Daily Yamabushi

Let it be known

Let it be known to yourself. Get it out of your head and you’ll see it in a different light. Who knows, it may just be bollocks, but that could always be a good thing. You either need to work on the idea more, or forget it. Either way, put it on paper.

Until then, hold your breath

How do we find out if anyone’s good at anything? Besides being good at speculating you’re good at something, the only way to know for sure is to do the thing. It’s to go the distance. It’s to act. The same thing is true for others. If you think someone might not be suited to something, hold your breath. You never truly know until you go.

It should be a natural progression

It shouldn’t be too easy not to. It should be approachable. It shouldn’t be hard to begin. It should feel like a natural progression of your day. And if you do it enough, that’s exactly what it becomes.

No one can take them away once they’re done.

Your reps come with you. No one can take them away once they’re done. The more reps you have, the more you have to fall back on. But they can’t be willy nilly. They must be done with the intention of perfection. Every. Single. One. Only then do they count. Only then can you truly fall back on them.

Make the reps, and make them count.

Even though it’s not necessarily true

I have a friend, at least I consider him a friend, who has won more than one latte art contest here in Japan. And I don’t mean just a local contest, a mean a whole of Japan contest. And because of that, his store has become quite popular. But the thing is, even if you can make great latte art, does it mean the coffee is any good?

The deliciousness is implied. That you’ve spent so long honing your coffee adjacent craft means that surely, the coffee has to be decent, right? Well, not necessarily. But that doesn’t stop it from being popular.

It makes you wonder though, what other things are simply implied? A sort of residue from something else, so to speak?

(I can vouch for the guy though, the coffee is good!)

Tape it up. Or should you?

Paint is designed to cover surfaces. However, no matter how much care you take there is always a chance of a wayward drip. Is it really worth taping everything up just for a few possible drips?

But it can be made easier

The onus is on you. The onus is always on you. This doesn’t mean it needs to be difficult. If something is hard, often there is a simple solution. Since the onus is on you, it’s up to you to find that solution, and make it easier on yourself.

A bad hand can win games.

The cards you are dealt matter not how well you can play them, but how well you do play them. A “bad” hand can win games when played right.

What if you’re right where you are?

What if you’re right where you need to be? What if you’re right where you are?

What if?

Your breath.

Focus on your breath. When it gets tough, focus on your breath. When it gets easy, focus on your breath. Your breath is where it all comes back to. Never forget that. Just focus on your breath.

This determines the results

Measure the right things, and you incentivize the right things.

Japanese students are notorious for having poor English. This can even be in spite of getting the highest marks in a test (I’ve seen it before). Is this because the students don’t know how to convert their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary into communication? Or is it because they have zero incentive to even do that if it’s not on the test?

Pretty simple, in theory at least. Make the test a test of communication ability. You’ll get students able to communicate. Imagine that!

What someone else should do

Do something nobody else can. Leave everything else up to someone else. What someone else can do is what someone else should do. What only you can do, is what you should do.

Being distracted isn’t always a bad thing

If you let the distraction mean you don’t get anything done, then yes, it can be a problem. However, if you’re distracted, if you’re letting your mind wander, sometimes it takes you places you wouldn’t otherwise get to go. These places can be as much an instigator of inspiration as anything.

Let the distraction lead you. Just don’t go overboard.

Tips for learning

At first the drums can be very tough to learn, but there are a few tricks you can use. First, go slow. Get it right first, and worry about momentum later.

Second, listen for the individual drums. When is the snare played? When is the kick drum played? What is the high hat doing? Try playing just those drums. Combine this with going slow at first, and before long you’re well on your way.

Follow through with what you say as soon as you can

In Japanese there is a saying 有言実行 Yūgen Jikkō. Yūgen means to say something, to vocalize it, and jikkō means to go through with it. The thing with Yūgen Jikkō is not so much keeping your word, but rather doing something as soon as you’ve said it. Following through with something as soon as you possibly can.

