Daily Yamabushi

Go in ready

If it’s your first time on Yamabushi training, you have no idea what’s going to happen. This means you have to bring everything with you, you have to prepare for anything. Logically, then, if it’s not your first time, and you know what’s gonna happen, then you only need to bring the bare minimum.

On your first go you can be smart about it. and watch the more senior people. However if you’re still learning the ropes, that can be a hard sell. It’s better to over-prepare, than to get things wrong further on down the line. It’s also better to prepare for yourself, because other people, however, senior, make mistakes. And their mistakes become your mistakes.

Go in prepared. Go in ready.

Bit by bit

What’s your target? Is it doable? What if you chip away at it?

It may not sound reasonable if it’s done all at once, but if you do it bit by bit, it all adds up and before long you’ll find you’ve made some decent progress. Then all you have to do, is keep chipping away.

It helps you make the decision

ChatGPT contradicts itself a lot. If you’re using it for advice, or any other role model for that matter, that’s a good thing. Contradiction means the role model is not perfect, and their suggestions are open for interpretation.

You are the one responsible for the decision in the end, so you should be the one to make it. You should be the one to take the consequences of that decision too.

Contradiction is great. It means you have a choice to make in the moment. Not your role model.

For clothing OR your smartphone.

There’s a minimalist trick you do so that you truly are using all that you need. That trick is to put, for example clothes, into a box and put that box somewhere a little out of reach. Whenever you need something from the box, you take it out and use it. Then, after a set amount of time, if it’s clothing you’d probably want a year to account for all seasons, you get rid of what’s left in the box.

This can be done in reverse too, and it works wonders for your smartphone.

Delete the apps you don’t often need. Then if you really need them, you download them again. Any app you don’t use stays off your phone. A halfway solution also works, which is to put individual apps (not all of them that would be too much) on wifi-only mode. If you need the app, you download it. If not, it stays off your phone.

Works a charm.

Always better than nothing

Sometimes you just have to go with what you got.

Going with what you got is much better than not going at all. It keeps that all important momentum, it keeps things going and makes you readier for next time. It may not be the best there ever was, but if it’s the best it could be in the moment, then that’s much better than not being at all.

That’s what you’ve got.

Let the world show you the way

Be interesting yourself, and be interested in others. Try things for the sake of them. Try things that make you feel scared simply for making you feel scared. Never settle, never allow yourself to get complacent. If someone is doing something and you get jealous of them, try and do it too. There’s no harm in trying. All they can say is no. Do this enough and you’ll be interesting. This draws people to you.

The simple act of asking questions and listening intently can get you far with the right people. Take an interest in others. Find what their hobbies are or what they do when they have free time. Ask them about their dreams and ambitions and how they plan on achieving them. Ask follow up questions. Get to know the person as well as you can.

Be interesting and interested and let the world show you the way.

Something to work off

AI can only work off LLMs. There needs to be a databank of information for AI to even be able to do anything.

Likewise, we need not only information, but inspiration to get something started. Or do we? Once we put something in the world we have something to go off. Inspiration or otherwise.

Get started. Get the momentum going. Build something to work off, and get to it.

Build anything

Build something worth the world having. Build something worth the world. Build something the world would enjoy. Build something your world would enjoy. Build something of value. Build something of value to you.

Build something. Build anything.

Your first (only) port of call

Get good at the basics by focusing on the basics. At first, that should be your only port of call. Keep that platform then slowly build on it when you can.

Focus on the barebones first. Add the frills later.

If you feel the need.

Buy first, spread later.

Buying the book is only half the fun. The other half is when you read it, and enjoy it so much you tell others about it.

Authors first want the first half. But what they really want is the second half. Craft the right story and the second half makes the first half automatic. And it increases it too. But the first half needs to work a first time for it to be a thing at all. That’s why both are important.

Through Trial and Error

Kinks are a sign you’ve started. They’re a sign you’re getting things done. Kinks are a point of pride.

In the early stages, all you see are kinks. This means progress. Kinks might not be ideal, at first, but enough trial and error later and they will iron themselves out.

A step in the right direction

Strong opinions bring people to the polls it would seem. At least that is what the trends are doing. Even if the discourse is not what you had in mind, the very fact that people are talking has to be a good thing. In a place like Japan where people are on the whole, dare I say it, apathetic, this is especially a good thing.

