Check out Takumi’s NEW English youtube channel🎵
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https://www.youtube.com/@takuway
Gentle Stoicism
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKXOwP6yblg&t=1s
📚 The Core of the Book：A mindset for Thriving in an Era of Polarization
In today’s developed countries, economic disparity is widening—like the right-hand side of the letter “K”, where the top rises and the bottom falls. The middle class is shrinking, and society is increasingly polarized between the wealthy and the poor (the K-shaped economy).
It is predicted that this gap will widen even further depending on whether people can fully leverage emerging technologies.
This book presents concrete principles for navigating this challenging era and steadily building success. It highlights the key elements of “high-leverage effort”—the kind of effort that truly pays off.
💡Step 1：A Way of LIving Unshaken by Noise--"Yuru (loosely) stoic"
At the core of thriving in a polarized era is a lifestyle the author calls “Yuru-Stoic” (a coined term).
Definition:A way of life where you stay rigorously stoic with your own goals (study, work, training, etc.) while remaining open-minded and tolerant toward other people's ideas, attitudes, and choices.
How to practice it:
Don’t brag about your effort or results, and don’t impose your values on others.
Don’t get swept away by the noise around you—stay grounded in “I am I, they are they”, and quietly continue stacking your actions at your own pace.
Benefits:You avoid unnecessary conflicts, enemies, and friction. You can conserve your energy and stay fully focused on what matters—your own goals.
🛡️ Step 2：3 Mindsets that Support Yuru-Stoic Living
These three principles—rooted in Stoic philosophy—are essential for practicing Yuru-Stoic and making steady daily progress.
1. Don't focus on what you can't control
Differentiate:Clearly separate things into:
What you can control: your thoughts, decisions, actions.
What you cannot control: other people’s behavior or evaluations, the economy, weather, illness, aging, etc.
Focus:Put all your attention on what is within your control.
Avoid stressing over or clinging to things outside it—this prevents wasted energy and keeps you from losing momentum.
Example:If it rains, don’t get upset. Simply focus on your action—grab an umbrella or wear a raincoat.
2. Act with the mindset "zero risk means zero return"
Premise: In a capitalist society, risk and return are fundamentally linked.
The more risk you take, the greater the potential return.
(Example: bank deposits = low risk/low return; stocks = high risk/high return)
Avoid zero-risk thinking:“Zero-risk thinking” (not acting until you find something with absolutely no risk) leads to massive opportunity loss in today’s world of abundant chances.
Guiding principle:
Like throwing light jabs, take small, manageable risks repeatedly within your capacity.
3. Don't aim for 100% accuracy--get used to failing
How to view failure:Instead of “I must succeed” or “If I fail, it’s over,” adopt a casual mindset:“It’s normal to fail,” “It’s okay to fall,” and continue taking actions and trying new things.Failure becomes experience—and that fuels growth. (Like learning to ride a bicycle.)
Attitude toward others:To be tolerant of your own challenges, you must also be tolerant of others’ failures and attempts—avoid criticizing or attacking.
🎯 Step 3：3 Keys to "high-leverage effort" for producing results
This section focuses not on random hard work, but on directing your effort in a way that produces results efficiently.
1. Compete in the area where what you love, what you’re good at, and what the world needs overlap
Finding and working in the zone where these three elements intersect is the essence of “high-leverage effort.”
| Element | Why it matters | How to identify it |
|---|---|---|
| What you love | Essential for long-term consistency. Consistency is the key to results. | Look at your unconscious behaviors—your YouTube history and search history. |
| What you're good at | Gives you an advantage—you can outperform others with less effort. | Things others praise you for but feel effortless to you. |
| What the world needs | Even if you love something and are good at it, without demand it won’t become work. | Look at market size and trends (though these change quickly with the times). |
Order of importance:The first place to explore is the overlap between what you love and what you're good at.
These two rarely change throughout life.Once this core is set, then look for what the world needs—which is more sensitive to trends.
2. Compete in niche spaces
Where not to compete:Unless you are a genius like Shohei Ohtani or Sota Fujii, entering a huge mainstream market and competing head-on with industry giants will almost always lead to being overshadowed.
The strategy to take:Intentionally avoid the crowded mainstream and aim for niche (gap) markets.
How to create a niche:
Use “love / skill / demand” as anchors and:
Pursue a deeper level of specialization, or
Differentiate yourself with the mindset of “It’s okay if only the people who get it, get it.”
This is how you carve out a market that only you can own.
3. Master the latest online tools
Use existing platforms: Fully leverage existing online platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, X, and AI tools.
