1-in-20 = Kaizen

One of the great things--to Me--about baseball is that it accurately reflects the general pattern of Life: You don't have to be amazingly great to be a success, you simply have to be a little more consistent at being good.

If you get 5 hits in 20 at bats, you are an average player. If you get 6 hits in 20 at bats, you are a superstar. And if you keep getting just one more hit per 20 at bats long enough, you are a Hall of Famer.

If your team wins 12 games out of 20, it is an outstanding team. But win 13 out of 20 over the course of a season and you are almost certainly going to be on the championship team. (Your mileage may vary.)

In any case, notice the almost quantum leap in perceived results from the minuscule change of 1-in-20. Did you ever consider just 5% the difference between a regular Joe and Joe DiMaggio?

Now ponder that difference and apply it to society as a whole. Or better yet, apply it to yourself. How much better would your position, value, career, your Life be if you simply improved "1-in-20"? You can quickly determine the potential impact in your job and thus, on your career. And if your career improves, what does that do for your Life?

Now don't give Me that "Nobody will notice in my job" whine. YOU will notice, and as you begin to notice the difference and what it means to you, you will automatically begin to notice new opportunities. And if you have a job where "nobody notices," then having seen more opportunities around you is the basis for finding a better job. Or for creating one.

The same applies to Our communities and, by extension, Our society. We don't have to change everything at once: What We need to change is very little and by doing it consistently, We get the cumulative effect of small positive changes adding up to large, massive and even monumental change.

The Japanese call it kaizen, the process of continuous improvement. In baseball, and Life, it's called being a winner. Given where We are and where We need to be, it's definitely time We started Our own 1-in-20 kaizen path to winning.


The Jenius Has Spoken.