Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall In Love With the Process of Becoming Great

“Everyone wants to be great, until it’s time to do what greatness requires.”

Akira explains to John that big outcomes don’t come from big actions but rather thousands of hard, mundane actions, speaking to the theme The Daily Commitment to One’s Craft. Akira uses the story of Ingvar Kamprad to highlight this, explaining how Kamprad sold individual matchsticks door-to-door until he was able to eventually form the company Ikea. Medcalf uses this parable to demonstrate that there are no shortcuts to greatness. Medcalf returns to this idea repeatedly throughout the book in parable form as well as in narrative dialogue and, in the final chapters, directly.

“Your greatest challenge during your time here will be faithfully keeping your focus on the process, while surrendering the outcome.”

Akira explains to John that success is not about the outcome but the journey toward the outcome. This lesson takes John a long time to learn, and multiple parables are devoted to explaining from various avenues why recognition for achievement is not a healthy measure of success. Through this and other parables on the same theme, Medcalf levels a heavy critique at the Western tendency toward viewing success as an end result.

“The key to ice climbing is to focus on one solid step at a time. ‘No man climbs a mountain all at once. He climbs it by making one solid step at a time.’”

Again, Akira tries to explain to John that the journey is the achievement and to focus on each step he is taking rather than the outcome of one day becoming a samurai archer, invoking the theme of Being Mission-Driven Versus Goal-Oriented. This lesson is hard for John, and multiple parables are told before John starts to understand the lesson, though he struggles to apply it. Akira explains that culturally, Americans are competitive, goal-oriented people, and redefining success is thus a difficult transition.

“Don’t fall for the trap, John. Even tests in school are not tests. Nothing is a test, it’s only an illusion. Everything is an opportunity to learn and grow, because remember, you are building your own house.”

John tries to be the fastest, the strongest, and the best. His natural competitive instinct pushes him to view others as rivals. In response to this, Akira explains that not everything is a competition or a test and that until John can view tasks as opportunities to grow and learn, he will fail to enhance himself, and eventually, he will be surpassed by those who saw each moment as a chance to learn and grow. Again, Medcalf uses John as a means of critiquing the way Americans view athletics as a zero-sum game where only one team or person can win, rendering all others losers.

“John, who would you be if everything you do was taken away from you?”

Akira asks John to consider success from another angle. Perhaps success is not what John is capable of achieving in his lifetime but what kind of person John is able to mold himself into. Akira asks John to consider the idea that his worth is not tied to his actions but rather to his character, which is a constant. This is one of the first indications that Medcalf will use the vehicle of Akira to deliver advice that reaches beyond mental training for athletics and into character development and positive mindset in a general sense.

“The truth is that your value is constant, it is priceless, and it never truly goes up or down based off of the results of your performance. Your value comes from who you are, not from what you do.”

Akira explains that one’s value is constant, unchanging, unaffected by outcomes. For Akira, his value is found in God, who he feels loves him whether he fails or succeeds. Akira tells John to find his value in something that is constant and unchanging and to anchor himself to this concept as the source of his character and his self-worth. Although this worldview is espoused by Akira, the proxy for Medcalf, the view does not align with the standard Eastern understanding of value. Medcalf’s assertion that value is inherent reaches beyond the cultural norms of both Japan and the United States.

“Like thirsty people guzzling salt water, achievement only creates a greater desire for accomplishing more, dehydrating us of true satisfaction and fulfillment.”

Using the example of Kobe Bryant, Akira explains that if one’s goals in life are based on reaching milestones, then no true sense of completion will ever be enjoyed. Through this parable, Medcalf shows how even the best athletes in the world struggle with identity and fulfillment once milestones are reached. This is both a critique of the mindset of Western athletics and a critique of the insatiable need to succeed in the West.

“You fuel your heart with six things: what you watch, what you read, what you listen to, who you surround yourself with, how you talk to yourself, and what you visualize.”

