One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer, PhD

Hello dears!!!

It was a long time ago since I read a book in one breath. The last weekend, when I was looking for a present for my friend in the book store, accidentally I discovered this well-written self-help book – One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen way. I am not a fan of self-help books, but the way Doctor Robert Maurer explains it and the advices he shares, makes it so easy to understand and to correlate with personal life situations, therefore I gave a try and I am very happy about it.

The Kaizen word means undergoing change through very small and steady steps, which are literally so small, that everyone can do them, and this is one of the many reasons this technique works. This book is for everyone that wants to loose weight, to quit smoking, to ask for a raise, to advance in the carrer and any other particular situation you may think of.

The author, Doctor Robert Mauer, begins by outlining how fear plays a very important role in change and how kaizen works by neutralizing it. The book has 7 small steps to go through:

1. Ask small questions
2. Think small thoughts
3. Take small actions
4. Solve small problems
5. Bestow small rewards
6. Identify small moments
7. Kaizen for Life

In each chapter the author explains why this is working and how it will work in your situation, by giving many life-based examples and analyzing each one of them using the kaizen technique. You will learn how to ask small questions because these will disperse fear and infuse creativity, how to think small thoughts to improve skills and habits, how to take the smallest action possible which will result in a guarantee success, how to solve small problems and to offer small rewards to encorage and keep people motivated to go on with the change.

The writing is engaging and keeps you turned on until the last page. The author supports with personal experiences as a clinical psychologist, as well as with well documented historical and scientific evidences. In my situation I tried to connect everything I was reading to situations in my life and how I can improve, and I was quite surprised that the teachings are applicable and you can undertake them starting today.

Kaizen is perfect captivated in the below saying:

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step” – Lao Tzu

It is a great book for personal use and also as a present for friends, colleagues. It has good advices and great motivation!!