Doodle

 

Make your brain bolder.
アタマをもっと大胆にしよう。

 

Our brain will never be empty. It always creates thoughts and ideas — we just aren’t aware of them, or avoid seeing them as is.

When you think you have no idea, you can generate the craziest idea. Why do we sometimes think we have no idea? It is because our belief or fear prevents crazier ideas — the ideas that seems inappropriate or silly in any way — from being recognized. We are unconsciously killing these ideas before they pop up in our conscious mind.

All we need to do to have our belief and fear shut up for a while. Do this exercise — Pick a piece of paper, and for the next 3 minutes, write down anything in your mind without evaluating anything. You may find many bizarre thoughts and ideas on the paper, but that’s fine. After briefly looking at what you’ve just written, shred the paper. Or burn it. The point is, you never show it to others — even your closest friend or significant other. By repeating this exercise, your brain will learn the way to be bold when necessary. And it helps you generate ideas when other people are paralyzed by their own belief or fear.

 

 

Leaders fill a gap.
リーダーはギャップを埋める。

 

It’s not always easy to explain what we know.

When I was employed, I saw many people (including my ex-bosses) yelling at other people, like “How come you don’t understand what I told you several times! You disappointed me!” In Japan, this kind of intimidation in workplace happens quite often.

One of other examples is the grammar of our own native language. We see what is right or wrong, but it’s not always easy to tell someone — for example, foreigners who learn our native language — why it is right or wrong.

Why is it so difficult? That’s mostly because of two reasons:

1. We don’t have enough knowledge to describe what it is
2. We don’t know why other people don’t (or can’t) understand what we know

The first reason is not rare. We often don’t know what we think we know. People often say, “Oh, that’s a common sense” — but, what is a common sense? Why is that a common sense? Why do we need to follow the common sense? If we can’t answer these questions, we don’t know enough to describe what it is.

And we almost always struggle with the second reason. We need to know what other people know (and don’t know) in order to explain the things they don’t know. Someone may say, “Oh these people are too stupid to understand this” — but in most cases, that’s not true. What actually happens here is that, the person who ought to explain is too immature (if not stupid) to gain insight into others and figure out the better way to have them understand.

All leaders need to have the ability to explain in a way that other people understand. The first step is to stop blaming others for not understanding what we explained. See ourselves and reflect. When it comes to communication, there is always something we can improve.

 

 

Control your moods.
気分を操ろう。

 

Try this: get furious while you are absorbed in a happy feeling.

It is impossible for us to have two different emotions at the same time. Our brain is not good at emotional — and any kind of — multi-tasking. It is the matter of what we focus on.

One of my morning rituals is to listen to the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams while I do a stretching. I usually do this right after I finish running, when beta-endorphin is flowing around my brain. It is quite difficult, if not impossible, to be anxious or pessimistic during that time.

We can’t keep negative feelings from popping up in our mind. It’s a normal function of our brain. But it is up to us to choose which emotions we focus on.

 

 

Your brain makes you happy, not something else.
あなたの脳だけが、あなたを幸せにする。

 

To feel good and make you happy, you don’t need self-help gurus. Your brain does all the trick if you go for a run just for 10 to 15 minutes. I can tell you this from my own experience — I do this experiment every morning, before working on my doodle and writing.

Our brain releases beta-endorphin in response to exercise. Research shows that endorphin may produce a feeling of euphoria — well, setting academic jargon aside — in short, exercise makes you feel happy. The word ‘endorphin’ was a blend of ‘endogenous’ and ‘morphine’, meaning “morphine produced naturally in the body”. Sounds powerful, doesn’t it?

We don’t need to run fast in order for our brain to release endorphins. It has to be faster than walking, but much slower than running — say, run with 50% of our maximum intensity. It’s like you are walking really fast (or jogging) to pick up the things you left behind. We don’t need to jog longer either. If you did, you would feel more pains than gains.

Our brain is the factory of various chemical substances. While some of them may hurt us, some of them do good for us. We just need to learn how to release good ones from our brain by our own actions.

 

 

Draw & show your vision.
ビジョンを描いて示そう。

 

How exactly can you describe what you’re aiming at?

In Japan there is an old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” It means that you will miss the whole picture if you focus too much on detail.

But what is the ‘whole picture’? If we can’t explain what it is, it turns out that we actually don’t see anything — it’s worse than focusing only on detail.

No matter what we focus on — the whole picture or detail — the important thing is to show people what it is. Our life and business goals. Vision and mission of our business. Projects we’re working on or interested in. By showing them clearly, we will be able to persuade people to collaborate or find someone who helps us move toward them.

If you can’t describe well, draw a picture. Or diagram. Create something to show people. Your words will follow.