Daily Yamabushi

Pinch yourself.

Do you feel it?

What about now?

Do you ever just stop to take everything in? Do you ever just stop to check that you’re in the moment? Do you ever find yourself fully aware of the situation and wanting to make the most of it?

You should. With all that’s going on it’s easy to get caught up in a different reality to the one going on in front of our eyes.

Now is the most important thing we have. It’s our everything. And it needs to be treated as such.

That’s why meditation and Yamabushi training is so powerful. Everything is designed around putting you in the moment, the most important thing there is.

And if you practice being in the moment, all it takes is a metaphorical pinch to get there. That’s all it takes to be able to make the most of a moment.

On the How I Built This podcast, Guy Raz always asks his guests whether they think it was luck or skill that got them to where they are. My answer to this question is simple.

100% luck. No question.

That we received life, out of how many trillion chances, that in itself is a miracle. That we weren’t born a dog or a cat, that we were born in this age with all the benefits that come along with it.

We need gratitude to be satisfied, but at the same time we also need direction to keep us moving. We also need hunger.

That is why you should always have something on the go. Something for you that only you can do. Something that has the potential to be huge, or not, whatever floats your boat.

Always be hungry. Always be on the search for your next big thing. This is your driving force, this is what keeps you positive.

Satisfaction is for something in the past. Hunger is for something in the future. What about the now?

In the now all we need is presence. In the now all we need to do is to be in the moment.

Satisfaction, hunger, presence.

How often do you get really good ideas? How often do you simply feel inspired to do something? How often do you wish you could think clearer?

For me, it’s started to happen more often, and I’ll tell you why.

Since I’ve started the habit of writing first thing in the morning, rather than when I felt ‘inspired’ throughout the day, I’ve found myself thinking of ideas as soon as I wake up. Perhaps even before then. It’s weird. I never really had that before in the past more than three years I have been doing this.

Having a habit of writing daily enables you to better take advantage of the ideas when they do come. Having a habit of writing first thing every morning enables you to take advantage of your subconscious.

In addition, I’ve found myself thinking of things to write throughout the day. Thank Kami for modern technology where we can just jot down whatever it is we are thinking to come back to later. In this case it really is the practice that led to the ideas, not the other way around.

Not only that, I’ve found myself searching for the right way to put things less, meaning my thinking has gotten clearer. Having had this practice under your belt enables you to better articulate those ideas when they do inevitably come.

By sharing your ideas daily as well it gives you the chance to see whether the idea is indeed good or not. It gives you the chance for that all important feedback.

I guess after all I am writing this to try to inspire you to also pick up the habit of writing daily, but not for the sake of the habit. I want you to write daily for the sake of getting more out of you, for the sake of generating better ideas, the one thing us humans will always have over computers, and at the same time for the sake of better enabling you to communicate these ideas.

You don’t have to publish them, though you should, and you also don’t have to use your real name, although it would probably be helpful to. I’d say try it for a month and see if you like it.

Because you never know, a great idea may be bursting at the seems. This is one sure fire way you’ll be able to take advantage of it.

When you’ve tried to restart a (good) habit so many times, you kinda get good at restarting the habit. It’s a shame that you need to restart it in the first place, but life always has a way of getting in the way.

It helps not to put too much pressure on yourself, and to focus on doing it right rather than fast. There’s no way you’ll be back at your natural pace when you start back, and that’s fine. Slowly but surely you’ll get there. Allow yourself the time and dedication to get back into the habit right.

The important thing is that you’re out there getting dirty, that you’re putting in the hard yards. Life’s too short to sit around in your PJs all day.

Do you ever feel like your life could be a tv drama or even a movie? Sometimes the stuff that goes on is just too good to be true. Here we are simply trying to live a normal life and then curveball after curveball, it seems like we’re being thrown around like a rag doll.

And we probably are.

Life’s what happens when you’re busy making other plans.

John Lennon

I like this line because of its simplicity, but I hate it because of its truth. It’s something I often find I repeat to myself.

As much as we may not want to admit it, the best tv dramas and movies are the ones with the most drama. They show unprecedented levels of character development and that humans have the uncanny ability to make it through in spite of major disruptions. They show that there is meaning to the madness.

