lottery

努力することは宝くじを買うことであって、当選することではない
Putting in some efforts is the same as buying a lottery ticket; you never know if you will win

-Takeshi Kitano（北野たけし）


When I was a high school student, I didn't like it when classmates told me they wished they were as smart as me.  In my opinion, I was not that smart, or at least it was clear (to me) that their wishes would come true as long as they studied as hard as I did.  Back then, I used to think everything depended on effort.

I still believe it's true to some extent.  Nothing can be achieved without hard work.  But not everything can be achieved through hard work.

Many people say your dreams will come true if you keep pursuing it.  Less people point out that that kind of belief can sometimes even be dangerous if that leads you to ignore things that are seemingly unrelated to your dream.

Natsuko Toda, who is probably the most successful translator in the field of subtitles says she always knew her dream (to work with subtitles) may never come true.  That was why she accepted every offer she got and did her best every time, even when it was unrelated to what she really wanted to do.  When she finally got her first subtitle offer, twenty years had passed, and it was through a job that she would've avoided if she could.

"I think it's important to face the reality while you work on what you like.  If you end up getting where you really want to be, that's really lucky, but if you don't, you can still live with a positive attitude,"  she says.

I wanted to be a writer for a long time -- since the day I got my first A in English class for creative writing.  It wasn't just that I was happy with my grade; I had enjoyed my English homework for the first time, and it was nice to know that someone else liked what I liked.  Time flew when I was writing; I forgot hunger, I forgot cold.

But I never had the guts to give up everything else and pursue the dream of becoming a professional writer.  Partly because you can become a professional writer without giving up everything else.  And partly because I feared putting too much effort into writing and dying without accomplishing anything.

It's easy to work hard when you know your efforts will pay off later on.  Buying a lottery ticket, on the other hand, takes a lot of courage.  But you can never win without buying.