How a cup of coffee could defeat your worst enemy...

I’ve not been to Japan before.

But I’d love to go – it’s definitely on my bucket list now the kids are older!

They seem to do things a little differently over there…

Especially when it comes to self-help methods.

As you might know from reading these articles, I’m a big follower of a Japanese technique called ‘Kaizen’.

It’s where you take very small daily actions towards a big goal, gradually improving your life, day by day.

They also have a concept known as ‘Ikigai’.

It means understanding your ‘reason for being’… your purpose in life, or your ‘reason for getting up in the morning’ – and then following it!

Those reasons could be things like money and business success… but often they’re things like friendship, spending time in nature, watching students improve, helping your team succeed, getting thanked by a customer.

In?The Little Book of Ikigai, author Ken Mogi shows how even the smallest things that give you pleasure can boost your sense of ikigai.

Like a simple cup of coffee, for instance!

He writes:

“No matter where you are in the world, if you make a habit of having your favourite things soon after you get up (for example, chocolate and coffee), dopamine will be released in your brain, reinforcing the actions (getting up) prior to receipt of your award (chocolate and coffee).”

And while I am on the subject of coffee and self-help, a Japanese businessman has come up with something that could help you overcome your worst enemy in course creation…

The number one dream killer!

I can say, hands down, that procrastination is the No.1 killer of any dream.

It has murdered amazing novels… killed off brilliant business ideas… and left potentially best-selling courses lying unfinished.

Because the hard part is not usually the tech or the ideas…

It’s the?getting things done…

It’s the ability to take something from an idea to an actual course that’s out there making money.

When it comes down to it, your worst enemy is your own mind.

We all have a natural human tendency to avoid pain and suffering, and gravitate towards pleasure.

This is why we all procrastinate when faced with a difficult task.

For instance…

• You can’t quite sit down and focus for long enough…
• You keep getting distracted by chores, the news, or Netflix…
• Suddenly everything becomes more interesting or more important than the project you are working on…
• Your head fills with other ideas for things you could do instead…
• You get stuck on the small and unimportant details for weeks and months…

So you drift… aimlessly… wasting time… until eventually…

Your project grinds to a halt.

Believe me, I am guilty of this too!

But this new café in Tokyo may have some of the answers.

The secrets of the ‘procrastination café’

The?‘Manuscript Writing Café‘?is aimed at people who are struggling with their work projects.

Customers include small business owners… start-up entrepreneurs… freelancers… artists… writers… filmmakers… proof-readers… editors… anyone who doesn’t have an office space with a boss or manager standing over them.

When they go into the cafe, they have to write down their goal for that day’s session on a board for all to see.

Then they are ushered into chairs that don’t allow for slouching, where their laptops are plugged into high-speed wi-fi docking ports.

They can also pay for the owner to come and nag them about their progress.

Sometimes he stands behind their chair to check that they’ve made progress. And on the way out, they get asked if they’ve hit their target.

It seems to be working, too!

Uhyou Kitami, one of the customers from the?Manuscript Writing Café, is a comic book artist. She says:“I’ve made quite a lot of progress. It’s not that the atmosphere inspires you … once you sit down you have no alternative but to get on with it.”

Now, while I’m not suggesting you fly to Tokyo just to get your project moving…

There are some things you can take from this idea.

How to avoid procrastination

First off, the Café is a space that you have to go to, away from home and all its distractions (unwashed dishes, un-mowed garden, unwashed laundry, hi-fi system, TV, fridge full of food…)

If there’s a library or a quiet café near you, then it could be worth going there in order to get an important task done, away from all of that.

However, going to a library or café is not something we can all do easily.

So what you can do instead is create a space in your home which is free of distractions.

Remove any devices like TVs and radios, switch off your phone, and clear any distracting clutter.

Then schedule a specific time that you are going in that space to work and set a specific goal too.

Just like in the café, write down on a piece of paper what the aim of your next work session is. Be clear about precisely what you are going to achieve in that time slot.

Paste that onto the wall, or a pinboard, or to the back of your computer screen.

Close the door and then focus on that goal for the allotted time and don’t come out of the room until it is done.

I recommend that you use the Kaizen technique and set only ONE achievable goal – for instance, it might be a word count (if you’re writing course material), a piece of video training to watch, or a task, like deciding on a topic or title.

Make sure you give yourself a reasonable time limit – maybe an hour or less. This will make it likely that you hit your target and get that buzz of satisfaction afterwards.

Do this once or twice a week and you might be surprised how steadily and easily your course progresses.

You could even replicate the figure of the nagging café manager by telling a spouse or family member what your goal is for that session… and get them to check that you have done it when the time is up!

Anyway, hopefully, this might help.

And if you want to know more about Kaizen, check out this blog post on my website:?The Kaizen Secret