Happiness, Service, and the Power of Love: Martin Luther King, Jr Quotes

22 Wednesday Aug 2012

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In my last post I discussed the happiness decision, or the power to make a decision to turn your mind towards positive things even when you don’t feel happy.  Lately, I’ve also been pondering the question of how do you confront the darkness without becoming dark.  I was thinking specifically of two people I really admire Mahatma Gandhi and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.  Many people focus on them almost as heroes or saints, but they were just human beings.  Yes, they wrote and spoke of great things, but they laughed, they cried, they had faults.  They were human.

They laughed and gathered and consulted with the people around them.  They made the “happiness decision” in countless ways.  I think this is a forgotten reason for why Gandhi and King were able to lead these social movements.  I googled, “Martin Luther King, Jr. and happiness” and stumbled upon these great quotes gathered by goodreads.  They really helped to power my morning and I want to share a few with you:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his I Have a Dream Speech at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. 08/28/1963 ARC Identifier 542069 / Local Identifier 306-SSM-4D(107)16

Part of what I think made Martin Luther King Jr. a great leader was his capacity for joy and reaching for people.   From the National Archves.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his I Have a Dream Speech at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. 08/28/1963
ARC Identifier 542069 / Local Identifier 306-SSM-4D(107)16

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. (from “Loving Your Enemies”)”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

I hope this all helps.  Enjoy your mind.  Share your heart.  Thanks for reading.

The Happiness Decision: Samurai Book Review

19 Sunday Aug 2012

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Be absolutely determined to enjoy what you do.  –Ben Hogan

  • You don’t have to “feel”happy to put your mind in happy places.
  • Focusing on happiness is a decision.
  • It’s possible that happiness is a habit of turning your mind to positive places.  There is also a key role for tears.  Sometimes you need to wring out a wet towel before putting it in the dryer.
  • The happiness decision may help you learn more.  Earn more?
  • Learning more may help your happiness.  It’s an unvicious cycle.

I’m back in New York and writing out of the Writer’s Room.  It has a lot more sunlight than the cave-like atmosphere of a manga cafe. My laptop, copies of the books in the post and two of my samurai notebooks. Samurai notebooks are more fun to review when you fill it with fun, personally thought provoking and inspiring material. What is in your notebook is a happiness decision.

For a few weeks now I’ve been walking around with two Japanese books in my “man-bag” and realizing that there is a strong connection between the two books but not quite being able to put my finger on it.  Today I finally realized what was the connection.  Happiness is a decision and it can help you transform everything that you do, especially with learning and transforming your life.

My dose of soy sauce translation of the two book titles are:  Only Do Good Things with Your Brain by Ken Mogi (脳にいいことだけをやりなさい！）and Speed up Your Information Rate by 10 Times with the NLP Speed Reading Method by Naoya Matsushima (情報量が10倍になるNLP速読術).  (Keep in mind that I am in day 457 of a 595 Japanese immersion experience.  Some day I will throw more English resources at you.)

Only Do Good Things with Your Brain by Ken Mogi (脳にいいことだけをやりなさい！ )

Ken Mogi is a Japanese brain scientist and prolific writer and talk show host.   This book is slightly more technical, so I find it hard to keep really give the full meaning of it to you.  (I am also only in the middle of the book.  Yeah, I break the rules but at least I tell you!)  But it is pretty clear from on of the first drawings that Mogi believes that happiness is, in part, a decision. Part of the reason I picked the book is because it has pictures  (all is fair in love and reading!).   The first picture shows a happy person with the happiness lgauge on full blast.  The illustration below that is an unhappy person (fumes emanating all around him) with the happiness full gauge on low.   The final illustration on the bottom shows a person changing a control gauge (like an old fashioned volume control) from bottom to high.   The phrase at the bottom reads:  脳の中にある「幸せど度」いつでも変えられる or “You Can Always Change the Degrees of Happiness in Your Brain.”

How do you do this?  The second illustration tells you how.  It hows a person who has built a happiness house:

  • The foundation is “elimination of negative thinking.”
  • The supporting pillars are:  positive thinking, love and gratitude, the body’s energy (breath, position, etc), and “grabbing big power” (?)  「大いなる力」とのつながり。
  • The roof is goals for living.
  • There is a nice yard around the house and that is labelled, relationships with people.

