We can be hard on ourselves. Moms, parents, business owners, working professionals, we can demand the most from ourselves.

We may compare ourselves with people who have been in the industry longer, who have more experience, people who have had less setbacks in life than we had. Or people who have just been very lucky. And we feel we need to be there too, have the same things, be at that same level. And we aren’t. There are always people doing things better than us, in some area of our (working) life.

My advise to you is to not focus on the others, but learn from this Japanese to Kaizen. Kaizen is the belief that small changes over time can create huge life changes. When you do small changes everyday, you can tweak your life to make it easier, achieve more success and/or become happier with the life you have. It’s not about that big goal, that one thing you do that changes everything. It’s about daily changes.

And we see that with common goals in life, like loosing weight. Many people have learned that one crazy diet can have an enormous effect in a few days (maybe), but then you quickly bounce back to your normal weight when you get back into your old habit. It’s about those small changes. To say no to one thing every day, for example no sodas anymore, or no fast food chains, and then build upon those habits with another tiny step to change your habits.

That is exactly what I did. I stopped going to fast food chains in 2012, only going once a week to In-n-Out. Then after 9 months I stopped the once-a-week In-n-Out visit. The next thing I stopped was drinking sodas. And in 2o15 I stopped going to Starbucks and order the heavy calorie drinks.

But then this year, my year personally has been tough. And with moving, and all the changes, making my own coffee in the morning with a 1-year old at home, seemed a big challenge. And some challenging mornings, I skipped making my own coffee and opted for Starbucks instead. This is a tiny set back, but I didn’t go back on all my health changes, because they have been there so long, these are now my habits.

I have no interest in drinking sodas, and the thought of visiting a McDonalds or In-n-Out does not make me happy anymore, in fact I feel I miss a part of my meal that I want (veggies), and get things that I don’t want (salt, sugar, fat, factory food, calories, etc).

This year, my life turned upside down as I am going through a divorce, and it’s all about re-finding myself and re-defining myself. Taking tiny steps of improvement in many different areas of my business and life, all at the same time.

And it’s about looking at our own life, and seeing which tiny changes we can make to improve our life. Don’t compare ourselves. Just tiny steps to keep improving from where you were. The thing we can compare ourselves to, is our old self.

The big changes in my life came at the same time as I was launching Laundrylicious, a service that I feel is helping people like me – to take control over their life. Doing laundry easily costs 6-8 hours a week for a mom. And it’s exactly that same thing: not having enough time, that I hear moms complain about most. In fact that’s probably a struggle for most people. And I really hope by taking this part out of their life, you life (a part that definitely isn’t a fun thing for most people to do, but a chore), I am helping moms live a better life, and enjoy the things they’d love to do most, whether it be their kids, their partner, their business, their work, family, friends, sports and/or other interests.

Doing laundry typically doesn’t top these choices, and so taking this chore of their list – improves their life, relationships and well-being. And I’d love to be a tiny improvement in their life (your life?) to make this happen!

Kaizen on!