The term "Ganbaru" is commonly used in Japan almost once a day, it can be used in various situations in both positive or negative perspectives. Example : Your favourite book just got delivered and you need "Ganbaru" to finish the book; the term is used in a positive light.
In another example, you are tasked to finish reading the technical manual by 5pm else you have to stay back after office hours, you need to "Ganbaru" to finish the manual ; the term is used in a negative light.
In both situations, there is some form of challenge or what we call "Hardship" involved in completing the task or goal which will require perseverance to reach. The word Ganbaru signifies persevering through hardship which can entail the hardship being voluntary or being forced upon. In some cases, the Ganbaru can be witnessed in some Japanese companies where employees are made to go through hardships unwillingly clocking almost 20 hours of work each day. This sort of Ganbaru is not what we will be talking about today, we want to focus on the Ganbaru in the positive light, where we take on hardships willingly because we know it helps us to grow.
Pause for a moment,
Think for a few minutes on the most recent challenging project or task that you had to accomplish...was it different from what you are used to? Did you have stumbling blocks along the way? Did you need to have "Ganbaru" to reach the finishing line?
There has been various definitions that has been translated from Japanese to English , here is what Ganbaru could mean :
Now you get a better idea of what Ganbaru is, however, there has been articles that state that too much Ganbaru can be dangerous to your health. That happens when Ganbaru is used out of context like pulling all-nighters to get something done, push yourself beyong your body limits when there are signs of a physical body shut down. It can be argued that adopting a Ganbaru mindset in the long term may be harmful, just like any type of food, too much of one thing will end up out of balance. Another perspective is how would you solve problems if you did not adopt a Ganbaru mindset?
As such, here are ways to help yourself getting into the Ganbaru Mindset: Step 1 : Identify your limiting beliefs or challenges to tackle the challenge or problem?
Step 2 : Determine the resources needed to overcome the items listed in step 1 Step 3: Separate the resources into "Within my control" and "Out of my control
Step 4 : Focus on "Within my control" category and begin crafting ways to get the resource
Step 5 : Identify a person whom you can trust to give you direct feedback and can bounce ideas off ( if you can't means that you need to start to find one , at this point, you would really need some Ganbaru)
Step 6 : Update this person on your progress (even if there is negative progress)
Step 7 : Enjoy the process of accomplishing your goals else restart the whole process again.