A Way of Working That Doesn't Tire Your Heart

"Do the work you love"
"Find your passion"
"If you can't enjoy your work, it's because you aren't trying hard enough"

Have you ever felt a sense of suffocation from words like these?

I will be honest.
I do not love my job.
That said, it doesn't mean my days are painful or that I am unhappy.

In fact, now,
I am able to work quite comfortably because I have found a way to live without wearing out my heart at work.

This text is not
a story about motivating yourself to "find passion in your work."
It is also not about "changing yourself if you can't feel passion."

It is the exact opposite.

Treating work as
something not at the center of your life
not attaching emotions to it
treating it as just a "means"

Just by doing that, your heart will become surprisingly less tired.

I treat work as
"a tool for living"
I have resigned myself to this.

You don't need feelings of like or dislike for a tool.
It is the same as not getting angry at a kitchen knife or having expectations for a screwdriver.

In this article,
I will write as concretely as possible about

• A mindset to finish work in the shortest time
• Habits to avoid exhausting your heart
• Ways to work without using willpower

the methods that I actually practice every day.

You don't need special talent or a strong mentality.
These are methods that an "ordinary office worker" practices calmly.

If you are currently

• Not strongly dissatisfied with work, but not enjoying it either
• Working hard, but for some reason, your heart feels tired
• Feeling that your whole life feels heavy because of work

if you feel this way,
this mindset will surely be useful.

Just by changing your "attitude toward work" a little,
the hardships of life will definitely become lighter.

1. Think only about finishing the work (speed-oriented)

What I value most in work is "the speed at which I finish the work."
I will be clear,I think about almost nothing else.

From here, I will talk about the preparations I make from the morning to finish work early.

How to spend the morning

In the morning, I wake up with a little extra time.
I believe that the panicked state of mind when you are about to be late places a heavy burden on the mind and body.

I often see people running because they are about to be late in the morning, but
I wonder, "Why don't they wake up just a little earlier?"

After waking up, I first stretch for about 10 minutes.
After that, I fill the bathtub with hot water and watch "Morning Satellite" while eating breakfast.

For breakfast,
• Rice with natto
• Zaru soba

I eat these two types alternately every other day.

The reason is simple: it is to avoid making decisions.
By reducing decision-making, I minimize the consumption of "WILL power."

After eating, I take a bath.

Soaking in 40-degree water for about 10 minutes seems to have the highest relaxation effect, and I practice this too.

I take a bath in the morning to start the day in a good mood.
I don't take one before bed.

Clothing and habits


After getting out of the bath, I do chores and change into my work clothes.
I fix the shoes I wear at the workplace to one pair.
I also repeat 5 patterns of clothing.

Here too, I make an effort to use as little WILL power as possible.

WILL power is "the power to make decisions."
It is said that using it too much causes "ego depletion."
That is why I try to consume as little as possible.

As a famous example, there is the story of Steve Jobs wearing the same clothes every day.
He eliminated the choice of "choosing clothes" itself.

When leaving the house,
"Today is also the best day"
I try to think this in my heart before leaving.

It might sound a bit silly, but it really changes my mood.

Commute time and work preparation

My commute time by train is about 50 minutes.
During that time, I build the schedule for today's work in my head.

I keep a "to-do list" on the right side of my computer at my desk, and I know everything I need to do the next day.

The schedule can be rough.
By building it, I can gain a sense of security for the day.

I sometimes feel anxious when the workload is heavy, but
the degree of anxiety is clearly different between "not building" a schedule and "building" one.

Even if the workload cannot be finished in one day,

• priorities
• prospects for finishing


just by grasping these, my feelings become much easier.

Once I finish building the schedule, I read a book.
I love reading, so commute time is a very fun time.
I also gain knowledge, so it's killing two birds with one stone.

It's so fun that sometimes I don't want to get off the train.

Mindset while working

When I arrive at the workplace, I first check my emails.
If it's content I can reply to immediately, I reply on the spot.

Once I have checked all emails,
if there is content to add to the "to-do list," I add it and set priorities.
When I am really busy, I even write down the time allocation.

The list is constantly increasing due to phone calls and instructions from my boss, but
I always add to it each time.

The more items on the list,
the greater the pleasure when crossing them off.

Draw a diagonal line through completed tasks,
and let's enjoy the sense of accomplishment of "I finished this much work today."

After that, just proceed with the work at about 80% effort.
I have decided not to do work with full power.

The reason is simple: because it is tiring.
Also, if you put full power into each thing, you will not be able to see the whole picture, which often leads to mistakes.

—

The above is my daily way of working.

As an aside, I make sure to take a 1 hour and 15 minute lunch break.
The breakdown is,

• Lunch 30 minutes
• Bookstore 45 minutes


Even if I am busy, I always secure this time.
Because I believe there is no need to finish work by cutting into that time, no matter how much I am rushed.


2. Do not have emotions toward work

I believe that you should not have emotions toward work.
The reason is simple: because work becomes slow.

For example, if you have a feeling of dislike toward a person,
I often see cases where people do not contact that person directly but proceed with work through someone else.

Even for work that could be finished with one phone call,
they choose a roundabout method just because "I don't like them."
Such actions definitely lower the speed of work.

The true nature of pressure

Even in work where large amounts of money move or work with so-called "important people,"
I think it is better to have as little emotion as possible.

Of course, it is not easy.
If you start thinking, "What if I make a mistake?"
unnecessary pressure is applied, you lose your composure,
and as a result, mistakes often increase.

My way of thinking is very simple.

" If I fail, I'll just apologize "

I only think that much.

Even in work with large amounts of money, to be clear, it is not my own money.
So, I don't feel more pressure than necessary.

