Daily Yamabushi

Your clue to get on with it

Anywhere there’s an anyway, it’s time to change tack. Either that or it’s time to backtrack a bit, and fix things up so that the anyway doesn’t exist anymore. Anyways are what you say when the idea has run its course. Or the strand of that idea, at least. If you find yourself saying anyway, either it’s time to move on, or it’s time to revert back to a former time. Anywhere there’s an anyway is a clue to get on with it.

As good a time as any

It starts now. As good a time as any, or the only realistic time to get anything done. You want it done? Move. Get it done. It starts now.

Take it

There are some things you should take your sweet time with. Pretty much anything to with looking after yourself, or anything to help others. Work is another. You want to do your best job, and that means taking the sweet time needed, to an extent of course.

Take your sweet time.

In reality? Or perception?

Is the inadequacy in you? Or how you see the world? Is the inadequacy something you’re stuck with, or just your perception?

Inadequacy can be a great reality check. It can also be a great motivator too. And all it takes a a change in perspective.

Yours.

If you can’t do things on your own terms due to work commitments, whose job is it? Who really owns the job? Are you occupying the space because you need to, or because they need someone to?

They say it’s your job. But is it really? If it was truly your job, you would have more control over what goes on.

Once you have a financial buffer, it’s fine to take back time for yourself, even more so it should be encouraged. It’ll make you better at your job. That’s whose job it is.

Take away one, take away the other

Take away the risk, take away the opportunity. How much of the risk is in your head? How much is your head ruining your opportunity?

Choice and ability

A full calendar is not freedom. It’s a trap. It’s a way of fooling you into thinking you’re in control. Being ok with not having any plans is real freedom. Being ok with being able to choose what to do when you want is real freedom.

Real freedom is having choices and the ability to make those choices. It’s not having things laid out for you.

Less truly is more. Work for less.

Not a distraction

It’s not a distraction. It’s all part of your training. ‘Distractions’ will come at you sideways. That’s precisely what they’re designed to do. But the answer is simple. Stay the course. Stay focused on the mission at hand. That’s why knowing the mission is so important. Everything else is just part of your training, not a distraction.

Not the one that could

Who showed up on the day. Not those who could have. Both physically, and mentally.

So, how do you do that?

Practice being in the moment. Practice sensing the current sensation, and experiencing it for what it is, not what it could be. Take a second to take it all in. Remind yourself that this chance given to you is the one and only, and as the one and only, it requires everything you can give.

Then when the moment arises, focus on the sensation.

Do it

Do it when you need to. Do it when it arises. Don’t worry about it until then. Come to it when it comes to it.

Find your oyster

When you finally have some space and time to yourself, you finally have your oyster. The world seems like such a beautiful place when you can prioritize yourself like that, and just live as you feel you should in the moment.

The world is your oyster.

If not, why not?

Do you have something you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life?

What about what you’re doing right now?

Do the answers align?

If they don’t align, is it worth changing? Or finding a way so they do?

Do that.

Sure, you need vocabulary to practice the language. But you also need language practice to practice the vocabulary. It’s the application of that knowledge that really counts. That’s the best way to find gaps in your knowledge. That’s the best way to feed your curiosity. That’s the best way to learn vocabulary.

Through application. What’s the application? Do that.

And that’s why it’s so perfect

Perfection doesn’t exist, but that’s what makes it so perfect. We know perfection doesn’t exist. How many times have we tried to make the perfect thing. How many times have we tried to claim something as perfect, only to know it falls short.

Too many.

Give up on perfection. Perfection is not perfect.

Still aim for it though. Still try to get the best out of what you have with what you’ve got.

Perfection doesn’t exist. But it’s all we’ve got. And that’s why it’s so perfect.

And we have no way of knowing

For all we know, they could well be right. There’s no way of knowing for certain. Well, besides that final step, I guess, but then we won’t have anything to do with that knowledge.

In the meantime, just keep doing what you’re doing, but make an effort to enjoy it. Make an effort to discover as much as you can. And how do you do that? By doing things. If a chance arises, if an idea arises and you have to make the chance arise, do it. Make an effort to enjoy it, make an effort to be in the moment, and let the moment carry you. For all we know, they could well be right, but they could well be wrong too, it makes no difference for us in the now.

