Tera’s Saying ーTeragoroku English Ver.ー

– A Message from Dr. Terashima –

50 Tips for Adults – Seven years back is ancient history –

November 15, 2004
Second Edition

 It’s been seven years since I made “Tera’s Sayings (Teragoroku): 50 Tips for Adults”. Since then, I have received encouraging words from many people. The idea for Teragoroku came to me when I was sick in bed, at home for two days for the first time since I started working at the university. At first, I felt a bit embarrassed by the idea, as I thought some people would say, “Who do you think you are?” or “You are so cocky,” but I decided to post it on the lab’s homepage anyway. Although it doesn’t mean that I always I live by them, I keep these tips posted in the hope that they help me reconnect with the graduates from the lab who are now working in the real world. When they visit our website, I hope they find this blog. I realise that I may be contradicting myself, but at the same time I wouldn’t want any youngsters taking these tips too seriously. The most important thing is to live an exciting life without being bound by a rulebook. However, when you are bored or feel sad, check out this blog, and if it cheers you up, I will be very happy. Please feel free to give me any comments.

From Toyohashi City

Tera’s Sayings (Teragoroku)

November 1997
First Edition

 In the fall of 1997, I got seriously ill for the first time in my life. I began thinking about how much longer I had in my life, and it made me feel a little somber as I laid in my bed. The number of students in our lab was increasing, so I put together some things I wanted to say to these young people who had such bright futures ahead. Try to read these tips when you get a chance. However, please keep in mind that what I wrote is not only about my experience, but also what I had read in books and what I heard and learned from people. I hope you understand this point. You are reading this thanks to my students who persuaded me to make my notes public. So, here I am, feeling a little bashful about posting them as Tera’s Sayings (Teragoroku) for everyone to see.

Let’s metamorphose

 I am not suggesting any sort of a perverted transformation. What I am suggesting is growth to the next higher stage by breaking out of one’s current shell, just like a butterfly’s metamorphosis: from an egg to a larva, from a larva to a pupa, and finally from a pupa to an adult. During a young person’s twenties and thirties, his or her views on life, society, knowledge, skills, and romance are almost complete. So, we can say that these years are most important. Don’t waste ten-plus years with halfway thinking.

 In their twenties, someone who is in academia might spend four years in college, one or two years in master’s studies, and a few more years in a doctorate program. Meanwhile, someone who is working may be facing the hardships of life. This is the period when the foundation of your life gets formed. So, I want you to feel fulfilled every day. This is also a period when your body and mind mature to become those of an adult. I understand that humans spend their whole life striving for self-realization, but especially during these younger periods, I want you to keep training yourselves in many areas. I’m sure that this all sounds very vague, and for that reason, I am posting these “50 Tips for Adults” below to give you a more detailed explanation of my philosophy.

