Author: Satoru Hirose

 

Happy New Year!
新年あけましておめでとうございます。

 

The New Year lies ahead

With ideas to be visualized,

And wisdom to be shared.

May you unleash your creativity and potential

All year long!

 

 

Life is a moving target.
人生は常に変わるもの。

 

The end of a year or the start of a new year doesn’t make me excited or sentimental. I used to – at every year-end, I was very keen to look back on what I did during the year and set ambitious goals for the next year. But I stopped doing that a few years ago.

Now my life is based upon a long-term vision and short-term experiments, not annual goals. I visualize what things (including myself) would be five years from now, then do experiments to see what works better for getting closer to the vision. Each experiment is no longer than 2 months; it’s usually around 2-3 weeks. When something works during the experiment, I keep doing it — but if nothings works, I stop doing it and move on to the next experiment.

Things change quickly nowadays. If we stick to setting annual goals, we might be left far behind. But we definitely need to have a vision — a compass that will lead us to where we want to be in five, ten, or twenty years.

We don’t have to wait for a new year to make changes happen. With a long-term vision and a series of short-term experiments, we can change ourselves at any time during the year. Just start now — no matter what day it is today.

 

 

How’s your year-end?
年末いかがお過ごしですか？

 

It’s a bit quiet at year-end. We rarely get client calls or emails — unless we’re in the retail industry.

For business owners, year-end is a great opportunity to reflect on next steps. Our brain will work differently in a quiet and relaxed environment.

If you were too busy during the year to do “important-but-not-urgent” stuff, it’s also a good time to catch up. Spend time with your family. Read books. Meet old friends. Do what you really love — No matter what it is, it will give you a fresh insight into yourself and your work.

 

 

Action x Challenge = Growth
行動 x 課題 = 成長

 

Action leads to growth. If you want to multiply your growth, you need a challenge. But you have to be careful about a few things:

– Don’t set a bar too low. If your challenge is too easy, it is no longer a challenge and may cause you to weaken. Starting small is always a good idea to gain momentum; but one small step itself wouldn’t give you huge growth. Take hundreds of small steps, then you would notice your own growth.

– Don’t give up easily. Things will not always go well as you expected. You might need to try ten, twenty, or thirty times to achieve one small goal. Remember that the entire process is also part of your challenge.

– When it comes to your own growth, never care about what others say. Other people will never be responsible for your life as well as your growth. They are busy taking care of their own. It is you who decide what is the appropriate challenge for you. Self-awareness will always help you choose the right one.

 

 

Haters can’t win.
憎む人は負け組。

 

I hate any kind of authoritarian.

Negative feeling, like hatred, won’t help us. I know that. But I still can’t stop having such negative feeling when I face an authoritarian.

I think I can try to forgive an authoritarian. Because forgiving someone doesn’t mean that we have to love or like them — it just means we prevent our mind from being affected by their words and behavior. We just let go of them.

Haters can’t win. They never win. Even worse, they think they win even though they are destroying their life — the life filled with gratitude and compassion.

I know that. But I still can’t stop hating an authoritarian.

I’m still immature. I still have a hard time to get rid of negative feeling from my mind. I accept that, and keep improving myself one percent a day.