Kaizen (改善) means improvement — kai (改) means change/make better, and zen (善) means good — but as the term is used as a business process it more closely resembles in English “continuous improvement.” Kaizen is one of the keys to the steady improvement and innovation found at successful companies in Japan such as Toyota. Says Matthew May, in his book The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation, “Kaizen is one of those magical concepts that is at once a philosophy, a principle, a practice, and a tool.” Though Kaizen is a tool used by corporations to achieve greater innovation, productivity, and general excellence, it’s also an approach, an approach that we can learn from and apply to our own lives as we strive for continuous improvement on a more personal level. We can call this “Personal Kaizen.” Others have applied the personal kaizen approach to personal efficiency or GTD. You too can take the spirit of kaizen and apply it to your own unique personal kaizen approach to improve — step-by-step, little-by-little — your presentation skills and design knowledge and technique.

Long-term commitment
The overriding principles of kaizen are that it’s daily, continuous, steady, and it takes the long-term view. Kaizen requires a commitment and a strong willingness to change. I suggest you incorporate these principles into your own personal kaizen approach to learning all you can about design and visual communication over the long term. The interesting thing about kaizen is that big, sudden improvements are not necessary. Instead, what is important is that you’re always looking for ideas — including even the smallest of things — that you can build on. Tiny improvements are OK; over the long-term these add up to great improvements. Each journey begins with a single step — this too is a precept inherent in Kaizen. Keep moving forward.

There’s no end to improvement
There is an old saying that goes “Once you think you have arrived, you have already started your descent.” One must never think they "have arrived." You may have heard the refrain "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This is not bad advice necessarily. However, the spirit of kaizen suggests that there is always something to learn and ways to improve, and that it is also better to prevent problems than to fix them. So, no matter how good things may seem now, there is always room for improvement, and looking to improve every day is what personal kaizen is all about. It’s not about how far you have come or how far you have yet to go, it is only about this moment and being open to seeing the lessons around you, and possessing the capacity and willingness to learn and improve.

*A slide from* *my presentation on the boo*k Atomic Habits.

There are many small things you can do to increase your design knowledge and communication skills over time. Here are 15 tips in no particular order.

(1) Keep an analog scrapbook of design examples you find. From napkins to paper cups to business cards and brochures, flyers, and posters — whatever you find remarkable (good or bad) and fits inside a folder, a box, or a scrapbook. From time to time, review the contents of your analog examples and reflect on what works (and what doesn’t) and why. This activity is even better in a group where people occasionally come together and share their scrapbook contents with others in a kind of “good/bad design show and tell.”

(2) Keep a digital scrapbook in the form of an online photo blog — either private or open to anyone to view — where you log all the examples of design you find of interest. You could make an Instagram account, for example, dedicated to examples of beautiful and not so beautiful designs. Or just have a special folder on your phone where you can store your examples.

(3) Keep stimulating your “creative brain” by learning a musical instrument, or rediscovering the instrument you used to play. Playing music is one of those creative “whole mind” activities that will enrich your life (and work). You are never too old to learn to play an instrument. Some people like to combine their music making with presentation or filmmaking. For example, here on Instagram is an example of me playing all the instruments and vocals and then editing it all together in DaVinci Resolve. The video is not directly related to my work per se, but the learning of musical instruments is good for my brain and spirit, and the video-editing skills come in handy when making videos for YouTube or for my live presentations.

(4) Read books on graphic design, typography, color, photography, documentary film making, and even architecture and other areas of design — you never know where the design lessons are to be found. Especially in this era of hyper distraction, one of the healthiest things you can do for you brain and your own piece off mind is to dedicate time several days a week dedicated to slow, thoughtful reading.

(6) Take some time to examine the packages in stores regardless of whether or not you are interested in the product. What catches your eye as you walk through a shop? Nothing is by accident — what were the designers trying to communicate with the package? This is similar to numbers 1 and 2 above. Search out great examples as well as examples that you think fail or could use improvement.

(7) Learn to draw by taking a class using the methods of Betty Edwards (or buy her books and videos). Get Dan Roam’s The Back of the Napkin and learn how to draw and talk at the same time at the whiteboard. Being able to sketch out simple drawings on paper or draw visuals in real time that amplify and clarify your talk at the whiteboard is a skill that is even more important in an era of ubiquitous generative AI usage for image creation.

