Shoji here. I wanted to talk about something today that is a little different. Today’s post is about achievement and hard work and perseverance. I had a chance to talk to Natsuya yesterday and wanted to share a little about our discussion on being grateful and being yourself.
History of Natsukoarts
When I met Natsuya after college living in New York City where he was trying to make a living as a writer newly minted with a degree in English and minor in Japanese, I saw him struggle trying to find jobs in the city and get writing gigs. He got discouraged initially but kept at it and was able to get his first editing job at a finance magazine. He did that job and then went on to others where he graduated from editor to writer and then to technical writer. I was so happy for him that he was able to live his dream. Then he found his way into technology from writing and was able to thrive there as well.
As Natsuya was pursuing his career, I went on to get another degree and threw myself into marketing and freelance writing as well as making connections in LGBT circles. We kept in contact but our paths diverged and Natsuya was recruited to work in a different state and then moved to Japan at one point. We kept in contact through the years and then when it was time and I had my contacts all hashed out and I knew Natsuya had become a freelance writer along with his technology career, i reached out after forming Natsukoarts Design Studio and asked if he would come on board. He agreed and here we are. That is the history. But now I wanted to talk about being grateful as Natsuya reminded me was important.
Being Grateful
It was just recently that I was able to get a dream job, consulting on a project that I had always wanted to work on. It was a long shot but in the end my credentials spoke before me and I was well known in the field and they decided to take a shot and asked me to work on the project. At first I was downtrodden because i thought i would never get the chance. But in the end, i was the one who was chosen. My entire career had been working to this moment to work on this project and i think i am still a little bit in shock that i actually got the job.
We need to look at the world as a challenge and not get discouraged when something does not go our way. in the case of this project i was passed up for it the first time around and swore if i got another chance that i would definitely work hard to make it come true. the team who had passed me up the first time had asked me to do some work for them in the mean time and i was able to do that successfully and prove myself which was a chance i got only because it failed the first time. With the trial period where they could see my work they became more comfortable with me and saw that i could do the job. This helped when the second time came around and i was able to nail it.
Always go to your dreams and never give up. Keep trying and you will succeed.