-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 1
/
Copy pathshoshikantetsu.html
65 lines (64 loc) · 3.58 KB
/
shoshikantetsu.html
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
<html>
<head>
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-P9405HFNTS"></script>
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag('js', new Date());
gtag('config', 'G-P9405HFNTS');
</script>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
<title>Shoshikantetsu</title>
</head>
<body>
<div style="max-width: 600px;">
<p><a href="/">Home</a></p>
<h1>Shoshikantetsu</h1>
<p>
The other day I was visiting my family in Hawaii when I complained to my mother about not wanting to do a planned run that afternoon.
I told her that I was tired and was dreading physical exercise.
Despite that, I explained to her that I was going to do it, even if it meant I ran a lot slower than my regular pace.
</p>
<p>
Eventually, I did go on my run, and sure enough, it was slow.
I apologized to my mom for taking so long because I had planned to watch a show with her afterward.
My mom, who is Japanese, told me it was all right and taught me a new term in Japanese called 初志貫徹 (shoshikantetsu).
</p>
<p>
"Shoshi" translates to "original intent", and kantetsu translates to "to carry out".
Combined, it means to complete what was originally intended.
In this case, I practiced "shoshikantetsu" by completing the planned run, despite my low motivation.
</p>
<p>
My mom printed the phrase out for me after she saw my interest in it.
</p>
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/pMwzJ4m.jpg" alt="shoshikantetsu print out" style="max-width:600px;width:100%" />
<p>
I've thought a lot about shoshikantetsu since then.
Having a high say-do ratio has always been important to me, but I wanted to strategize a way to make sure my commitments were seen through to the end.
What I ended up landing on was focusing on making the "original intent" small enough that I had no excuses to not complete them.
</p>
<p>
For example, <a href="https://asnewman.github.io/30minutesaday">I'm currently experimenting with doing 30 minutes of enjoyable, productive activities once a day for 7 days</a>.
Originally, I wanted to make this an hour per day life long habit.
The truth is, such a grandiose original intend only sets you up for failure.
By adjusting the experiment to something a lot less intense, it made it less intimidating.
As a result, so far, performing my 30 minute duty feels easy, especially because I know after a week I can quit if I want.
Of course I would like to continue the habit for as long as it works for me, and reducing the pressure to achieve it is probably the best way to promote consistency.
</p>
<p>
Apparently, there are many 4 letter Japanese idioms out there. Some other interesting ones include:
<ul>
<li>一期一会 (ichigoichie) - "Treasure every encounter, for it will never recur."</li>
<li>一日一歩 (iichinichiippo) - "One step each day."</li>
<li>十人十色 (jūnintoiro) - "To each their own; So many people, so many minds"</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
It's great to learn new phrases/idioms, especially when you allow it to change how you think about life.
I'm sure shoshikantetsu will stick with me as I continue to create goals for myself in the future.
</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>