There are moments in life when we pause and ask ourselves: What am I really working toward?
I’ve carried that question with me for a long time but finding an answer has never been simple. My goals often felt big and vague and the more I tried to map out my future step-by-step, the more pressured I felt.
Watching others achieve things made me feel rushed, as if I needed to catch up without even knowing what I was chasing.
It wasn’t only uncertainty about the future but also about myself. I often wondered whether I was actually improving or if I was simply moving because everyone around me seemed to be moving. Watching others achieve things made me feel rushed, as if I needed to catch up without even knowing what I was chasing. That quiet urgency made it difficult to understand what I truly valued or wanted.
During the Taejae Self-Management Workshop in Japan, I encountered something that helped shift this perspective. This workshop taught students a unique approach, called the Mandal-Art, for achieving your goals and self-management.
A goal setting workshop held by GLI during the Japan global rotation introduced a Japanese tool called the Mandal-Art.
The Mandal-Art doesn’t pressure you to assign dates or measure how far “ahead” or “behind” you are.
Unlike typical timelines or five-year plans, the Mandal-Art doesn’t pressure you to assign dates or measure how far “ahead” or “behind” you are. Instead, it begins with a single question:
What do you value most, and what steps support you becoming that kind of person?
This perspective was relieving for me. I’ve always felt stress when thinking in strict chronological steps, almost as if I were racing against time. But the Mandal-Art allowed me to look sideways instead of forward, and explore qualities rather than deadlines.
I’ve always felt stress when thinking in strict chronological steps, almost as if I were racing against time. But the Mandal-Art allowed me to look sideways instead of forward, and explore qualities rather than deadlines.
One of the most well-known examples of the Mandal-Art is the one attributed to Shohei Ohtani, the famous baseball player. In the center, he placed his goal of being drafted in the first round. Interestingly, the most memorable part wasn’t the athletic goals. While he did include leg strength, pitching control, and stamina, he also added things like:
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