Hello everyone,

Today I finished my first gym talk! I was nervous, because it was my first time talking on the stage in front of many students and broadcating to the whole school. I wanted to talk about this year’s theme 「いっぱい」. I think different teachers will have many different ideas about it this year, but hopefully you enjoyed my angle. Here it my talk, which was translated by Ms. Otani.

Today I want to talk about wide challenges and deep challenges.

There is a popular idea called the “10,000 hour rule”, from a book by Malcom Gladwell. Mr. Gladwell says that to be great at something, people need 10,000 hours of practice. That is a lot of time. 20 hours a week for ten years, or 40 hours a week for five years!

One example he gives is the famous band “The Beatles”. From 1960 to 1964 The Beatles practiced and played hundreds of shows in Europe which helped them master their sound. That helped them cross over to North America and become the most popular band in the world.

This is a deep challenge, when you find something you love and want to be great at it.

There is another idea from a popular YouTube video from Matt Cutts. Mr. Cutts works for Google in America, and his video is called “Try Something New for 30 Days”. His idea is simple. If you start something good, or stop something bad, in your life, you can change your habit in 30 days.

For example, he started riding his bicycle to work, and after 30 days he felt stronger, healthier, and he continued riding. He also took a picture every day for 30 days, and he can clearly remember where he was and what he was doing for that month. Of course, sometimes at the end of 30 days he went back to his old ways. After 30 days with no sugar, he had an ice cream feast on day 31.

These are wide challenges, when you don’t master one thing, but have many different skills and experiences.

       I feel like most people can be one of these two types. Some people find something they love to do, and work to master it. My best friend Chris loves cycling and spends all his time and energy training and practicing every weekend. I am definitely the second type. I enjoy something for a few months or a few years, but then I move on to try something new. Am I a master at anything? No, but I can do a little bit of many different things.

       This year’s theme is “ippai”. Which of these two ideas do you think is “ippai”? I would say that they both help you reach your goals in different ways. Following either one will allow you to graduate from Shin-ai with important memories and potential for the future. The worst thing you can be when you finish school is the same person you were when you started.

Let us pray.