This is Elton YASOKAWA from the ZEN Jibun Sodate.
Well, last time I sent out “My Work History”.
I said that my work history appears to be unstable because I have adapted to each social situation as it came along.
In this issue, I would like to talk about “adapting to the environment,” but without that awareness and mindset, it is difficult to acquire it as a habit.
Therefore, I would like to talk about habits that foster a “ZEN Jibun Sodate mindset.
Necessary Habits for a “ZEN Jibun Sodate Mindset”
- Get away from the norm of being off on weekends and holidays.
- Stay away from places where many people go. (do not crowd)
- Do not go on tours or other trips organized by travel agencies.
- Stay away from TV watching, sports games, and other meaningless leisure time.
- Try out immediately what is of interest to you. Visit places of interest as soon as possible.
- Not getting involved in things I can’t control.
- Occasional distancing from various dependencies.
I have written this out in a nutshell, but will explain one by one.
Get away from the norm of being off on weekends and holidays.
Recently we have heard the term time performance.
This is a concept that has been getting a lot of attention lately, referring to time efficiency.
I believe that this concept is attracting attention in order to encourage people to be most efficient with their limited time, but in terms of time efficiency, working on weekdays and playing on weekends is the most inefficient.
Because if you think of time as a limited commodity, you use your weekday time to convert it into cheap money, and then buy time with money, which is expensive in every aspect, on your days off.
For example, let us assume that the hourly wage on weekdays is 1000 yen.
In this case, you work 8 hours and receive a salary of 8,000 yen.
Then suppose you play golf on Sundays.
It is common for a golf course that costs 7,000 yen to play on a weekday to cost twice as much, 14,000 yen, on a holiday.
In this case, the worker would use the 16,000 yen earned from working two weekdays to play for 14,000 yen on his/her days off.
Conversely, if you work on Sundays, your hourly wage would be 1,200 yen.
(There are many places to work where hourly wages are higher on Saturdays and Sundays.)
If you work the same 8 hours, your salary will be 9,600 yen per day.
And if you went golfing on a weekday, you would have 2,600 yen left over.
Thus, time efficiency varies greatly between weekdays and weekends/holidays, depending on whether you work or play.
In Tokyo Disneyland, for example, the difference in admission fees between weekdays and holidays is not as great as that of a golf course. However, it is common that attractions that require a two-hour wait on weekends and holidays have no wait on weekdays. Playing on weekends is naturally less time-efficient than on weekdays.
Waiting for lifts at ski resorts,
Waiting at restaurants for lunch and dinner,
There is a disparity in all aspects between weekdays and holidays.
This disparity lasts a lifetime and eventually becomes a huge gap.
I will use a few of my golfing and fishing buddies here as examples of business owners.
They are the second or third generation of the founding family, but none of them go golfing or fishing on weekends and holidays, much less travel overseas during Golden Week.(Golden Week is a bad vacation habit in Japan.)
On the contrary, It can be said that they are able to become founders because they target “times when no one is around” and “things that no one is doing”.
This is not about becoming a founder, but having the awareness to leave the habit of being with everyone else is a shortcut to a “ZEN Jibun Sodate mindset”.
Stay away from places where many people go (do not crowd)
Let’s consider the disparity when we consider not time but place performance or prepa of space efficiency.
As is clear when comparing a crowded train with a deserted train, there is a large disparity in the space you can occupy, even though you are paying the same amount of money.
The same amount of money is spent on a spacious train where you can sit comfortably, and the same amount of money is spent on a crowded train where your feet almost float off the ground.
This is strange, isn’t it?
Also, people often stand in line at popular restaurants.
One could say, “Oh, they enjoy waiting in line!” but that is not the case,
However, waiting in line is a typical behavior that is far removed from the “ZEN Jibun Sodate mindset.
This is simply following what others say is good without thinking about it and lacking in self-judgment.
The herding procession is not a self-determination and is usually a set of typa and prepa, which is considered to be inefficient.
The habit of finding a good place without people, rather than a place where many people go, is the “ZEN Jibun Sodate mindset.
Do not go on tours or other group tours organized by travel agencies.
This is from my experience as a travel tour operator.