All of these things interact and Mogi spends the rest of the book describing certain techniques for developing happiness.  Just looking at the picture makes me happy.

Speed up Your Information Rate by 10 Times with the NLP Speed Reading Method by Naoya Matsushima (情報量が10倍になるNLP速読術)

Matsushima’s book is a guide to help busy, overwhelmed or under-motivated readers increase their reading speed and increasing their information retention.  Matsushima, being an NLP guy, emphasizes the importance of getting in the right state of mind for reading and argues that one of the reasons people have problems with reading is all the negative associations they have with reading.  He offers several exercises for using breathing and body posture for changing your state of mind before reading.

But what is most interesting to me is that he asks readers to pick a happy moment and think about and feel it with all the senses before commencing with reading.   Happiness is an active decision that can help you learn more and experience joy through learning, if I follow Matsushima’s book correctly.

This happiness decision might be worthwhile in other areas.   In  100 Ways to Create Wealth, the authors explain that you should always “move to the part of the work that you love.”   This is a happiness decision that can result in improved efficiency, service, and even the ability to more easily transition to work that you love.

If you make the happiness decision then maybe you can experience more creativity in your life. Self-loathing and criticism aren’t going to help you. I finally got around to getting out my Japanese guitar books. Learning through love. Trying to make the happy decisions. Many birds, no stone. Online Guitar Lessons

I will warn you that the day I made the connection with all of this happiness stuff,  I was grouchier than the Grouch.  I also believe there is a role for crying and other forms of expressing other emotions.   Sometimes you need to wring out a soaked towel before you put it in the dryer.

But it’s nice to be able to make more decisions to move towards happiness.   Heck, it might even get addictive and help to you to transform the world.

In a Learning State of Mind: Samurai Reading is Samurai Singing

15 Wednesday Aug 2012

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Get in a Learning State of Mind

The time that you can wake up to what you can do is now.  As you follow your dreams and learn what you’ve always wanted to learn you need persistence.  You also need to bob and weave.  You can change your materials and your learning approaches like a time shifting ninja.

I’ve been taking photographs of pages from books that I find inspirational or interesting. This is from Kenichiro Mogi’s Japanese book, “Only Do Good Things With Your Brain.” This phrase here means that developing happiness helps your brain grow. Happiness, learning, happiness. A non-vicious cycle.

However,   I’ve also come to realize lately is that you can also change your state of mind.  Yes, you can change your materials and your methods and you should always be awake to that.   But you can also change your mind, and that can make a world of difference.  Before I lose the thread of what I want to say in a jet-lag haze (just got back from Japan two days ago), here are some quick tips to help get you get in a learning state of mind:

  • Check your breathing and your posture.   Open up.  Breathe deep.
  • Smile towards towards your work and tell yourself, “I am going to look for what is fun in this.”
  • Be gentle with yourself.  Do you point and laugh at children that are learning how to walk?
  • On the other hand, don”t try to bliss out.   You don’t have to motivate yourself to do what is odious to you.  Put that Napalm for Idiots book in the trash.  You don”t have to know every fact or keep every flashcard.  Choice is a loving act.

The other day, I was looking at my Samurai notebook and really feeling resistant about looking at it.  I had been resisting looking at it for days.   Part of the reason I was feeling this resistance was because I had filled my journal with “obligatory” notes from online courses from my job, etc.  I realized this recently smiled, took  relaxed breath and a looked at one of the positive goals in my Samurai notebook and turned a chore into a joy and challenge.  I also made a decision to quickly skip over things that didn’t interest me at the moment.  My samurai reviews have been going better ever since.

“Don’t focus on being negative.  It won’t work anyway.”

In one of Khatzumoto’s emails as part of my Silverspoon (a Japanese immersion service) experience he writes something like, “don’t focus on being so negative.  It won’t work anyway.”  (Khatzumoto sends out emails containing both an inspirational quote—sometimes brutal, sometimes sublime, sometimes cheesy. )  In the daily “sprints,” Khatzumoto asks that you do what I would call an affirmation (though I think the youngster would probably choose a “hipper” phrase.)   “Why do I choose to touch Japanese every day” is just one example.

A sign for guitar classes in Numazu. I want to take guitar classes and study how to play guitar with Japanese materials. Use what you love to learn. Loving two birds with no stone!

