Daily Yamabushi

Their Own Path

We are all on our own path. We are all going our own way. The path may not always be linear, and some of us may be further ahead than others, even those who have been on the path longer.

Remember this when someone annoys you. Remember this when expected standards are not met. Remember this when you find yourself short of standards too.

They are on their own path. You are on your on.

The way only you know

Make a point of making the thing only you know how to do and make a point of doing it in your own unique way.

The only way you know, and the way only you know. They can both be true at once.

Anything else is substandard

The same is true for teaching, and it’s the same for any form of entertainment. If it’s not fun, it’s boring. If you aren’t left guessing, you lose your reason to be there.

Keep it fun, and keep them guessing. Anything else is substandard, and needs to be redone until it is fun and keeps you guessing.

Get off your phone

Set time to be away from distractions. Get off your phone. Set parameters and stick to them. An easy one is setting your phone down at night and not touching it until morning. Better still, not touching it until you really need to. Which, to be honest, isn’t that often.

If you want to get anything done, that is.

A moment of Appreciation

Stop. Take in the moment. Feel the weight of your body on the ground, listen to the sounds around you and smell the air. You may never have it so good. You may also never have it so bad. Either way, it helps to just take stock of what you do have, take a moment to appreciate it, and move on. Then when you look back on this moment, don’t look back on it fondly, or as a bad moment. Just look back on it as a moment you felt appreciation. That’s all you need to do.

To do it well

A chance to do something is not a chance to do it, it is the chance to do it. Not only that, it’s the perfect chance to not only do it, but to do it well.

You Keep Searching

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates.

Yet for yamabushi, the very act of examining your life means you aren’t living it.

You keep searching until you find it. And even when you think you’ve found it, you could be wrong, so you keep searching. No need to stop and examine. Just keep living.

Respect for you

When you get something new, like a toy or something you will use for your hobby, make a point of using it as soon as you can. You’ll probably want to keep it in pristine condition as long as possible, but if that comes at the expense if not using the thing, well you should probably get another thing. Using the thing shows it respect, and from that respect, the thing will respect you back.

Turn ‘mobile data’ off

I came across this by accident. I’ve been wanting to reduce my screen time. I still spend way too much time on social but not as much as I used to. It got so bad that I ran out of data, despite having an ample amount.

So I did what any logical person would; I went and turned the apps that I don’t need constantly on to ’mobile data off’. This means that the unimportant apps, like YouTube or Instagram, can only be accessed when I have wifi. In other words, I can’t use them whenever I go outside.

This hack helps you forget to check your phone. It helps keep you grounded. Of course if you find the apps are necessary after all you can just turn mobile data back on. Yet for the most part, this hack works a treat.

People don’t

If you look after them properly, they grow. It may not be in the way you plan, but they still grow.

Do them

A local cafe held a latte art contest a while back. They even let you go there and practice pouring before the event. The dude would steam the milk for you, and all you had to do was practice the pour. But after a few years of owning an espresso machine complete with steamer, I’ve realised the most important part is, as you’ve guessed already, the steaming part.

If the milk isn’t steamed properly, there’s no way you can pour the latte art properly. In other words, I don’t think it was by design, but by taking away the necessity to steam the milk yourself, the cafe was paradoxically ruining any chance you had at practicing at home.

The lesson? Do as much as you can yourself. The hard parts may well be the most important.

A side note:

It wasn’t until my barista friend came to our house and showed me that I realised I had been steaming the milk either wrong, or in a non-conducive manner the whole time. I would adjust the height of the cup depending on the temperature and bubbles, when you don’t really need to do that (I think you do for foamy milk, I haven’t gotten that far yet).

And it doesn’t have to be me.

Sometimes you look in the mirror and feel you aren’t who you see. Sometimes you look in the mirror and feel the need for change. You may not know what change you need, but you know you need one.

Therein lies the motivation.

That’s where you can turn when things get tough. You had a realisation that you aren’t you, and now you are motivated so that you do feel like yourself when you look in the mirror.

That me in the mirror, it’s not me. And it doesn’t have to be for long either.

Before and after a certain level

Once you get to a certain level, from then on it’s just practice. Until then, it’s just practice.

The only one you need

You can only move as far as the step in front of you allows. And the good news? That’s all you need to do.

It’s worth it.

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth making an excuse for. If it’s worth making an excuse for, why aren’t you doing it?

Don’t stoop to the unreasonable level

Unreasonable people prove themselves to be unreasonable. But do you have to be unreasonable too?

No. You don’t.

If someone’s being unreasonable, don’t follow suit. Prove yourself to be reasonable and set an example.

See what you discover

If something is a choice, even if it doesn’t seem like a good one on the surface, consider trying it. You’ll either eliminate one option, or find a new, better one. Give the choice a chance. See what you discover.

The difference is stark

There is a stark difference between having your smartphone on your person, and the simple act of putting it down.

Whenever spending time with someone, say at a dinner or something similar, make a point of putting your phone away, somewhere it is out of sight. If that means your pocket, so be it. But if possible, it’s best to leave it somewhere completely separate to where you are. This simple act pays respect not only to the people you are with, but also the moment you are in.

