Last month we launched Jonen Peakworks. Since then, we’ve been building out the brand’s official store, preparing our Makuake crowdfunding campaign, and keeping up a steady stream of posts on social media. When I pause to reflect, I realize that all of this should be uncharted territory for me—and yet I’m moving through it at remarkable speed. It’s faster than even my days in Rakuten’s new business development office, which makes this the fastest pace of my entire career.

I believe what underlies this is my trust in my own intuition. More than a decade ago, shogi master Yoshiharu Habu published a book titled Chokkanryoku (The Power of Intuition). In it, he describes intuition as something that wells up naturally and completes a circuit in an instant—but which only becomes truly effective once it is tied to conviction. Through the steady, repeated discipline of building up logic, one gradually becomes able to read accurately, by intuition, the flow of a match, the decisive turning points, and the position the game will ultimately reach. In other words, I feel that I’ve now accumulated enough logic and enough varied experience that my intuition, in Habu’s sense, has become connected to conviction—and my trust in it is at an all-time high.

So what happens when this occurs? Normally, several possible moves surface in front of you; you select among them, make a judgment, and then act. That process itself has changed. Now, intuition and flashes of insight are executed immediately. At this point, the perceived speed has shifted from “a bicycle” to “a sports car at top speed.” Lately, more and more of the people I meet tell me, with a look of astonishment, that I move frighteningly fast. And I suspect I’ll keep getting faster and more precise, because my trust in my intuition grows day by day, and the learning loop between intuition and execution keeps accelerating.

I turned 44 this year. Being able to feel this kind of change in oneself so clearly is incredibly important, and it brings me a joy and gratitude I can’t quite put into words. I’ve entered the second half of my life, so I intend to live each day to the fullest, with no regrets. The Makuake pre-launch of Yamayama Curry’s keema curry is just around the corner. Onward!

Masaki “Mark” Iino
Founder & CEO
SOPHOLA, Inc.