Part of the reason I keep recommending Khatzumoto’s site, ajatt.com, is because he is constantly finding ways to challenge states of mind that get in the way of doing what seems impossible.  His site is about learning Japanese but just check out his site and replace learning Japanese with whatever “impossible” goal you have in mind.  Here’s a start.  I want to turn this into a bumper sticker.  (I just need a car first):

“Keeping the Game Alive: Self-Abuse Ruins Everything, So Be Nice To You“

 

Take a look around you, inside of you.  What seems impossible?  What’s one little step you can take.  Breathe.  Smile.  Open a new page.  Samurai reading is samurai singing.  Samurai singing is samurai learning.

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All”s Fair in Love and Reading

11 Saturday Aug 2012

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One of the three books in my rotation. I started just writing the chapter titles down because they make sense. “Don’t compare yourself to others.” That’s a good one, especially when you think of yourself as a reader.

Okay, well far as love goes, you should try to be human , respect and work things out, and let them down easy but as far as books go, love ’em or leave ’em.   Here are some other important differences between love and reading:

  • Having multiple ‘partners’ is healthy in reading.    You can read several books and articles in quick succession.
  • You can drop a book the minute you’ve gotten whatever you want out of it.
  • A book can’ t break your achy breaky heart.

Why read?   Sam Beckford,  co- author of 100 Ways to Create Wealth explained that the difference between his  successful business and a several failed businesses before that was the 700 books that he read in between the two.   Reading and applying what you read is a powerful way to move forward.    Most importantly, reading is just plain fun way to explore and use your mind and a great way to keep it active.

(Being shiftless, cheap, and easy is specially important when you are using reading to learn a foreign language.   Keep it fun, or drop it and leave.   I know I quoted AJATT in my last post but I want to emblazon the title of his last piece into my brain:

That Righteous Feeling, Or: If You’re Not Feeling Naughty, You’re Doing It Wrong)

Here are some quick Samurai tips on how to be a reading ‘player’:
  • Browse. Go to real bookstores and libraries and relaxedly look around.  Even if you don’t buy or borrow a single book, a browsing session is a fun way to explore and map out the

    I picked this up at a local Bookoff. Kenichiro Mogi”s , “Only do Good Things with Your Brain.”

    topography of your heart’s desires.

  • Speed it up.  Spend one minute, five minutes, ten minutes on a book if time is limited or even just to get more out of it.    For a long time, I was one of those people that said that ‘there is no time to read.’   However, adding ‘time pressure’ to your reading can actually make reading more fun.    Set a timer or just use your interest as a guide.  Skim through every page or read closely.  Whatever turns you on.
  • Suck the marrow out and spit the rest out.  You aren’t married to your book.   Lately, especially with Japanese books, I’ve noticed that I get a lot out of a book even if all I do is read the table of contents.   Skip to the good parts.  You can always go back later.
  • Break up huge or ‘unapproachable’ books into small bites.   Ask yourself, ‘What is fun or interesting’ about this.   It can be fun to claim some herculean work.   I’ve been reading The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen with the help of a timer.  It also helps that I ask myself what is fun about what I am reading.   I tend to skip over the parts about the bureaucratic administration of rice allotmentzzzzzz.

Sakamoto Ryoma, the 19th century samurai who is credited with helping to create the plan that would help Japan move into modernization and protect it from the West is credited with saying, “In whatever situation a person finds himself, he should not

After finishing this post, I went for my last browse in a Japanese bookstore until I come back next summer. This is an NLP inspired book called (roughly) “NLP Speed Reading Techniques to To Speed your Information Retention by 10X” Talk about serendipity.

abandon his favorite ways and his special abilities.”  Remember this as you read and choose how and what to read.  You are the artist, defender, and creator of your life.  Have fun, read, and  grow.

 

Happy Feelings Bring Happy Learnings

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

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Yes, I guess my mind is turning into a Japanese t-shirt.  That’s a good thing  While I’m at it, here is a whole string of truisms coming at ya:

  • Do what you love and love what you do.
  • Love what you learn and learn what you love.
  • Bored or frustrated with what you are learning?  Here are two options:  change what you are learning or change your mind.
  • Fun doesn’t mean easy.

