Daily Yamabushi

A reminder

The red light tells you to pause. The slow person tells you to take it slow. The easygoing person reminds you not to rush.

Every day we are confronted with important reminders to slow things down.

But do we take them?

What works?

You don’t know until you try. So try. A lot. Find what works. Find what’s good.

Then find it again.

Get them out of the way, then relax a bit

Get the job done. Make it well and truly done and dusted.

Then, and only then can you take your foot off the accelerator. Once the job is done, you’re done too. It’s time to put the pedal to the metal, but it all starts with doing the first things first.

Turn your focus to the now

All good things must end. It’s our attachment to them that drags our feelings along, but it doesn’t need to. We can choose to accept them and let them go.

Let it pass. Focus on living in the now.

Perspective

There is no perfect song. Although, some songs are perfect for moments.

There are no perfect moments. Although, some moments are perfect for moments.

Perspective is everything.

Complete.

Past tense. Not present. Not future. Done. Dusted.

Actioned.

Something different

Define yourself by your ability to do the unique. Define yourself by your ability to lead. Take the first step, and do the extraordinary. Something only you can do.

Make it a habit

Be different simply for the sake of being different.

Discover new stuff by doing different things and try to be a different person. The same is boring. Plus it keeps things exciting.

You are going to have to differentiate yourself sometime anyway. Might as well make it a habit. Be different by doing different.

Check your questions

The things we question are the things we are curious about. The things we are curious about are the things we have some sort of intuition about. Intuition that comes straight from the soul.

We can see a parts of our soul in our questions. At times, this simple act of having to ask the question alone gives you the answer. If you have to ask something, it may well mean that deep down you already know what you need to know.

And onto the next thing

Start the next project while you’re doing the first. Once the first is done and dusted, you’re already moving things forward. You’re not resting on your laurels, and you’re continuing to push the boundaries of possibility.

Done and dusted. And onto the next thing.

Put things in your favour

Problems are just a matter of perspective. If we change the problem to one that is in our favour, we win. All it takes is a change in attitude.

Build momentum from the outset

Invest in more than the upfront costs. Get yourself some proper momentum.

Make a certain amount of output a prerequisite of purchase.

Get lessons when you buy your guitar.

The right answer

With all the answers, the only thing left to do is to do. But doing brings with it more questions. And if we don’t start off with the right questions, it’s easy to get led astray.

The right questions come from curiosity, and curiosity comes about through exploration and play. The right questions bring with them a certain curiosity that we feel compelled to follow. Get the right questions, and all there is left to do is to do.

Reassess where necessary

It’s worth taking a moment to consider how big your win could potentially be. Too often we aim for goals that could easily be loftier, or worse still, goals that are just plain not worth the effort. We also need to be weary of changing circumstances that could lead to these two outcomes as well.

This is fine if the process is the aim, but if it isn’t, we need to either shift our goals, or find something else to do instead.

Just action

As long as it doesn’t break the rules or hurt anyone, you don’t need to ask for permission. You can just go ahead and do it.

And in fact you should.

There’s no need to wait for some magical happening or the perfect time to get started. You can get started right now, however small. Every step counts, including the one you are about to take.

No permission. Just action.

Every night

What you really want is to be creating a gourmet meal every night. This is the gold standard, night and night again. If you’re just starting out, of course it’s going to be impossible. However, there will be incremental improvements if you keep at it, which is the real secret.

The way to get gourmet meals every night is to work on your system for creating it, with every night bringing new insight and inspiration, precisely because you kept at it.

It doesn’t happen overnight, and you probably don’t want it to either. But it does happen with enough incremental improvements and time on task.

You’re always there

You’re always at a crossroads of some sorts. There’s always some opportunity you are either passing up, or taking on. If something doesn’t feel right or you feel the need for a change in direction, there’s always the crossroads.

To the shots you take

There’s no limit on the number of shots you can take. The only thing that limits this is the limits you place on yourself.

Build a way so that you can take as many shots as it takes, then take those shots. No limit, remember.

You know what to do

First you have to recognize the lemons for the lemons. Sometimes they’re hidden in plain sight. Then you have to accept that they are lemons, easier said than done, though not impossible.

Next, well, it’s lemonade time.

Focus on outcomes you have some semblance of control over

Decide before you start what metrics are important, what metrics are you going to prioritise. Make these results you have some semblance of control over. Forget everything else. This goes the same for those partway through their journey, but it is much more important in the initial stages, when you’re trying to build momentum. A focus on the wrong things can be disastrous when it doesn’t need to be.

Do it in style

Things don’t go as planned? Be dejected for as long as is reasonable, but try your best to snap out of it as soon as you can. And what’s the best way to snap out of it?

Hit back. As soon as is reasonable.

Dejection is a low point. But low points all have a commonality. You can only go up. And if you’re going to go up, you may as well do it in style.

Hit back.

Take the time to listen and respond in kind.

Playing catch is a great way to get to know someone, including yourself. But how do you listen to someone intently and simultaneously give them something good to respond to?

Hold the ball.

Hold it. Think on it. Reflect and take the time to give a good response. There’s an unspoken rule that we shouldn’t do that, that it’s against the rules of conversation. But is it against the rules of friendship? Of getting to know someone better?

Hold the ball. It doesn’t always have to be in someone’s court.

Moments to Momentum

Moments pieced together build momentum. Focus on the moment. Focus on the next moment. Then the focus can switch to the momentum of connecting moments.

Moments to momentum.

In someone’s eyes

Someone’s going to tell you it’s not right. Someone’s going to find fault with it. Someone’s going to consider it a failure.

And if that someone is you, be content that it is out in the world. Know where you went wrong and what you will do differently next time, if you decide there is to be a next time.

Everything’s a failure in some way, but you don’t have to treat it as such.

Don’t just stand on the shore

Get out there in a position where you can catch the waves. Then go out there again. Constantly have yourself in that position and constantly be looking for the next wave to ride.

Then ride it like there is no more.

Make it a work complete

If it’s a work in progress, it’s a chance to think about it again. It’s a chance to reverse engineer the final result and create something worthwhile.

It’s also a chance for you to get to work and produce something of value. You have the ideas, all you need now is the execution.

‘Here, I made this’

‘Here, I made this.’ Seth Godin always says if you can get into the habit of saying this, well, you’re onto something.

In other words, what matters is that you made it and it’s out in the world.

Another way to put it is ‘this is a little something I put together’. You may not have intended on putting anything together, but now that you have, you can say ‘Here, I made this’.

Notice or thought

Once the idea comes, you start without a moment’s notice, without a moment’s thought.

You don’t even think about it.

Now all that’s left is creating the conditions in which you can do that. Or at least, making sure they exist.