I had to find a way to teach her to climb the three flights of stairs by herself.

Forcing MoMo to go down the stairs was a constant struggle. I pulled her, coaxed her, and dragged her down the stairs. One time, she barked out a loud “Yelp”. I saw she had bitten her tongue and a trail of blood was dripping from her mouth. I held her and said, "Oh, MoMo. I'm sorry for forcing you to go down the stairs. You are so scared!"

I felt like I needed to figure out what to do next. Then, I remembered the problem-solving steps associated with Kaizen:

- Take one small step
- Ask small questions
- Solve small problems
- Take small actions
- Give small gifts
- Enjoy small moments

I placed MoMo by herself at the top of the stairs. Then, I went down one stair and sat there. I invited MoMo to come down the first step and showed her that a tasty treat and a big hug awaited her. She pulled away, but I firmly held her leash and pulled her down to where I was sitting. When she tentatively took the following step, she got plenty of praise, hugs, and a tasty treat. We sat there together for five minutes. During that time, I hugged her and kept telling her what a good girl she was. I played little games with her to get her attention away from the steps below her. Subsequently, we repeated the same process over and over again until she reached the bottom of the stairs. Each time, she was treated and praised for her act of bravery.  

The Kaizen practice of taking one small step, asking small questions, giving small gifts, and enjoying small moments continued with MoMo for four weeks. I'm happy to report that MoMo is now a changed dog! She goes down all 21 stairs and after she jumps off the last step, she waits for her favorite reward - a small salmon treat.

I hope you learned something from reading my story about MoMo. Do some of her struggles resonate with what is happening in your own life? Everyone’s life journey is a series of actions that take you in different directions. Thankfully, most activities are easy and enjoyable and require little or no thought. The more difficult ones, however, may involve a series of actionable steps. The first step is often the hardest, but nothing is impossible if you take that initial step and follow it up with another and then another, continually moving forward to achieve your ultimate goal. Most importantly, remember to enjoy the small achievements along the way and reward yourself accordingly. If you have a story to share, please email me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear how you use the Kaizen concept to solve problems or challenges in life.