70 days left — connecting the dots

Hey there!

This is Oda, who recently learned about the greatness of Steve Jobs.

#Late

#By the way, I watched Naoki Hanzawa about six years later

#and was the only one who had a boom of the double-back boom

 

Today's article will be long.

It will take about 10 minutes to read.

 

connecting the dots

 

I've come to feel that this phrase is the most powerful phrase in life.

 

When you are lost in life, when things are tough, when you are worried, I would be happy if you remembered today's article at such times.

 

First, this phrase in Japanese is

 

『Connecting the dots』

 

It means this.

 

『Let's do a lot of things you think are necessary to achieve your future goals (let's make dots).

Let's connect these dots and eventually achieve our goals.』

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you think this?

 

To start with, the answer is incorrect.

 

 

Don't get upset because you were wrong.

Please listen to what I'm about to say with an open mind.

 

It will absolutely, absolutely be useful in your future life.

 

 

And, I could tell you the correct meaning of 『connecting the dots 』 first, but I deliberately want you to just read what I'm about to say.

 

And, while reading what I'm about to say, please think about what the correct answer is.

 

Now, please.

 

 

 

I was born in Takeo, Saga Prefecture, as the youngest son in a family of five.

 

My father's main work was in real estate, civil engineering, and construction,

and my mother is a part-timer.

 

I have two older sisters, and currently, my sisters run a children's photo studio called Happy Studio.

 

Since I was young, I was the type of person who would keep doing things I was interested in.

 

And, when my friends asked me to join the soccer club together, I said I'd join in 0.1 seconds!

I started playing soccer in third grade, and I gradually became more and more absorbed in it.

 

I was the captain in elementary and junior high school, and the vice-captain in high school.

My soccer level was

selected for the prefectural team (from elementary to high school)

In junior high school, we were the prefectural runners-up and went to the Kyushu tournament

In high school, I went to the national tournament five times with Saga Higashi High School

I was featured in the newspaper a lot

Even now at 34, I'm still playing for a community team

 

That's how it is.

 

Well, I was quite a celebrity in Saga Prefecture during my student days.

 

When I went to the national tournament in high school, I sold commemorative towels to my classmates and friends to raise the funds for the trip.

With that money, I was somehow able to participate in the national tournament.

 

 

I forgot what grade I was in elementary school, but my father suddenly stopped coming home.

 

Our family had a lot of arguments between my parents, and I have no memory of going on a trip with all five family members.

 

My father always came home completely drunk and acted out at home.

 

I remember throwing a plate with my mother's hamburger on it like a shuriken, the plate broke, and my mother and three children screamed and cried.

 

Actually, I don't have many memories of my childhood.

 

I talk with my wife, and my wife often talks about her childhood.

 

However, I have completely lost my memories of when I was around the same age.

 

It was probably caused by 'fear', and my brain probably deleted the memories on its own to help me survive.

 

Well, that's how it was, so when my father stopped coming home, naturally we couldn't pay the mortgage on the house, so we sold the house and all moved into my grandmother's house.

 

In short, we were a very poor family.

 

I heard later from my mother that without my grandmother, they were thinking of committing family suicide.

That's how desperate our family situation was.

 

However, at that time, we were able to somehow continue living thanks to the support from various people.

We didn't receive a large amount of support from one specific person, but we were able to somehow continue living while receiving a little help from our neighbors and friends.

I'm really grateful.

 

From then until I got married, I lived at my grandmother's house.

 

Currently, my parents are not divorced, but they live separately.

 

Now my father is calm, and we meet about Obon and New Year's plus a little more.

 

 

This is roughly my family background and sports history.

 

At 19, I became a firefighter, which was my dream.

 

After becoming a firefighter, I made many seniors.

My age was 199 out of 200.

 

Wanting to somehow get along with my seniors, I participated in all the invitations from my seniors.

 

Whenever there was an invitation, I said I'd go in 0.1 seconds!!

 

Since there were many drinking invitations, when I received a call from a senior at night, I would get ready to go out before hearing the content, and I got the nickname of a man whose time from being invited to arriving at the izakaya was terrifyingly fast.