The other day I was doing my Chinese exercises by the beach and was graced by both the sight Mount Fuji and a fleeting glimpse of a rainbow.  I caught it all on my iPhone.  In between Nei Kung sets, I did little flashcard reviews using my Midori app.   In these brief little sprints, I stop when a word repeats or when I get bored.  (AJATT and other immersion experts recommend studying sentences rather than single words but I enjoying having little bursts of vocabulary exercise.)

Rainbow!

Sometimes the clouds just lift and you can see Mt. Fuji

As I went through the cards, I noticed that I was really  remembering the cards I had some fond, personal connection to rather than the cards I just collected by more formal ‘studying.’   I remembered that どじょう　was loach fish (wth?) because it was a word I had collected while my daughter was singing karaoke with my father-in-law.   I could picture the cartoon face. Last night I looked up ひやひや (chilly or fearful) and can remember that it was a word a Japanese ping pong player used to describe her team’s close game.

Love what you learn and learn what you love.

It’s a non-vicious cycle.   Turn to the things that you want to learn and master (guitar, economics, starting your own business, the interwebs) and it makes it easier to learn.   Turn to the things that you love, and it will help you learn (and do) more.   My Japanese ‘studies’ improved when I decided to use it to read self-help books, my guilty pleasure.

Change what you are learning or change your mind.

Change it up.   AJATT has a hilarious post called,  ‘That Righteous Feeling, Or: If You’re Not Feeling Naughty, You’re Doing It Wrong.’  Khatzumoto basically argues that if you are reading a book in your target language out of duty or obligation instead of fun, you are actually hurting your learning efficiency.   I think this is true even if you aren’t learning a language.

I think it’s also possible to change your mind about what you are learning and ask what’s the fun in this?  Sometimes I get a lot more out of just reading the table of contents of a Japanese book rather than boring myself by struggling through every page and killing my desire to read.  Everything is fair in love, reading, and learning.

Fun doesn’t mean easy.

Kenichiro Mogi, author of several books on the the brain　（ 脳）　　loves  to talk about the dopamine effect.  He explains that overcoming mental hurdles and challenges releases endorphins and dopamine that create feelings of happiness.  It’s why some people love video games, mountain climbing and even algebra.

A  lot of people idolize Jimi Hendrix as a rock god.  (Yes, I am not worthy.)  But what a lot of people don’t acknowledge is all the hours of work that he put in to play the guitar so well.  He walked around his apartment with his guitar strapped on.  And he didn’t forget the fun.  Hard work + love + fun= dope (dopamine)

Learn what you love and love what you learn.  Become the Jimi Hendrix of your life.  Climb the mountain!  Catch the rainbow!
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I ‘caught’ the rainbow!

 

Zen–Suggestions for A Simple Life

06 Monday Aug 2012

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Samurai Book Review/Preview:  禅、シンプル生活のすすめ　or  Zen:  Suggestions for Simple Living by Shunnmyo Masuno

Half the fun/learning is just browsing. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized the book was Zen based. (I read everything but the biggest kanji on the cover.)

I am going back to the roots of Samurai Mind Online.   When I began this blog I was inspired by Japanese self-help writers as way to learn how to use my mind better while learning Japanese .  I was browsing through a Numazu bookstore and found a nice little pocket sized book.   It was until I got home that I actually noticed the biggest kanji on the cover and realized it was a Zen based book.  Samurai score!

I am enjoying just reading the chapter titles.   The chapters are bite-sized but I haven’t gotten around to reading the  innards.   There are some great hints for leading a powerful, simple life.  Here are a few of my faves.  As always, take my translations with a dash of soy sauce.   Use it for your life or for your sentence sampling if you are studying Japanese.