Lives are for living proactively, they aren’t about waiting for things to happen to you. The drama is there to keep us engaged, and to keep us from complacency. It’s there to teach us lessons that we take on as we move on. And move on we shall.

So if it feels like you’re in a tv drama or a movie, you know that the central characters have to keep on keeping on no matter the level of drama in their life. You know that they have to innovate and make do with what they’ve got. And you know that they can. You know that you can.

When the unexpected strikes, does it ruin you, or make you?

We are a product of our environment, and that environment includes things that are completely out of our control.

When you have a masterpiece in the works and the unexpected strikes and changes things completely, do you just give up on the masterpiece?

No! You make do with what you have. You give your best shot in spite of the unexpected. And that’s what makes it better. That you did something in spite of the unexpected.

The unexpected goes into your masterpiece. The unexpected doesn’t ruin you, it makes you.

Even if you don’t understand the sport, cricket is a great metaphor for life.

Ball after ball after ball. Whatever they throw at you, you have to take it and make something of it.

Batting in cricket is a true test of positive thinking. It’s a true mind game and it’s all about temperament.

Sometimes batsmen stand out in the middle for whole days, sometimes even longer. In a currently ongoing test match between Pakistan and Australia, there were only 6 wickets in three and a bit days. It’s now changed somewhat, but 8 different people shared the batting for over three and a bit days of cricket.

For the majority of that time, the batsmen had to concentrate, and it’s up to the bowling team to unsettle them. That three and a bit days is a real testament to the men in the middle.

Cricket for me is a really interesting mind game. If your team is batting first, you really have to push yourself with a positive intent to put runs (points) on the board, but not too much that you lost your wicket (well, not always, depends on them game. I’m talking mainly test cricket). Positive intent goes a really long way.

Similarly, if you’re batting second, you have a target to meet, but you still have to concentrate on each ball and not get too far ahead of yourself.

To be a good batsman requires temperament. It requires that you don’t let yourself get ahead of the situation, that you focus on each ball one by one and you don’t let yourself wander off with the fairies.

By simply doing this, batsmen can really get under the skin of the bowlers, so bowlers have to be equally, if not more so, in tune with what it is they are doing. They also have to have temperament. Perhaps that’s why they call it the gentlemen’s game.

Either way, it’s an exercise in controlling your mindset, positive thinking, and being able to concentrate when it’s needed.

That for me, is cricket.

If you’ve ever been in Japan during the spring, you would know that everyone is simply obsessed with the Sakura Cherry Blossoms. 

I mean, have you seen Starbucks? 

From Sakura-themed drinks like the Blooming Sakura Milk Tea and Sakura Strawberry Frappuccino, to the sakura donuts and sakura cakes and even sakura mints! Starbucks is really taking this sakura thing in its stride. 

Ok, ok, Starbucks might be a bit of an extreme, but the cherry blossom front making the national news everyday, the reporting of the sakura blooming in Kyoto for over 1200 years, and rivers lined with picnickers all vying for a good spot under the sakura, it’s all a bit much, don’t you think?

Said no one ever.

Enjoying the Sakura

Everyone in Japan flocks to the parks in spring, and why wouldn’t you? 

Sitting beneath an endless blanket of pink and white, snow-capped mountain under a deep blue sky, sipping on the aforementioned Starbucks Blooming Sakura Milk Tea, with perhaps a touch of your favourite sake, as the delicate petals slowly flutter in the breeze, the simple pleasures of spring. 

But have you ever stopped to wonder why Sakura? Why not daisies or daffodils, poppies or petunias? Why not, kami forbid, the true national flower of Japan, the one that appears on the Japanese passport and the 50-yen coin, the symbol of the Japanese imperial family, the chrysanthemum? It’s not called the sakura throne after all.

It might as well be, though. 

So, how did Sakura come to be the centre of attention, has it always been sakura? And what is the deep meaning placed on Sakura that makes it a motif in everything from Haiku poetry to fine Japanese art? The answer may surprise you. 

The etymology of Sakura

The word Sakura gives us hints into its underlying meaning. 

Sakura is said to come from Saku, 咲くmeaning to bloom or to burst, and ra 等 denoting plurality. However, this came after Kanji characters were introduced into Japan. 