Akira tells John that he would not fill up a Lamborghini with water, so he asks why he would choose to fill up his heart and his mind with subpar content. John should be careful of how he fills his tank each day and focus on finding good-quality content to fuel his heart and mind, including good company, good entertainment, and good self-talk. By focusing on fueling himself for a positive and good life, John will find success in how he views the world.

“Humility is not thinking less of your self, but thinking of your self less.”

After a particularly bad day on the archery range, John is asked what went well. John explains that nothing went well, and Akira says that more goes right than we acknowledge each day. Like the parable about fueling yourself with positive things, Akira explains that negative self-talk is not the same as humility. Western culture dislikes and disapproves of people who are arrogant, but Akira believes self-abasement is not the same as humility.

“Many people seek exposure from the bright lights, but the bright lights only expose their lack of faithfulness to their craft in the dark.”

Reflecting back on the parable about hard work leading to success, Akira again demonstrates how success is often the end result of many tireless hours of honing one’s craft behind closed doors. In this iteration of the message, Akira focuses on how social media presents viewers with the idea that everyone is talented and beautiful, without showing the hard work it took to get each photo, make each video, or edit and post them all.

“John, let me tell you two very important things: comparison is the thief of all joy, and the grass isn’t greener on the other side. The grass is greener where you water it.”

In typical Akira fashion, a Western idiom is tweaked with an Eastern perspective to alter the meaning. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence is a saying about desire. It is an idiom in which a lack of fulfillment and contentment is exacerbated by an inherent inclination to compare oneself to one’s neighbors. Akira tweaks this idiom to demonstrate that The Daily Commitment to One’s Craft is what results in greatness.

“You must always keep perspective, John. It is very easy to lose it, and when you lose perspective you forget that this life is but a vapor; we are here today and gone tomorrow.”

Akira encourages John not to focus on comparing himself to his peers, which steals his joy, but to rather enjoy his life by focusing on how he can improve himself without comparing his results with anyone else’s. Akira, who is a Christian, mixes Christian and traditional Japanese views in his teachings to John. This results in a careful blend of Eastern and Western thought in which Akira understands the foundations of Western culture through Christianity without the Protestant work ethic that shaped American competitive drive.

“A talented athlete is often less likely to develop the skills and work ethic that a less-talented one has to develop just to survive, and because of that, they may end up much worse off down the road.”

In several parables featuring John and Akira, Akira draws from the world of international sport to explain his mindset to John in terms he, as a young American man, will understand. In Chapter 12, John understands Akira’s mindset about work ethic and approaches Akira to offer a story of his own about Michael Jordan’s early years as a subpar athlete who worked tirelessly to become great. Here, John demonstrates that Akira’s way of looking at the world is being understood and that he himself can add to Akira’s understanding of success and hard work.

“Believe it or now, the setbacks of today can quickly become the forging blades of greatness for tomorrow.”

Although John struggles with comparing himself to his peers at the samurai training camp, Akira encourages him to view setbacks as an opportunity to focus on craft. In an extended metaphor, Akira explains that athletes who climb the hard side of the mountain face challenges that forge them into greater overall climbers, speaking to the theme Being Mission-Driven Versus Goal-Oriented.

“Words put pictures in your mind. Pictures in your mind impact how you feel. How you feel impacts what you do. What you habitually do impacts your destiny.”

Mindset is a force that Akira explains should be harnessed. The process of controlling one’s mindset begins with controlling how one speaks to oneself. This includes imagery, thoughts, words, and eventually deeds. To alter one’s mindset, Akira encourages harnessing the power of self-talk and filling one’s mind with support, determination, and focus, and to banish doubt, comparison, and envy.

“You might not be able to stop negative thoughts or your inner critic from screaming at you, but you don’t have to believe them or hive them significance, and you can definitely talk to yourself rather than just listening to the negativity.”