  1. 十五分、早起きしてみるーーTry waking up fifteen minutes earlier.
  2. 朝の空気をしっかり、味わうーーReally take in the morning air.
  3. 脱いだ靴を整えるーーWhen you take off your shoes, arrange them neatly
  4. いらない物を捨てるーーGet rid of things that you don’t need
  5. デスクの上整える＾＾Arrange your desk neatly　(uh-oh)
  6. 一杯のコーヒ＾を丁寧に淹れる–Serve Up Your Coffee Mindfully
  7. 食事をおろそかにしないーーDon’t neglect your meals
  8. 食事では、一口ごとに箸を置くTake Only One Bite-Full with Your Chopsticks
  9. 好きな言葉を探す＾＾Search for Words That You Really Like
  10. 持物を減らすーーReduce the Amount of Stuff You Carry Around
  11. ベランダに小さいな庭をつくるーーCreate a Small Garden on Your Veranda
  12. 自分の手で自然に触れるーーTouch Nature With Your Hands
  13. 寝る前は嫌いなことを考えないーーDon’t Think About Negative Things Before You Go to Sleep

    My Un-Zen desk at the Manga Cafe.

  14. 今できることを一生懸命にやるーーDo everything you are doing now with gusto
  15. ときには、考えるをやめてみるーーTry to Stop Thinking Every Now and Then
  16. 起こっていないことで悩みないーーDon’t Worry About Things That Haven’t  Happened Yet
  17. 仕事を楽しむーーEnjoy your work
  18. 悩むより動くーーMovement is better than worry
  19. 人と比べないーーDon’t Compare Yourself to (Other) People
  20. 平凡な一日こそ、感謝するーーBe Grateful for the Average, Every Day Things in Life

This book didn’t make my browsing cut but I like the message. I think the title is something like ‘Nothing is Pointless.’ More Buddhist self-help, please!

Of course, this all brings me to the question：  Is Zen Zen because its Japanese or are the Japanese Japanese because of Zen?  The answer is probably yes.

Will all of this help you?  I don’ know.  I do know my mother in-law is thrilled I neatly arranged the shoes.  🙂

Money Games: Samurai Time, pt. 4

03 Friday Aug 2012

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Eighteen minutes left on my timer.  One more hour left in the manga cafe.  Day 440 of 595 of a paid Japanese immersion experience called Silverspoon.  (I’m listening to Japanese Youtube as I write.)  ￥900 to be in this booth.   I paid a heck of a lot more to get motivational emails and study sprint suggestions from Silverspoon.  I’m working and also having fun.  I am playing Samurai money games.

As my time in Japan approaches, I have to make financial decisions. I decided to go on an expensive trip to Hakuba in Nagano with Japanese seniors. Fun times included listening to the same enka recording for the eight hour commute.

In this series I have explored how you can turn time into a game to help you move towards your goals.   Even if you are extremely rich (did I tell you how great you look today?),  your money is limited.  You can either get depressed about that limit or have enjoy and respect the ‘energy’ of money and learn, do, create, and share in the most joyful, productive, artistic way possible.  Who knows?  You might even end up richer.  (You look mahvelous, dahling!)

Money is energy.  Respect it. Have fun with it.  Share it with love.   Here are some Samurai money games:

  • Get thousands of dollars of value from from your $1-15 ‘investments.’

  • Pay for a ‘coach’ to keep yourself on track.   

  • Honor the energy of money.  Use the fact that you have paid money for a service as a motivator to keep going.  Keep it fun. 

  • Release your death grip on money.  Give some away.

Get thousands of dollars of value from from your $1-15 ‘investments.’

Books are great “investments.” Half the fun/learning was just browsing at a bookstore. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized the book was Zen based. (I read everything but the biggest kanji on the cover!)

I’m talking about books, apps, gadgets, etc.  One well-used book or app can create thousands of dollars of value in learning.   For example, I play a little game with my Midori Japanese dictionary app.  I paid a mere $10 for this app but I try to get the most out of it.   I look at the history of the words that I have looked up and review what I studied one day, two days, four days, and a week ago.   (a rough form of spaced repetition)  I  play around with flashcards when I am on the bus, at appointments, etc.  I may have already learned more vocabulary by doing this than if I had spent hundreds of dollars in Japanese classes.

Squeeze the value out of books.   毎朝１分で人生は変わる：One Minute, One Action in the Morning Will Change Your Life　suggests getting the most out of a book by reading it several times and reviewing it at night.  Another Japanese author suggests beating up your books (not library books), and even taking it to the bath with you. Move on when you don’t feel the life force in a book anymore.

Pay for a ‘coach’ to keep yourself on track.

