"No good. I might not be able to do this anymore..."
Monday morning, 6:00 AM.
The iPhone alarm woke me up.
It wasn't that I wanted to sleep in.
Yet, I found myself unconsciously hitting snooze.
Five minutes later, it rings again.
I stop it again.
I wasn't just sleepy.
I just couldn't face the reality of going to the office.
My feet wouldn't move forward on the station platform, and my stomach would hurt as I got closer to the office.
Even so, I kept telling myself every morning:
"I'm just not trying hard enough."
"If I break here, I'll go back to being a part-timer."
"Everyone else is enduring it. This is normal for a working adult."
What I want to tell my past self is
"You don't have to push yourself so hard."
Those were the words of Kazlaser.
When Kazlaser says, "You don't have to push yourself so hard," he isn't saying that effort is useless.
Human energy is finite.
So, choose carefully where you use it.
That's how I interpret his message.
This is a perspective that people working as employees desperately need.
We tend to try to give 100% to everything.
- I want to meet my boss's expectations.
- I want to face my subordinates properly.
- I want to be sincere with my clients.
- I want to hit the numbers.
- I don't want my internal evaluation to drop.
- I want to value my family.
However, if you try to do everything perfectly, something will inevitably give. Human physical strength, mental energy, and time are all finite. There is no human who can work hard infinitely.
That's why what's truly important isn't how hard you work, but where you work hard.
Instead of spending time on things you're bad at, get results in things you're good at. Instead of enduring a place where you aren't rewarded, look for a place where you can thrive. Instead of carrying everything yourself, rely on others where you can.
If you're doing the same thing, just choose the easier way.
When people hear "taking the easy way," some might feel it's a bad thing.
The more serious a person is, the easier it is to think that way.
- "Taking the easy way is just being spoiled."
- "You can't grow without suffering."
- "You shouldn't run away from hard things."
That's how they think.
Taking the easy way isn't about slacking off;
it's about reducing unnecessary exhaustion so you don't break.
If the result is the same, an easy way is better than a painful way. If the sales are the same, a sustainable method is better than an unsustainable one. If you're doing the same job, a way that feels good is better than a way that grinds down your soul every day.
For example, in sales, it's not just about grinding through phone calls with pure willpower.
- Change the order of your pitch.
- Think about lists that are less likely to reject you.
- Change your preparation.
- Create a template that's easy for you to speak.
- Narrow it down to industries you're good at.
- Create a flow to get referrals.
By doing this, you look for a way to get results more easily. This isn't "cutting corners"; it's "improvement" and "ingenuity."
Hardworking people tend to place value on continuing a painful method, but there is no value in the pain itself.
What has value is moving forward properly.
And being able to continue without breaking.
I have a friend I've known since middle school.
He was always smart and excelled at everything he did.
He went to a famous university in Kansai and, after graduation, got a job at a top-tier foreign company in Tokyo.
A company everyone knows the name of.
"That's expected of him,"
I thought without a shadow of a doubt.
However, that friend quit the company after five years.
It was because his mind had broken.
Even if someone is elite in their hometown, once they enter a top-tier company in Tokyo, there's a different world where there's always someone better.
- There are people whose minds work faster than yours.
- There are people who can do the job better than you.
- There are people who get results more efficiently than you.
In that environment, my friend apparently started blaming himself little by little.
"Maybe my ability is low."
"Maybe I can't do the job compared to those around me."
"Maybe I don't deserve to be in this company."
Life in unfamiliar Tokyo. Daily stress. The pressure of not being able to handle work well. The pain of comparing himself to others.
Those things piled up, and his heart broke.
He had always been an excellent person since we were kids.
I never once thought his ability was low.
Even excellent people break in places that don't fit them.
The more serious a person is, the more they keep blaming themselves.
The stronger their sense of responsibility, the more they keep running even after exceeding their limits.
That's why I want you to stop before you break.
The Company Keeps Turning, but Your Life Stops
People who go to work even though they have a fever. People who want to go to the hospital but postpone it because they can't leave work. People who jump out of bed to handle a call from a client on a day off.
What pushes them is the misconception that "it won't work if I'm not there" or "it will cause trouble for others."
Kazlaser cuts through this decisively.
"Even after Steve Jobs left, Apple's performance continued to grow. If it's okay for Jobs to be gone, then ordinary people are replaceable."
When I heard this, the tension that had been holding me together finally snapped.
Even when the CEO of a global giant is gone, the company keeps turning.
On the other hand, I'm just an ordinary employee at a regular company.
When I realized that the company wouldn't budge even if one employee took a day off or used paid leave, the weight suddenly lifted from my shoulders.
In fact, when I was out for nearly a week with the flu, the company kept turning.
A few clients called, and my subordinates handled it, and no deals were lost. On Monday morning when I returned, I just said "thank you" to the subordinate who took over, and that was it.
Companies are designed to keep turning even if one person is missing.
It's a natural part of an organization functioning as an organization.
Conversely, what happens if you are missing from your own life?
If you break, who will protect you? Will the company take care of you for the rest of your life? Who will take care of your children? Who will protect your family?
You have to protect yourself. The phrase "for the sake of the company" is just a platitude.
I've seen many people break themselves while being bound by those words.
- Young employees handing in resignation letters.
- Mid-career employees getting their leave of absence forms stamped.
- Managers disappearing after throwing down their resignations.
No one was saved by the company.
The company keeps turning, but your life stops if you break.
You must not get this priority wrong.
I haven't always been running at full speed either. In fact, I've stopped many times.
Times when my heart almost broke from cold calling and I couldn't get out of bed in the morning. Times when sales weren't going well and I just stayed silent behind my seniors. Times when I became a manager and got tired of listening to subordinates' problems and did nothing but drink beer at home.
There are probably only a few days in my life that were 100 points. There were 60-point days and 30-point days, but before I knew it, I had gone from a part-timer to a sales manager. If I had run at full speed when I was young, I probably would have collapsed halfway through and wouldn't be here now.
When you're tired or having a hard time, I want you to remember these words.
"If you're tired, just drink some Hoppy and go to sleep."
When I first heard it, I thought he was exaggerating because he's a comedian.
But now, I truly believe this is enough.
When you're tired, sleep. Drink your favorite alcohol, eat your favorite food, and laugh.
When it's hard, rest. That's enough.
Only those who move forward little by little can eventually go far.
Even on a 30-point day, you've probably moved forward about 0.1mm.
If you keep that up for five years, you'll be surprised how far you've come.
Working hard isn't bad. However, there's no reason you have to aim for 100 points every day. There are 30-point days and 60-point days. There are days when you rest because it's hard.
That's fine.
This is how I interpret Kazlaser's message that "you don't have to work hard." He isn't denying full effort. He's telling people who believe that running at full speed is the only way that there are other paths too.
A path where you can move forward properly, even at a slow pace.
- A path where you don't break.
- A path you can continue.
I walked that path and went from a part-timer to a sales manager. That's why I can say this to you. You can relax. You don't have to meet every expectation. Work is a part of life, not life itself. You can step off before you break.
Slow and steady is fine.
Even so, you can still move forward properly.
Based on my experience going from a part-timer to a sales manager, I share ways of working that don't wear down your heart and thoughts on work from a manager's perspective. If you're a young employee feeling crushed between your boss and subordinates or can't understand your boss's way of thinking, following @ushi_butyo will make things easier.
