One of the most common things I hear from people when they are about to move to a new country is the overwhelm they experience. The sheer volume of things to do and understand can seem impossible sometimes. That ‘to do’ list seems to never really end. So where do you start then? Well, if you need some help getting started with goal setting or travel thinking in general you can check out some of the helpful products in my shop.
I also wanted to share a really great concept of thinking with you. We have all heard that the best way to do something big is usually to take one small step at a time. The concept of Kaizen questions has taken this one step further. Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning ‘small change’ and ‘continuous improvement’ and this can be very helpful for anyone facing a big move.
- If you’re moving overseas for the very first time you might feel a bit worried that you’ve missed something or even feel a bit paralysed not knowing where to start. Instead of getting stuck in that mode of thinking, start somewhere and then keep asking yourself how you can improve it. For example: If you’ve decided to move to a new country to get a different lifestyle and find a new job, you might have mastered the booking of tickets and start of the journey. But you feel a bit lost with the job market in the new country. Kaizen would lead you to make a decision to start in one area, such as asking friends who might know or research one specific job website. Once you’ve started the process of looking for work, you can keep tweaking how you do it by asking ‘What one thing I could change about this right now to give me an even better chance of getting what I want?‘
- If you’ve already moved a few times before, ask yourself what small changes you can make to your thinking, your checklist and your move compared to last time to improve it even more. As we all know, we never stop growing, and neither should the way we approach exploring new things or countries. A process/checklist that worked very well a few years ago will most likely need updating now. Ask yourself ‘What’s one thing that I could change right now to make this situation/task even easier/better?‘
I like to think of the kaizen approach a bit like driving a car. You start somewhere and even if you only make small turns here and there, you’ll find that you end up in a whole different place compared to if you had stayed in a straight line the whole time.
Sometimes we need to get moving to see what needs to change, so don’t be afraid to get started and then start correcting the turns you make to end up in an even better place than you first thought you would!