Being part of that weird middle area between a Gen-Z and a millennial I’ve inherited some negative aspects of both generations. Being a mediator between generations allows me to see two different perspectives. One thing both generations have in common, is the struggle with the overcoming of instant gratification. Both people in my personal circle and many others online lose focus on the big picture. Our technology is making us accustomed to getting results almost instantaneously. I too struggle not only with short term result oriented thinking. Over the years I have grown more accustomed to the dirt as Gary Vee calls it. Many things in life are analogous to planting seeds. It takes a lot of love, passion, and tending care for a seed germinate and break the soil.
It was thanks to a combination of factors I was able to start overcoming instant gratification. Sports, my environment, my mom, my mentor, esports, and most importantly a mental shift to evolve to my character. My acceptance of potential failure has changed the way I think. With my bonus stats to resolve after leveling, I reevaluated the value of my past five years of in Japan. Which was negative despite all of the great memories and friends I’ve made to this day.
It All Changed Today
Sometimes it all it takes is a single moment to vastly change your perspective. My trip to accomplish my lifelong goal, helped me in Overcoming Instant Gratification. It took me 10 years to see a live Hatsune Miku concert in Japan. I took a couple of days off to celebrate the occasion. With my extra time in the big city I chose to roam around and take photos and videos. I’ve taken a step towards becoming a professional content creator and started to schedule posts for my photography account laidbacknihon. Overcoming instant gratication has allowed me to dedicated a little more time on the blog.
During my time in America, I thought of Starbucks as a place with overpriced coffee. Perhaps moving away from Seattle made me appreciate the place a lot more. Starbucks’s success is grounded in providing a warm relaxing cafe atmosphere. This setting fosters collaboration and making new connections. Therefore, I get my drink in a mug cup, work on personal projects, and take my time.
It took me five years of growth to get to this point, but today I was able to put the things I’ve learned into action.
The Internal Battle: Overcoming that voice in your head.
Battling Fear
Throughout life there is a constant chatter and commentary rolling in the back of your mind. These things can be good, but they can also be quite detrimental to your growth. Speaking from personal experience, the negative voice in your head is mainly based on fear. Most people let that voice rule over their lives. In the laidback lifestyle it’s important to understand that those fears are just thoughts. If you let those thoughts rule your life you’ll miss the exciting parts of this worldly experience.
When you face fear the best thing to do is to take a deep breath. Then do what you think is right given the situation. Even if the fear wins one round, remember that life is a long fight. Bringing awareness to fear is a big step in combatting it. Of course some fears exist for a reason, please don’t do anything that might hurt you. Thankfully, most fears in the modern day have small consequences if any at all. The next time that you hesitate to make a proposal , speak with your boss, or ask someone out ask one quetion. What’s the worst that can happen? If you can think about it rationally, In most situations nothing terrible will occur. Take a breath and just do it.
Failures
I’ve had my fair share of foibles, falters, and bloopers. Over my five years in Japan, I’ve lost count of how many fuck ups I’ve had. Messing up is just a part of life. The Important thing to remember is that your perspective and how you react to slipping will shape the rest of your life.
Japanese is one of those languages that come hard for many foreigners. Almost everything about it is backwards from an English speaker’s standpoint. This is true form a cultural perspective as well, some things you just can’t say or have to be phrased dramatically differently in Japanese. Speaking Japanese makes you talk and think like Yoda.
For those who don’t understand one word of Japanese navigating basic tasks can be stressful long endeavors of misunderstanding and broken communication. I’ve been there and even after years of studying and Immersion learning it still happens. When it does happen it’s easier to think about which areas of my Japanese need to be refined.
Leadership Training
During my time working at a UWC school in Japan, I couldn’t help absorbing some of their lessons on leadership. A core component of their leadership philosophy includes taking action when you see it is necessary. It’s so easy to pass the buck and assume the situation will resolve itself. Especially in a public setting where nine times out of ten the situation will settle eventually. If you have the time, power, knowledge, and ability to help out why not offer your services? There are people who have none of those things that will offer their helping hand anyway. They are usually some of the happiest people on earth.
There is research that shows that people who do nice things for others share some of that happiness with the people they help. You also never know what opportunities will come of helping people out. These things should be done expecting no reward however.
Therapy and socialization
It took a lot of work and therapy but now I don’t feel a stranger in the world. While I still feel a touch different, I realize that all humans are innately weird. Learning I had autism went a long way to help me develop techniques that help in social situations.
Life Experience
In my five years in Japan, many things I’ve learned that could be categorized as life experience. Work, reacting to unexpected situations, and saying yes to what life has to offer guides me towards my truth. Although I have a guiding Star in my dream, I always go with the flow of universe. Going with the flow does not mean we give up overcoming instant gratification, rather we accept things as they.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference”- Serenity Prayer
The Moment
It all happened so fast. It was just another time standing in line at Starbucks in Japan. Because I’d done it a number of times before, I was still largely airheaded in line. I liked to keep my mind on my dreams. My mind thought up all the tasks to assign myself for the side hustle. Finish this post, repurpose this video, make this video, finish this project. My train of thoughts came to an emergency halt when I saw the situation at the front counter.
There was a light skinned girl having trouble communicating with the Japanese girl making her coffee behind the counter. There was a million thoughts racing through my head telling me to stay out of it.
- She’ll figure it out
- The situation will resolve itself
- She’ll probably get mad if I help because she speaks Japanese
- My Japanese isn’t good enough
- Pretty Girls don’t want you to interact with them
Despite all these thoughts swimming around in my head, my body was already moving. I thought that even if my Japanese wasn’t the best, if I were able to make things go more smoothly I’d be able to help both parties. I didn’t realize the calming effect of having someone who speaks your own language is. The tension left the body of both parties as I regulated the interaction.
“Oh she wants a coffee with more milk in it and less espresso”
I watched the sigh of relief wash over both parties faces.
Simple Questions
There is something special that happens when you get a drink in a mug cup at Starbucks. It is like the business’s way of subtly saying you are welcome in the shop for an extended period of time. I was happy to see that the girl I had assisted earlier was occupying the seat next to my own. Being terrible with starting conversations I went with the standard.
“So where are you from, and what do you do”
What followed was a spontaneous conversation about Germany, Europe, and robotic process automation. We actually did pretty similar things at our jobs, she did it for a massive bank while I only managed the processes and some marketing for an international school. We also talked about why I was in Japan. She gave me some useful insight for life and my content.
“Well the most important thing is you started a lot of people say that they’re going to do this or that, but very few people actually start.”
We continued to talk about my dream, well I’d really like to be an animator, also if I traveled around Europe I’d like to do it as a DJ.
“Have you ever considered making videos about becoming an animator?”
“Becoming a DJ is hard, but it’s not impossible”
The Call of the City
Before she left, we added each other on LinkedIn due to the shared nature of our jobs. I was left to think about all the things we said and the action points I could take to my content strategy. It would be hard to achieve the animator/DJ dream but not impossible. I knew if I kept working at it, doors would open. Staying persistent and find little areas and gaps where I could practice and improve was the key to unlock new doors.
I had made great progress and started good momentum on my Blog, YouTube, and , music lately. I just had to find a way to integrate my art and all my skills into future projects. Then also find a way and time to document the creation of the project.
After she left a part of me woke up. This interaction was only possible in the city. I was missing a lot of opportunities for career advancement and opportunities in my personal pursuits by living in a place like Iwate Japan. The city was seducing me, beckoning me into the heart of culture in Japan.