Why: Building a platform from scratch requires too much time, cost, and energy.By riding on existing infrastructures, you can efficiently benefit from the modern era.
How:Use these tools to express your unique combination of “love / skill / demand” within a niche, and steadily build your audience.This dramatically increases your chances of producing results.
💭Step 4：A Question to Discover What Your Truly Want to Do
Finally, here is the question you should ask yourself to stop using limitations as excuses and take your first step forward:
“If absolutely nothing were holding me back, what would I do?”
Temporarily remove all conditions—talent, money, time—and focus solely on what you genuinely want.By repeatedly asking this question and taking immediate action on the answers that come out of your own mouth, the author explains that you naturally move toward a more fulfilling, vibrant life.
This conversation was fascinating！
【💰】I asked former Goldman Sachs banker Kei Tanaka about “new capitalism” in the age of AI.
How technology structurally widens inequality
The rise of “empathy capital”
A future where influence becomes a kind of currency
And the conditions for Japan’s economy to survive
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIhcAx5M1b8In this dialogue, former Goldman Sachs (GS) professional Kei Tanaka explains, in a highly logical way, the process of shifting his perspective from “relentlessly rational thinking (the world of finance)” to “the irrational realm of human psychology (influence and religiosity)”. It’s a deeply thought-provoking conversation.
Focusing on your requested themes—“how to create healthy distance from desire” and “a sense of urgency around one’s power to influence”—I’ll reconstruct and summarize the overall discussion into three logical phases (stages).
Core Theme: Shifting from Rational Survival Strategies to "Empathy Capital"
The central conclusion of this dialogue is that “the old formulas for success—finance, academic scores, logic—are no longer enough to survive in today’s fractured society.”
Phase 1：【Survival Strategy】Hacking Human Emotions and Desires through Systems
The foundation of Kei Tanaka’s 17-year survival and consistent performance at Goldman Sachs lies in his uncompromising practice of “self-objectification—treating himself like a robot.”
Premise that willpower is worthless: Human will (motivation, enthusiasm) is the least reliable resource.Therefore, instead of relying on effort or grit, he used the architecture of the brain (cognitive science & behavioral economics) to automate success.
Physical distancing = distancing from desire What you mentioned—“creating distance from things that stimulate desire”—is not spiritual discipline. It is environment design.
Concrete examples:
Don’t go to a second round of drinks.
Don’t enter stores that trigger the urge to buy.
When you feel tempted to check your phone, create a trigger: open your vocab book instead.
Theory: This is known as “Odysseus contracts” (commitment strategies)—anticipating that your future self will succumb to temptation, and physically removing choices in advance to conserve willpower.
Consistently hitting singles: Instead of aiming for home runs (one-shot turnaround successes), he chose a strategy of stacking mid-risk, mid-return actions, allowing him to survive as a “stable, reliable function” within a large organization.
Phase 2：【A Sense of Urgency】The Inflation of "Wealth" and the Shift toward "Influence"
Why is someone like Kei Tanaka—who grew his assets as a finance professional—now investing his time in seemingly irrational activities like radio and social media?
Behind this is a powerful sense of urgency about a paradigm shift in what constitutes valuable assets.The Obsolescence of Monetary Value: With global monetary easing, money is overflowing everywhere.The wealthy have seen their assets increase, but much of that increase may simply be numerical inflation, not real value.
A New Currency = “Influence & Trust”: In the era we are entering, what holds more value than money is:
Who says it (trust score)
Who can gather empathy (community power)
The Age of Multi-Valued Information: The same information can have completely different value depending on who delivers it—reflected in views, engagement, and trust.
The Real Source of His Crisis: Elites who have succeeded through business logic and rationality are increasingly losing to the power of populism—a force driven by empathy and storytelling. (Examples: the Trump phenomenon, social-media-driven elections)
The fear is this: Those who lack “the power of empathy” will be unable to move society—
no matter how correct their arguments may be.
This is the existential urgency driving his shift.
Phase 3：【Future Outlook】A Return to "Religious Economies" and the Reversal of Real vs. Virtual
The conversation ultimately arrives at two major ideas: the origins of economic activity, and the structural reversal between the real and the digital worlds.
Economy Returning to “Religion”: Fan economies—like the global phenomenon of BTS—operate not on functional value (“the product is good”) but on emotional value (“I want to support them”). This mirrors the traditional structure of religion (offerings + salvation). In the future, those who can build this “emotional network” will hold the greatest power—more than those who rely on logic, business models, or functionality.