There is another, much deeper, and much more ancient meaning of Sakura that might provide a bit more context.

Did you eat yet?

Meshi Kuttaga? Ippe ke! Have you eaten yet? Eat up! As they say here in the local Shonai dialect.

As the staple of the Japanese diet, rice is obviously an extremely important part of Japanese cuisine and by extension culture. The word for rice in Japan, ご飯 Gohan, or 飯 Meshi, is synonymous with the word for a meal. The rice harvest is also the object of many matsuri festivals in Japan, that’s why so many festivals revolve around the harvest in autumn.

So what does this have to do with Sakura?

From the trees, to the rocks, to the rivers, to the mountains, to the waterfalls, to the flowers, I’m sure you’ve all heard of Shinto kami, the deities believed to inhabit absolutely everything in nature.

Well, the word Sakura is said to come from Yamato Japan, an ancient Japan before any Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana even existed in the country. A Japan very much ruled by Kami at the time. 

Sakura is a Yamato word made up of Sa and kura.

Sa refers to the kami of the rice plant, the kami of the rice field, and the kami of crops. In short, sa refers to the source of life, food. 

The Kura part comes from Iwakura, the dwelling place of the kami, where the kami are welcomed.

In other words, Sakura are where the kami of the rice plant dwell, they are the trees the kami of the rice fields possess and when the sakura bloom, the kami of the rice fields are saying konnichiwa. 

Is it a coincidence that wherever the sakura bloom, they always bloom right before rice planting season? Sakura in Japan bloom from south to north, beginning in Okinawa and ending in Hokkaido. Once they bloom, it’s time to get ready to plant the rice. 

Why do the Japanese love Hanami Flower Viewing so much?

The condition of the Sakura was also used to predict that year’s harvest. So, what would you do if you knew you were in the presence of the kami? Eat, drink, and be merry of course! By entertaining the kami, people prayed for a good harvest, and enjoyed the company of the kami with food and sake, and dedicated performances to them under the sakura trees.

This is Hanami, the original flower viewing. This is the original reason why the Japanese love Sakura so much. Not some recent offering from Starbucks. 

But has it always been this way? And when exactly did this start?

The History of Sakura and Hanami

I mentioned it earlier, but in Kyoto, they have been recording the blossoming of the Yamazakura variety of cherry blossoms for over 1200 years (interestingly, the earliest time they ever bloomed in the year was in 2021). But if you refer to the Nihon Shoki, an 8th century chronicle of Japan, there are accounts of Hanami festivals dating back to the 3rd century AD.

However, it wasn’t always Sakura that was the centre of attention.

Back in the Nara period (710–794), the custom of enjoying sake and the presence of the Kami began a few weeks earlier than now, with the blooming of Ume, plum blossoms, instead. 

Enter Emperor Saga

Sakura bloom when the temperature outside is just warm enough. In the Heian period (794–1185), Emperor Saga wised up to the fact that when the ume plum blossoms are in full bloom the wind-chill factor meant that it was still better to be inside. By the time Emperor Saga had gotten round to it, Sakura had become the centre of attention, and rightly so.

Emperor Saga held flower viewing parties in the imperial court in Kyoto with sake and a huge feast to welcome in the kami. Before long the word Hanami, literally flower viewing, came to mean ‘viewing the Sakura’. 

Hanami was first recorded as a term synonymous with sakura viewing in the Heian era novel The Tale of Genji, and a tradition was set in stone. 

For the noble class that is. It took a while until the Hanami custom slowly made its way to the samurai class, but by the 18th century flower viewing was a well established spring custom for the common class as well. In fact, feudal lord Tokugawa Yoshimune, encouraged its proliferation by planting extensive areas of sakura, and establishing Edo’s first Starbucks at the Shibuya crossing. 

Attack of the clones

Interestingly, the majority of sakura you see around the world are not from wild species of cherry tree, rather they are cultivar. Many of the species have been cultivated since the Heian period using techniques such as grafting and cutting. Endemic to Japan, the Oshima species has produced many cultivars thanks to selective breeding such as the Yoshino cherry. 

