A summer morning that begins with Kobanashi.
~From the Monosus morning assembly~

The heat is starting to get serious.
With the start of summer, the third term of the Kamiyama Monosasu School has begun in Kamiyama, where our satellite office is located. Ten students from all over Japan have begun their studies. The Monosasu rice that was planted last month seems to be growing well.

Yoyogi is just as lively as Kamiyama. Every morning, we warm up by listening to the "Quote of the Day" at the morning assembly. The day at the Yoyogi office starts with a little chat from the executives, department heads, and leaders.

This month we will be introducing a little bit of it on the Monosasu website.
The guests are Manabe, head of the production department, Sakuyama, a director, and Nishijo, leader of the direction team.

So, let's begin "Quote of the Day"...

First, small successes

Tokushima Prefecture is running an entrepreneurial school-like initiative called " Machi Shigoto Factory ," and I was recently invited to attend the kickoff event for 2017.
The keynote speech was given by Daisuke Maki of Nishiawakura Village, Okayama Prefecture, who is said to be a household name in the field of regional revitalization. I participated as a panelist in the discussion that followed, along with Mr. Hakuto, the head farmer of the Food Hub Project .

Now, just like during the bubble economy of the 1980s, it's a "seller's market" for people looking for employment. The younger generation is declining, so companies are struggling to hire people. Well, that's why, even though it's an entrepreneurship school, you hear people say things like "You'd better get a proper job"...but let's leave that aside (laughs).

As we discussed in the discussion, Google has a philosophy of "Start Small, Fail Early," which basically means "start small and fail early." When you hear about starting a business, it sounds heavy, but instead of doing something big all of a sudden, it's important to start a small project and accumulate small successes rather than failures, which I think will lead to starting a business.

I myself launched a business called the Food Hub Project, which also started as a small project. Through trial and error, the project gradually grew like a snowball, and I think that's how it has become what it is today.

There are people at Monosus who are in bands or running galleries, and I think that kind of activity will definitely come back to work, so I think it's important to start a small project, no matter what it is, and turn it into a small success. I would like everyone to have that experience.

How much does it take for it to become a habit?

I looked into what is needed to make something a habit. There are many articles on the Internet, so I'm sure many of you already know this, but habits can be broadly categorized into three types, and each type takes a different amount of time to become a habit.

1. Behavioral habits: Reading, studying, keeping a diary, tidying up, etc.
Daily routines and actions can become habits within a month.

2. Physical habits: exercise, strength training, quitting smoking, etc.
Anything that involves the body's rhythm becomes a habit in "3 months."

3. Thinking habits, positive thinking, logical thinking, etc.
It takes six months for something related to thinking to become a habit.

So, the easiest thing is "behavioral habits," and it gets more difficult as you move on to the body, thoughts, etc., but they all take time, so I think it's best to first know that and then think about how you want to do it.

What habits people want to make will vary from person to person, and how they put them into action will also vary, but I thought I'd share some ideas that might be helpful.

Put emotion into words

I take vocal lessons as a hobby, but I have a recording coming up soon (I'll be singing and recording a song I wrote), so for the past few months I've been concentrating on lessons in preparation for the recording. I thought that some of the things I learned in the lessons might be useful for my work, so I'd like to share them with you.

The first month was spent training my technique, and the second month was spent polishing my expressiveness. I am currently working on my "expressiveness," but in a recent lesson I was told that I was not expressing any emotion at the end of the lyrics. I was just singing along with the melody, and it sounded flat, and I was not able to convey the meaning of the words.

For example, at the beginning of the song there is the line, "In the dim light of 5 a.m....", but does the "no" in "5 a.m...." mean "already 5 o'clock" or "still 5 o'clock"?
Whether or not you can give meaning to it will change what is conveyed and give the song depth.

I think this also applies to work. For example, in important situations such as presenting to a client or speaking at a seminar, being conscious of the "words that will be conveyed" can change what you communicate to the other person.

People who speak professionally have the "speaking skills" to communicate what they want to say by skillfully using stress and pauses, but I think we converse in our everyday lives without even thinking about it. However, in important situations at work or in your personal life, if you try to be conscious of the endings of small phrases when speaking, I think you will be able to properly communicate what you want to say to the other person. I hope you will give it a try.

Well, have a great day today.

Small successes, time to make habits, putting emotion into words. This month we have a wide variety of "Kobanashi".

So, what kind of stories will come out tomorrow?
It's so much fun.

Well, have a great day everyone today.