When it comes to self development, the only path to success is through constant effort.

Recently Paul Piotrowski wrote about the secret of kaizen on his blog which focused on the example of how he improves his blog. Here I want to talk about kaizen in relation to self development and why I think it is the fundamental practice.

Learning the Old Japanese Way

I’ve been practicing the Japanese martial arts of Iaido (sword) and Jodo (short staff) for 18 months now and am staggered by how it is taught.

You can learn all the techniques in 6 months easily. Then the real training begins. Week after week, year after year you practice the same techniques over and over again.

The teacher comes by and rotates your arm a few degrees or hits you in the ankle (for the thousandth time). Everyday the focus is solely on striving for perfection. There is nothing to add to your technique (you already have arms and weapons), there is only the matter of improving the smallest elements all the time.

Every few months the teacher will come by and say, “Now you are ready for the next level”. They don’t show you a new technique, they just show you a better way of doing what you already know.

Then you practice, always trying to improve and incorporate the minute changes necessary to become better.

I find this way of learning infinitely more difficult, yet infinitely greater in value.

Polishing the Mirror of Self Development

I have read about self development being the act of constantly polishing our mirror. The mirror is our ‘true’ selves and the dust that covers it is all the dust of the world, our thoughts and emotions. I think it is a very good analogy for a number of reasons.

1. Our inner nature is always present, it is just hidden away
2. As we clear the dust we can reflect the ‘light’ to others
3. As dust is cleared it is replaced by more dust (until you have removed all the dust)

The only way to become a better person is to constantly work at clearing away the dust. I don’t mean a little bit everyday, I mean in every moment.

Fears, anguish, pride, passion. All of those come to stick on to the mirror in each moment. If you allow the dust to pile up for any period of time then the mirror does not reflect well and it is harder to clean when you finally do so.

Some dirt is deeply engrained in the mirror, this type of dirt can only be removed by very constant dedicated polishing.

Cleaning Power of Instant Enlightenment

Quite often we hear of ‘ah-ha’ moments or deep realisations that change us. I see these moments as similar to when we throw a bucket of water onto the dirty mirror. For a period of time we see things incredibly different and the experience stays with us forever. However as time wears on, the dust comes upon the mirror once again.

I remember when I first realised I was not my thoughts and emotions and I found something permanent. It was like wiping my finger across a dirty window. The light shining through was blinding and I had changed forever. But even with this understanding thoughts and emotions still appeared to cloud it. It felt like I had seen the brilliance of the mirror. But with time it became obvious that the only way to maintain its visibility was to constantly polish away the dust.

The techniques that provide such instant understanding are very useful but constant polishing is the way to clear the mirror and keep it clear.

Constant Polishing

In my martial arts the only way to progress is to constantly refine your technique. Self development is the same.

You must always refine yourself. If you are slack then the dust builds up and it is harder to clean.

If you clean at a rate slower then the rate at which the dust builds up then the problem is obvious.

This is why I strongly believe people should always focus on practicing. Less time reading about the cleaning tools and creating shallow cleaning understanding, more time actually cleaning.

Constant polishing.