Wild cherry trees bloom at different times even if they are in the same climate, but since the Oshima species are clones, when they are in the same climate, they bloom at the same time. This is why when you visit parks throughout Japan with Sakura, you can bask under the glory of not just one, but all of the Sakura trees. 

The fleeting nature of Sakura

Sakura flowers blossom beautifully for a week or so, and then scatter down in a brilliant display from a slight breeze. The short yet dazzling life of the Sakura is said to be representative of life itself, and reminds us of the concept of mono no aware, the awareness of impermanence or fleeting nature of life. 

Sakura flowers aren’t seen to be prettier than other flowers such daisies or daffodils, poppies or petunias. This Mono no aware gives sakura its special appeal, and is why sakura is a common motif in Haiku and other Japanese art.

Why Sakura? 

Sakura are a reminder that the kami have come to bless us with food, the gift of life. They are a reminder that we should be thankful to the kami, but at the same time, they are a reminder that our lives are limited and should be enjoyed when we get the chance. Which for me is as good an excuse as any to have a Starbucks Blooming Sakura Milk Tea under the pink and white flowers. 

The only way to do your best is to compare yourself with yourself. If your definition of best means being better than others, then that’s great, but the true test is proving to yourself that you can be better.

Don’t try to one-up other people, try to one up yourself.

Everything you do gives you the opportunity to constantly learn from, to constantly work towards improving. And that’s great. It may seem like Sisyphus pushing a rock up a hill only for it to roll back down, but if everyday you focus on one improvement, they will build up over time. They will give you the chance to one-up yourself.

Are you a producer or a consumer?

I find if you put more effort into producing things, the way you consume changes.

If you yourself start producing things you start to see things you otherwise wouldn’t. You start to wonder, why did I click on this video but not that one? Why does this writer evoke such emotion? How did they film that? Like you’re trying to uncover other people’s creativity.

When you are a producer, you become much more selective in your consumption. Your consumption has more purpose. The amount you consume lessens because you find yourself wanting to produce more, and when you do consume it’s because you want something to help you produce.

Producing makes you both a more conscious producer, but also a more conscious consumer. Give it a go if you aren’t already.

Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine who just happens to be a geiko, a trainer of maiko, who are themselves trainee geisha. I was interested in her teaching style and philosophy, and here’s one thing she told me.

It’s about tiny goals that build into bigger goals.

To be a maiko you need to be able to perform between 30 and 50 songs. It takes a long time to remember these, obviously. The songs also change by the season so they are constantly rotating the songs they both practice and perform.

The maiko perform at the Maiko Teahouse and Hina Doll Gallery Somaro, and by request at places all around the region (and sometimes even overseas).

Each performance becomes its own little goal. The maiko are tasked with mastering certain songs by the performance date, and that gives them something specific to work towards.

I really love this. Not just learning for the sake of learning, but learning for a specific goal you have in mind, it really helps the brain focus more.

Of course there is also the overarching goal, to be able to perform the 30-50 songs necessary, for example. And I think to be ‘successful’ we need both. These little goals just make it easier to attain in my view.

It’s why practical education is so valuable. Not just learning a language for the sake of learning a language, but learning it for going overseas (hopefully soon!!), or as my friend put it to me learning to make a website to actually make a website.

So, take the lesson of the geisha. If you have a bigger goal, try to separate it into specific times when you are required to perform. Give yourself a set deadline to be ready by, and then work towards it!

P.S. I will be talking about this in more depth in my newsletter for this week. Sign up for Mountains of Wisdom at timbunting.com/newsletter.

A positive mindset goes a long way, but what if it feels like the world is conspiring against you?

I don’t believe in ‘form’, you know when an athlete is having a hot streak? When God is giving them special treatment? Yeah. It doesn’t exist.

I don’t believe that there is some magical force that comes down on athletes for a decided point of time, and then they just lose it like an umbrella you forget on the train.

It doesn’t work like that.

Now I’m all for the positive vibe that comes from streaks. If they can put you in a positive mindset, I’m all for it.

But at the same time, when you hit all red lights it can feel as if the world is conspiring against you.

It doesn’t work like that either.

If we have a feeling of ‘things aren’t going right today’ it changes our posture to a more negative one, and this just exacerbates things.

