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Ive tried them all. A fancy planner, perfect workout routines, ambitious ways to read more, and writing rituals to get more done. I did the research. But what ultimately worked is something called the kaizen incremental method. An idea is from Japanese manufacturing, of all places. It means continuous improvement. The practice of tiny actions. A step so small your brains resistance (a built-in fight-or-flight response to big, scary changes) doesnt even bother to fight it. I use the kaizen approach as a backdoor to building new neural pathways. Im not forcing change; Im gently guiding my brain into new habits, one step at a time. Thats how I started writing almost every day. I opened my laptop and started putting thoughts down at the same time daily. I didnt aim to write a whole page. Just ideas down. After a few weeks of the same practice, writing things down became easy. Not effortless. But the resistance was not the same. Thats the kaizen advantage. You work with your psychology, not against it. Big goals Youve probably tried the new year, new me approach to life. You start the year with big goals. And big motivation. But most people dont even make it through to March. Whats helped me is tiny but consistent routines, rituals, and behaviours. It doesnt matter what time of year. I focus on stacking good actions. The kaizen approach feels like nothing. Until suddenly it feels like everything. The easier a behavior is to do, the more likely the behavior will become habit, writes B.J. Fogg in his book, Tiny Habits. Kaizen matches how you live. Say you want to read more. The old way: Ill read 50 books this year! You buy a stack, stare at it, and feel behind by February. The Kaizen way: Ill read one page before bed. One page. Youll often read more. But on the worst day of your life, one page is still a victory. Youve kept the habit alive. One tiny bit of progress at a time. You read one or two pages of your favorite book daily. A year later, youve finished more books than ever. You save $50 a month. One day, youve built an emergency fund. You start by tidying one drawer. Eventually, your whole space feels clean. Theres no one massive win. Just small wins stacking up. When you want big results, small steps feel insulting. You want to sprint. You want the outcome that means everything. You want proof that youre serious. Direction is everything But being serious means not stopping. The secret is in the consistency, not the intensity. A 1% improvement, repeated, is compound interest for your life. Do the math: 1% better every day for a year, and youre nearly 38 times better by the end. Life isnt that linear, but the direction is everything. Youre moving forward, not stalling out in a cycle of ambition and guilt. Youll doubt it at first. I did. It feels too small, too insignificant. One page of reading is nothing! But nothing is sustainable. Youre playing the long game. You cant overhaul your entire life every January. You will burn out and feel frustrated. Youll feel like you failed when really, its your system that failed. Small steps are not a compromise. Theyre a sustainable life strategy. Make your system too easy to fail. Pick the smallest version of the thing you want. If the goal is to write, maybe you start with one sentence a day. Yes, one. Whats the point? The goal is not to overwhelm your brain. Convince yourself its too easy not to try. The more you practice, the greater the chance of it becoming a habit. Make it repeatable If you need willpower, its too big. Keep score. Tiny wins feel bigger when you can see them. Can you quantify your results? Show your wins to yourself. And let yourself feel proud. Seriously. Celebrate the tiny stuff. Your brain loves reward signals. Over time, your small steps evolve. You dont have to force it. Momentum does the heavy lifting. Kaizen doesnt just help you change. It changes how you see yourself. When you repeat every day, even in tiny ways, you stop seeing yourself as someone who tries. You start seeing yourself as someone who does. And that transformation is everything. Big change looks impressive, but small, consistent action builds identity. They build trust in yourself. They build a life that doesnt fall apart the minute motivation fades. If you want a change that can last in the next few months, something that sticks, try smaller. Way smaller. The path to significant change isnt broken resolutions. Its tiny, steady progress. Just pick an area of change. A tiny habit you can sustain. And start small. Pick one thing you are likely to do. Something that wont tell your brain its a big deal. Kaizen is the discipline of consistency. You dont need a new version of yourself to pursue things too overwhelming for your brain to sustain. What you need is just todays version, willing to take one small, almost silly step. Significant change is not an event you schedule. Its a practice. Youre not breaking yourself down to build something new. Youre just guiding yourself, kindly, in a better direction. Take that goal you are pursuing. Now, make it smaller. Smaller still. Until you think, Oh, I could do that right now. Then do it. And trust that tiny start with all your heart. Its the smartest, most human way forward youve got.
