It’s okay not to try your hardest at everything: A recommendation for cutting corners.

“It’s okay not to try your hardest at everything: A recommendation for cutting corners.” Hi there, I’m Miwa Inagaki. Suddenly, can I ask you something? When you hear words like “casual,” “cutting corners,” or “sloppy,” how do you feel?

• “Oh, are you slacking off?”
• “Does that mean you’re not doing it properly?”
• “It feels kind of lazy.”
• “Does that mean it’s not perfect?”

…Well, that’s generally how it goes; it doesn’t leave a good impression, does it? It’s true that being told “You did a perfect job” feels better than being told “You cut corners.” I understand that.

But today, I want to talk about reconsidering this “cutting corners.”

Honestly, I think: isn’t it okay not to try your hardest at everything? “Eh, Miwa-san, isn’t that sloppy?” “How can you be a professional like that?” you might think.

…I want you to hold on a second. Actually, there is “good corner-cutting” and “bad corner-cutting.”

“Bad corner-cutting” is doing things half-heartedly or throwing them together. That, well, isn’t very good. But “good corner-cutting” is doing things “easily” and “efficiently.”

Not only is this not bad at all, I think you should do it more and more. Especially those of you who push yourselves, thinking “I must do my best” or “It must be perfect” — I want you to hear this story.

In psychology, this tendency is called “perfectionism.” Perfectionism is a mental habit where, whatever you do, you feel “If it’s not 100 points, it’s no good” or “If I can’t do it properly, there’s no point.”

(For example, if you get 95 points on a test, that feeling of blaming yourself, thinking “Why isn’t it 100 points?” You’re already amazing at 95 points, but your eyes only see the “missing 5 points.”)

This is actually a very common tendency among Adult Children (people who grew up as adults without receiving enough sense of security in their family during childhood). If you grow up in an atmosphere of “If you don’t do it properly, you won’t be loved,” the assumption that “If I don’t do it properly, I have no value” becomes ingrained in your body even after you become an adult.

“Casual, sloppy, cutting corners” does not equal “lowering the quality.”

This is an incredibly important point. Don’t many people think “If I cut corners, the results will be bad”? Honestly, I think this is an illusion.

I want you to imagine this. Suppose you are making presentation materials for work.

Person A, who does their best, spends hours adjusting the font size, color combinations, and the line spacing down to the millimeter. Person B, who cuts corners well, uses a simple template and finishes it in 30 minutes, thinking “It’s fine as long as it gets the point across.”

…Then, if the results of the presentation are the same? Person A spent 5 hours and is exhausted. Person B finished in 30 minutes and used the remaining time to refresh themselves.

If the result is the same, isn’t it better to do it easily? Since they are refreshed, their performance at work goes up too, right?

This relates to a concept in psychology called “burnout.” Burnout is a state where you have worked too hard, and your energy for your mind and body is completely empty.

(For example, it’s the same as your smartphone battery. If you keep using it every day without fully charging it, it will eventually become a battery that “dies immediately even if you charge it,” right? The human heart is the same. If you keep doing your best without resting, you will become a “heart that gets tired immediately even if you try.”)

That’s why, if you can get similar results, it’s okay to cut corners where you can. Rather, pushing yourself too hard and burning out will cause the quality to drop drastically as a result. I think it’s okay to give yourself the looseness of being able to cut corners where you can.

And I have one more thing to say. “Always doing your best” is actually impossible. I want you to think about it calmly. From the time you wake up in the morning until you go to sleep at night, 365 days a year, doing your best at everything.

…Can you do it? You can’t, right? Because you’re human.

This relates to a way of thinking called “self-compassion.” Self-compassion (self-kindness) is treating yourself with the same kind words you would give to a friend, even for your failed self or the self that couldn’t do your best.

(For example, if your best friend was depressed, saying “I cut corners at work today…”, would you say: “That’s no good! Do it properly! You’re slacking off!” and get angry? You probably wouldn’t say that, right? You would say, “Don’t worry about it, it’s okay, everyone has days like that. Rest slowly today.” Then, it’s okay to say the same thing to yourself.)

Do it when you do it. Don’t do it when you don’t. Because you have this on-off rhythm, people can keep running for a long time. There is no marathon runner who keeps running at full power all the time. Because there is pace allocation, they can run 42 kilometers. Because they have a distribution or calculated strategy, such as lowering the pace at this point and raising the pace at once from the next section, they can run for a long time.

It’s not just the things you do your best at that have heart.

This is the story I want to convey most today. Is it true that “cutting corners = heart is not put into it”?

(I want you to imagine this. A mother comes home every day, exhausted from work. But today is her child’s birthday, and she wants to make their favorite hamburger steak. Honestly, she no longer has the room to make an elaborate French-style hamburger steak from scratch. She is exhausted. So, she kneads ground meat, shapes it appropriately, takes the air out, and just bakes it in a frying pan. …But, she puts a little extra effort into the demi-glace sauce.

She puts in a piece of butter and adds richness with heavy cream. As a secret ingredient, a little Worcestershire sauce. Just a few drops of mustard. To make it that taste her child says, “Mother’s hamburger steak is delicious!” If you look at the recipe, this is incredibly “corner-cutting.” It’s an original sauce, after all. The garnish is pre-cut vegetables, and the soup is a consommé soup with chopped onions. But, the moment she puts butter or heavy cream into that secret ingredient of the demi-glace sauce. Right there, a lot of heart is put into it.) This is a true story of mine.

Try thinking of the reverse pattern. In a certain home, a mother is making hamburger steak only out of a sense of obligation. “I have to make it. I have to feed my child. I have to do it properly.” Following the recipe, doing it perfectly, doing her best. An elaborate French-style one. The appearance is also perfect. …But, the feeling of “I want to make this child happy” isn’t in it. It has become just a task.

Which hamburger steak do you think reaches the child’s heart? I think the “corner-cutting hamburger steak” with a piece of butter reaches their heart much more. It’s not whether you did your best, but whether there was “heart” in it. It’s the mother remembering and reproducing the taste the child likes. This is it.

Lastly…

Casual, sloppy, cutting corners — these aren’t bad things. “Doing it easily” and “not putting your heart into it” are completely different. Even if you do it easily, your heart is put into it, and I think it will remain in your children’s hearts in some form. Even if you do your best, there are times when your heart is not in it.

What’s important is not the “how to do it,” but the “way of being” and “deep attachment,” I think. Especially those who tend to push themselves, saying “I must do it properly” or “I must do my best.” Those who feel “If I don’t do it properly, I have no value.” Just for today, please try cutting corners, just a little. It’s okay. Your value isn’t something determined by whether you did your best or not.

Well then, that’s it for this time… This was Miwa Inagaki. Ciao! 👋

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I also create poetry and paintings.

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References

• Burnout: A concept proposed by American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in 1974. It is a state of losing motivation and empathy due to emotional exhaustion from excessive work or devotion.
• Self-compassion: A concept systematized by Professor Kristin Neff of the University of Texas. Many studies have shown that having the same compassion for yourself as you do for others improves mental health. (Reference: Kristin Neff Official Website
• https://self-compassion.org/
• Regarding the relationship between perfectionism and mental health, the American Psychological Association (APA) publishes many studies. (Reference:
• https://www.apa.org/