Life is made of choices—to think is to choose your future as yourself.

The essence that changes life. Chapter 1

How do I live my life?

What is it that changes a life?

Is it major events?

Is it the environment?

Is it the people you meet?

Or is it luck?

Of course, those can also be triggers that change a life.

But, I have a slightly different perspective now.

What changes a life is not the event itself.

It is what you chose at that moment.

The accumulation of those choices makes you who you are today.

Changing jobs, too.

Getting a promotion, too.

Taking on responsibility, too.

Experiencing failure, too.

Meeting new people, too.

Continuing to write articles, too.

If you look only at the events, they might just be passing points.

But, what did you choose before each and every one of them?

That is where a person's life shows through.

This time, I want to write about "choice."

I used to think life was changed by major events.

"What is the event that changed your life?"

If asked that, many people might think of changing jobs, getting a promotion, marriage, or meeting someone.

I was like that in the past, too.

I thought life was something changed by big events.

But looking back now, it is a little different.

What was important was not the event itself.

It was what I chose to do in the face of that event.

I changed jobs knowing that my salary would go down.

I have a family.

I have a life to maintain.

Thinking about it normally, there is no way I wouldn't be anxious.

Even so, I thought I couldn't change if I stayed as I was.

I took on a huge responsibility while lacking both experience and a track record.

When I was entrusted with being a department manager at 33, I thought it was too early for me.

I was also worried about how I was being perceived by those around me.

Could I really fulfill the role?

What would I do if I failed?

What if I betray their expectations?

I thought that many times.

Even so, I did not run away.

I have also faced work for which no one has the right answer.

There is no precedent.

There is no answer either.

It is not as if someone will prepare the path for me.

Even so, once I decided to do it, I had no choice but to think for myself, decide for myself, and take responsibility for myself.

And so, I continued to write 155 articles.

It is not that I had confidence from the beginning.

There were days when I did not know what to write.

There were days when I did not know who it was reaching.

Even so, I continued to choose to write.

At the time, I thought of it as a "challenge."

But now, it is a little different.

Rather than a challenge, that was

a decision to choose the future.

It is not that I was not afraid.

It is not that I did not waver either.

Is this really okay?

What if I fail?

What if I can't go back?

Such anxieties were always there.

Even so, I have made my choices.

Because I wanted to change.

The future I desire does not lie on the extension of where I am now.

When one feels that way, one must decide on something.

I have changed my environment because I wanted to change.

I am a person who changes significantly depending on the environment.

Even in the same year, the speed of growth changes many times over depending on where you place yourself.

What kind of people do you work with?

What kind of responsibilities do you shoulder?

What kind of challenges do you face?

What kind of tension do you place yourself in?

Because of that, people change significantly.

That is why I was not afraid to change my environment.

No, to be precise,

I have changed my environment because I wanted to change.

I think this order is important.

Environment can change people.

However, it is not just the environment that changes a person.

Only those who decide to change can make that environment meaningful.

In the same workplace, there are those who grow.

Even when changing jobs, there are those who do not change.

Even when given the same opportunity, there are those who thrive and those who do not.

The difference is not just the environment.

It is how you behave within that environment.

Will you learn?

Will you be swept away?

Will you take responsibility?

Will you run away?

Will you blame others?

Will you take it on as your own challenge?

The environment provides the trigger.

But it is you who turns that trigger into a turning point in your life.

I stopped looking for the right answer

When I was young, I was looking for the "right answer".

How to avoid failure.

How to be evaluated.

How to grow quickly.

The right career.

The right effort.

The right life.

I didn't want to make any mistakes if I could help it.

I didn't want to take any detours.

I didn't want to lose out.

I didn't want to be embarrassed.

That's why I was looking for the right answer.

But once I entered the working world, I realized something.

There is no right answer prepared for life from the start.

All there is, is the path you choose yourself.

You don't know if it's the right answer before you choose it.

You have no choice but to make it the right answer after you've chosen it.

Was changing jobs the right answer?

Was taking on responsibility the right answer?

Was stepping into a job with no precedent the right answer?

Was continuing to write the right answer?

I didn't know at the time.

I had no choice but to choose without knowing.

That's why lately, I've stopped thinking, 'What is the right answer?'

Instead, I started asking myself questions continuously.

Is it okay to stay like this?

What is it that I truly want to protect?

Ten years from now, what kind of person do I want to be?

What do I want to gain?

What will I let go of?

For whom do I want to work?

What is it that I do not want to run away from?

The time spent facing these questions was what 'thinking' meant to me.

To think is to choose for yourself

I often tell my subordinates to 'think'.

But what I really want to convey is not to increase your knowledge.

It is not just about analyzing things either.

Choose your own future.

That is what I mean.

The company decides.

The boss decides.

Those around you decide.

Society decides.

A life like that will inevitably lead to blaming someone else someday.

The environment was bad.

I was unlucky.

My boss was bad.

