Afterpage · week card
The Courage to Be Disliked
Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
Key ideas
- Your past doesn't decide you.
- All problems are relationship problems.
- Separate tasks.
- Stop seeking recognition.
- Live in the here and now.
The week
| Day 1 | Read the summary. Five key ideas and where the book overreaches. |
| Day 2 | Rewrite one old story. Write down one thing you believe your past stops you from doing, then write what goal that belief might be serving now. Bad day: Write one sentence starting “I can't... because of my past” and one starting “What it protects me from is...” |
| Day 3 | Ask whose task it is. List three things you're worried about involving other people, and for each, write whose task it really is. Bad day: Pick one worry and write “this is my task” or “this is their task” next to it. |
| Day 4 | Do one thing without approval. Do one thing today that you've been holding back because someone might not like it. Bad day: Say one honest opinion today without softening it. |
| Day 5 | Encourage, don't praise. Replace praise with thanks or encouragement in three conversations today. Bad day: Send one message thanking someone for something specific they did. |
| Day 6 | Contribute without being asked. Do one helpful thing for a group you belong to, at work, home, or in your community, without expecting recognition. Bad day: Answer one question or solve one small problem for someone today. |
| Day 7 | Spend one hour here and now. Choose one ordinary activity today and do it fully, as if it were the whole point, not a step toward something else. Bad day: Do your next small task, like making tea, with full attention. |
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