How to get things done

Decision made. Action done. In the same breath.

That’s it.

Leave an impression

For a job interview just ask this. Ideally we wouldn’t need job interviews. Ideally you would have already impressed enough that you’ve been given the job. What do you need to do to reach that level?

Impress me. Leave an impression.

Not accepting

If it makes you feel better, if it helps you get through it, by all means, cry. You do it in the understanding that it is a temporary fix, a temporary bump on your way to acceptance. And if that makes the acceptance easier, so be it.

For the most part

For some jobs, the aim is to be unnecessary. Can the person survive with you out of the equation? If you do that, it’s job well done, and it’s something to be proud of.

Sure, you may still want to feel necessary, and you most certainly are in some aspects, but for the most part, being unnecessary is enough.

Better the danger you know

When you’re running on the road, it helps to run on the opposite side, the side facing the traffic. By doing so, you can see what the oncoming traffic is doing, and, in theory, you should never get hit from behind.

If you have to go against the grain, do what you can to know what you’re up against. Better the danger you know, than the danger you don’t.

Some fixes are simpler than they seem

My suitcase was forever refusing to close. I had to wait a few times before the latch caught on properly, and I got a tight close. I always thought it was a faulty suitcase or something. Once it even split open mid flight, if I didn’t have a band around it, I would have been had. I used to get really angry about it basically every time I used the suitcase. When you’re about to go to the airport, this is the last thing you want.

Turns out I should have just taken a closer look. The problem was a few loose screws on the hook attachment.

That’s it. That’s all it was.

I was making a big deal over a few loose screws, and felt like an idiot when I found out. A twisted knife later, and we’re good to go. Here’s hoping to stress-free travel.

And so must your role

What you’re doing is just like playing a song. If you stuff up, do you stop the song partway through? Or do you continue and play the rest of the song?

The song must go on. And when it does, your role is very simple.

Inspired by this.

Make it a fixture

Once things are set in stone, they’re set in stone. That may be a scary thing to come to terms with, we like to have control over things and that means we like flexibility too. But setting things in stone also give them permanence. There’s nothing more to come after, which means you don’t have to worry about it again either.

And in reality, things are never really permanent, are they. It’s just perceived permanence. But that’s enough

Because what’s the alternative?

There are a lot of things you should pride yourself on. Actually, the majority of things you do should fit into that category. Pride shows you are putting your whole self into it, your whole heart. Pride shows that you care.

Priding yourself doesn’t mean you have to be proud. But it does mean you have to give it your best.

Because what’s the alternative?

Be kind

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, that we exist is nothing short of a miracle. If any one of our ancestors didn’t exist, neither would we. That means if even one of our ancestors didn’t take the time and effort to look after their own children, likewise we wouldn’t exist.

Be kind. The world’s too rough a place not to want to help each other.

When you need to

The best way to go the other direction in a car is to spin it around, not stop and slowly turn the thing around. Momentum, even going the wrong way, can be used to great effect. Use it if you need to.

If you don’t do it now, you never will

It’s cliche. I know. But it’s so true. All of these plans but no plans to do them, that’s no good. If something should be a priority, make it so. There’s no other way around it. It’s now, or never. It’s now, or not at all. How do you feel about a world where this idea doesn’t exist? Or a world where you don’t even try to make it a reality?

Now or never.

Isn’t for leaders

When we’re young, we’re taught to draw between the lines. When we can do that, we’re taught to draw the lines. But in order to create something new, in order to lead, we need to forget the lines even exist in the first place.

Drawing between the lines is for toddlers. It’s not for leaders.

Something to hold on to

It’s good that if you even have a reference point. Something to be thankful to have your mind on.

If you don’t have a reference point, I wouldn’t worry. It just means you never knew any better, or anything else for that matter.

Where you should be looking

The fool sees the mountain, and looks toward the summit.

The wise one sees the mountain, and looks towards the step in front of them.

Start small. But start. Don’t get overwhelmed by the challenge. Find the next smallest thing that can be done, and do it.

The summit is always going to be there. The next step may not be so obvious, but it is always easier to find when you look right in front of you.