It’s only logical that you should the. put your phone down if you want to spend more time with yourself.

The difference is stark.

Time to regroup.

I tried making weekly YouTube videos. I honestly thought that was the way to go. I’ve been making videos over the past few years, but very sporadically. So I thought that if I could get more serious, as Ali Abdaal puts it, by putting out videos out week after week, maybe I could gain enough traction to make it into more than a hobby.

Well, I tried my hardest to do that. To be honest, I’m only 7 weeks in. But for one thing, it’s just not the right time. I thought I could bleed out enough time in my schedule, and for a few weeks there I could, but then a whole lot of life happened and I had to prioritise other things. This meant I couldn’t keep up with the weekly videos.

And then there’s also the fact that rather than the schedule, it’s hard to maintain the quality of video over a long period of time. It’s possible that with trying to batch produce videos, I simultaneously subconsciously became lazier. I tried to reduce the amount of time I spent on making the videos (which is not a bad thing). However, because there is now less risk of wasting my time (because I can get the ideas out quicker), I sort of just went with what I had, even half-assed ideas.

I think the key is making sure, as much as possible, that your idea will work, but just as important, that it’s something in your wheelhouse, something that aligns with the identity you’re trying to build. Length is also important. I could probably still have succeeded had I chosen to do shorter videos instead, and next time around I think that’s what I’ll do.

The other part of this is that I had looked to my Substack backlog for ideas. Many of the articles performed well there, but I’ve since realised, for the most part, they don’t transfer easily to YouTube videos. I relied on those articles too much, thinking it would be very easy to turn them into videos. But I was wrong. There is definitely potential there, but it takes a lot more effort than I anticipated to make them into something viewable on YouTube.

In all, YouTube is much more than weekly uploads. Weekly uploads is a great idea, but you also need to take time to develop your ideas and have a catchy title and thumbnail, otherwise it’s just not worth it if you’re trying to gain traction.

So, for now, for videos at least, I’m taking a break and I’m going to regroup. Next time around I think I will aim for mainly shorter videos on one main point, a bit like Tom Scott. Something more manageable.

But also, I have that backlog of Substack articles that I think is great for something similar but different:

Podcasts! I wrote those articles to be read out loud anyway! Lots of lessons from this short experiment, I don’t think you can call it a complete failure. But here we are.

So yeah, YouTube became a chore, unfortunately. It is a lot of fun to make and edit videos, but I guess I put a bit too much pressure on myself to perform when I didn’t really need to. I need to focus on enjoying it more, and that means a more sustainable process is needed.

Being a good listener

You can program AI chatbots to be advice heavy or advice light. Sometimes you just want someone to listen. Sometimes you want their advice. As a listener it can be hard to distinguish at times. But I think to be a good listener, even if the speaker doesn’t want your advice, it helps to think of the advice you would give.

If the speaker really doesn’t want the advice you can leave it at that. You can be their earpiece. But if you feel some leeway, then something as simple as ‘would it help if…’ can make a world of difference. And now that you’ve already thought of the advice, you can give a more thoughtful answer.

Nothing to do either

When life hits you, it hits you hard. It’s as if there’s nothing you can do about it. And you know what? Sometimes it’s true. Sometimes there is nothing you can do about it.

So why worry?

You did your best in the situation. Take the lessons on, and move forward. Nothing to do about it? Nothing to see here.

Or Massive Strides

Massive strides might seem quicker at first, and sometimes they are. But when you’re playing the long game, which in most cases you should be, the slow steady steps are the ones that get you there more assuredly.

One slow steady step in front of the other on repeat. That’s all it takes.

From the heart from the start

Nothing beats a license to riff. Words flowing out of your mouth are about the purest form they can take. This is when your thoughts come to the forefront. But, we must be careful. Sometimes we don’t learn things correctly, and nor do we remember them correctly either. This is cause for disaster if we are not careful. So if you’re going to go on a riff, make sure you get your facts straight. It could save you a world of trouble.

Treat it that way.

When we have a big event on the horizon, it is easy to get motivated for that event, but nothing after. Just as professional athletes have methods of maintaining momentum after big events, so must we.

We want the preparation that goes into these events to go a long way. This means considering what we will do after said event regardless of the outcome. Post event training is just as important. Treat it that way.

Not words.

Actions. Not words. Words add context. Actions add respect.

Test it. Find out for sure.

Is it that you can’t, or you’re choosing not to?

An important question and one that you should consider if you aren’t sure. You may find you are getting in your own way. You may find you had a solution all along. Don’t just ask yourself this question. Test it. Know for sure.

Let it and listen

Do you ever think the world is trying to tell you something? Like it is giving you subtle messages to do certain things and ignore others? Sometimes the world can be more blatant than usual. Sometimes it really gets in your face. And then sometimes the realisations just creep up on you. Then before you know it, you have to make a change. If the world is trying to tell you something, let it and listen.

Course Outline