(8) Learn to take better photos. Since you'll be taking so many snaps to learn from and to share, why not get much better at the art of photography? Scott Kelby's books may be a good place to start. You don't have to become as good as the pros, but you can get much, much better. Learn what separates the great photos from the ordinary. The lessons from photography will help in your general guest to become a better visual thinker.

(9) Take an art class at the local community college, university, or online. Don’t worry that it may not have obvious applications for work. The art — whatever it is — will teach you lessons about seeing and communicating through form. All you need to do is practice and enjoy the journey. You’ll find, perhaps unexpectedly, that there were indeed lessons in there that you later applied to your own work or personal life.

(10) Go for long walks alone (with ability to record your observations). As you walk, if an idea snaps into your head or you notice something that stimulates your imagination, use the voice recorder in your phone (or other device) to record the idea. It may seem odd, but I often even go jogging with my iPhone just in case I need to take a snap of something remarkable or an idea comes to mind that I need to record instantly. Besides relieving stress and keeping you fit, exercise seems to stimulate ideas. Record those ideas when possible in a way easiest for you. On the other had….

(11) Get completely unplugged and off the grid — no iPhones or computers, etc. — and go for a walk, a hike, a bike ride, or whatever it is that allows you slow your busy mind. And what if that brilliant idea hits you and you can’t record it in any way or take a picture of a remarkable example? Don’t worry about it. Getting off the grid and freeing up your mind (and pockets) is necessary too.

(12) Go for walks in nature with a keen eye for the balance and the colors, lines, shapes, etc. that most people never pay attention to. What visual lessons can you get by stopping to look both at the whole and then zooming in to look at the particular? There is much to be learned by careful observation of nature. Artists already do this, but we can too. Also, checkout the idea of Shinrin-yoku (森林浴). I recommend Dr. Qing Li’s book published in April of 2018 called Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness (Penguin Life). This book is a good introduction to Shinrin-yoku. “Forest-bathing can help you sleep and it can put you in a better mood,” Dr. Li. “It lowers your heart rate and your blood pressure and improves cardiovascular and metabolic health. And most importantly, it can boost your immune system.”

(13) Watch films with a new visual perspective. You are learning about visual communication and visual storytelling, and cinema, of course, is a visual medium, perhaps the most powerful of them all. You do not need to become a filmmaker, but as you learn more and more about how visual communication works, you’ll begin to notice with a keen eye what others may miss (or simply do not care to see). Watching films can significantly expand your visual design knowledge if you approach them analytically, focusing on cinematography (shot composition, framing, camera angles, movement, lighting, etc) typography, contrast, semiotics, and on and on. Both narrative movies and documentaries offer valuable lessons and inspiration for people who are interested in visual storytelling in all its myriad forms such as presentation or video essays. For example, in this video I show you how I apply a Ken Burns camera movement over photographs in presentation slides.

(14) Teach others what you learn. One of the best ways to deepen and solidify your new knowledge is to teach it to others. Give a presentation, run a seminar, teach a class, or volunteer to run a small internal workshop to teach others in your organization what you are learning. Real learning occurs when you share it. Many people find creating a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing what they are learning is a way to help others while helping themselves by creating a community with which to share. Which brings me to #15 below…

(15) Record yourself. The only way to get better at public speaking, is to actually do it. However, we do not always have opportunities to speak/present in front of others. This is why I recommend recording yourself talking into the camera lens. Many people find speaking while looking at the camera lens even more difficult that speaking in front of a live audience. If you can get used to making short videos of yourself and become more comfortable speaking to the lens, this may carry over to your communication skills in front of live audiences. You do not have to make a YouTube channel, but many people find uploading their video presentations to their own channel—even if the channel is not at all related to your career—provides its own reward (i.e., it’s fun, creative, etc.) in addition to being an outlet for improving your presentation skills.

This is not an exhaustive list, of course, and you may have other practices that work for you. The key thing is to strive for building and cultivating a growth mindset by embracing mistakes as learning opportunities and striving toward making even the tiniest improvements. Even small, seemingly insignificant changes over time can add up to real change and great improvement.

In this video, I share some of the same tips above for developing your personal taste or style, something increasingly important in a world of ubiquitous AI.

Related books
• One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way
• The Toyota Way

This post is an updated (2025) and revised version of a special callout section from my book Presentation Zen Design, 2nd edition.

Personal Kaizen: 15 Tips for Your Continuous Improvement

Cut the Non-Essential