＜50 Tips for Adults＞
  1. Have your own policies and philosophies about things. Don’t be opportunistic.
  2. Have an area of specialty and deepen it. Nurture it with great care. “Continuity leads to success.”
  3. Expand your interests to areas other than your specialty to gain basic knowledge and culture. Learning goes on throughout your lifetime. This is not the only time for learning. The best time to condition the soil is now. Learn a lot, including fun things. There are many things you can do when you get older, but there are certain things you can do only while you are young. “Youthful years pass quickly before one accomplishes much learning.” Keep doing what you want to do so that you won’t have regrets later. You decide the priority of what to do based on your values.
  4. Once you set your goal, keep working hard toward it. While you are working on your goal, you may have to control your desires and make sacrifices. If you are doing the same things as others, you will only get what everyone else is getting. When you are completely engaged with something, you grow even more as a person.
  5. Try to be consistent in your life. Being spotty and uneven drains you in the long run and could be physically harmful.
  6. Don’t blame others. You are responsible for the results of your own actions regardless of the circumstances.
  7. Read newspapers and other news sources carefully. Become a person who can provide interesting topics of conversation to others.
  8. Keep appointments and be punctual.
  9. Don’t hesitate to communicate and interact with others.
  10. Think carefully about what you say and think carefully before you act. Others will know you through your words and actions.
  11. People will talk about others, and that can make for uncomfortable situations. Don’t say anything that you might regret later. Don’t do anything that you will have to give an excuse for. Sometimes, however, criticising someone can release stress and may give you energy for tomorrow. Pay attention to the time, the place, and people you are talking to if you choose to criticise someone and do so cautiously. But, keep in mind that people speak badly about you as much as you speak badly about them.
  12. Words of greeting and gratitude should be said clearly and with a smile. If you are already following tips 8 through 12, you may be considered a highly-developed person. Practicing these tips is not that difficult, but there are many who fail to do so.
  13. When you give opinions about your specialty or something you are good at, speak in a confident and proud manner. It’s alright to have heated discussions sometimes. However, when you are wrong, correct your mistakes and apologize for them humbly.
  14. . In everyday conversations, don’t be pushy and aggressive unless you are 100% certain about the topic. When you don’t agree with another person’s opinions, listen to them carefully, check the facts, and then come to a conclusion. It is rather embarrassing if you are stubborn about something small like this, and people might think less of you. Go with an attitude of “que será, será” (what will be, will be). Sometimes, you win by losing. Too much fretting could make you sick.
  15. Don’t refuse to do your chores and legwork; do them willingly. Your bosses and subordinates will see your positive attitude and appreciate it. However, don’t just be a “yes man”. Have the courage to say “no” sometimes.
  16. Be a person whom your superiors trust and your subordinates respect. In order to become such a person, you can’t be two-faced. Live your life with dignity.
  17. Know your limits. Have networks in place so that you know who to go to for help and what to look up when you are in trouble. It makes a huge difference to have established networks. If you stay in your shell, there will be no improvement. Knowing how to get information is also your ability.
  18. Appreciate words of harsh advice and stern lectures. Know that those who give these are more caring than others.
  19. Find fine, smart, and respectable people and interact with them regularly to improve yourself. Don’t be a big fish in a small pond. It’s not good to blame your surroundings, your environment, and other people around you if things are not going well enough. If you are unsatisfied with the people around you, it’s probably because you yourself are boring. Everywhere you go, you will encounter someone you don’t like. Learn from them. There will always be great people around you. Look closely for them. You also need to have the ability to plan and create a positive environment on your own.
  20. Don’t shy away from something new or something that makes you uncomfortable. There is a huge difference between zero and one. Embrace challenges.
  21. Create a lifestyle that fits your personality. Draw from many sources and create own original lifestyle. Don’t copy someone else. Create things on your own. Don’t ever be embarrassed about doing something different from others. Have faith and courage.
  22. Live your life with a dream in mind.
  23. Have hobbies and methods to delight and comfort your heart. Have fun with life. Be amused by things in it.
  24. If you are in serious trouble or have hit the bottom, start from zero. Ultimately, if you have your health, a path will open up. Appreciate the fact that you are living. Get rid of vanity. When you have trouble, go back to the starting point. Let go of any negativity. That is also the time to have a “so-what” attitude and be thick-skinned.
  25. Don’t be uncomfortable with confusion. Everybody grows through conflicts. Think of being confused as something fun.
  26. Constantly read educational books outside of your expertise. Reading is a way to have a conversation with yourself.
  27. Gain the ability to look at yourself objectively. Also, train yourself to be able to judge others fairly.
  28. Become a person who can contribute to others and not only to yourself. Become a person who understands other people’s pain. Especially when you want to ask someone for a favor, win them over first and think carefully about the timing of your request.
  29. Try talking about the future of the world and the country sometimes. Don’t keep your head in the sand.
