4. Sporadic Thoughts
I do more trivial stuff on the weekend.
Oh, is that so?
I only reflect upon myself sporadically.
Sporadically.
Not just on the weekends.
Right. Like maybe after a meeting. I think particularly after I wasn’t able to get my point across in a meeting. I think, “Was I too direct?”
Oh, I like it. Shigeru Miyamoto thinking alone by himself.
I’m often alone at the company at night. Even if others are working, they aren’t around me. Then I have sporadic thoughts.
What kinds of things do you think?
A lot of extreme stuff. Like rather than think about how I handle something, I’ll think about which is better, having it or not having it.
Oh, uh-huh.
Like, “If we’re going to go with it, then we have to think that we have to do it by any means,” or, “No, so tomorrow I’ll tell everyone we’re not doing that!”
You have bold thoughts.
Right. Sporadically, I think things like, “If someone doesn’t say no, we’ll never get anywhere.”
Whether it’s the weekend or not.
Rather, when I talk animatedly about work on Monday, I came up with the idea on Friday, developed it over the weekend, and decided to say something on Monday.
Time opens up on the weekend, so your thoughts mature.
Yes. I make progress.
I do think that happens. That’s why a lot of the time at lunch on Monday, someone says, “I finally figured this out.” It’s like you can clearly explain a problem that has remained nebulous for years.
That does have to do with an idea maturing when you’re alone, but I also feel something like a flash of insight that you can feel when the scenery you are looking at or the situation where you are in changes is also at work.
On the weekend.
Yes. When you’re in a completely different place with a completely different atmosphere, your head changes and you see things a new way.
That may be true. When I’m doing something totally different, I make discoveries like, “Oh, this has the same structure as that.”
That’s what I mean. If you’re always at the company, that’s difficult to have.
I see.
When I come up with an idea at work on Friday and bring it up Saturday at home, no one pays it much mind.
Aw! (laughs)
They’ll say, “Well, of course!”
That’s no good.
Right?
You don’t have an audience at home.
(laughs)
(laughs)
I think, “Is it really such a small matter?”
No one at home cares much.
Then I reorganise my thoughts.
At home, someone says, “Isn’t that just the way it is?” and that’s the end of it.
(laughs)
But I think that is good for maintaining objectivity.
Yes, it is. It’s important that no one takes you too seriously.
Right. At home, you’re treated with a certain distance, so you return to yourself.
That’s true...but I suspect you even get respect at home, Iwata-san.
Uh-huh...I’m actually a little jealous!
(laughs)