 

Because I was that kind of man, the invitations from my seniors kept increasing.

 

 

In the midst of that, I was invited by a certain senior to an outdoor festival called Sunset Live in Itoshima. I said I'd go in 0.1 seconds!

 

 

That's where I first encountered Sunset Live.

 

It's a great live where you can drink and sing happily.

 

Seeing that, another senior invited me to volunteer at Sunset Live. I said I'd do it in 0.1 seconds, and I did garbage sorting volunteer work for 2 years.

 

 

Seeing that, a senior asked me if I would sell things at Sunset Live.

I said I'd do it in 0.1 seconds! and sold alcohol with all my might.

 

That store was named after an Australian beach called Manly, and the president is someone who runs a working holiday business to Australia.

 

It's been about 10 years since I met that president this year.

 

 

I also did my fire department work with all my might.

 

It's natural to do the given work with all your might, but I always thought of new things, proposed them, and took action.

 

 

As one of them, a team to promote the fire department headquarters was formed, and I became a member of it.

 

I think I was about 25 years old at the time.

 

 

At that meeting, I made the most solid materials than anyone else, and made a sophisticated PowerPoint, and said I would use the 'Firefighter Muscle Calendar' to promote it.

 

As a result, it was rejected.

 

 

The fire department has an organization called the Firefighter Association, which is like a labor union.

 

I received an offer from the youth department head of this organization, and I said I'd do it in 0.1 seconds.

 

Through this department head's experience, I made acquaintances with firefighters from other headquarters.

 

This organization exists to solve various workplace issues, and I learned a lot about working environments and wages here.

 

In this, I had an opportunity to learn about the public servant retirement extension issue, and it became a chance to concretely think about how I will become in the future.

 

About this, simply put, I learned that retirement is extended to 65 years old, and when I am 60 years old, the number of employees aged 54 and over will be 110/200.

 

The Reiwa 1 heavy rain occurred in Saga.

My hometown was submerged over a wide area.

 

There were deaths even right near my grandmother's house, and 3 lives were taken.

 

On that day, I was doing rescue activities continuously for 15 hours with a jet ski, and while rescuing, the local scenery I had seen since I was young completely changed, and I swore in my heart, 'I will absolutely revive this town.'

 

And, the moment the life rescue activity settled down after 3 days, I prepared the local Zenrin map I had previously purchased myself, called on Instagram, and went to the town with severe damage with my friends.

 

I went around one by one, wrote the needs on Zenrin, and broadcasted it to gather friends, and for about half a year, I did reconstruction volunteer activities every day on my days off.

 

 

Since I was doing activities centered around my firefighter friends before the city volunteer center was established

, it transitioned to a form of cooperating with the city volunteer center and private volunteer centers, and I also attended various adjustment meetings.

 

 

At this time, I realized that to advance reconstruction,

the number of people and the period are important.

It's like the image of 100 people volunteering for 1 day, not 1 person volunteering for 100 days continuously.

 

For details, please see the other article 'About the way of volunteering (Draft)'.

※ I will not publish it yet. I will post it right before retiring or after retiring. 

 

Also, in Reiwa 2 and Reiwa 3, there were heavy rain disasters in Saga, and the volunteer work ended up being done for 3 consecutive years.

The volunteer skills gradually became higher, and I met various people. 

 

Well, if I want to do it, I do it right away,

if I am invited, I immediately join,

and I was a person who actively investigated and internalized things I didn't know in work or anything.

The contents written here are about 1/1000 of that, and there are many other stories in work and private life.

 

Time flowed greatly and around September of Reiwa 5

 

There is a gathering called the Rescue Symposium where 1000 rescue personnel gather from all over the country, and you listen to the stories of the chosen ones.

 

 

As a special rescue team, I really wanted to go to this symposium from before, but I have never had a turn to me.

 

And this time, thinking that it's finally my turn, when it came to the stage of deciding participants, I bowed my head to the seniors who wanted to participate and asked them, 'I really want to go, so please let me go.'

