Fall 2015 October 14 Wednesday

61 degrees this morning, walk 37:52 minutes

Record on walk this morning, which is kind of strange, since my recent walks (due partly to more clothing due to colder weather) have been longer.

At  times in my life, there are are certain times that are “yardsticks” to measure my life, or perhaps the year anyway.  One of these is New Year Eve, another is the time when Daylight Savings Time changes in  the Spring etc.  

Another time is around October/November when the world kind of pauses before the frenetic holiday season starts.  It seems to come anytime from Columbus Day to Veterans Day.

I think I suddenly realized the year is almost over.  While a year is just a name, it still is reality, in that it measures the passage of time in some way.  

It seems kind of strange because I really don’t have any specific goals, and my entire life I have had some kind of goal I was concentrating on.  

Strangely enough, I am relatively happy about that.  I think maybe my goal is just to deal with reality and improve myself in a “continuous improvement” mode, rather than any big leaps or big goals. 

That still of course means I have goals, so saying I don’t have goals isn’t really true.

I still remember when I learned about the management system of “Kaizen”, which was credited to Japanese management.  It was about 20+ years ago in a “computer self-learning” course at Rose State College.  For reason, it really had an impact on me!

I just looked it up on the Internet (to find the word “Kaizen”,( no way am I going to remember it) and I found that:

-The Japanese are no longer credited with being the origins of “continuous improvement”, at least in any of the top blog posts

-My own blog post of 8-27-15 is referenced!  (I forgot I had written about this before, but, so what?)

-Continuous improvement is now being criticized as not being good for innovation etc!  

-The Japanese economy is now being used as a criticism of “continuous improvement”

-Many articles are on “rethinking” of continuous improvement, or even describing “continuous improvement as “rapid change”, which is certainly a change in the definition!

In a way, what little I learned (I am going to have to research this a lot more!) proves the theory of “continuous improvement”, but also “continuous learning” where you keep up with the current literature of a subject!

I had no idea that “continuous improvement” had morphed like it has.  

That probably means I haven’t kept up with my “continuous improvement” goal or commitment!  

That is one thing I always tried to do in City Management was read and keep up with the current trends of thought.  

The International City Management Association” has a program where City Managers commit to 40 hours of learning each year.  It is a voluntary program, but I expect most professions require some sort of continuous learning.

  

I certainly hope the Doctors I use etc. keep up with the latest practices.  Just in the past year, I am amazed at the changes in the medical industry, as well as management etc.  

Anyway, one commitment I intend to make to myself is to keep learning new concepts and techniques and not allow myself to resist change just because change can be difficult.  

I carefully note when I resist something new, to see if I resist it “just” because it is new and will require some adjustment on my part!  Just because it is new doesn’t mean it is bad, but doesn’t mean it is bad either!

That’s it for now, Wednesday, October 14, 2015.  

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