  30. Always be thankful to your parents as well as the people around you. Be caring toward your family and friends. “Pride goes before a fall.”
  31. If you can’t make a decision or are confused, choose the option that “goes with the flow.” Don’t ever choose an option that feels unnatural.
  32. When you feel that something is an opportunity or a challenge of a lifetime, put everything you have into it. There will be several moments like this in your life. Be ready to grab such opportunities. For this, keep sharpening your concentration.
  33. When you want to express your appreciation to others or congratulate others, do it in a way that makes the other person come away with a good feeling toward you. If you don’t feel like doing it that way, don’t bother doing anything at all. An act that ends halfway will only make the other person feel bad, and you will lose your dignity.
  34. Be as generous to others as you are to yourself, and be hard as on yourself as you are to others. Think of this as a basic principle.
  35. Have a long-term life plan and a short-term life plan. It’s important to have foresight and great organizational skills.
  36. Decide on your daily schedule before you start your day, and review your schedule before going to bed. In terms of system theory, a plan in the morning represents a feedforward control, and a review at night represents a feedback control. Do this twice a day.
  37. When you make a decision, be calm and ask yourself if that is really want you want. Be cautious, as if you are “knocking on a strong stone bridge before crossing it.”
  38. Don’t compromise and settle for your current condition. Appreciate the joy of living and keep working toward the future you desire.
  39. Value encounters with people. Become a person who can socialize with a wide range of people. Learn a lot from many people. Don’t be biased.
  40. Listen closely to others. And, become a person who can proudly express his or her opinion in front of people. Don’t become a cowardly person who always finds fault in others.
  41. Humans train themselves every day and eventually come to self-realization. Dream big and let a beautiful flower blossom in your life. In order to accomplish this, you need to live every day with gratitude and fulfillment.
  42. Sometimes, ask yourself what you want, what you want to do, what you can do, what you must do, and in what way you can contribute. Also, distinguish what you must do on your own from what you should let others do. If you take everything upon yourself, you won’t be able to keep it up.
  43. What you want you should give to others. This is from the saying, “Your good deeds shall be repaid to you and your descendants.” In other words, if you keep doing good things, it will bring more happiness back to you.
  44. “The total sum equals zero.” This means that happiness and unhappiness throughout everyone’s life offset each other in the end. When happy, work harder and suffer for others. In that way, more happiness will come to you.
  45. “The boughs that bear the most hang the lowest.” The higher you get promoted, the more modest you should be. If you are full of yourself, you will be viewed as the emperor in the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” When you bow, do so properly and without hesitation. You lower your head for yourself, not for anyone else. In this way, you won’t feel angry.
  46. Be proud of yourself and live your life with the confidence that you will surely accomplish your wishes. In order to accomplish your wishes, keep making efforts toward them without telling anyone. If there is something you don’t know or something you cannot understand even though you’ve thought about it carefully, be honest and ask others with sincerity. As the proverb says, “To ask may be a moment’s shame, but not to ask and remain ignorant is an everlasting shame.” Don’t misinterpret the meaning of being proud.
  47. You may fail sometimes. After sincere reflection on your past conduct, keep moving forward without feeling sorry for yourself. Hardships and failures during your youth will only give you more humanity and kindness. If you have to keep listening to success stories, you will probably be very bored.
  48. As in “Samsara” (a never-ending cycle of life and death), history repeats itself. Learn from your predecessors. Learn from seniors and pass your learning on to your juniors.
  49. “Every human has his or her flaws.” Don’t pay too much attention to the small flaws of others and yourself. Be generous, look for the positive, and live freely.
  50. As the character 人 (human) shows, we live “in a give-and-take world and support each other.” Everyone has his or her own positive points and is supported by others. Keep a sense of gratitude toward the world we live in and don’t forget this. Sincerely yours.

If you are doing all of the above, maybe you are not human?
Or, maybe you are not interested in this?

Indeed this may be the case. These 50 tips are based on what I regularly feel and regret, and how I wish things were every day. It does not mean that I am carrying out all these tips. I just thought that you might be able to refer to them sometimes. When you have nothing to do, just take a look at the list and think about each of them. Compare them to how you are now. Link these tips together into a sort of mesh and interpret them as a network system for personal development. You can build your own system and control it by looking back at each tip and thinking about it when needed. Build an original system that fits your style. A system of control goes deep. System control is not just used for learning and technologies, but also for human physiology and personal development.

I will be happy if you come back to read these tips as you think about your bright future or when you are confused about your life. I will also be very happy if you find just one out of 50 tips that you like and remember. After all, these are the tips I also use to develop my own self-discipline

“Tips for Learning”?—maybe at a later date… No, you should think of them by yourself.

November 11, 1997
Kazuhiko Terashima