You keep yourself on track, but it’s good to have someone pushing, prodding and creative alternatives.  You can go to the gym and you can also get a personal trainer.  A personal trainer costs more but it’s all part of putting your money where your mouth is.  I pay what some might consider a hefty sum to do Silverspoon (a Japanese coaching service from ajatt.com), but in part the money keeps me on track. If ajatt.com is the gym, then Silverspoon is like a personal trainer, switching it up like a ninja.  Sometimes the value you get from the extra push is worth a lot more than what you pay.

I passed on the vanilla icing covered potato chips.

Honor the energy of money.  Use the fact that you have paid money for a service as a motivator to keep going.  Keep it fun. 

Paying money is a way to bookmark  is skills and knowledge you want to have.  I currently pay for three services to help me keep moving forward in my goal of learning Japanese:   Japanesepod101.com, Iknow.co.jp and Silverspoon.  They add to my palette of Japanese learning.   When I get bored with one system, I move on to another.  I’ve also donated to kanji.koohii.com and anki.ichi.net, which are free but invaluable systems that have helped me.  I also subscribe to jamplay.com, a guitar learning website but haven’t actually been playing.  However, I am keeping this service as a bookmark and motivator of where I want to go.

Release your death grip on money.  Give some away.  “Waste some.”

Money is like a samurai sword.  If you are too loose with it, you easily lose any advantage.  If you grip too tight, you lose your fluidity.  (BTW I have never held a samurai sword–too sharp and scary!)  Give some of your money away to good causes, frivolous games, friends in need.  I don’t know how and if this works, but I do it and I like it.

Sometimes you have to try something new and not be calculating about money. Give to a charity or buy Salty Watermelon Pepsi!

Money is energy.  Respect it. Have fun with it.  Share it with love.   Play samurai money games.

Use Time Limits: Samurai Time is On Your Side, Part 3

31 Tuesday Jul 2012

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“Prepare yourself in the subject so well that it shall be always on tap: then…trust your spontaneity and fling away all further care.”” William James

“A man grows most tired while standing still” Chinese Proverb

‘Deadlines and things make you more creative…’  Jack White of the White Stripes

Check in slip from manga cafe. If you exceed your time, there are extra fees. Often I am most productive when my time is running out. That’s what time boxing is all about.

I am at a mangakissa in Japan and I have 45 more minutes left on a three hour package.  I am on day 439 of a 595 day Japanese immersion experience through Silverspoon.   I have fourteen more days in Japan.   I don’t know how many days I have on Earth, but as far as I know they are not limitless.   I have just enough time to tell you that Time Limits Work!  Here are some reasons why:

  • limits have the power to turn tasks, goals into a game
  • time limits can turn things into a Mission Impossible thriller …how much fun would it be if Tom Cruise had all the time in the world to defuse a bomb, jump on a couch, etc?
  • limits have a way of increasing rather than decreasing creativity . . . can you say haiku?
  • time limits are a way to work through fatigue, perfectionism, procrastination and a seeming lack of inspiration

Confession.  This post did not begin in inspiration.  I arrived exhausted at the manga kissa.  I decided to just take a nap and check my emails and not expect or push much.  I clicked on an article from brainpickings.org on Tchaikovsky, the work ethic and inspiration.  Mr. T basically explains that you can’t wait for inspiration.  You’ve also have to put in the work.

Brainpickings also includes a youtube vid of Jack White talking about not waiting for inspiration.  White also talks about how the and White Stripes make limitations part of their work, to force creativity.  Though White is very wealthy now, he limits the studio time that they purchase to record an album.  He also continues to use old guitars even though he could buy a thousand better ones.   White does this to force himself to work within limits.

White talks about how creativity can come about by working within the box.  Time is the ultimate box and as any two year old will tell you, boxes are for play.  Khatzumoto introduced me to the concept of timeboxing and led me to other people like Steve Pavlina who use it as a productivity tool.  Basically, timeboxing involves using timers to set small limits to start or finish tasks.   Time boxes as small as one or five minutes can be powerful little tools for smashing through procrastination and opening up creativity and competence.

Spending a shorter time at the manga cafe allowed me to have time to walk around and see Fuji fully revealed. A lot of the times it is hidden by clouds.

I once took a drawing class at the Art Students League.  The class began with little one minute timed sketches of a model.  (no clothes, whatever).  You had to draw fast and loosen up because the (nude!) model would change positions once the time was up.  Then the poses became longer.  However, having those little drawing sprints helped loosen me up and I began to draw better.

