Principles

You’ve been bamboozled. What you know about “Ikigai” is wrong — dead wrong. And it’s making you choose the wrong things in life. I hate to break it to you but, Ikigai is not the intersection of: ・what you love ・what you’re good at ・what the world needs ・and what …

This is what self-doubt sounds like in our heads: “What if I fail?” “Am I good enough to do this?” “What if I’m just wasting my time?” Over and over in your mind, these questions pop up like mosquitoes buzzing ‘round your ear, taunting you, keeping you up at night, …

Emi’s story Emi is a good friend of mine even back in my uni days. I remember she told me once that she had always dreamt of owning a cozy coffee shop in downtown Osaka with lines and lines of people stretching around the block. When we graduated we all …

 “Fire your boss. Quit your 9-5. Follow your dreams.” That’s what I see almost every day when I’m on X (formerly Twitter). You’re often bombarded with these messages telling you that quitting your 9–5 is the key to achieving your dreams. I’ll tell you what I think about this but …

I’ve been chasing my dreams for quite some time now and I think I know now the main reasons why I’ve failed and lost in some of my endeavours while I’ve achieved substantial results in others. It took me years to understand key factors for life success, but I’ll give …

It’s 7 pm. You’re seated on your favorite couch with your phone in hand. Just one quick glance at your social media, right? Fast forward to 10 pm, and you’re still scrolling, watching videos, reading comments, and somehow, three hours have vanished. Sound familiar? It’s distraction in its many forms. …

Have you ever thought about why you’re unhappy? I’ve thought about this for quite some time, but it’s only lately that I wrote my thoughts about it. We can be unhappy for all sorts of reasons but usually, it’s because we (or our mind) think there is a gap between …

I know what you’re thinking. “What’s the point of putting myself out there if there’s no way I can get what I want anyway?” So what do you do instead? You slack off. You tuck your tails behind your legs and you declare “surrender.” Then you hate and curse the …

I know what you’re thinking, what do trains and swimwear got to do with kindness? Let me tell you a story. This morning I wanted to catch the express train so that I could come to work early and finish early. After taking a quick shower, I was readying myself …

What is Respect? Do we really understand respect enough to practice it properly ourselves. Are we really teaching respect to our children, or are we confusing it with admiration or fear of authority?  Growing up as the youngest of 5 siblings, people often said to me, “respect your elder.” I …