More people in the conversation makes for a stronger democratic society, and, in theory at least, one more inclusive of everyone’s opinion. So get the conversation started, even though it may not be what you had in mind, at least it shows that people are open to conversation in the first place. And that has to be a step in the right direction.

Do it right if you’re going to do it.

When I was in high school we had to give speeches in Japanese for Japanese class. One classmate had a Japanese homestay look over their speech before delivering it. The homestay then duly went ahead and basically rewrote the speech.

True to form, the Japanese was too good and the classmate failed to deliver the speech well as a result. Had the classmate written the speech themselves, using language they understood, but perhaps augmented with the help of their homestay, they would have done a much better job. Sure the speech wouldn’t have been as good as it could have been, but the delivery would have been much better. More importantly, the classmate would have grown more as a result.

AI is similar. We can use AI to write essentially anything these days. But as other people call it, it is all AI slop. If you’re a good writer, you have standards. AI writing fails these standards more often than not, and is therefore useless to most.

However, we can use AI to help us organise our ideas. We can get AI to put our ideas into bullet points for us to flesh out ourselves, for example. This maintains our writing standards while bringing in some of the efficiencies AI allows. AI can also give you feedback. However, if you get AI to rewrite things for you, well, you’re headed for trouble like my classmate.

The lesson is simple. You need to be doing as much as you can by yourself. Otherwise you’re losing opportunities to grow. By all means use AI to help your writing, but know that, depending on how much you rely on it, it comes with potential risks.

Best Avoided.

If you don’t feel it’s worth it, then it’s not. You’ll only beat yourself up over it in future, so give up before you waste any more time on it. There, decision made and decision fatigue avoided.

The thing is, the opposite is also true. If you feel compelled to do something, do it. Not because you feel compelled to do it, although that is a good enough reason, but because you will regret having not done it, and this one stings much more.

They’re the same thing

Have something you want to do? I have a friend who says ’I want to do it, so I will do it’. For them, there’s no distinction between the two. Judging on how much they get done, I’d say this is a great motto to live by.

Because it is true. There is no difference. If you want to do something, you go out and do it. It’s as simple as that. Have something you want to do?

Get out of the way

The best teachers set up opportunities for realisation, then get out of the way. They allow you to do the heavy lifting without gifting it to you on a platter. The best teachers are the ones put their ego in check, and just let the learning commence.

Cut out the middle man

Once you know how to do something, it can be a great relief. If you know how to do something to solve your problems, for example, the problems starts to look like less of one. However, thinking you know the answer, and then actually implementing the solution are two completely different things.

If you f*ck and find out, so to speak, you cut out the middle man. You go straight from having a potential solution to a problem to knowing for certain whether that solution works or not. In other words, FAFO is onto something.

Yes. Easily.

By definition the unpredictable is unpredictable. The future is also unpredictable. Should you prepare for it? Yes of course. But worrying too much about it can hinder your ability to take in the current moment.

How will you feel after years of regret of worrying to much about the future?

Now that is unpredictable.

Respect is earned. Friendship can be bought.

Since I watched this video a few weeks back, I’ve been reflecting on the simple question: Would you rather be well-liked, or well-respected?

The difference between being respected and being liked lies in how it is achieved.

Let Richie McCaw tell you.

If you watch the video, the answer is obvious. Respect is what pushes us forward. Respect is what lasts. The same can be said for teaching, as well as being a parent.

Through your actions, through your attitude, respect is earned. It’s not laid up on a platter for you. It takes hard work and determination to be respected, over a long time at that.

And it lasts.

Respect well-earned is not easily forgotten.

Being liked is similar to friendship. Friendship can be bought. The term fair-weather friends exists for a reason. It’s only temporary. It doesn’t have to be earned through hard work, but it can be earned through flattery and bribes.

Work to be respected first. Worry about friendship later. If you feel like it.

Efficiency makes for less stress

Today I filmed some YouTube videos. Only, when I went to check the camera, I noticed it wasn’t recording. My first thought was that I had forgotten to push the record button, a simple mistake I have made before up there with forgetting to turn the mic on.

However, this time around I wasn’t as worried as I would have been in the past.

The simple reason? I’ve been focusing on keeping the recording time to a minimum as much as possible. I do this by practicing and instead of sticking to a script, using bullet points. This has cut down the time I need to record dramatically, which helps as my camera turns itself off after less than 30 minutes of recording (in 4K, it’s an old camera now).

All this means is that I’m pressured to keep filming to less than 30 minutes at a go, not necessarily a bad thing. This means that if I do in fact forget to push the record button, well, I haven’t lost as much as I would have before.