Reversal of Real Life and SNS
Old paradigm:
Real life = the main stage (where true selves live). SNS = secondary (a dumping ground or a place for polite façades)
New paradigm:
SNS = the primary space (public arena / the essence of who you are)
Real life = secondary (a more private space reserved for close relationships)
Warning: People—especially older generations—who fail to notice this shift and continue treating SNS as “worthless graffiti” while making careless remarks are being socially eliminated (via cancellation and backlash).
From now on:
Your digital persona is your main identity.
Learning how to “behave” and live skillfully in the online world is essential for survival.
Summary: Actions you should start taking now
Here are the practical, logically grounded actions you can start using as soon as tomorrow, distilled from the conversation:
1. Decide physically what you will not do (vs. Desire)
Instead of “trying hard to resist temptation,”
create situations where things:don’t enter your field of vision
aren’t accessible in the first place
This conserves your brain’s CPU.
It may look mechanical or cold, but it’s actually a defense strategy to protect the time and space needed for what you truly want to do—the richer parts of your life.
2. Deliberately place yourself in “irrational” spaces (vs. Filter bubbles)
If you stay only in a logical, efficient world (your usual colleagues, your usual industry),
you’ll lose sight of how the world is really changing—toward an empathy-driven economy.You need to:
Intentionally do “inefficient” things
Enter unfamiliar, “away-game” environments
Go out and pick up serendipity (happy accidents)
In doing so, you cultivate the ability to connect with people through something other than logic.
3. Build “influence” as an asset
Don’t just save money.
Start accumulating “expression under your own name”.In an era where AI is rising, the last remaining source of unique value is:
The personal context and story that only you possess.
That “you-shaped narrative” is the true asset.
↓↓↓To go deeper・・・
This dialogue goes far beyond mere “work hacks” or “investment tips.”
At a very deep level, it explores:
How to hack the bugs in the OS called "human beings" and What the next game rules of capitalism will be.
Building on the previous summary, we can break it down further and dive deeper into:
“Why” things work this way (the theoretical background) and
“How” the mechanisms actually operate in real life.
Today, I was interviewed by him about my vision for myself 30 days from now!
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My ideal state in 30 days:
🔸 Business clarity and activation
The business is fully organized, with all progress visible.
Everyone in the organization is energetically engaged with their challenges,
continuously contributing, learning, and growing.
🔸 Gratitude and vitality
Members express gratitude to one another, radiating energy from within.
This creates a positive ripple effect on other organizations,
which then returns to us as uplifting feedback.
🔸 Self-liberation for the sake of others
Not just self-realization, but self-liberation.
Both myself and my leaders operate from a motivation of
“for the people, for society, for the world,”
and that naturally leads to results without force.
🔸 A grounded axis that stays steady anywhere
My inner axis does not waver no matter where I am—whether in the chaos of Shimbashi, the pure sunsets of Okinawa, or the soft snow of Hokkaido.I can always return to my center and deepen my purity.
🔸 Connection and chain reaction
The ideal becomes concrete,
and its influence surpasses imagination.
People around the world begin “waking up” in a chain reaction,
simultaneously and spontaneously—
and I become a central presence in that wave.
The emotions I feel in that state, and the impact on others:
✨ Excitement and elation
The ideal becomes reality,
and everyone feels excited—
realizing, “Wow… we can live like this.”
It makes you feel that humanity and life
are far from hopeless.
✨ Deep respect for humanity
A profound belief in human potential.
A sense of reverence toward the very existence of human beings—
“Humans are incredible. Humanity is incredible.”
✨ A new level of challenge
Even after achieving this state,
I am already reaching for an even higher level—
trying to open doors that are unimaginable right now.
✨ Serenity and transformation
Like Shohei Ohtani calmly transforming the atmosphere
after getting hit by a pitch—
not through anger, but through serenity—
I enter the next phase with quiet strength.
✨ Influence as someone who ‘gets it’
As an organization that embodies its ideal,
we attract attention as the people who “get it,”
and networks form naturally with others
who share the same consciousness.
今日はありがとうございました！
What?! Her son is a fencing student of Icchi?!
And in Osaka…
Ramen
A lecture by Mr. Nishizawa ！！！
Conscious realm
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Subconscious realm
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Collective unconscious realm
_______________________________
Thank you for the massage.
I was startled by my own sweat.
It was so fun!
Thank you!
Yes yes！！！
See you tomorrow Masa!
We will gather in Kuwana〜〜〜
How fun
My friend went camping in Nara〜〜
I went for a walk in the morning〜〜〜
Link to Takumi Yamazaki’s
ENGLISH Book “SHIFT”
