Time is opportunity

Some CDs arrived in the last week. I purchased audio books so I can listen to them while I'm driving. One day I was calculating how much time I spend in my car because I have to efficiently use this time especially while I'm working such as making calls. Average time I spend in my car to drive is around an hour a day which mean I am going to spend 365 hours a year. I also broke down this time into different situations. 3 hour MBA class can be 122 classes, an hour business meeting can be 365 meeting, 30 mins of phone call to family and friends can be 730 phone calls, and listening pop music by getting frustrated by traffic jam can be zero.


Seven Habits, Think and Grow Rich, and How to Win Friends and Influence People are the audio CDs I purchased this time. I am going to continuously listen to those books in this year because I think those authors are saying universal facts for success and happy life. Also, I installed a book in my kindle tablet so I can utilize my time for reading like when I'm waiting for my food at restaurant and so on.


Time is money and opportunity to grow another money in the future.


So the first quarter of this year is over. This coming quarter is the time when I became the top sales at my company. There is even no second to waist my time by just driving, complaining things I can't control. I hope these audio books maximize my performance.


And I hope those who read this blog have a nice start in the second quarter!!

Go for it!! Chuji,

My Goal

Experience LA marathon a week ago, I would say that now I'm hooked on running... Although I didn't run in this weekend for my legs to get recover from the 26 miles running in the passed weekend, I'm already started planning OC and Longbeach marathon. Many folks know the west coast is a good surfing spot, but I found here has so many running events. I hope my knees won't break before beating all of them.


Biggest reason that I don't quit running now is I couldn't achieve my goal for LA marathon. The time was not only enough to meet my goal, but it also so disappointed me. I can't just quit running now because I always do what I said I would do. Goal is for me to achieve instead of just to set. I set a difficult but achievable goal, break down processes, and implement it day by day. So now because I am disappointed by how I ran, I made new break downs and plans to achieve it at least in Long beach marathon in October.


Set a goal in order to achieve is always not easy although just setting goal takes just one second. Last week, one of my mentors in Manhattan emailed me an interesting presentation slides to me. This slides was spoke by the founder of Linkedin, Reid Hoffman. http://www.businessinsider.com/career-advice-from-linkedins-founder-2013-3#-8 in this presentation, he mainly says that you are an entrepreneur in your own career no matter what field you are in.

• Figure out and improve your competitive advantage and maximize this ability in a niche field
•  Your aspiration, your assets (knowledge, skills, and capital if needed), and market movement work at the same time for success
• You never complete your goal. You have to continuously learn and set plans to fill out those gaps
• Network matters. The people you spend time with shape the person you are today and the person you aspire to be tomorrow.
• Risk is many times smaller than you think

I think his presentation is very useful for many folks including me. Attending networking, asking introduction, aspire each other...Lots of things jumped into my to-do-list from his presentation.


So many things are waiting for me on my to-do-list.


I can't wait for Monday to come!!


Go for it!! Chuji,

In your mind

I have been having busy days to work. Different job things are in an out my brain 24/7, but it's always fun to beat difficult stuff. In my job, it's also fun to see new people. I think in average I meet 2 or 3 new people to get to know each other, and most of them are business owners.


I listed, as one of my goals at the beginning of this year, that I meet one millionaire per month so that I can be like them in my future. Again, this is how I get close to my dream. So this month, I met an Indian food restaurant owner. Addi's Tandoor  is the most delicious Indian restaurant in South Bay, and I could hear the owner's story because he is one of my clients.


He was a business owner in India until he was 25 years old. Because of a lot of business troubles, he went to bankrupt although his business was quit profitable. His friend in the US prepared a visa for him so he can move out of his country. He rent $100 from his sister in India. He transferred his plane at Narita, Tokyo, but he had to stay one night there because of bad weather in Tokyo. Because he had to spend some money in Tokyo, he had only $12 when he arrived Los Angeles.


Since then, he worked 24/7 at different restaurants for three years by saving pennies day by day. After that he finally started his own restaurant again. Because he already knew how to run and manage restaurant business, it's understandable that now many people open doors at his restaurant to enjoy authentic Indian foods. Now he drives 2013 Mercedes, and often travels the World.


"Chuji, you have to focus on one thing. Because you can not control most of things, so many things come into your road as obstacles. But you always shouldn't forget what you want to do. What you want to do is always in your mind instead of other people or economy"


Focus on one thing, and keep making efforts.
It's easy, but tough to continue. I want to do that. I want to achieve it. Yes I can do it!!


Go for it!! Chuji,

It would be wonderful.

I had busy weeks these days. My mom, my old friend, and his family were visiting me from Japan for a week. I took them as many fantastic places in LA as I could while they were here, and I also showed them the places like where I work and where I used to study. Because they have never been in LA, it was interesting to see things which got their interest such as people, car, and weather. Also, it's impossible for me to satisfy the shopping monsters from Japan...

Anyway, it's always hard for people, who live far from their families like me, to spend time together with family. I usually don't get home-sick at all even though I am the only one in the US from my family members, but I saw that my mom was like on the top of the World to be with her son. She was always with me especially when I was playing baseball. That was a huge part of her life. Whenever I go ground, she follows me. Whenever I go run, she follows me. After playing baseball, she laundries my stuff and massages me. I didn't feel anything special for her who gives me such attentions, but now I started realizing that I am still the huge part of her life and I left her. 

