Doodle

 

Don’t give up on everything just because you dealt with a bad thing.
悪いものに接したからといって、全てを諦めない。

 

In Japan, some people kill themselves due to overwork, discrimination and harassment at workplace. My foreign friends usually don’t believe that, but it actually happens sometimes.

One of such cases has been widely broadcasted on media. Woman in early her twenties, who also had had a great education, killed herself after suffering from abusive environment of her workplace. The company she worked for is considered as one of the most influential public companies in Japan.

This case is not rare. Even though abused employees do not commit suicide, many of them become mentally ill and are forced to leave the workplace — either voluntary or involuntary.

Let’s face it — some companies are really evil and immoral, although they may look good from the outside. They are killing people or making them sick, rather than growing them. But it doesn’t mean that ALL companies are bad.

We don’t have to give up on all companies just because we dealt with really bad ones or we heard about evil companies on media. Some of them are really good and keep improving themselves to be better. We just haven’t heard of them as much as we hear about evil ones.

Where darkness exists, so does light. And vice versa. Let us see both of them as it is. And remember that it is always up to us to decide how to label them.

 

 

Question everything.
あらゆるものを疑おう。

 

At least in Japan, journalism is becoming like comedy. Popular comedian and idol become an anchor. Not a few commentators don’t know what they are talking about. But they talk anyway because that is how they get paid. If we blindly believe what they say, we will easily lose sight of what is going on in this world.

We can love and respect others, and it’s great if we do so all the time. But at the same time, we have to verify what they say. ESPECIALLY what famous or authoritative people say. They are very good at unconsciously manipulating (oftentimes, in the name of ‘managing’ or ‘leading’) others without giving them enough information.

In this world, there are many low-quality information as well as reliable, high-quality information. Chances are, if we gather necessary information by ourselves, we can identify who says the right thing and whom we can rely upon. This is the benefit of information-driven society.

 

 

Movement creates motivation.
動くことがやる気を生み出す。

 

“How do you motivate yourself to create something every day?” Someone asked me. Currently I don’t do anything special – because it’s a habit.

You don’t have to motivate yourself to wash your face, brush your teeth or take a shower (or a bath). Well, some people might have to be pushed to do so — but we usually do these things almost ‘on autopilot.’ This is the power of habit. While bad habits can kill you, good habits can take you far higher than you might expect.

When we feel stuck, it is almost always better to just do things than to try to find or foster motivation. The origin of the word ‘motivation’ is ‘to move’. Just keep moving forward — it will give us motivation and eventually create a habit that can make a huge difference in our life and business.

 

 

Create an obstacle and conquer it.
障害物を自ら創り、それを克服しよう。

 

I go for a run every day. Even on a rainy day. Running in the rain is a bit uncomfortable, but not as bad as you might imagine.

For runners, rain is one of the easiest obstacles to deal with. Blisters, leg cramps, pain of joints or knees — these obstacles are difficult to handle, but sometimes unavoidable. So runners have to cope with them no matter what.

Creating a small obstacle by ourselves and overcoming the obstacle — it makes us mentally strong. It forces us to think thoroughly to find out what we can do under given conditions, and makes us realize that we are always resourceful. And we gain confidence from the experience.

There are times that we have a huge obstacle in our life and business. It is unavoidable. But if we keep doing the “small obstacle workout” day by day, we can face such a huge obstacle with calm — knowing that there is a way to deal with it. That we can make the way even when there seems to be nothing.

Seek and work on a small obstacle. Create one if there is nothing. That becomes an opportunity.