But something happening last week has no effect on the chances of it happening tomorrow. Hitting a red light once has no effect on whether you will hit another straight away. But one thing is certain, you will hit one sooner or later.

When you inevitably do hit a red light, tell yourself ‘it’s just a red light. Take it and move on.’

Things happen because they happen. Only once they happen can we choose how we react to them.

The world conspiring against you? God giving you special treatment? Either way, use positive energy to move forward.

And if you do find yourself on a ‘streak’, by all means use it!

Sometimes the edges prune themselves.

When you’ve been rejected, it is much too easy to turn the focus on where you went wrong, what you could have done differently.

‘I should have seen the signs.’

‘I shouldn’t have trusted them in the first place.’

‘I should have tried harder.’

Should have, shouldn’t have. That’s the thing, rejection is already in the past.

What’s done is done. No point crying over spilled milk.

And when it comes to rejection, you’re simply pruning the edges. Or, you could say, rejection is someone pruning the edges for you. That’s one decision you didn’t need to make.

Then once the edge is pruned, we can get back to what it was we were originally planning on doing.

The milk is spilled already. Nothing to cry over. Pick yourself up, and move on.

We were living in fear for a few weeks there. We weren’t sure if the shaking was another earthquake getting started, or one of those phantom quakes your body tricks you into believing is real. First port of call when unsure? The jersey hanging over the bed. Was it shaking, or was it all in our head?

Not to mention, at the time we also had the very real possibility of radiation with the nuclear plant melting down on the opposite coast.

I am of course talking about 3.11, the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.

That was a scary time.

But we made it through.

We had the tv on non-stop and were constantly checking our phones for updates. Devastating scene after devastating scene, the risk of radiation, phantom earthquakes, constant worry about whether we have enough petrol to escape if we need to, it was all a bit much.

However, in the end I think we made the right decision.

That decision?

TV off. Phones away. Get outside and enjoy the sunshine.

A constant barrage of information is unnatural and frankly unnecessary. The thing I remember most about the news at that time was when we turned it off. Oh the silence, oh the freedom!

Humans aren’t designed to constantly have a barrage of information thrown at us. We aren’t designed to be in front of a screen with instantaneous information coming at us 24/7.

In other words, it’s ok to take a break from the news. With all the sensationalism in the media it’s imperative we do, in fact.

I’m not saying you should become a hermit. Coming from a Yamabushi that is quite rich (Yamabushi escapism isn’t for the purpose of escaping in my view. For some, perhaps). By all means you should follow the news, just don’t let it be all that you do.

Either way there comes a time when too much is too much, and you know who should decide when that is?

You.

If things get a bit too much, take a break. Go for a walk. Let off some steam. Still stay updated with what’s going on if you need to, but understand the added stress from constant news can be a bit too much at times. That’s why it’s ok to do things at your own pace.

The thing with news such as this is that it can be paralysing. It can stop you from action if you let it get to you. That’s the exact opposite of what’s necessary at times like this. You need to keep moving, you need to keep going so that you can be of help, not glued to a screen.

Perhaps a jersey over a bed is all the news you need.

Attachment is the root of all suffering.

Gautama Buddha

If we can learn to accept, we can learn to forgo our attachments.

All we have is here, now, self.

Everything else is superfluous. Everything else is redundant cause for concern. Everything else is attachment.

Make it acceptance.

One time when I was training to be a lifeguard, we were doing the exam and I had to tow someone in the pool for a certain distance, say 10m. At the time it felt like the examiner was teasing me, but I was asked to tow the biggest bloke there, someone taller than me (I’m 186cm), and much heavier too (I’m about 80kg).

The thing is, complaining at this point is useless. You don’t get to choose who you rescue in real life, so this is an actual possibility.

The way to think of it is, if you can tow someone that big, you can tow anyone. Plus, it’s easy to forget that bigger people float better. It just means you have to get into an awkward position, and if it means saving a life, it’s a no-brainer.

When people complain about having to work with someone they don’t want to work with, I am reminded of this anecdote. Sure you may not prefer working with the other people, but if it’s for something important, does it really matter?

Your whole life is a form of training, a training that follows a ‘do’, a way or path. ‘Do’s have no end. We are constantly trying to better ourselves as we chug along the path.