The company was bad.

Of course, there are times when you want to think that way.

In reality, there are times when things are beyond your control.

I don't mean to say that everything is your own fault.

But there is only one question that remains until the end.

In that situation, what will you choose?

I believe that those who do not run away from that question are the ones who grow.

To think is not to guess the right answer.

It is to choose the future as yourself.

Those who can change do not entrust their lives to others.

I have seen many people until now.

People who can change.

People who cannot change.

There was a time when I thought the difference was ability.

Are they smart?

Do they have experience?

Are they clever?

I thought it was that kind of difference.

But, I was wrong.

People who can change have one thing in common.

They do not entrust their lives to anyone else.

Even if it is painful, they decide for themselves.

Even if they are afraid, they take the step themselves.

Even if they fail, they take responsibility themselves.

That is why they can change.

Conversely, the moment people entrust their lives to their environment, they stop thinking.

Someone will change it for me.

The company will do something about it.

My boss will guide me.

If the environment is right, I will be able to change too.

While thinking that way, only time passes by.

A life where you do not choose for yourself looks easy.

But, in exchange, you lose the feeling of living your own life.

To me, that is the scariest thing of all.

The moment you entrust your life to someone else, it stops being your own.

If I had only chosen the safe path, I would not be who I am today.

When I look back on my life,

I'm glad I had the courage at that time.

Those are the only kinds of choices I think about.

Changing jobs for a lower salary was one of them.

Taking on a position of responsibility was another.

Stepping into a job where no one had the right answer was also one.

Deciding to keep writing articles was also one of them.

I was scared at the time.

I might fail.

I might regret it.

I might not be appreciated.

It might be too much for me.

I haven't thought that just once or twice.

There were times I wanted to run away.

There were periods when both my body and mind were near their limits.

When I woke up in the morning, I felt nauseous.

Even so, I had to go to work.

There were days like that too.

Even so, looking back now, I think those painful times also shaped who I am.

If I had only chosen the safe path back then, I wouldn't be who I am today.

It's not that the safe path is bad.

There are times when there is something you must protect.

It is not always necessary to force yourself to take on challenges.

However, a path you did not take simply out of fear, while knowing your true feelings, will always remain in your heart later.

Life changes its shape little by little through daily decisions.

That is why I do not think about simply predicting the future.

The future is not something to wait for.

I believe it is something you choose for yourself.

Writing was also a choice.

Having written 155 articles, there is one thing I have come to understand.

Writing articles was not just about broadcasting information.

It was a choice.

What to write.

What not to write.

What to believe in.

What to convey.

What kind of words to leave behind.

Each time, I have continued to ask myself what kind of person I want to be.

Therefore, the more I wrote, the more I changed myself.

While posing questions to the readers, the one being questioned the most was myself.

Writing was also a time to re-choose my own life.

When you put it into words, you cannot deceive yourself.

Do I really think that?

Am I really living that way?

That question always comes back to me.

Even after surpassing 10,000 likes, the question remains.

What am I actually delivering?

Am I writing something that will remain, even a little, in someone's life?

That is why I want to continue choosing to write.

So that I do not run away from myself.

Small choices make you who you are.

Life is not changed by just one big decision.

Who will you thank today?

Who will you help?

What will you learn?

What will you run away from?

What will you face?

Who will you blame?

Or will you take responsibility yourself?

Those small choices pile up and build the person you are.

Life is not made up only of special moments.

In fact, the small, casual choices of everyday life are what quietly shape who we are.

Greeting others.

Expressing gratitude.

Apologizing.

Entrusting others.

Believing in others.

Speaking without running away.

Stepping forward even when it is difficult.

They may seem like small things.

But each one of them becomes a person's character.

That is why I like the word "thinking."

But its meaning is different from what it used to be.

To think is not to increase one's knowledge.

It is not about searching for answers either.

It is about choosing the future as yourself.

That is why we think.

I want to walk a life that I have chosen for myself.

When I was young, I wanted to walk a correct life.

A life without failure.

A life that is valued by others.

A life without losses.

A life with as few mistakes as possible.

But things are different now.

I want to walk a life that I have chosen for myself.

I won't know if it was the right choice until the very end.

But if it is a life I thought about, chose, and took responsibility for myself, I don't think I will have any regrets.

Of course, I will still be lost at times.

There will be days when I feel afraid.

There will be times when I make mistakes.

There will be times when I want to run away.

Even so, I don't want to entrust my life to anyone else.

That is why I continue to ask myself again today.

What kind of future will I choose?

What will I protect?

What will I let go of?

What will I not run away from?

For whom will I spend my time?

Life is shaped by continuing to answer those questions.

That is why I want to keep choosing from here on out.

Even if I don't know if it's the right answer.

Even if you are afraid.

Even if you are lost.

So that you do not entrust your life to someone else.

── Flow Thinker R.

The reason for writing the Essential Series that changes your life
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