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Why does a difficult task suddenly make tidying your desk feel so urgent?
Before starting the report, you check your email. Before answering the email, you check your calendar. Somehow it is lunchtime. You tell yourself you were preparing—which is technically a kind of activity.
A task can look largest before you have touched it.
Words for today
Act, and it can be done. Without action, nothing can be done. What remains undone is what people have not acted upon.
Uesugi Yozan — translated for this article
Original: なせば成る なさねば成らぬ 何事も 成らぬは人のなさぬなりけり. Yonezawa City’s account identifies these words in written guidance Yozan gave to retainers serving his heir, Akitaka, when Yozan moved to his retirement residence. The English wording above is this article’s translation, not an official English version.
An everyday reflection on these words
Touch the task before deciding it is impossible
The quotation places strong emphasis on action. Here, however, we will not use it to claim that effort guarantees success or that every unsuccessful person simply failed to try. The following is our own everyday application, not a complete account of Yozan’s intentions.
Instead, ask whether you have already declared something impossible without beginning it.
Consider a report due next week. Finishing it feels heavy. Opening the file and writing three headings is more concrete.
You might discover a section you can write immediately. Or you might find that essential information is missing. Either discovery gives you something that thinking alone did not.
Give beginning the name of an action
Get serious is difficult to put into a calendar. How would you know when you had done it?
Try naming a visible action instead. For a report, write its purpose at the top of the first page. For tidying, remove one empty box. For studying, read one question.
Small does not mean pointless.
If beginning reveals that you need help, you also gain a clearer question. Instead of saying only that you cannot do it, you can explain what you understand and which condition needs checking.
One thing for today: name your first move
Choose one postponed task and write its first physical action. Thinking about a new job becomes opening one listing. Reviewing your budget becomes opening this month’s statement.
You do not have to reach a final decision today. Let these words prompt a beginning rather than promise a result.
The desk can probably wait until afterward.
How are you feeling? Explore more words for courage.
Related reading
Laozi: A Long Journey Begins Where You Stand
Shinjiro Torii: Before Preparation Becomes a Place to Hide
日本語版を読む
Source
Yonezawa City: Uesugi Yozan’s history (Japanese). The quotation, this article’s translation, and the original reflection are presented separately.
A little inspiration for everyday living
In my Rakuten ROOM, I share everyday items we might put off buying for ourselves but would be happy to receive as gifts. Feel free to browse when you need something. (*^^*)
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Featured image not generated or assigned. Prompt: landscape 1200×630; sophisticated, quietly playful adult editorial illustration, deep teal, warm ivory, muted gold; notebook, pencil and a small stepping stone at lower right; no portrait. Largest text must be exactly: Act, and it can be done. Without action, nothing can be done. What remains undone is what people have not acted upon. Smaller text: Uesugi Yozan; The Power of Words; Translation for this article. Change line breaks only; no shortening, paraphrasing or punctuation changes. Prioritize quotation readability and generous margins. The image quotation must match the English article, not the Japanese original or headline. Inspect the generated image letter by letter before use; image verification is not yet performed.