911 GT3 ツーリング
My husband often watches Atsuhiko Nakata from Oriental Radio’s YouTube University. Just the other day, he said,
It’s such a convenient era… We can watch so many valuable videos for free, learn a lot, and even watch them repeatedly. It’s something unimaginable just a while ago.
After watching a video titled “The Art of Not Procrastinating” on YouTube University recently, he said this:
People often say, “To succeed, it’s important to vividly imagine yourself already succeeding,” but even more important is to imagine the process. For example, if you want to eat meat sauce spaghetti, you’ll never suddenly find yourself eating it just by imagining it vividly. If you really want to eat it, you have to picture the steps and ingredients needed to make it. It’s the same with goals — imagining the goal is important, but even more important is mapping out the process to reach that goal. If you don’t know the process, you need to research or ask about it. Hearing that, I thought, “That’s true.” Looking back, when I first wanted a Porsche, it was just like that.
He continued,
Sure, I pictured myself driving a Porsche, but even more than that, I imagined things like, “To drive a Porsche in the future, I’ll probably be independent, my company’s revenue will be around this much, my annual income will be about this, I’ll be doing this kind of work, my family will be like this in private life, and I’ll have moved to a house where I can park the car without any issues.” Of course, at first, it was a ridiculously distant goal, and as I moved forward, there were times I thought, “Hmm, this approach isn’t quite what I imagined.” But that’s okay — you just adjust your course as you go. As I progressed, the path to the goal became clearer, and that’s probably why I was able to reach the goal of buying a Porsche.
That really makes sense… To make dreams and goals come true, just imagining them isn’t enough — you have to take action toward them. For that, it’s crucial to have a clear idea of what to do first and to keep acting according to that image, adjusting your course when necessary.
My husband also said,
Sometimes on the Royu Driveway, younger people approach me and ask, “I want a Porsche, but how do I buy one?” And I think, if you don’t reverse-engineer what you need to do to buy a Porsche and vividly imagine that process, you won’t achieve your goal of buying one. Just imagining yourself driving a Porsche isn’t enough. Of course, that’s important too. For example, if you want to buy a 911, you need to know “How much does it cost?” “How much will maintenance cost?” “How much do I need to earn from my job?” “If my current job isn’t enough, should I take a promotion exam, start a side job, or change jobs?” Then you might say, “Okay, I’ll change jobs!” That way, you can see the process and what actions you need to take. Some might say, “Changing jobs just for a car is too much…” but if you really want it, you have to take that step, or you’ll never be able to buy a Porsche in your lifetime.
I thought, wow, that really hits home.
I started my own business in my 20s, but it didn’t go as well as I hoped (I’m still running it quietly now though). Looking back, I could vividly imagine my successful self and was so excited I sometimes couldn’t sleep, but I had no idea about the process to get there.
So, I sought advice from senior entrepreneurs who had taken their companies public or built them up from scratch, and I tried every piece of advice I could get. But I ran out of money, sales didn’t increase, I got lost, and I never achieved the goals I set.
Now I realize that I probably never really wanted to “go public” or “build a company with hundreds of employees.” Yet, early on, I was following the advice of amazing senior entrepreneurs I met, so my process was completely out of sync with my true goals. (Why didn’t I notice that… lol)
It’s like desperately trying to make carbonara when you want to make meat sauce spaghetti, then lamenting, “I’m trying so hard but can’t make meat sauce spaghetti!”
Still, those seniors have kept in touch and I report my progress to them, so those encounters have become a real asset for me. Next time I take on a challenge, I feel I can clearly visualize the process, seek opinions from others, and steadily move forward without rushing, increasing my chances of success.
Truly, there’s nothing wasted in life.
I digressed a bit, but my husband also said this about “visualizing the process.”
Kids often say, “I want to be ○○ when I grow up.” Before, I’d say, “That’s great! You can be ○○!” But now, I ask, “Okay, so what do you need to do to become that?” Asking this helps kids better map out the process to reach their goals.
Thinking about that… though maybe not intentionally, my husband recently started teaching our 7-year-old daughter a programming game (it’s his main job), and she seemed to really enjoy it.
Programming breaks down the goal of “doing ○○” into detailed steps, giving instructions to the computer one by one, fixing bugs when they appear, and repeating this process. So, it might also help develop the thinking skills needed to plan the process to achieve goals.
By the way, watching the programming game beside them, I couldn’t understand a thing (lol).
“Visualizing the goal,” “imagining the process,” “removing mental blocks that say ‘I can’t do it,’” “continuing to act,” and “surrounding yourself with successful people” — I’ve learned many important things from my husband about what it takes to succeed. I want to once again commit to visualizing the process and taking steady steps toward my own dreams.