 

They were all really kind seniors, and another senior who also wanted to go said to the chief, 'I will step down. Please let Oda go.'

 

And I was able to participate in the Rescue Symposium held in December.

 

 

 

However, a big change is born in my heart.

 

 

『I want to quit the fire department and do that business』

 

That is the firefighter muscle calendar business.

This business is already being carried out around the world, and Australia is particularly famous for it.

The idea is to sell calendars featuring shirtless photos of handsome, muscular firefighters and use the proceeds to help children in need.

Also, one of the products I was thinking about creating was the world's first daily calendar featuring 365 firefighters from across the country.

 

This feeling did not fit into a single day, and it grew stronger day by day.

 

 

And on a certain day in October, it turned into a resolution.

 

 

 

When I nervously consulted my wife,

she said,

 

『If it's you, I think you'll be fine.』

 

That is what she said.

 

It felt as if the fire in my heart suddenly flared up.

 

 

From then on, I began to spend all the time I used to spend playing on my days off, as well as part of my sleep time, on preparing to start a business.

 

And then, I thought of something.

 

 

 

『What should I do about the Rescue Symposium?』

 

 

That's right. I started to wonder if I should use the slot I had asked so much to be allowed to use, now that I had decided to quit.

 

 

But that guilt disappeared in an instant.

 

　

『My job is to learn more than anyone else, summarize it, and give back to my workplace. I will do this with all my might.』

 

That is what I realized.

 

 

I am going to Tokyo the day after tomorrow to participate in the Rescue Symposium.

 

There, I will study together with 1,000 firefighters gathered from across the country.

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, one of the calendar products I am thinking about is a daily calendar featuring 365 firefighters from across the country (essentially a photo book).

 

The biggest hurdle for my business is gathering 365 firefighters from across the country, and without gathering 365 models from across the country, the ideal form I envision will not be realized.

 

Because I have to carefully explain the business to each and every firefighter across the country who has the same passion as I do, and ask them to cooperate.

 

 

However, even if I want to explain it, I cannot even explain it if I have no connections. I have some firefighter acquaintances in the prefecture and Kyushu, but I only have a few in Honshu.

 

 

This was quite a bottleneck for me.

 

And then, a few days before the Rescue Symposium, the participant list arrived.

 

 

It stated an incredible number of fire departments from across the country, and that a total of about 1,000 people would be participating.

 

That is when I realized.

That it was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect with firefighters from across the country.

 

 

I wrote my phone number and LINE ID on the back of all 150 business cards I had.

I am now looking forward to meeting passionate firefighters at the Rescue Symposium.

 

 

That is the end of the episode so far.

 

 

 

What do you all think?

 

 

I will now summarize what has been said so far and bring the story to a conclusion.

 

・Due to family circumstances in my childhood, I was in a situation where I needed support and was helped by many people.

 

・Even at the national soccer tournament, I received support and help from many people in the same way.

 

 

・I researched the firefighter muscle calendar for the purpose of firefighter public relations and created presentation materials.

 

・I met someone who is well-versed in Australia.

 

・I learned that there is a retirement age extension issue.

 

・Through the Saga heavy rains, I volunteered and learned the essence of support.

 

・I went to the Rescue Symposium and met firefighters from across the country (planned).

 

 

Well, this is roughly what the summary looks like.

 

And this is part of the factors that led me to start a business.

 

The circumstances that led to starting the business are as follows.

 

『I want to start the firefighter muscle calendar business, which originated in Australia, with the power of the firefighters I love, in order to help children in need.

 

Regarding the basic idea of support, the ideal is to have many people across the country support (purchase) it for a reasonable amount over a long period of time.

 

For the models, I want to ask for cooperation mainly from the firefighters from across the country whom I met at the Rescue Symposium.

 

Also, in the future, I want to start a business supporting high school sports. (For details, see another article.)』

※This article will also be released quite a while later 

 

You already understand, don't you?

 

 

The experiences from when I was about 10 years old became dots, and they eventually connected, and that is why I made the choice to start a business.

 

 

At that time

What if my family situation hadn't been bad?

 

What if I had turned down the invitation to join the soccer club?

