Author: Satoru Hirose

 

There’s no born expert.
生まれながらの達人はいない。

 

“I wish I could master English like you do.”

Some Japanese friends said to me. Nope. My English is far from perfect. That’s why I still learn the language every day.

My old friend is the owner and chef of a Chinese restaurant. He was very good at cooking even when he was in junior high. But he is still developing his culinary skills every day.

Becoming an expert is not a short-term project. It can be lifetime. People may recognize you as an expert in a short period of time, but that is just a milestone. You should not stop learning.

Learn one thing at a time. Challenge yourself. Improve 1% every day. Be humble and learn from everybody.

And more importantly, don’t compare yourself with others while learning. Your mastery merely belongs to you, not someone else.

 

 

When you get ignored, you get a new opportunity.
無視された時に、新たな機会を得る。

 

“The world is small”. This is one of the misperceptions that can lead us to unhappiness.

This world is insanely big. We are unable to face and say hello to all of the 7.4+ billion people on this planet. We are unable to visit all the places on the earth. We have no idea what happens in the deep ocean.

The world becomes small only when we see it that way. There are pros and cons about this perception — thanks to the Internet, it’s much easier for us to connect with people around the world. It’s also much easier for us, if we forget the connectivity, to feel isolated from or feel inferior to other people in the flood of information.

This world is big enough to explore your potential. If someone ignores you, meet other person. If someone doesn’t like your work, show it to other people while doing your best to improve it. Keep doing so until someone gets interested in you and loves your work.

It’s not the end of the world even if you are ignored by one (or even thousands) of 7.4+ billion people. You are just liberated from a small world. Just keep moving forward.

 

 

Clear toxic thoughts from your mind.
心を蝕む考えを取り除こう。

 

If any thoughts prevent you or your business from growing further, they are toxic thoughts.

Your toxic thoughts are more harmful than toxic people around you. These thoughts keep telling you negative stories day and night, even while you are sleeping. They can ruin your creativity easily.

To capture these thoughts, 5-minute journaling really works. Write down all your thoughts for 5 minutes, then see them objectively.

Toxic thoughts are related to negative emotions. Don’t let your emotion dictate your thinking.

 

 

Your belief is not karma.
信念は、宿命ではない。

 

The company doesn’t need you.

If you work for a large company, this is the perspective you might have. Because it is the large company all about — the company is able to continue to operate without relying upon a certain individual, even the president or CEO.

It is up to you to believe this perspective or not. If you want to believe that the company definitely needs you, live with the belief. But you also need to recognize that there are people who think of any individuals in the organization as a replaceable resource. They run businesses and daily operations with a different mindset. Also, beware of people who believe that the company need them and that other people are replaceable — they can be the most difficult person to deal with.

No matter what it is, don’t be blinded by our own belief. Because our belief is not the truth for everybody. And vice versa — belief of others is not the truth for us.

If we forget that, working for a large company becomes very stressful. Because the company doesn’t need us anyway. Scrap and rebuild our belief when needed.