Then, as soon as I had come to terms with losing all that effort (which wasn’t actually that much), I found that I had indeed recorded the majority of what I needed. It was all just some type of thought experiment, albeit one with a good outcome!

No night doesn’t dawn

明けない夜はない (akenai yoru wa nai)

There is no night that doesn’t dawn.

– Japanese proverb.

Calm before the storm is why for a lot of us it is hard to accept the now. We are too infatuated with the future, or more specifically, what could go wrong.

What could go wrong? It’s a great thought experiment to do, as outlined in The 4 Hour Workweek. If we focus too much on what could go wrong in the future, we forget to live in the present. We forget that what’s right in front of us is all that exists, and we forget to appreciate the moment for what it is.

Don’t worry about the storm. Don’t even worry about the calm. Worry about what’s right in front of you, and that alone. And if you ever need a reminder of what’s to come, there is no night not followed by dawn.

Is it sneaking up on you?

Complacency Creep. Is it sneaking up on you? Are you controlling your decisions in a way that removes productive discomfort? The sort of stuff that, while uncomfortable in the moment, helps you grow?

Complacency creep is when you allow yourself to let go, but not in a good way. In an ill disciplined way. In a way that says ’I don’t care any more’. That’s complacently creep, and it’s a powerful force.

But we can fight back. We can stay active and fight the forces that make us lazy. We can hit back by keeping our minds and our bodies active. Complacency creep has no place where we remain in motion. And even if moss starts to grow on our shoulders, a little movement forward is enough to get the ball rolling.

Complacency creep. Are you letting it take control? Or a you the one in control? It’s worth thinking about.

With consistent output and sustained effort

Consistent output and sustained effort multiplied by talent will get you there. Talent alone is worthless, it needs to be harnessed. It needs to be worked on. But when you combine talent with consistent output and sustained effort, not only does the talent build, but you give it a chance to shine. Build consistency and sustained effort and watch your talent soar.

Don’t even bother tailgating

Today someone was tailgating me so close I didn’t realise they were there for the longest time. I’m not sure why they were tailgating. I don’t remember cutting anyone off, I was following the speed limit, what else could it be?

Maybe they were just in a real rush, but for whatever reason, if they were trying to get me to go faster, well, they will need to find a more effective way than tailgating someone who doesn’t even know they exist.

And that’s all the permission you need

If you think something is on, if you think there is a change, that’s your permission to go for it. Chances don’t always present themselves, but when they do, you pounce.

If it’s on, it’s on, and that’s all the permission you need.

That I stumbled upon

I may have accidentally broken my phone addiction. Well, partially at least.

The trick? Make it so that you can only use certain apps on wifi.

I noticed my phone was running out of data a bit too quickly. I’m still not entirely sure why, it’s possible I had automatic photo uploads on even without wifi, but either way, I went through and manually changed the apps I most commonly defer to so that they don’t work without wifi.

Of course this doesn’t work at home, but it has at least lessened my urge to open apps when I am out of wifi range, which is often enough. I’m aware this won’t completely stop my addiction, but it will definitely go some way towards that, or at least improving the situation.

So there you have it.

Thank you

I was waiting at an intersection today, kind of in a hurry, but really not. Enough that any small thing would set me off if I wasn’t careful.

Well, true to form, something did very nearly set me off.

A fire truck. For the stupidest reason too.

Fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars in Japan all turn their lights on even when they’re just on patrol. It’s hard to know at times whether it’s an emergency or not, and today it most certainly was not an emergency.

The fire truck was simply trying to turn right at a traffic light. A traffic light with no arrow for turning right. A traffic light with space for only one fire truck to line up in for one light cycle. A traffic light that meant instead of getting to go on the first light like you’d expect, I had to wait for a whole other cycle of the lights. The kind of thing that would set off a guy in a sort of hurry like me.

But I needn’t worry. I’d calculated things like this into my schedule.

Just. But only just.

Thanks to a certain fire truck.

Learn to accept, and accept quick

Like the stubborn kid who doesn’t want to apologize, sometimes we don’t want to accept the situation. But just like that kid, the sooner we do, the sooner we can get on with what we were doing.

Don’t be stubborn. Accept and move on.

AKA The Beginner’s Mind

Start from a place of curiosity, even if you’re a seasoned master. People respect those who want to find out more, rather than those who think they know all the answers. Don’t be a know it all, be a beginner.