Post 14: Consistency

Whatever you do in life do it with consistency.

Whenever I achieved a goal in life, it always came down to my level of consistence. Here's an example from my life where the power of this was demonstrated.

By a stroke of luck I was accepted for an internship in Tokyo, Japan. It was scary at the time since I didn't know how I'd cover my expenses, my english was less than ok, and on top of that, I couldn't even speak a word of Japanese. All I had was a deep passion for the Japanese culture, which turns out was all I needed to persevere, even if it meant spending two hours everyday preparing for interviews.

It was dark by the time my plane was approaching Haneda airport. Shortly before landing a feeling of insignificance came over me. I felt so small as I was taking in the magnitude of this mega-city that I started to get teary-eyed and felt overwhelmed by emotions. Not even 24-hours later I was already starting at my new job. Fortunately, everyone was kind and they explained my duties and responsibilities in detail. But I couldn't shake off the feeling that my inability to converse in Japanese would significantly reduce my areas of involvement in the organization, which in turn would limit my exposure to the culture.

Feeling like I did not have enough money to support myself was difficult. But by far, the most difficult thing was the amount of frustration I felt from not being able to speak the language. I did not want to return to Colombia right after completing my internship because I believed that the great sacrifices I was making needed to lead to something much, much bigger. Yes, Japanese is difficult to learn but that was not an acceptable excuse for me to quit doing something I clearly wanted.

"It always seem impossible until it's done" Nelson Mandela

As I was approaching the end of my internship, I decided to try the impossible and continue my life in Japan. I was determined to learn Japanese and this felt like the only way to achieve my goal. I admit the idea was nice and it was easy to verbally commit to it but making it into reality was much more difficult. My obstacles were adding up. I had to get a new visa, had to pay for a college or university education so I could study Japanese, and somehow I also had to find a job temporarily that did not require me to speak the language - Sounds impossible, right?

I knocked on many doors without luck. But that did not stop me, I kept going. I leveraged the power of consistency and continued to knock on the same doors until I received an answer. I knew that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain if even just one door was to open. Time passed and each day it felt like my possibilities were decreasing. Until one day, when a very successful Japanese businessman decided to give me a chance after I tried contacting him a dozen of times. He opened his door for me for a short meeting and those 15-minutes turned into five amazing years for me in Japan.

Working in Tokyo turned out to be one of the most enriching experiences in my life. As you may see by now, my path was filled with difficulties and obstacles that at the time seemed impossible to overcome. Without staying consistent I may have just returned to Colombia with wonderful memories once my 8-month journey was over but without the ability to speak in a fascinating Asian language.