Author: Satoru Hirose

 

Perspective matters.
視点が大切。

 

This world around us is not what we think.

Try to draw a cube. When we learn drawing, understanding the perspective drawing method can be the biggest challenge. As everybody knows, a cube is a 3D object that has six square faces. But in order to draw the object that looks exactly like a cube, we shouldn’t draw a square. If you did that, you would easily notice that what you drew is not a cube. It might be something you think is a cube, but if you actually see a cube, it doesn’t look like your drawing.

The same thing happens in our daily life. Things don’t always look like, or sound like, what we think they should be. But it doesn’t mean they are wrong. Nor are we wrong. We are just missing the perspective to look the things as-is.

 

 

Define your success.
自分にとっての「成功」をはっきりさせよう。

 

‘Success’ is a vague word.

I’ve created about 190 doodle cards for Instagram, and used the word ‘success’ 5 times and ‘successful’ (or ‘successfully’) 8 times, including titles and captions. To become a better writer, I have to deliberately stop using such vague words from my writing.

This can also apply to how we live. To create and live the life we want — and to make it ‘successful’ — we have to define what the word ’success’ really means to us.

Its definition varies from person to person. For some, working 18 hours every day for a prestigious company and getting a six-digit salary is a success. Some may think that they are successful if they work four hours every day and earn enough money to live a simple life. You may think that becoming famous is your success. And if you want to replicate someone’s success, go ahead.

Anything goes — but we have to decide ourselves. Don’t let others define your success or failure.

 

 

We are not enslaved by anything.
私たちは何者にも奴隷にされない。

 

The U.S. Election is over. I’m not in a position to say it’s good or bad. But I can say one thing: no matter who leads our countries, we are always able to choose what we do.

Support what we agree. Fight against what we don’t agree. Or leave the country. It’s our choice.

The last thing we will do is to just complain or criticize. It changes nothing — except draining our energy to move forward.

 

 

Find what controls you.
自分を操るものを見つけよう。

 

I go for a run every early morning. In late autumn, it’s dark and chilly outside. One part of my brain starts screaming and gives me hundreds of reasons why I shouldn’t go for a run this morning. I hear what the brain says, but don’t listen to it. Other part of my brain makes me change clothes and hit the road while the other part is screaming. It sounds like a mental fragmentation, but it’s not. I just don’t simply follow the old system of my brain.

In almost all projects we initiate, the most difficult step is to start in the right direction. Keeping the ball rolling toward the end is much easier than that.

Just starting something is easy. But choosing the right direction is not easy. Many projects fail due to lack of the right direction. It’s because the old system of our brain — often called the ‘lizard brain’ — disrupts us. This is the system that all animals, including human beings, have.

It is my lizard brain to scream and try to keep me from going for a run in a chilly morning. Your lizard brain will say something disrupting to you when you plan to (or are about to) do something. We can’t stop the lizard brain from working, but we can ignore what it says.

Our lizard brain is not ourselves. We all are smart enough not to let it govern our decision and behavior.

 

 

Always filter information.
常に情報を選別しよう。

 

We need information only to the degree that we actually use it. For what purpose? To solve a problem in our life and business.

We often think (or hope) that every information around us might be helpful to us, but it will be a waste of time to just consume them if we are not sure what kind of problem we want to solve. Serendipity will never happen if we don’t even know what makes us happy or gives us benefit.

Consuming content without purpose is fun. It is fun because doing so makes us feel that we do something important. But nothing changes. Except the fact that our time is wasted.

We tend to forget that anything, even just to have fun or relax, can lead to a problem-solving. When we have a clear purpose, we no longer consume the information around us — we filter them and put some of them to productive use.

We do not have to have a vague fear of missing something. Even if we store unlimited information in our brain, it’s just garbage if we don’t know why we need them in the first place.