Know your enemy.
敵を知ろう。
“Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.”
This is one of the most popular quotes from the The Godfather Part III.
So who are, or what are, your enemies? People who are opposed or hostile to you? Things that harm or weaken you? Both are your enemies for sure.
But the worst enemy of all human beings might be hate itself because it can be easily directed toward ourselves. If that happens, it not only affects our judgment but often makes us blind.
Make your why big enough.
生きる理由を十分に大きくしよう。
What’s your purpose of life? ‘What’s your big why’?
When it comes to how to live, we have only two options: live for ourselves or live for others.
It’s not a matter of which is good or bad; it’s a matter of how big it is. If you want to live for yourself, go for it. If your focus is to live for others, don’t let anyone bother you. If you aspire to live for yourself AND others, you’ll find a way to do so sooner or later.
Our life purpose is not given; it’s something we develop, and keep developing, throughout our life. Make it as big as you can.
Decode yourself.
自分自身を解読しよう。
Your own way of thinking is a habit.
Like developing a good habit, you have to repeat your favorable way of thinking again and again—until it becomes part of your auto-pilot system.
On the other hand, if you want to remove an unfavorable way of thinking from the auto-pilot system, you have to repeatedly interrupt that thought pattern and redirect it to a better one. Or an ideal one. You have to work on this 24/7 because your brain keeps working even while you are sleeping.
I still struggle with removing my negative thought pattern. It often wakes me up at night and keeps me from going back to sleep for hours. I always feel like I’m decoding my auto-pilot system—it’s sometimes quite bothersome, but also helpful because I almost always find something I didn’t know about myself.
Get addicted to bettering yourself.
自己を向上させることにはまろう。
If you get addicted to anything, that’s a clear sign that you can improve yourself further.
The root cause of any type of addiction is one thing: fear. It creates the urge to escape reality, and lead you to a binge watching on Netflix. Or playing a cell phone game for hours.
The fear never disappear by itself. But when we notice the urge and face our fear, things start changing. Sooner or later, we will notice that we have no need to escape reality; because we all have the power to change reality.
Make you SPECIAL.
あなたを「特別」にしよう。
Always focus on making you S-P-E-C-I-A-L. What does this stand for?
S – Smarter. Learn everyday from books, podcasts, or anything that inspires you. Do an experiment, and learn from your own experience.
P – Powerful. Your true power always comes from within, not from outside. Believe in yourself. Even if you’re in doubt—or especially when you’re in doubt—believe in yourself.
E – Energetic. Show your enthusiasm for what you do. Do it better and faster. Strive for more.
C – Capable of working for yourself. Hating to work for someone else doesn’t mean that you are able to work for yourself. Learn how to do it. Even if you have no plan to start your own business, no one ignores you if you become so good at doing what you do.
I – Independent. Refuse to be a part of an existing system. It’s always better to build your own system than being a cog in the machine.
A – Approachable. Be open to anyone who need your help. Some of them are dishonest, or only try to use you as cheap as possible. But there are way more people who are faithful, truly need your help, and are willing to pay for it.
L – Lovable. Or likable. It doesn’t mean that you have to be liked by everyone. That’s simply impossible. It means that you let go of your anger, hatred, or resentment against other people. It’s okay to have such negative feelings at times, but don’t stick to them; doing so only makes you quite unattractive.
