Doodle Card

 

Ask tons of questions.
たくさん質問しよう。

 

Ask questions. Tons of questions. In a clever way.

To understand better. To discover facts. To reveal contradiction. Without asking, we can’t get to anywhere that is meaningful to us.

Asking questions is not the same as attacking someone, but not a few people see that way. That’s because questions are not well-thought. It’s essential for all of us to practice and learn how to ask better questions—by asking many questions.

Some people don’t like being asked. They just don’t like it, they even hate it. It’s mainly because they are afraid; they are afraid of being understood, uncovered, or recognized. Those kind of people would not be the ones whom you want to work with, but only by asking questions, you can figure out how they are.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions. Don’t be afraid of being asked either. Questions won’t kill anyone, even extremely tough ones; they just make us better, smarter, and stronger.

 

 

Persevere in a better way.
より良い方法で努力しよう。

 

Many people consider perseverance as a virtue. But perseverance also kills us—literally—if we use it in a wrong way.

For example, working long hours is often considered perseverance. If we occasionally work long hours to get urgent things done or complete a project by its deadline, that’s fine. But if we have to work long hours for years or decades, it’s no longer perseverance. Something is wrong. You just don’t change the way you work, and you just wear yourself out. Probably your employer forces you to do so, because they think there are many replacements out there even if you burn out.

Don’t just persevere. Make a deliberate, continuous attempt to make things more efficient and effective. It’s not about how to cut corners; it’s about how we can make this world better.

 

 

Choose customers.
お客様を選ぼう。

 

Some people become very selfish and demanding when they think they are customers. It happens quite often here in Japan (and that’s why a level of customer service is quite high in Japan), but can happen more or less anywhere on this planet.

Those people believe that they can always get what they want. A special service. A huge discount. A free gift. ANYTHING they want. If they can’t get any of them, they feel insulted and get mad at the business. “Your business is very bad! You don’t respect customers! If you do respect your customers, just do what I told you!”

If our business has many customers like them, we will fail in that business sooner or later. We can have some sales, but our profit will plummet because of the additional costs arising from those customers. In fact, if we still have a profit, we’re lucky: many businesses, especially in a business-to-business industry, lose their money because of demanding customers.

There are signs of demanding customers. I don’t list them, but you already know most of them if you’re running your own business.

When we see those signs, all we need to do is say NO to them in a very polite way. That’s the only way to protect our business and our good customers. We will lose some sales for sure, but we are our business; If we choose to be exhausted by demanding customers and not to devote ourselves to our good customers, that’s a serious betrayal to the good customers.

If you say no, demanding customers would yell at you or make sarcastic remarks. Or intimidate you. But that’s okay. That’s their problem, not a problem of you or your business. Stand firm, and protect your good customers.

 

 

Watch closely.
注意して見よう。

 

Many people sell how-tos because many people want those how-tos.

Learning how to do a certain thing is much easier than figuring out WHY we do that thing. Get rich quick. Be a writer. Get your dream job. These catchy tag lines seem to be effective to sell how-tos, but those slogans won’t give you a strong WHY.

I used to spend tons of money on how-to information. What I learned from them is that, those how-tos are completely useless if I don’t have a strong WHY. And not a few how-to sellers don’t let us think about our own WHY so that they can keep selling their how-tos.

Figuring out WHY deep inside us is not easy. It often makes us quite uncomfortable. But unless we find our own WHY, we are quite vulnerable to marketing gimmicks of how-to products.

When you feel a strong temptation to buy how-to information, figure out why you need that information. Ask why several times to dig deeply into yourself. You might find you just get scared doing things in the way you think is right. Once you accept that, you would notice that buying how-to information is not the only option.

 

 

Deliver your content.
自分のコンテンツを届けよう。

 

Some people are busy creating. Some people are busy stealing.

On Instagram and other social media, there are many accounts that steal other’s content. I use the word “steal” because these accounts don’t make the source clear. They have no respect for creators and use other’s content to increase traffic to their own account.

These thieves may say, “Well, I steal like an artist.” No, they just get lazy and steal other’s work. An artist “steals” an idea of others and transform it into his/her original work. The ability to do such transformation is what makes the difference between an artist and a thief.

Every day I’m busy creating stuff: solutions to client’s problems, simple ways to understanding the complicate, designs and graphics that stimulate our mind and brain. I believe you’re also busy creating your own work. We all are too creative to do content theft.