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E-Commerce
One of Michaels friends told him recently, Im not burned out; Im just feeling empty. She shows up, meets deadlines, and manages to smile in meetings. But her work feels weightless and disconnected from purpose. Shes not alone. Gallups 2025 State of the Global Workplace report found that only 21% of employees worldwide are engaged, and just one in three say theyre thriving. Thats not a blipits a warning signal for leaders and cultures. When emptiness shows up at work, our reflex is to pathologize: Is this burnout? Do I need a diagnosis? Sometimes, yesclinical conditions require clinical care. However, many of todays struggles are fundamentally philosophical, centered on issues such as purpose, values, identity, and the meaning of life. Those dont always need a medical label; they need better questions. Why We Need a Different Lens Disengagement is expensive. Gallup estimates that low engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion annually, nearly 9% of global GDP. Manager engagement is also slipping, dropping three points in 2024, with a ripple effect on teams. The human cost? Teams feel flat, leaders are running on fumes, and organizations are mistaking busyness for progress. Cognitive scientist John Vervaeke refers to our current moment as a meaning crisisa cultural shortfall in making sense of our lives. That frame helps us see that the emptiness that many feel isnt always a disorder; often, its a signal. Therapy is essential when theres a clinical risk. But when the primary challenge is purposenot pathologyphilosophy can be the right first (or parallel) step. What Philosophical Counseling Looks Like at Work Philosophy at work doesnt show up as abstract debates about Plato in the break room. It shows up as structured reflection in moments when leaders feel stuck, conflicted, or unclear. Unlike traditional coaching, which often emphasizes goals and performance, or therapy, which focuses on healing emotional wounds, philosophical counseling creates clarityhelping you slow down to examine the ideas, assumptions, and values that drive decisions. In practice, this means creating a conversational space where leaders can explore the deeper questions that often remain unaddressed in quarterly reviews or strategic planning sessions. Its not about diagnosing or prescribing. Its about holding up a mirror to how you think, and then gently but persistently asking whether those patterns are serving you. Sometimes, testing your core ideas against a contrary philosophical position helps you change your mind, but it also helps you formulate your idea with better precision and focus. So, a philosophical counseling session isnt about advice. Its an inquiry guided by questions like: What do you mean by success here? (Define the concept before you chase it.) Which assumptions are you treating as facts? (Surface the hidden rules youre following.) What obligations follow from your values? (Tie action to meaning, not mood.) One VP I worked with felt behind in her career. She wasnt looking to change jobs; she was questioning whether she should. From the outside, her role was a success story: she was leading complex cross-functional work, mentoring future leaders, and shaping long-term strategy. But because her peers seemed to leapfrog into splashier titles, she had internalized the myth that a career only counts if it moves in a straight, upward line. Together, we explored economist David Galensons distinction between conceptual and experimental innovators: some leaders peak early with bold, disruptive visions, while others build mastery through experience, iteration, and depth. When she looked at her own path through that lens, she realized her current role was giving her exactly what an experimental innovator needsbreadth, autonomy, and repeated opportunities to refine her craft. Her progress wasnt stalled; it was accumulating. Once she saw her trajectory as cumulative rather than delayed, the pressure loosened. She didnt need a new job; she needed a new narrative. And with that reframing, her energy and her confidence returned. Another founder I worked with was trapped in performative productivity, equating worth with constant output. After interrogating his deeper purpose, he shifted from chasing vanity metrics to making value-aligned bets. Hiring became more intentional. Product decisions became braver. And his leadership became far more sustainable. Practical Steps for Leaders & Organizations The goal isnt to turn executives into armchair philosophers. Its to equip them with tools that help cut through noise, clarify assumptions, and ground decisions in meaning rather than momentum. Philosophers have long been aware of their reputation for getting lost in thought. As Plato recounts in Theaetetus, Thales once fell into a ditch while contemplating the heavens. Leaders dont need another abstract framework piled onto their already full plates. Philosophical counseling brings philosophy back to the ground, connecting it with everyday problems and offering clear practices that create space for reflection and insight without derailing productivity. When leaders bring this lens into the workplace, they not only strengthen their own claritythey normalize purposeful inquiry across the culture. Here are some concrete ways to start weaving philosophy into your leadership tool kit and organizational systems: Run an Assumption Audit. With a partner, list current dilemmas. For each, ask: What must be true for my conclusion to hold? How else might I interpret the facts? Institutionalize Socratic Stand-Ups. Once a month, replace a staff meeting with a facilitated dialogue on a first-principles question (e.g., What are we optimizing for?) and publish the reasoning behind the decision, not just the outcome. Offer a Meaning Map workshop. Help leaders chart their values, obligations, and behaviors. If values dont result in better choices, theyre not valuestheyre slogans. Use AI thoughtfully. Employees increasingly confide in chatbots. Health experts caution against relying on generative AI for mental health, as it lacks safeguards and nuance. Organizations should establish policies and direct people to seek human assistance when needed. Return-to-office and hybrid work have scrambled the social fabric. However, micro-rituals matter: leave five minutes for human check-ins on Zoom, host optional philosophy salons, or design in-person days around connction. These arent time-wasters; theyre trust builders. Philosophy provides leaders and teams with a disciplined approach to thinking about what mattersenabling them to act with clarity, rather than merely coping. Your colleague who feels empty may not need a diagnosis. She may need to reorient her thinking by asking more effective questions. And those questions may be the most practical tools we have for navigating the complexity of modern work.
