To junior and senior high school students: Take one step and the world will change

Liam Lawson選手と話す山藤（左）

Whether you are a junior high or high school student or an adult, I think there are many things you are confused about. Especially when you are a junior high or high school student, you may suddenly be assailed by vague anxiety, wondering why you are studying or what the purpose of club activities is. I often find myself torn between the feeling that "I have to do something" and the feeling that "doing it is a pain."

Even when my club advisor or parents tell me to do something, I don't feel motivated at all, and I often feel like doing the opposite of what I'm told. I was hunted by such vague anxiety many times, but I also served as the project manager of this student team "Hayabusa Racing", and I'd like to introduce how I dealt with this anxiety while having an experience that seems like a dream.

The source of motivation

Obviously, we are all probably lazy. If it was a choice between doing something or not, we would choose "not to do it." However, strangely enough, sometimes when it comes to something I like, I think "I guess it's okay to do it."

For some people it's sports like soccer, for others it's games, or maybe programming (these are all things that I personally like).

If you have even the slightest bit of interest in something like that, I recommend you immediately enter a tournament or competition, especially one with a small number of participants where you can clearly feel that you can contribute to the team's results.

The important thing here is that you don't have to give it your all on this first challenge, but just try. As you try different things, you will probably suddenly feel some strong emotion. Those emotions could be anything from "I'm frustrated that I lost," "This is so much fun," or "I've never been more nervous than I've ever been," but just keep trying different things until you feel a strong emotion.

Staying motivated

So, when strong emotions arise, don't throw them away, but treasure them.

To "keep" something means to make sure you don't forget it anytime soon.

In fact, the biggest emotion that motivated me in starting this team was the disappointment of losing the tournament two years ago.

At first, it's fine to go along with that emotion and do your best, but when it comes to stubbornness, it's a different story. It's tiring, it's troublesome, and you don't want to do it. What you need for that is an "external factor."

In a normal club or company, this external factor would be an advisor or a boss, but for a middle or high school student who is alone, it is unlikely. So, they make it themselves. The easiest way is to start a team or club and make themselves the person in charge. By becoming the person in charge, they have to take responsibility no matter what, so they work hard.

There are plenty of ways to do this without forming a team.

First of all, talk about your vision for the future (becoming the best in the world, participating in this tournament, etc.) to the people around you, especially your parents and friends. This will make you feel that if you quit now, you will be betraying not only yourself but also the people around you.

In any case, you need to prepare yourself from the beginning so that your future self will continue to work hard.

The importance of each step

The important thing here is to first "try a variety of things."

This first step is probably the most difficult of all.

Not knowing what to do, not knowing what to do, taking a new step among so many people who are probably better than you. There is nothing more difficult in the world.

So what to do: Just wait.

I think everyone has had that moment. One day you come home and you feel like you want to change the world. That moment when you feel like you can do anything. That moment when you think, "It would be so cool if I could do this, for some reason."

It's important to do something spontaneous and irreversible at that moment.

For example, in the case of my team, I would decide to form a team, or I would tell potential members that I would be a member. If you want to learn guitar, you would go ahead and buy a guitar. Then, later on, you would naturally think, "I had to do this because of what I did at that time."

By repeating this process over and over, I think you will be able to find something that resonates with your emotions.

lastly

The reason why you are here is because of your "past self." I like to think of my "past self" and my "present self" separately. This is because, somehow, doing so helps me to focus on the "now."

Now, think about a year from now, what will your "future self" think of your "present self"? If you think about it that way, you might realize that if you had started playing the guitar a year ago, you would be super popular by now. You might not realize it. But the biggest waste of all is not to take the first step. And if there are people around you who are trying to do that, support them with all your might. This is what I would like to say to myself five years ago, when I was in the first year of junior high school.