People who follow Yūgen Jikkō are reliable and honest, but also effective. They know sooner than anyone else whether their ideas will work or not, which importantly means they are able to pivot or iterate quickly whenever necessary.

Of course it is hard to be such a person all the time, but it doesn’t mean you can’t try.

Get it out

If you have an idea to do something, you owe it to the idea to do that something about it. The ideal time for this is as soon as the idea hits, before your thinking-mind clouds your intuition.

Have an idea? Execute.

Experience never depreciates

Is there a possibility of you doing the thing again somewhere down the line? Even if there isn’t, is there any possibility having done the thing gives you an advantage, be it financial, creative, or otherwise?

The choice of whether to do something or not is not a choice. Having done the thing before is infinitely better than not.

Experience never depreciates.

You can always change it

Think of everything as the experiment it is. Want to try something new, but are afraid of the reaction? ‘It’s an experiment I’m trying.’

If everything’s an experiment, which it is, you can always change it.

The non-morning routine

Are you tired because you woke up early? Or because you went to bed late? Does your morning routine start in the morning? Or the evening before?

Do the thing

It’s possible for you to audition yourself. Then who knows, maybe you don’t need to audition after all? Maybe you could do the thing all along, you just needed to prove to yourself that you could. We don’t always need to audition. But we do need to do the thing.

Isn’t it exciting?

A new reality can feel like a punch in the guts at times. But since you’ve acknowledged its existence, you’re well on your way to acceptance.

A new reality is just that. A new now. Or in other words, a new way to look at the world, a new opportunity. Treat it as such.

Who’s in control?

If you’re not in the driver’s seat, don’t try to drive.

How often are you really in the driver’s seat? How often are you really being taken for a drive, and it just seems like you are the one in control? Can you truly take control? If not, is it worth worrying about?

Make enough stuff that the stuff you make supports you forever.

The people who make enough to make a living off their creations (which, technically, is also anyone with a job), didn’t wait until they had a license to do so. They just got to work creating and kept on iterating.

Never think that if you make enough stuff to be able to support yourself, you get a license to create. Your license to create is not dependent on anything. Your license to create exists simply because you exist.

Stop its gravitational pull

I’ve found tethering is the best way to avoid the gravitational pull of the smartphone. Not tethering in the electronic sense, nor tethering your phone to you, but tethering it to say a charger in a completely different part of the house, or wherever you tend to be. Make it annoying to have to get up and use it. Make it that you can only use it tethered too. Take out the convenience completely, and see your usage drop. That, or throw it out the window.

Focus on enjoying it

Focus on the now. Focus on enjoying the now for what it is. Nothing else exists. Things can and will change. You may never have it as good as you do now. Conversely, now may be the worst moment of your life. It doesn’t matter. Focus on the now. Focus on enjoying the now for what it is.

Give yourself a chance

Without the chance at a big win, it can be hard to stay motivated, it can be hard to keep your bearings straight. Without a big win in sight, things can seem destitute.

So create something that would be a big win for yourself, whatever a big win means for you.

Seriously.

Take a second to think about. Take a second to remind yourself. There’s too much good in the world to let the world get you down. Think about what’s good, and hold onto it.

The obvious choice

The manager of my waterpolo team was a very wise man, for a number of reasons. But I’ll never forget the one time he straight up said to me to turn the anger the other team are causing you into motivation to get out there and do well.

People are always going to get you down, whether on purpose or not. There’s always going to be someone who cuts you off, or in the case of waterpolo, people who kick you in the teeth. Life is hard like that. But you do have a choice.

Do you give in and just take the punches as they come, or do you turn them into motivation to get things done?

The choice is obvious.

Always act like you are on it

Even though you may not be able to win it this time, act like you will. The experience and insight you gain simply through acting like you will win will be invaluable. And at the very least, it will put you on the path to winning next time.

All the permission you need

All the permission you need exists in the world. All the excuse you need also. If it were just a matter of doing, you would have done it by now. Excuse or permission? Your choice.