A few months back I was watching a presentation about Shugendo by someone who has done work in Tottori but focuses on Shugendo in Japan as a whole. That was the first time I heard the phrase that everyday life is a form of Shugyo training. I had never heard or even thought of that until then.

On a separate occasion I was being interviewed for a TV show in front of Master Hoshino about becoming a yamabushi. In it I said that yamabushi training takes you away from everyday life, and in effect makes you appreciate what you have in your everyday life much more. I still stand by this, but it seems I got my wording a bit wrong.

I thought I was being smart in saying this stuff, but then Master Hoshino turns around and says ‘yamabushi training is also a part of everyday life’.

Yamabushi have a word for non-yamabushi life, Shaba, which I have since learned is also the word for life outside of prison. I’m not comparing the two, although there are definitely some similarities, but I thought having such a word denoted a duality.

It seems I was wrong.

Think about your everyday life not as a form of training in and of itself, but as a part of training where Yamabushi training and everyday life are one and the same.

It’s not as if you take on a different persona or identity when you join yamabushi training, it’s just an extension of your daily life.

And vice versa.

I’ve heard that the age at which most people die is in their first year of life, and the year they retire. At first glance, I would assume this is because once you retire, you lose a lot of meaning in your life.

I’m never going to retire. I may retire from paid work, it’s one of my biggest aims, but for as long as I live, I’ll be working on some creative project.

Which is where the two-pronged attack comes in.

Keep chipping away at one project, but have a second (or more) project periodically taking jabs.

Ever since I started my professional career, I’ve always had at least two projects on the go.

My first job out of uni was at a bank, but I was working on the side as an English teacher too. Then when I got my first job in Japan, I used my spare time for study, earning N1, the highest grade in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and a Master’s degree in the process.

These days are a bit of a mess. I have multiple projects on the go, but I couldn’t imagine it being any other way. Not because I’m hedging my risks, but because I feel compelled to do all these things. They just feel too important to me to not get done.

There’s an important caveat here though. As someone who’s lost their job out of the blue before, I’ve learned that people can turn from angels into assholes at the drop of a hat. For the most part, I’ve made it so these projects either entirely rely on me, or if they were to fall through, that I could get back up on my feet relatively quickly. In that case I am hedging my risks.

Professionally it might just be a better idea to focus on one thing. But I feel even if you succeed at that, depending on what it is, you may be lacking in other areas of your life. This constant chugging away would give you something to keep you entertained indefinitely.

Found something you could do non-stop for hours? Found something you get lost in?

That’s your soul telling you to do it. That’s your soul rejoicing over finding what it set out to do.

No matter what it is, it needs to be made a regular part of your schedule. Make space in your calendar to get lost. Make space in your calendar to give your soul the fuel it needs.

Better still, if you have the means, only do what your soul set out to do, or make it so you have the means.

When asked why we do yamabushi training, Master Hoshino offers a very simple answer, ‘to do yamabushi training’.

The true reason to do something, the true reason to do anything, is to do it.

For the sake of it.

No, for the love of it.

In 2014, then captain of the New Zealand cricket team, the one and only Brendon McCullum, Baz, called NZ’s most famous sports psychologist Gilbert Enoka asking how to get out of the doldrums. His advice?

“All your preparation, all you’ve ever thought about in cricket, just throw it out the window for this one game,” Enoka said.

New Zealand sports psychologist Gilbert Enoka

And they did. And for the first time in a long time, things went well. Since then, the NZ cricket team has literally gotten to the top of the world (see one of the best pieces of sports writing, ever, here).

If you can do something without getting bogged down in all the statistics and mind games, if you can take your ego out of the equation, you can do it well, and you can do it forever.

Whether you’re a yamabushi or a cricket player, an artist or an engineer, do it for the love of it. There’s no other reason necessary. No set goals, no set reasons, just pure love for the game.

Your breath.

Your breath is amazing. It’s the one thing we can control that can also control itself.

Stop and take a moment to be cognizant of your breathing. Is your breathing shallow?

When we feel down, it’s natural for us to slouch. Slouching can escalate and make us feeling even worse.

But the reverse is also true.