I am sure that she was expecting me to live close to her at least in Japan, but I have even left my country, and we only meet once a year compared to 365 days a year. When I saw her tears when we said Good bye, I was feeling a little sorry for her to be selfish...Now she has to wait for me a half more year...

In Japanese tradition, kids, especially son, tend to live with its parents. Although we have been modernizing our living style, many of my friends are trying to live close to their parents. But I believe the place to live is not only way to repay for parents. I have been taking so much risks to live over sea only by myself compared to others in Japan, and I have been living out every single day. I will get American dreams and contribute to societies through business. By maximizing this contribution, I will be also financially successful so I can have places for my parents and families to live. Also I will have my own family in this country and show them to my family once in a while. Also I will get public honors in the near future, and my family get to know how I'm shaking the world through TV and news paper. That's how I would like to repay for them. 

Again, I left my family, but there are still millions of opportunities for me to devote to my parents. 

I will do it. I also hope my kids in the future will find this writing, and they know how I started living in this country. What wonderful it would be!!

Go for it, Chuji

People

My mom and our family friends are going to visit me in a couple of weeks. My family and the family who are coming with my mom have been close more than 20 years. We have been talking over LINE about what to do and where to go. As Japanese people always are, their main interest is shopping and shopping. It must be so stressful to deal with their interest, but yes, please spend more money in the US economy!! Also, whenever I drive around my neighborhood in my sales job, I tend to be like "what about this place for them to visit?", "they might like this restaurant!!". It's always fun to imagine how I can surprise her. Because I have been over sea these years such as America, the Silk Road, and Africa, I don't know how people who have not so much traveled around would feel about where I live and what to see. For example, one my favorite food, Mexican food should be super saggy, and American people are so noisy when they speak...


But anyhow, I am eager to please them while they are in LA. I am going to introduce them not only typical sightseeing spots, but also my close friends, company, and where I used to study. I am already proud of that I am surviving in a different country by myself. I am sure that my mom would be impressed not only by LA's weather, but also how I live out every single day in this community. In the super near future, I have a plan to buy them houses, cars, and golf courses, but for now, what I can do is to show them people around me.


"I am now glad that I let him leave us. He is doing great by himself. I want to visit him again as soon as I can maybe to see my grandchild" That's how she would be feeling on her way back to Japan.


Go for it!! Chuji,

How will history see me?

"How will history see me?"... The title of the Economist published a week ago caught my eyes when I was reading several articles in this weekend. This article is writing about how/what President Obama should work on in his second presidential term, but the contents in this article is not my object. Yes, politic is very important, but there are millions of other ways for us to change our society such as business, sharing information in SNSs, and individual volunteer activity for your local community. We are not passive any more to create and run our life. We have power, right, and obligation to engage with our life.


So, I think the title, "How will history see me?", is very good to have as my perspective in my days. I have no  complain of my life so far, but I think I have tended to have a short-term perspective in these days because my job makes me keep running everyday. This saying helps me to hold my eyes up so I can have bigger perspective in every moment.


When I have things I have to finish in a minuet, when I faced a problem that I need to work on right way, when I was running late to arrive at my appointment, when I have an opportunity to gain a short-term benefit, this is the moment to ask myself "How will history see me?". I came to this country not only for financial/individual success, but I also will change and impact the world. This contribution will be as worthy as winning a novel prose or becoming on an US bill's face.


Don't fawn for pennies... How you make you day is less important than how I can bring happiness for people in coming generations. I would like to write "How will history see me?" on a piece of paper and attach on my laptop.


Go for it!! Chuji,

Be Chuji,

What part of your job do you like?



I was a bad boy and always a trouble maker in class when I was a kid because it was super tough for me to keep listening to my teacher or keep focusing on one thing during class. Instead, I was always confident that I was speaking in class more than my teacher did. Whenever my teacher started trying teach me, I closed my ears, and there were a lot of BSs in my brain instead of new learning. So, yes I like my sales job because I have to always be around to visit clients in the entire Southern California. Also, I like to meet new people not only for my business, but also I love to know their thoughts, vision, and personality. In my job, I am so lucky because people I meet are pretty diverse. They are sometime new entrepreneur, doctor, manager at a huge company, and experienced chef.



In the last week, I was visiting a sales manager at a mega company. He, wearing a nice suit and Ferragamo, is very smart and creative. We were talking about how my company and I are able to leverage their business in this local area instead of international wide that they have been successful in this 30 years. The meeting went well, and I believe he was satisfied with what I was trying to offer. At the very end of meeting, a little passed 6pm, Friday, I asked him "I would like to be a successful sales guy like you. I just started my career after my master program half year ago. I would appreciate any advice you give to me. What do you think I need to do such as habits to install in my days, people to meet, and book to read maybe?"



And he said, "Chuji, there is no advice I can give to you. You already have it, so keep going. I receive millions of calls from sales people everyday, but I decided to set a time with you because you always try to listen to me instead of introducing how much your product will bring profit to me. Your skill might not be enough yet, but don't listen to other people so much because the most important thing is keep being Chuji. You have to open ears always, but it doesn't mean you have to follow their direction. Don't forget things only you can do. This is reason people buy from you. Also, my Ferragamo shoes are just ornament, so you don't have to follow my outfit either.



"Be Chuji..." This is what I was thinking when I was driving back to home in the night. Yes, I think I agree with him. There are always values that only I can create. I hope there will be more and more values on Chuji in the future. By continuous efforts in my job, I want to create Chuji values in my business to impact the world. So, what is the things only you can make?



Go for it!! Chuji,