Are you stuck on any big project or idea?  Take out a timer and play around with timeboxes.   Work with your limits and let it be your inspiration. The fact that I had limited time at the manga kissa today actually made it easier to start and keep moving.   I didn’t finish but I probably got more done than if I had all the time/money/breath in the world.

Get your timers and continue to let samurai time be on your side!

Structured and limited “push” time allows you to have more unstructured activity that can also help you learn and grow. I spent some time at a Book-off and found this cool book about angels, demons, etc.

Go and Let Go: Samurai Time is On Your Side, Pt. 2

29 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in Deliberate Practice, Mind, Reading, Samurai Time Management, vocabulary

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Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results. James Allen

Its good to have lofty goals, big goals. But the journey of a thousand miles can begin with a pair of crappy sneakers.

As I did my Nei Kung exercises in sight of the majestic peak of Mount Fuji, I had a Tom Cruise Last Samurai Realizationt(TCLSR).  With whatever you want to learn, master, or play around with you must ‘Go and Let Go.’  Cue slow motion scene of me doing ‘Embracing Horse’ on a pristine beach.  [Truth in advertising: You couldn’t see Fuji and they were burning trash on the beach, but I was doing Nei Kung.]   Here’s the skinny:

  • Growth  comes from pushing and from releasing.  In terms of short term and long term memory acquisition, rest and spacing are just as important as acquiring new information.  In terms of muscle building and push ups, ouch! 🙂
  • Boredom is information.  Maybe it means it’s time to take a break or completely let go.
  • Consistently trying in a direction is important but you have to bob and weave and change it up. Sometimes you just have to, ‘fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee.’ (or vice versa!)
  • Time limits work. Time pressure can be your friend.

 

Growth  comes from pushing and releasing

The day of our path can often be a little less um, scenic, than our lofty goals. Luckily, you have a pair of crappy sneakers to help you dance above and through it all.

I came to this realization as I gazed out at the smoke billowing amongst the piles of random sea trash  Suruga Bay.   In between my Nei Kung exercises I did teeny weeny sprints of Japanese vocabulary flashcards on my iPod. (It’s better to do sentences but I’ll leave it up to ajatt.com to explain that to you.)  The cards cycle back until you master them four times.  I decided that I would do the cards until a) a hard card I had just mastered was repeated or b) when I got bored.

Stopping works on several levels.   Taking a break allows information to cook in.   Reviewing it at the appropriate time seals in the flavah! Push, release, push, release.  Kegels for the brain.  (If you don’t know what kegels are you haven’t had a child recently.)  Check out information on Spaced Repetition Systems,  Anki (an online and offline flashcard program), and the “Equipment” section of ajatt.com (you don’t have to be studying Japanese to get a lot out of this website.)

Boredom is information. Use it.

A natural place to stop or change your study method is when you are bored.  Boredom is information.  Either you need to change what you are studying or doing or change your state of mind about it.   In the case of the flashcards on the beach, I just stopped and came back to it pretty soon again.  Sometimes, you just need to get rid of whatever particular bit you are studying, or you will be in danger of derailing the whole process.  Lately, I’ve been reluctant about looking at my Samurai notebook.   The main culprit is the fact that there is a lot of must-do stuff inside of this book instead of the Steve Chandler quotes and other fun stuff I have in other notebooks.  If a card, fact, page, book, idea is boring get rid of it.  It will save you a lot of time.

Consistency is important but you have to bob and weave and change it up.

Anki, ajatt.com, flashcard systems can help you untangle the flotsam and jetsam. But its also important to keep exploring and having fun. Polished stones and driftwood.

Pulling out the flashcards on the beach was kind of an inspiration.  Try changing up your methods and approaches to what you are trying to master and make sure you are having fun.   As Khatzumoto explains, fun gets done.  All the words I collected had some kind of fun memory attached to it.  Bob and weave with methods and approaches to keep it fun, to cross train.

Time Limits Work

Lately I’ve noticed that pushes go better for me when they are squeezed into little moments: quick little reviews on the bus or in between exercise sets.   As I write this, my time at the mangakissa is running out.  Part of the reason I like working here is that there is a built in time pressure.   I have to pay for this time and I have to pay even more if I go over time in my little cubicle.  One last push.  Release.   Go and let go.   Samurai time is on your side.