Take in a deep breath. Your posture automatically improves, and your mood along with it. Good posture and good breathing is the way to go.

If you’re feeling worked up, you may find that your breathing is out of sync, or has become shallow. This is our brain’s flight or fight instinct working in overdrive when it shouldn’t be.

Take a moment to relax by simply sitting and taking a few long deep breaths, even better if you can do it outside.

Your breath is amazing. It’s what it all comes down to.

If your best at the time is sub-standard, should you still put it out there?

Yes. Yes you should.

Only by putting it out there can you gain feedback that allows you to improve, that allows your best to be better. The creative process itself teaches you what to look for as well. Keep this up and sooner or later, your best will become the standard.

It’s your best at that point in time, no need to get worked up over not meeting the standard. Just do your best to meet the standard next time.

When you do get feedback on it, be thankful for it. I know it’s hard to receive a critique, but nine times out of ten it’s coming from a place of genuine concern for your work.

Sub-standard but something is better than sub-standard but non-existent.

Even after being burned more than once by people who it seems are just bad people after all, I still believe the default should be everyone is a good person with good intentions.

When you interact with people in this way, you have their best interests at heart, and it’s mutually beneficial for both. In most cases this is a win-win.

The problem lies in the people who don’t have this predisposition. How do you weed them out?

Still default to everyone is a good person with good intentions, but have more of a vetting process on your behalf. Only let them into your inner circle when you feel you have grasped who they are as a person.

While there may still be cracks, it’s much better than the opposite, being on the alert for everyone you come across. Not only will you tire from the effort to do so, people will see you in a different light and treat you suspiciously.

That’s why it’s best to default to everyone is a good person with good intentions.

If you want an excellent book on this, I highly recommend Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking to Strangers.

In any situation, at any given moment, remember you have the choice.

You have the choice to respond how you think is befitting to you. You have the choice to choose what you focus on.

And you know what you should be focusing on when you get worked up?

Your breath. It all comes back to the breath.

In the art of Iado, the Japanese art of wielding a sword, breath is paramount. On the surface you may think breath has nothing to do with wielding a sword. However, it’s one of the most important aspects of sword fighting there is, in fact, it probably is the most important.

Why? Before we make our move, whatever move that may be, humans always take a breath. We always take in a gulp of air before we strike.

In one on one battles, the cue that the opponent would strike was their breath. If you could instead strike in the split second between their breath and their strike, you won. By the same token if you could learn to strike while controlling your breath, you won.

Most of all focusing on your breath shuts you up. It stops you from reacting rashly and gives you a buffer before you make your move.

Focusing on your breath gives you the choice. The choice to respond how you think is befitting to you. The choice to choose what you focus on.

When you’re trying to do something that’s never been done before, by definition the road ahead is an unpredictable one. Sometimes you think you can see a way through, but it turns out what looked like a path was a dead end.

Don’t be dejected. You’re doing something remarkable by leading the pack and looking for a new way forward. Turn around and backtrack a little until you find a way through. No harm done.

What if you backtrack so much that you get back to where you started? Good. Now you know what doesn’t work, and have a bounty of knowledge to push you forward in another direction. No harm done.

Where we lose is when we give up. But even then if you’ve learned something along the way, it may not be a total loss.

Put on your shoes, and get started again. No harm done.

If something is worth making, it’s worth making well. Likewise, if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it well.

This is the importance of the essentialist’s no until definite yes. If it’s a definite yes, by definition you (should) feel motivated to give it your all. But what if it’s something you had no choice in, or something past you thought would be good but turns out it wasn’t?

Give it your best anyway.

Attitude goes a long way in determining just how much you enjoy something.

If you’re going to do something, do it well.

Front page material

I’m going to be writing this blog daily, so I might as well do it well.

What that means exactly is yet to be seen, but I’ve stumbled upon a good way to check whether the content is good or not.

Is this front page material?

Last week I updated the copy on my homepage. For it, I had a few potential posts I could have added. But there are also many other posts I’m not exactly proud of.

The front page is what people first see when they come to the site. It needs to be good for the site to fulfill its purpose. If we use this as a litmus test, imagine the kind of content we could have.

Which is to say, I’m going to apply myself every day so that the content is front page material. And I think you should too.