日本語で読む | English
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“Building up small things is the only way to reach somewhere extraordinary.”
Ichiro, wording quoted on the official Yunker website (Japanese). English translation prepared for this article; not an official translation.
When we set a big goal, our feelings grow bigger, too.
Exercise every day starting tomorrow. Begin studying something new. Produce different results at work.
Yet what we can actually do today is smaller than we imagined. Read a few pages. Finish one preparation. Revise a little of what we have written.
“Can something like this really make a difference?” When facing that question, I want to remember Ichiro’s words.
Think about big results through small actions
Toshin’s introduction to this quotation (Japanese) also presents these words about building up small things as a remark from the press conference after Ichiro broke the Major League Baseball single-season hits record in 2004.
What I want to notice is that, when speaking about a great result, his words begin with “small things.”
It is not a shortcut where one extraordinary act takes us somewhere extraordinary. It is about building on the small things right in front of us.
I find encouragement here: even someone overwhelmed by the size of a goal has a place to begin.
Building on experience is more than repetition
Suppose you write an article every day.
Instead of simply writing as you did yesterday, shorten today’s opening. Fix a sentence that was hard to read. Check the source of a quotation.
From the outside, each looks like a small task. But checking and changing things one by one gives you more to notice as you write.
What follows is my own interpretation of these words. Perhaps building things up means not only doing something more often, but also carrying yesterday’s experience into today’s actions.
Even if something did not go well, thinking “Next time, I will try this” means the day does not simply disappear.
Do not judge today’s step only by its size
Of course, continuing small actions does not mean everyone will reach the same result. Circumstances, health, and the methods we choose also affect how we move forward.
So I do not want these words to become a guarantee of success or an instruction never to rest.
Instead, I want to keep them as a reminder not to dismiss what we managed today as worthless simply because results are not immediately visible.
You read one page. Checked one thing. Started writing one line.
On some days, that may be enough. When your energy returns, you can build on it again.
The power of words lies not in erasing what we cannot do, but also in helping us turn our attention back to what we can.
Change “I can only do something this small” into “I can begin with this small thing.”
You do not have to produce an extraordinary result today.
Add one small thing that connects to the future. Let us try not to undervalue that one thing ourselves.