I enjoy and look forward to your comments!

Samurai Time is on Your Side, pt. 1

 

A Day at the Office: Mangakissa Samurai

25 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Mind, Reading, Samurai Time Management, Uncategorized

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Getting work done at home, with a four year old and a one year old, is a Herculean task.  They are a lot cuter and more fun than a blank page or a stack of homework to grade.  In New York, I retreat to the Writer’s Room.  In Japan, I resort to going to a mangakissa, a cross between a cafe, library, and office space.    This is a little break from my self-help cheerleading to show you a slice of life you may not know about.

The Commute

Lean, mean, bus riding machine.

Unlike in New York, buses here come right on time.  Most of the time, you enter from the back and pay when you get out and pay in the front.   If you don’t have change a cool old school looking machine changes bills and coins and gives you the assorted change.  After getting off at the train station, I walk to the Bivi building which also houses a game center, movie theatre,  assorted restaurants and shops and a Lawsons, where I stop to get snacks.

Food, movies, game center, and 24 hour manga cafe.

Choose Your Seat

Upon entering the Aprecio mangakissa, I am greeted by a concierge, who displays all the

Room Menu

Choose from reclining, Japanese style, massage, or buddy chairs.

seating options and time plan:.  smoking or non-smoking?, open area or semi-private booth?  Japanese, Western, or massage chair?  Do you want a buddy/couple chair or do you want to be solo?  I usually go for a private booth Western chair.  I used to go for the Japanese sit on the floor experience but my back had a different opinion.   I also usually request slippers.  (Oh, yeah!) A three-hour package usually costs 1000 yen which today equals $12.78.  Today I am opting for a six-hour plan for $16.

Once I enter, I set down my non-valuables at my booth after firing up the computer and monitor.   While everything is loading, I grab my drinks from

My Samurai office. I prefer the traditional Western chair. Look real close and you’ll see an ad for a katsu–breaded pork sandwich. For the health conscious! 🙂

the Drink Bar.  Choices include but are not limited to; Coke, Calpis, Japanese sodas, green and other teas, cappuccino and other coffees dispense by a space age machine.   There is also a soft cream machine but I usually stay away from that.

 Choose Your Pleasure

Once you are situated, you have several options with what to do with yourself:

  • Surf the internet.
  • Watch Cinema Channel, which includes an astounding amount of choices: Japanese and Korean dorama, old and current anime, Yakuza and Yanki drama, several Pachinko and Mahjong channels, Korean and American concerts (hmmm, Kenny G or Santana?), darts, billiards, pro-wrestling, Shogi, comedy, or グラビヤ、Gurabia involves watching

    I’ve tried this …it’s good for lounging and then my back protests. Notice the waist high desk?

    scantily clad women pose seductively with crappy music as a background.  There is also an adult channel.  I avoid the last two channels.  I’ve heard that they cause blindness and hair to grow on your palms. 😉

  • You can read.  Bring your own or read from the thousand of manga, magazines, and newspapers

    Battle Royale manga, empty glasses, internet and a remote control. Classic!

    available on the shelves.  I am usually overwhelmed but since I was writing this today I took a quick run into the shelves and found Battle Royale, the manga version of the book that was also turned into a movie.

  • Sleep.  Sit back, recline, and let the day melt away. You can also spend the night.
  • Eat and drink. .  For an extra fee you can have ramen, pasta, fried chicken, takoyaki, beer, etc.  (Who needs anything else?)

For the most part, when I go to the mangakissa I go to work.  I’m taking an online course to help me prepare for next year.  I usually fire up my Youtube playlists and alternate between studying (course work, flashcards, random good stuff from Silverspoon) and just relaxing.  The added plus is that when you watched Youtube in Japan all the ads and filler are in Japanese.

Breaded fried pork sandwich with fries. Combined with six hours practically immobilized in a dark cubicle–the recipe for Samurai Mind champions.

Jeez, I sound so serious.   Well, gotta go.   Need to dive into this toasty katsu sandwich and see if The Lost Canvas is any good.   If you have a chance, visit a Japanese manga cafe.  If you’ve been to one, share your mangakissa tips and rituals.

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