Thoughts can be the origin of greatness or defeat in this parable, where Akira helps John move past self-doubt by focusing on positive self-talk. Akira understands that Western society is built on comparison and that as the “thief of joy,” comparison results in negative self-talk and doubt. This can be countered by focusing on one’s craft and on using positive self-talk. As a mental trainer for professional athletes and college-level athletics programs, however, Medcalf is well accustomed to the Western understanding of competition. It is not about beating the opponent, in Medcalf’s view, but about beating all of the roadblocks that have appeared already on the road to mastery.

“Mental training is not magic. It is deliberate, intentional, and extremely hard training.”

Akira sees a commercial featuring a weight loss product that promises a shortcut to losing weight. He is appalled by the concept of an easy fix and explains to John that mental training is a long, hard process with no shortcuts. Only through mental training can one achieve greatness, according to Akira. This, again, is Medcalf using the vehicle of Akira to critique Western culture’s obsession with finding success without having to put in the hard work first.

“John, I have been chopping wood and carrying water for forty-nine years. And while you may only aim with your eyes and your muscles and your lungs right now, I aim with everything.”

After John angrily claims that Akira is likely no longer a good archer, Akira appears at the shooting range to demonstrate his mastery of archery to his student. Akira is not boastful and does not demonstrate his craft to brag about his superior skill but rather shows John that mastery takes time and commitment that is neither fun nor glamorous. Akira embodies the craft because he has put in the hard work every day. Here, he recalls the title and opening parable of the book.

“John, chopping wood and carrying water is the price of admission for the opportunity to reach sustained excellence. Like the roots of the bamboo tree, it is a long and arduous process of invisible growth, where you are building the foundation that is necessary to sustain success. For many years it might feel as if nothing is happening, but you must trust the process and continue to chop wood and carry water, day in and day out, regardless of what is happening around you.”

At the heart of the book is Akira’s advice to John about persistence and focusing on the perfection of one’s craft without comparison, without doubt, and with a desire to put in effort on the small, daily tasks that are unglamorous but necessary for greatness. This integral lesson is featured in the opening chapter, in the middle, and again at the conclusion of the extended parable, and lends the title its meaning.

“Even though the path to mastery is available to everyone, very few will choose to take it.”

In another parable featuring John and Akira, the sensei shares a personal story about his youth as a truck driver and the usefulness of seeing road signs along a difficult path. When one is looking for signs, they will be found. Akira encourages John to keep a positive mindset and to look for signs that he is improving.

“Goals actually allow you to shirk responsibility. But a mission? Only the person in the mirror can stop you from living that out.”

John has decided he must meet his goal of winning the archery tournament. Akira encourages him to revise how he views this opportunity and to have a mission rather than a milestone to reach for, speaking to the theme Being Mission-Driven Versus Goal-Oriented. A mission, Akira explains, is always showing up and trying one’s best. A goal is winning a specific tournament. By focusing only on the outcome, John takes away his own ability to be successful. He might not be able to win, but he can control what he shows up at the tournament intent on doing.

“I want you to walk around for two minutes thanking God for everything you are grateful for, and make sure you pay special attention to all the little things you often take for granted.”

After losing the archery tournament to his colleague at the training facility, John is dismayed. Akira offers failure as an opportunity to grow and advises John to be grateful for as many things as he can, and in doing this, he will realize that one failure does not define his existence. A positive mental attitude is a gift that allows self-reflection and growth, whereas a negative mindset only allows for grief, self-pity, and pain.

“The person you want beside you in battle is the guy who has surrendered the outcome, and surrendered to the fact that he might die. When you surrender the outcome, you are freed up to be at your best, to be in the moment, and to trust your training.”

After John loses the archery tournament, he is depressed about the outcome. Akira claims that the most valuable thing his own sensei taught him was surrendering the outcome and focusing only on what can be controlled. The outcome of a battle cannot be determined by a single soldier, but a single soldier can perform at his best and thus contribute to a favorable outcome. This is amplified when it is a shared ideology and everyone arrives on the battlefield surrendering the outcome and focusing instead on their craft.