As the inaugural post I thought I would tell the origin story of one of my core values, how it became the factor that lead to MOTUS Wellness + Performance, and share the purpose of this blog. Bear with me, I’m a worse writer than I am a reader and I didn’t read my first book cover to cover until March 2016. Yes, you read that right.
Back in 2008, I was in school starting my studies in business with a major in accounting. While studying to become a prestigious bean counter I took a course in strategic management. This was the only business course that I liked and I hated accounting mostly because I sucked at it but that’s another story. This class taught me to think in different ways although the perspective thinking wouldn’t be fully realized for another 7 years. This class also introduced me to the corporate philosophy mindset that became the some of guiding principles of my life. Again, not fully understood at the time but was developed and continues to grow to this day.
That company was Toyota Motors Corporation. Their North American success came from The Toyota Production System which was world-class in efficiency and effectiveness but only came about due to their company philosophy that they called The Toyota Way. The first two sentences of its definition had a profound impact on me.
“The Toyota Way is supported by two main pillars: ‘Continuous Improvement’ and ‘Respect for People’. We are never satisfied with where we are and always work to improve our business by putting forward new ideas and working to the best of our abilities…”
At the top of the next page of my chapter notes I remember seeing the word Kaizen which is defined as continuous improvement and change for better. I fell in love with the word so I added The Toyota Way definition and changed it a bit to be more applicable for me.
KAIZEN: Continuous improvement, respect for people, and always working to improve every aspect of my life by working to the best of my abilities.
This was how I wanted to live my life. I immediately adopted it as my core value and I applied it to everything. This was the start of my evolution from a fixed to growth mindset. I was terrible at it but I put in the work to improve it.
Kaizen and its impactfulness is what lead me from a being shit head high school dropout to become a more cognizant person and now a sport massage therapist. It challenged me to continuously improve most aspects of my life. I say most because its application takes work. It’s a core value of MOTUS Wellness + Performance (which was formally KAIZEN Wellness + Performance), and it’s a way of thinking that I want to share with you, the reader.
To fully adopt and realize this mindset you have to start small and practice it often in all areas of your life. Right now I want you to take a minute and ask yourself, “Are there aspects of my life, family, health, work, or mindset that I can continually improve or I can change for better?” If your answer is yes, then I hope to add value to you through this blog by giving you the resources to always work to improve different aspects of your life by working to the best of your abilities.
An important thing for you to know is that I’m not smart, I’m not an expert, and I won’t pretend to be. Why do I say this? I’m not smart because telling myself I’m smart limits my willingness to listen and learn, and I’m not an expert because being an expert to me means that a ceiling for knowledge acquisition is hit within a field. I often find myself in rooms that humble me because the conversations I have show such gaps in my knowledge where although I understand some words, the sentences said are completely unintelligible for me and I love it.
As Socrates once said, “True knowledge exists from knowing that you know nothing.” and I believe that. Knowing that there is so much I don’t know is very humbling and a great motivator to find teachers. I’m a lifelong student and I love learning. The time and effort it takes for me to comprehend anything is more than most people and that’s the challenge that drives me. Whatever I have the fortune of learning, I feel an obligation to share.
This blog is a vehicle for me to share with you the things that I have read, learned, and put to practice that have added value to my life and to others around me in my pursuit to share methods for mental and physical optimization. If you know anyone who would benefit from this post and future topics like this, share it with them and follow MOTUS Wellness + Performance for more!
Chris Luu, SMT(cc), RMT, SFMA, CFSC, FRCms