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NOW ONA lot of the information that informs me of how to make decisions and what I focus my activities on when creating businesses, earning money, and doing marketing comes from books. Again, I rely on really smart people, and a lot of really smart people have put their information in written form in books. YouTube is very new, video content is very new, audio content is very new, yet there have been smart, intelligent, wise people for thousands of years, and I read a lot of books. This is one of my favorite books, the Hagakure, which goes back hundreds of years and covers actually hundreds of years of samurai and shogun wisdom from the people who ruled Japan and the warriors of Japan that really ruled society. There's a lot of great information in this book, and this was recently translated into English. I'm going to go over a few quotes. It's a collection of short stories, but I'm going to go over a few quotes from this book to give you a little sampling of this so that you can also, you know, I can impart this wisdom to you.
This is a different video from what you may be used to, and if you don't like this, just feel free to move on to the next video. But maybe you'll get something. Now, here's the first quote from this book: 'If you vigilantly examine your own heart, it will become clear how many bad thoughts are invoked in your mind each day. You should never be contented with yourself. But even so, the way a samurai should approach life is different. Again, if you don't believe rather audaciously that you are the singularly most gallant warrior in Japan, it will be difficult to exhibit true valor. The extent of one's courage is evident in one's confident attitude.'
You know, a lot of my students in my training programs, they'll start and then they'll doubt themselves, and they'll quit. You know, they'll say, 'E-commerce is a scam, internet marketing is a scam, stock trade, you know.' They just say all these businesses are scams and they run away. Those thoughts are normal when you're starting a business that's not going to work out. You just kind of got to cast them away, not dwell on them. If you are prepared to get wet from the start, the result is still the same but it is no hardship. This attitude can be applied to all things.
This one's cool: 'A calculating man is a coward; he is afraid of death, which is why he is a disgrace. Moreover, erudite men conceal their cowardice and avarice through their wit and glibness. Their cloak of deception tricks others into overestimating them.' What this quote means to me is that always being a calculating man, always thinking, right... and I'd say I get stuck in this sometimes personally, is that I'm always thinking of all the angles, trying to calculate things, trying to figure out the best way to do things, trying to figure out the best, you know... I get these questions from my students - the best traffic source, what is the best product to market on Facebook, what is the best affiliate network to join, what is the best... you know, people are cowards, really.
Here's passage 147 from book one: 'A warrior who reflects on his faults and spends his life training with all of his might will become a treasure to the clan.' Now what this quote means to me is that, again, we're going to have faults and even though this book is saying blindly, almost blindly follow a path, self-reflection is important. Self-awareness of where you're not good is important.
Here's passage 149 from book number one in the Hagakure: 'Be sure to engage with someone fully as you converse. Regardless of how inspiring your comments may be, they will be ineffectual if the person is not following you.' Now what this quote means to me is... listen well, okay? Two ears, one mouth. All of us have been in a sort of conversation where maybe you're saying something and another person tries to interject their thoughts, or you try to interject your comments into their conversation.
This is passage 147 from book one in the Hagakure: 'What's more, if you are killed in the fray, be sure that your corpse falls in the direction of the enemy.' What this tells me is that if you are going into battle, you want to die forward. You don't want to die on your heels. When you're becoming an entrepreneur, you need to go all in, okay? Just like going into battle, I think people are so weak these days, personally.
Passage 163 from book one of the Hagakure: 'Always act politely and with an air of humility for the good of others. This is the same for married couples as well. If you remain as thoughtful as when you met for the first time, there will be no reason to quarrel.' Samurai wisdom, right? Who knew that samurais had relationship wisdom?
Passage 173: 'Read books from your gut; your voice will falter if you only read from your mouth.' So when I'm reading from my mouth, I'm reading like this. When I'm reading from my gut, I'm reading like this. When you talk from your gut, which is lower down, you're talking from your gut. It feels like you're talking down here. When you're talking from your mouth, you're talking from your throat. When you speak from your gut, it makes you come across more confident.
Passage 174: 'Those who revel when times are good will wither in adversity.' This was true for me, actually. I made millions of dollars one year and I proceeded to spend it all and the next year, I lost a million dollars. This happened back in 2014, and I had to... I was in debt for a short period of time to the government for back payments on taxes that I wasn't able to pay because once again, I freely spent.
Passage 184: 'A man of stature should speak with brevity.' 'When Nabashima Ichium Onakure, the only thing that Nichimon uttered was, 'Pass on my regards to Tango-no-Kami.' What this says to me is just simply, less is more. Speaking fewer words is more effective than trying to fill in all of the empty space with useless information.
Passage 185: 'More than with wisdom and discretion, a man under 40 should attend to his duties with tenacity.' This is very straightforward. If you're under 40, teens, twenties, thirties, you should be crazy about business if you're trying to make money. And you should be a freaking workhorse.
Passage 193: 'Make up your mind to boldly advance without hesitation whenever your honor as a samurai is at stake. In any case, just give yourself over to insanity and sacrifice yourself to the task.' Whoa, give yourself over to insanity? It's pretty gnarly. What this says to me is it's about your family, it's about your reputation, defend that because our name, our personhood, is really all we have.
Q: What is the Hagakure and where does the wisdom come from?
A: The Hagakure is a book that contains wisdom from samurai and shogun rulers of Japan. The wisdom in the book spans hundreds of years and provides insights on various aspects of life.
Q: How does the Hagakure advise dealing with negative thoughts and taking confident action?
A: The Hagakure emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and a confident attitude. It suggests that one should vigilantly examine their own heart to understand their thoughts and believe in themselves as a gallant warrior to exhibit true valor.
Q: How does the Hagakure approach facing challenges in business?
A: The Hagakure advises not to dwell on negative thoughts or doubts when facing challenges in business. It suggests being prepared for challenges and maintaining a positive attitude throughout.
Q: What does the Hagakure teach about choosing action over overthinking?
A: The Hagakure warns against being a calculating man and always trying to figure out the best approach. It suggests that overthinking can lead to cowardice and deception, and encourages taking confident actions instead of constant calculations.
Q: How does the Hagakure emphasize self-reflection and training to improve?
A: The Hagakure acknowledges that warriors will have faults but advises reflecting on those faults and training with determination. It suggests that self-awareness and continuous training are key to becoming a valuable asset.
Q: What does the Hagakure say about the importance of effective communication?
A: The Hagakure highlights the importance of engaging fully in conversations and ensuring that your message is being effectively communicated. It suggests that polite and thoughtful communication leads to better understanding and harmony in interactions.