I was a tour guide for many years, and I can tell you from my own experience as a tour guide, that the overcrowded schedule of a tour trip leaves no time for relaxation. As a result, many people will return home relieved and say, ” I’m tired, I’m so tired, I’m home is the best place!
There is a reason for that overcrowded schedule, and it is to make you waste your money.
By making the time tick by minute, it forces people to buy souvenirs without rushing around and thinking.
This is the logic created by the collusion of travel agencies, souvenir shops, hotels, and tourist attractions.
In the past, day-trips and overnight tours in particular were viciously planned trips with rebates flying all over the place.
Today, it seems that kickbacks have been eliminated, but more than 30 years ago, when the bus stopped for a break, the driver, bus guide, and tour guide would give you about 5,000 yen in pocket money from the souvenir shop.
Even if this custom does not exist today, the reason why one-day and overnight trips are inexpensive is because of the system that allows souvenir shops to make a profit.
You should stay away from such cheap tours.
By the way, you should stay away from tours that have a relaxed schedule of 2 or 3 nights,The price tends to be high because they are aimed at customers who do not buy souvenirs.
4.Distance yourself from TV watching, sports games, and other leisure activities that have become customary.
We have been living with TV for so long that we have become addicted to watching something when we are at home, so to speak.
In the past, it was necessary for everyone to watch the same thing and share information.
For example, there was a time when it was natural for a salesman to have at least the knowledge of professional baseball necessary for conversation with his clients.
Today, however, what everyone watches is different.
To begin with, the number of live professional baseball games has been drastically reduced, and it is now impossible to watch all the games of a fan team without paying a fee.
The sports games that the public takes for granted are becoming limited to a few fans.
In the days when people worked hard on a weekday off, leisure time may have been just fine with easy access to TV and other entertainment.
Nowadays, however, people can customize how they spend their leisure time.
Therefore, it is important to actively look for ways to enjoy yourself, rather than being bombarded with free things, which is what a “ZEN Jibun Sodate mindset” is all about.
5.Look up things that interest you as soon as possible. Visit places of interest as soon as possible.
The “ZEN Jibun Sodate mindset” is active.
In other words, instead of waiting, you take action.
For example, let’s say that something that you are interested in suddenly comes up.
you have to look into it immediately.
Then you get one answer, and there you think.
Then, what about that one?
We look into that too.
Then one question becomes a bead on another.
Sometimes it won’t matter along the way.
Then it ends there.
The important thing is that you don’t leave things that are bothering you unattended.
Another thing is that if you see a place that interests you, you go there as soon as possible.
We always are being called or attracted to the things and places that interest you. I think of it as “I am being called to a place or thing I am interested in, or I am attracting it to myself.
In other words, there is a kind of gravity, and we are attracted to each other.
This may sound a bit spiritual, but the key to “Jibun Sodate” is to cherish your own inspiration.
Cherish the movement of your heart, which is like a spring that naturally wells up from within you,
and explore it.
If you cherish this sequence, you will eventually find a foothold to ZEN Jibun Sodate.
6.Not getting involved in something you can’t control.
There are many things to be concerned about, such as world peace and bad government.
But most of them are beyond your control.
There are programs on TV and on YouTube that are dripping with content that make a strong appeal to get involved in these matters.
That is their goal.
Of course, I think it is hard work for politicians and those who are involved in the Self-Defense Forces, and I am not denying those who are involved in the Self-Defense Forces.
I also believe that people should go to elections.
However, most of us can’t do anything about it, even if we are grieving and lamenting.
Then we should concentrate on what we can manage by ourselves.
It is much more efficient and loving to take care of the family that is right next door.
7.Occasional distancing from various dependencies.
Take a bird’s eye view of your parents, children, partner, friends, and relationships from time to time,
distance themselves from each other.
Parents who cannot separate from their children are troublesome from the children’s point of view, and relationships that overly control and bind their partners do not seem to be good.
In any relationship, it is important to step away from time to time and let the other person be free.
It is also a good idea to try doing things yourself that someone else usually does for you.
Especially cooking, laundry, etc.
Now, habits that nurture a “self-nurturing mindset”.
How was it?
The world is evolving,
The world is evolving, but it is still a jungle, just like the primitive age.
We are preyed upon by society in every possible way.
We must calmly judge and habitually think about how to make the most of ourselves.
Simply put, it is like that.