Do not change your attitude toward "important people"

Even in meetings with big shots, I don't change my attitude from usual.

"What if I say something rude?"
"I don't want to make them angry"

I think many people feel this way, but
in conversations with people in the same position as yourself,
you should almost never take such a rude attitude.

If so, why, the moment the other person's position becomes higher,
do you need to change your attitude?
I believe there is no need for that.

Why are we afraid of mistakes?

In the first place, why do we not want to make mistakes?

Many people

• I don't want to be scolded
• My position in the company will get worse




I think they come up with reasons like these.

However, if you get scolded, you just have to apologize, and
even if your internal evaluation drops, it just means you won't get promoted.

I have worked for over 20 years, but
I have never seen anyone get fired immediately for making a mistake.

I have seen people who were mentally cornered and resigned, but
I think that is the result of putting too much emotion into the "mistake itself"
rather than the mistake itself.

Even if you were really fired,
now is a seller's market for labor.
It's just a matter of changing jobs.

The option of changing jobs

I feel that Japanese people don't think about changing jobs enough.
The most certain way to increase your salary is changing jobs.

I apologize for the personal matter, but I have changed jobs more than 5 times.

At the first company I worked for,
there were about 10 people who joined at the same time.

After 4 or 5 years,
I began to feel that "this company has no future."
There were 3 people, including me, who had the same thought.

Those 3 people quit the company,
and although each had their own hardships,
the current annual income of the 2 who quit is around 8 to 10 million yen.

I will hide my own annual income, but
I still interact with people from my first company, and
when I asked them, their annual income was around 5 million yen.

I think.
The 3 who escaped were not different in ability, but in action.

A difference in annual income of 3 to 5 million yen is born there.

If you don't feel a future in your company,
you should change jobs.

From the status quo bias and comfort zone,
please try stepping out once.

—

The meaning of discarding emotions

Even if I say "do not have emotions,"
you don't need to discard positive emotions.

If work is fun and you can feel a sense of purpose,
I think that is a very wonderful thing.

However,
emotions like anxiety, fear, and pressure
are not necessary in work
is my way of thinking.

3. Eliminate what you can eliminate in decision-making as much as possible

This story partially overlaps with the "morning preparation" story I told you before, but
it is very important, so I will talk about it a little more deeply.

One of the biggest causes of heart fatigue at work is
that the number of decisions is too high.

Every time a person makes a decision, they are definitely consuming energy.
That is why I believe that at work, we should thoroughly eliminate "things we don't need to think about."

About email correspondence

For emails, to some extent,
"If it's this situation, do this"
it is important to resign yourself to that.

It saves WILL power, and
above all, the speed of work increases overwhelmingly.

I will give concrete examples that I practice.

• Write the company name only in the first email

After exchanging business cards, I write the company name only in the first email, but
I don't write it from the second time onwards.

Honestly, isn't it troublesome to enter "Co., Ltd. XX" every time?

When I stop writing it,
the other party also starts replying without the company name most of the time.
It becomes easier for both parties, and it is truly win-win.

Even if the other party is an important person, I do not break this stance.
Of course, I think there are companies that don't fit depending on the corporate culture, but
in that case, I resign myself that it can't be helped.

• Do not write anything other than what is necessary

I often see people who write very polite emails, but
to be honest,
"It must be hard to write this every time"
"They are wasting time"
I feel that way.

This is the same as the company name story,
when I start writing only the business,
the other party also often starts replying only with the business.

Some people might worry,
"Will they think I am a business-only person?"

But, would there be any inconvenience if they thought that?
I don't think there is any particular problem.

Routine after arriving at work and during work

In order to reduce decision-making,
I also "fix" all of the following.

• Decide on the routine after waking up in the morning
• Do not choose clothing
• Decide on the flow after arriving at work
• Decide on how to organize materials and where to put them

Such small accumulations
greatly influence the peace of mind of the day.

—

4. Acquire your own strengths

The reason why people depend on their current company is
"because I am anxious about whether I can be useful at other companies"
I think it boils down to this.

There might be anxiety about human relationships, but
if you are an ordinary person, you will definitely get used to it eventually.

Even if you don't intend to change jobs,
I strongly recommend knowing your own market value.

Register on a job change site,
and just by grasping "how much annual income can be expected"
with your profile and work history,

when you want to quit the company,
the magnitude of anxiety will be completely different.

Strengths are "differentiation"

Your own strengths are
points where you are differentiated from others.

In my case, I work in construction,
originally I was doing construction management, but
I worked hard and became able to draw blueprints too.

Personnel who can do "construction management + design"
are not that many.

It is not easy to do both, but
in addition to that,
I also had confidence in the speed of my work.

At my previous company, I established this strength, and
I also had pride that I was a valuable person.

So, even if executives or others said something,
I didn't worry more than necessary.

My final education is high school graduate, but
when I registered on a job change site
hoping for an annual income of 8 to 10 million yen or more,
I was approached by over 20 companies.
I declined all of them, though.

Not education,
what you can do
how much reproducibility you have
I felt that these were being looked at.

I don't know what kind of work you are doing, but
please try to be conscious of acquiring "at least one ability that can differentiate you from others."
If you have that,

you will naturally be able to stand in a superior position at the workplace.
—

Lastly

What I really think is,

Japanese people care too much about the other person's feelings,
and there are too many people who are swayed by emotions.
After doing what you should do,

there is no point in worrying.
I think there is nothing more wasteful than

the time spent in an anxious state of mind.
Pursue only finishing work quickly.

Do not think about unnecessary things.
Just that.

It is by no means a difficult thing.
I hope this article

will be a hint for you to work without stress
and with a rich heart.
Thank you for reading until the end,

thank you very much