 

What if I hadn't become a firefighter?

 

What if I had turned down my senior's invitation?

 

What if I hadn't taken the public relations work seriously?

 

What if I hadn't become the head of the youth division?

 

What if the heavy rain disaster hadn't happened in my hometown?

 

What if I hadn't spoken up to do reconstruction volunteering?

 

What if I hadn't expressed my intention to go to the Rescue Symposium?

 

 

If any of those things had been missing, I might not have felt this way.

 

 

However, I didn't do these things with the intention of starting a business.

 

That's right.

 

 

Connecting the dots doesn't mean doing what is necessary toward a goal, but rather, when you are young, it is important to make as many large, bold dots as possible wherever you are.

 

 

These dots must not be small and faint.

 

 

Make as many large, bold dots as possible.

 

 

Then, someday, those dots will connect on their own, and an idea will come to you.

 

It is easy to think of this as a novel idea that just happened to come to you, but that is absolutely not the case.

 

 

It is the way you have lived your life so far (the dots) that automatically come together to form a single picture (a line).

 

In my childhood, I had a complex about my father not coming home.

 

I spent a lot of time and mental energy taking on and carrying out various things.

 

At times, while feeling ashamed or being disliked by others, I have done what I felt I had to do with all my might.

I pretended not to notice, but I was talked about behind my back and had many rumors spread about me.

I will probably be disliked and attacked by many more people in the future.

 

However, all of these experiences are the driving force behind who I am today.

 

I am now grateful for even the painful events of my past.

 

 

There is only one thing I can say to the person who is reading this.

 

『Even if it is from now on, make as many large, bold dots as possible.』

 

That is what I want to say.

 

 

They say that age has nothing to do with taking on a challenge, but it is reckless to take on a challenge without having seriously faced various things until now.

 It may be harsh, but that is probably the truth.

What are you talking about? You haven't even succeeded yet.

Some people may think that.

 

However, I am already happy.

Because I enjoy taking on new challenges every day and meeting new people and gaining new knowledge.

In a sense, I am already a success.

 

And I have an unshakeable confidence.

I will absolutely make the firefighter calendar business take root in Japan.

 

From here on,

this is only for people who are not satisfied with the status quo

and want to change something.

Please stop reading here if you are not one of those people, as it will only make you feel uncomfortable.

 

 

 

 

 

To you,

I will say something similar once again.

 

I think there are people who have not yet decided what they want to become or what they want to do.

There may also be people who have already decided what they want to do or are already doing it.

 

However, that does not matter.

 

What you can do from now on is to keep making dots.

 

Please take a look at your life.

Please take a look at your actions.

Every day, are you making yourself stand out by worrying about what others are doing, making fun of others, and putting them down? Are you playing games on your smartphone every day, gambling, drinking, reading articles about celebrity scandals online, and saying things like 'finger-killing' to people you have never met and barely know?

Please take a look at your actions toward your work.

 

If you do not make any dots, all you will have to talk about are stories of past glory, rumors about others, insults toward others, and complaints about the world.

Can you say such things to a child?

 

To a child,

I want to say, 'Today, I tried this!'

But it didn't work!

But I won't give up! I will try again tomorrow!

You should try too!

Don't you want to say that?

 

If you face anything seriously, it will surely become a large, bold dot in the future.

 

That dot will become a major clue and, someday, a guide for your life.

 

 

I have not yet accomplished anything, but now I truly understand the meaning of Steve Jobs' speech, which I had heard in the past but which had not resonated with me, and I can now put it into words as my own story. This means that I was able to make a dot.

That is what it means.

 

Of course, I want to continue taking action and making large, bold dots from now on.

 

This story has become quite long.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article.

 

 

I hope that simply reading this long article to the end becomes one of the dots in your life.

 

 

When the time comes, please tell me the story of how you "connect the dots" over a drink.

 

 

#I've been writing nothing but passionate stuff lately, lol

#It's probably because my retirement is approaching that I'm instinctively trying to leave behind what's truly important

#Thanks for sticking with my passionate articles

#See you tomorrow