In Japan, customer service is phenomenal, and it’s not just limited to high-end luxury stores and hotels. If you walk into any regular store, chances are you’ll be greeted politely by an employee, who bows and rushes to help you as soon as he realizes you need help.
Their uniforms are impeccable, clean and their appearance is clearly very well cared for. Shelves are close together, products lined up and organized. The floors are mopped, the windows are clean, and when you walk out of the store, the employees will thank you, smile, and bow to you until you’re a fair distance from the exit.
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This is not to say that the Japanese always love their work.
In any job, there are moments that are exhausting, boring and tedious. But the idea of give your best in your work, ganbaruis highly valued, regardless of the profession that a person performs.
Whether you’re a CEO, a salesperson, a doctor, or an electrician, it doesn’t matter where you work; if you can exemplify the principles of ganbaru, your work will be respected.
Even a Japanese daikon radish won the applause and attention of the whole country for growing up in an adverse place and showing his «perseverance» under less than ideal circumstances. «Seeing a daikon ganbaru in a place like this even cheered me up,» Ms. Shima, an Osaka resident, told Japanese publication Nikkei. «I want to show it to my grandchildren.»
When you think about what it takes to enjoy work, it’s easy to point to the important things: money, status, the ability to gain valuable skills, and having a meaningful «why.»
These factors are important, but what do we do with the tasks over which we have no control at the moment? There too we can find meaning.
When we are positive towards our work, even boring work, people he notices and our attitude lifts the spirits of those around us. Knowing that you are doing work that is respected and uplifting to others can improve any boring job.
Ganbaru’s idea it does not mean necessarily putting in hours of work, overdoing it with practice, or pushing yourself to a limit that can cause exhaustion.
Exhaustion is not admirable and should not be sought after.
Even in the most adventurous journeys, we will have to face boring tasks along the way.
Instead of dragging your feet through the monotony, try to embody the spirit of ganbaru.
Just because you’re not enthusiastic about a particular task doesn’t mean you don’t have a voice in influencing the way you experience it.
For the Japanese, it is more important having it tried with all your might (ganbaru) than success itself, hence this word be so used on a daily basis and be so basic to understand a little better what Japanese culture is like.
in the verb Ganbaru there is not only the effort of oneself, but commitment to the rest of society.
Understanding all this, it is easy to relate the concept of ganbaru with the rapid progress that Japan experienced at the end of the Edo period, the rapid recovery of the country after World War II and even the rapid overcoming of an episode as tragic as the tsunami. from 2011.
At both times, as they had been doing for years, the Japanese they gave their bestthey made every effort (here we would say ganbaru without a doubt), to overcome and improve the situation in which the country found itself.