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E-Commerce
The Trump administration is spending millions on advertisements aimed at recruiting new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The ads are so widespread that TV viewers and social media users alike are seeing them everywhere, including on YouTube, Spotify, and LinkedIn. In one recent ad seen on LinkedIn, a stern-faced Uncle Sam points at the viewer. The message reads: “Join ICE Today” along with the note, “$50,000 signing bonus” at the bottom. Likewise, a 30-second TV spot that originally aired during the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards broadcast in September has been spotted nationwide in the months since. You took an oath to protect and serve, to keep your family, your city, safe, the narrator says in the promotion. But in sanctuary cities, youre ordered to stand down while dangerous illegals walk free. It’s hard to tell what sets certain cities apart, but the call to action has been specifically targeting Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. More recently, the ads have been seen in Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, and Salt Lake City, as well as in San Antonio, Houston, and El Paso, Texas, according to AP News. The ads are part of the Trump administration’s $30 billion initiative to hire 10,000 more ICE agents by year’s end. According to data from Equis, acquired by Rolling Stone, the Department of Homeland Security has been spending millions to reach more and more Americans. DHS has spent about $2.8 million since March to keep ads running on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram. Since August, the agency has paid Meta another $500,000 to run recruitment ads. DHS also spent $3 million on Google and YouTube ads in Spanish instructing people to self-deport. Ads have been running on Spotify and Pandora as well, but Equis did not have data on how much DHS spent on those ads. Spending didn’t stop or slow down during the government shutdown, either. According to Newsweek, DHS reportedly kept throwing money at ICE recruitment efforts while millions of workers went without paychecks. Over the three-week shutdown, ICE spent around $4.5 million on paid media. Millions of people are at risk of losing their food stamps and are about to go hungry because of this government shutdown, Natalia Campos Vargas, deputy research director at Equis, told Newsweek at the time. But somehow the Trump administration and DHS and ICE are choosing to spend millions of dollars on ad campaigns. That just feels inherently wrong to me as a taxpayer.” As ICE has ramped up recruitment efforts, the pushback has been gaining steam. On December 11, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was grilled by lawmakers about alleged wrongful deportations of U.S. citizens, including military veterans. Noem was confronted with individuals the agency allegedly deported. The secretary left the meeting early and was heckled upon exiting. Meanwhile, anti-ICE ads combating the pro-deportation narrative have also popped up on various platforms. In one ad from Home of the Brave, Army veteran George Retes, a U.S. citizen, tells the story of his ICE abduction. My drivers side window shatters. An agent sticks his arm through and pepper sprays me in the face. They drag me out of the car. They throw me on the ground. They zip-tie my hands behind my back,” Retes says in the video, which is airing nationally across streaming platforms. Had they just looked at my ID, they would have seen that Im a U.S. citizen, that Im a veteran. . . . Whats happening right now isnt right.” Still, while many users may be uncomfortable with the surge in ICE ads online, the organizations running them seem undeterred. A Spotify spokesperson told Fast Company that the ad is part of a broader, well-documented U.S. government campaign running across multiple platforms, including television, streaming, and online channels.” The spokesperson added that users are able to control their ad preferences. “Spotify is an open platform that supports a wide range of voices and perspectives, even those some people may personally disagree with. That’s why we believe listener control is key to that balance and users can like or dislike specific ads as well as update their ad preferences, including opting out of certain categories such as government. While there has been a surge in calls for Spotify users to boycott the platform over the ICE ads, as well as over founder Daniel Ek’s investment in Helsing, a German defense company, the platform says there has been “no material impact in terms of cancellations.” Fast Company reached out to LinkedIn and YouTube in regard to the running of ICE recruitment ads but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Category:
E-Commerce
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