Author: Satoru Hirose

 

Go back to basics to advance.
進歩するために、基本に戻ろう。

 

No matter how successful you are in your career, you will hit a plateau at some point. Especially when you work really hard. It is unavoidable.

Plateau itself is not a bad thing – it doesn’t mean that you do something wrong or have no chance to grow further. It just tells you where you are now. Most of the time, in order to make progress from there to the next, what you need is to go back to basics — not to learn advanced skill or knowledge.

There might be something that you think you know, but you might not be able to do it well as you think. You might have forgotten some basic skills because your current role does not require them. Or, even if you are well equipped with various professional skills, you might have a huge room for improvement in cultivating a rich humanity — it is THE basic required for any kind of successful life.

When we assume we know nothing, we create a big window of opportunity ourselves.

 

 

You won’t make it if you fake it.
ごまかしたら、うまくいかない。

 

Nowadays you can purchase social media followers if you want. Of course it is AGAINST the terms and conditions, but some people do purchase fake followers to make up the numbers.

Does this work? At least the people who purchased followers believe this will work. But it usually won’t work in a long run because, in addition to the breach of the terms and conditions, they rely upon quick-fix approaches rather than real solutions.

We can make a real difference only through continuous improvement of ourselves and constant dedication to our work. If there is time and energy to fake something, it’s much better to take time to make our work better — even a tiny fraction of it.

 

 

An idea comes from a noise.
名案は雑音から生まれる。

 

A great symphony is a perfect balance of various noises. If we listen to each of the instruments, we are unable to identify what it is.

A great idea is like that. It consists of various fragmentary knowledge and/or information, and works together. If we just take a look at each fragment, we can’t figure out what it is.

Any meetings in a corporate environment can be quite unproductive because people look for a perfect idea, not a fragment of an idea, in the first place. Or such meetings can be quite destructive because it is quite easy to deny the value of a fragment of an idea. Sadly, or ironically, people enjoy a feeling of accomplishment even when they destroy fragmentary ideas – although these ideas can turn into a great, world-changing idea. That’s why many companies are continuously struggling, and we individuals should avoid this costly pitfall.

Gather pieces of information in your brain and try to formulate them as if you were composing music. This world is waiting for your great idea — a perfect balance of your noisy thoughts.