きっと、がんばらないほうがいいんだよ。
世の中の「仕事」に対する認識はネガティブな感じが多いんだろうね。やりたくないことを我慢してやってるみたいな。「働くっていうのは辛いこと」とかね。そんな人が多いと思える中で、僕らの仕事は意識の持ち方次第でけっこう楽しくなれるから、こんなに幸せなことはないな。
ベストなのは「仕事＝遊び」の状態になることだね。遊び心のある人がこの業界でうまくいってると思うし。僕は子どものころ学校の勉強が苦手だったけど、図工の時間だけは大好きで、「来週は○○を作ってもらうよ」なんて先生が言ったら、その日のうちに家で完成させたりしてた。
でも高校生ぐらいになると、公務員だった父親から「絵なんかで食っていけるわけないんだから、公務員になって週末に趣味で描けばいい。」なんて言われたので、悔しいからしっかり反抗することに。出来るわけないって言われると火がつくよね。それで専門学校に行ったら一般的な「勉強」はなくて作ることばかり。課題も家で遅くまでやり続けるんだけど楽しいと時間も忘れるよね。これって別に頑張ってるわけじゃない。頑張るって、なんだか無理してる感じでしょ？ 苦しいし。だから人に「頑張れ」ってなるべく言わないように気をつけてる。無理しろって言ってるようでイヤだからね。面白いゲームしてたら夜中になってた、みたいな経験はみんなあるよね。あれ別に頑張ってないし。やっぱり「楽しもう！」なんだよな。
好きなことを仕事にできたから自分は恵まれてるなと思うけど、これからはAIがいっぱい作業してくれるし、楽しいことを仕事にする世の中になるよね。ITも浸透してきたので、発信さえうまくすれば会社に長く勤めた人でも「ホントにやりたかったこと」で生きていける可能性があるし。これが風の時代ってやつかな。
「こんなに楽しい時間を過ごして、さらにお金がもらえるなんて申し訳ないぐらい」なんてたまに思ったりもするけど、若いころに下積みと修行の時間をたっぷり味わってきて今がある。たくさんの本やパソコンや講演会や、有名なデザイナーの方に会うための旅行なんかにお金をかけてもきた。東京に行けば百貨店の食品売場で気になるパッケージの商品を買いあさってスーツケース一杯分ぐらいは持ち帰ってきたし。そんなふうにデザインのことばかり考えて自分に投資してきたこと自体もとても楽しかったね。でもようやくその分を回収中なので、クライアントのみなさん、どうぞよろしく。
It’s probably better not to try so hard
I guess the perception of “work” in the world is often negative. It’s like I’m holding back from doing something I don’t want to do. “Working is hard,” he said. I feel like there are a lot of people like that, and I couldn’t be happier because our work can be quite enjoyable depending on how you think about it.
The best thing to do is to get into a state where work equals play. I think playful people do well in this industry. When I was a child, I wasn’t good at studying at school, but I loved arts and crafts class, and if my teacher said, “I’m going to ask you to make ○○ next week,” I would complete it at home the same day. Ta.
However, when I was in high school, my father, who was a civil servant, told me, “There’s no way you can make a living by drawing, so why don’t you become a civil servant and draw as a hobby on the weekends?” This was frustrating, so I decided to rebel against it. I get fired up when I’m told there’s no way I can do it. So when I went to a vocational school, there was no general “studying” and all I did was make things. I keep doing homework until late at home, but when I’m having fun, I forget the time. This doesn’t mean I’m trying hard. Even if you try your best, it feels like you’re forcing yourself, right? It’s painful. That’s why I try to avoid telling people to do their best. I don’t like it as if I’m telling you to force yourself. We’ve all had the experience of playing a fun game and then it’s midnight. I’m not trying too hard on that. After all, it’s all about having fun!
I feel blessed to be able to do what I love as a job, but from now on, AI will do a lot of the work for me, and I think we’ll live in a world where we can do what we enjoy as work. As IT has become more widespread, even people who have worked for a company for a long time can make a living doing what they really wanted to do, as long as they communicate well. I guess this is the era of wind.
Sometimes I think to myself, “I’m so sorry that I had such a fun time and got paid so much more,” but when I was young, I had plenty of time to learn and train, which is why I am where I am today. I’ve spent a lot of money on books, computers, lectures, and trips to meet famous designers. Whenever I went to Tokyo, I would buy all the packaged items I was interested in at the food section of a department store and bring home about a suitcase worth of items. I really enjoyed thinking about design and investing in myself like that. But we are finally collecting that amount, so please take care of us, our clients.