Leveling Up by Setting Your Own Constraints

When you start challenging yourself with something new, it is often quite difficult at first.
However, once you get used to it to some extent, don't you find that it becomes hard to feel any further improvement in your skills?

Thank you for joining me again today!
I am Takehito Imai, an invention designer who creates new options!

When you can feel your skills improving, you have a sense of being able to do more,
and your confidence grows, which is great, but

once you get used to it, that is not always the case.

At times like that! This is the method I put into practice.

There is a method of training by setting constraints on yourself.

I mainly use this to improve my creative skills

(such as creating, designing, and technical development),
but it can also be used for sports and other challenges.

To make it easy to understand,

I will give some concrete examples of things I have actually done.

1. ・Intentionally using techniques I am not good at to create something

2. ・Sealing off techniques I am good at and trying it that way

3. ・Trying it without using digital tools

4. ・Trying it using only the latest technology

5. ・Improving only the functionality without changing the size (in development work)

6. ・Reducing the cost while improving performance (in development work)

7. ・Fitting a mechanism that has already been completed into a minimal space (in development work)

And so on, there are many more I could list.

Easy-to-understand methods and practical examples

① Trying it using techniques you are not good at
② Sealing off techniques you are good at and trying it that way
are easy to visualize.

For example, as a concrete example of trying to use the method you are bad at in ①
,

I used to take a long time to decide on lines when drawing with a pencil
. Since it is difficult to correct dark lines,
it takes courage to capture the shape.

As a countermeasure, I intentionally trained by drawing pictures with a ballpoint pen
from the rough sketch.

The ballpoint pen I use is one where the line is decided the moment you place it.

Then, it takes courage to start drawing on a blank sheet of paper with a pen,
but I practiced to get used to it.
This was exactly when I was drawing the illustrations for this note as well.
(I continued the note illustrations for about a year.)
Furthermore, I simultaneously practiced

drawing people and using colors, which I had a weakness for.

[Article: The story of overcoming 'weakness' in 'note']

Naturally, I couldn't draw well from the beginning,
so I ended up failing a lot and drawing dozens of times.

But in the meantime, I got used to failing,
and I realized that if I draw small at first, I can save energy and time per attempt,
and I started to feel that my ability was improving.

You might think,
"No way, that's just hard, is your actual ability really improving?"

You might think that.

Certainly, just doing things you are bad at
might not yield as good results as doing things you are good at.

However!
I made a discovery this week!

Recently, starting to draw with a pen has become a habit,
and I had even forgotten what I was challenging myself with, but

When I switched to a pencil and drew a rough sketch,
it was fast! Fast! (This is just my personal impression)

After all, I can make minor corrections with an eraser!
(It goes without saying)

And since my ability to draw people and use colors, which I had been training,
had of course improved compared to before,

I was able to finish what I thought I wouldn't be able to finish
with better accuracy than I thought!

Because there was such a practical benefit,
I wrote this article to tell you about it this time.

However,

Even if your actual ability improves,
is that ability a usable one?

That depends on what kind of training you do
and what kind of situations you encounter in the future.

However, besides improving your ability in that field, there is a major advantage.

It means that,

by feeling yourself improve, you gain confidence, and
confidence makes new challenges and achievements possible.

That is what it means.

I think this is important.

The feeling that 'I am constantly improving' leads to
a sense of self-affirmation that 'I am a person who can become capable of things I couldn't do before'
so

when you are hesitant about whether to take on something that seems difficult,
the number of times you think 'I'll give it a try' increases, and furthermore, while you are taking on the challenge,
the possibility of giving up also decreases.

As a result, the possibility of the challenge succeeding also increases.

That is what it means.

Since I think it might cause trouble if you try this method at work while you are not used to it,
it might be better to try it as a hobby or while you are a student.

Conclusion

By setting difficult constraints for yourself and training,
you can sometimes improve more than usual!

Let's create a better future!

⭐️⭐️Thank you for reading again today!⭐️⭐️
⭐️I would be happy if you could give me a like or a comment if you felt it was good⭐️

Postscript

The illustration this time was drawn with the constraint of 'not using a pen'.
What I found as a result was that sketching is fast, and it is easy to adjust subtle facial expressions.
But for the finishing touches, it takes time to make things clear.
That is what I found ＾＾
Don't you think the expressions look different from last week?

Short Story

Thank you for reading!

Thank you for the introduction.

Kishakoku-sensei. Thank you very much!