| To Lead A Happy Life �Even if you are not confident, you must at least look confident! Coz if you aren�t confident, you can�t do anything! By pretending that you are full of confidence, you will forget about feeling inferior!� The youngest member of SMAP, Shingo, was only 10 when he entered SMAP. To Shingo, the older members Takuya and Nakai who are 5 years older, were mature secondary school students. He couldn�t help but felt the presence of a generation gap between him and the members. Having to work side by side with these older brothers, it was inevitable that Shingo lost confidence and felt down at times. Shingo recalled how it was during those days when he just entered the entertainment scene, � I always tried to follow what the others were doing, but I couldn�t keep up most of the time. Sometimes, I got isolated for that. The only thing I could do was to run after them�. This sounds tough for a young child like Shingo. But being a professional, the demands on him were different compared to the normal kids. He had to work hard and had no time to relax. However, Shingo did not give up. � I don�t want to train anymore!� was what the 10-year-old Shingo said frequently. But still, he left school everyday with his backpack, and head to the training ground enthusiastically. Shingo did not see those days as tough. Instead, he felt that it was a great environment for him to observe the personalities of the other 5 members, and also to absorb more knowledge. Shingo never stopped trying to catch up with the other members, and through his chase, he developed confidence of his own, and a unique way of thinking. The special thinking method is to keep reminding himself that, �I can do it!� In this way, his working capabilities improved day by day, and his confidence level strengthened considerably. For example, to Shingo, �No matter its singing, acting or variety shows, they are all fun!� No matter what kind of job offer he gets, he will do his best. Especially in acting, Shingo has played various roles. Just to name a few, the murderer in Sashow Taiko, Vietnam student in Doku, mentally disabled teenager in Miseinen�Shingo had successfully portrayed each role. Others may sense difficulty in doing so, but to Shingo, he always tell himself that, �I can definitely do it!� �It�s just like dancing. If you can become a superb dancer, you won�t fear dancing anymore�. Of course, besides just thinking that he can do it, Shingo makes sure that he does do it through devoting time and hard work. �My father told me, once you think that what you did is perfect, you can no longer improve! For example, I keep thinking that I�m still not a good dancer. However, deep inside my heart, I do at times feel that I�m doing great!� Shingo was hospitalized in the past, for hurting his leg after performing a back flip. That was just after his dancing skills had improved substantially, and he was thinking that his dancing was great. After he left hospital, he realized, �Ey? Tsuyopon is very good at dance steps which I don�t know!� Although he had not fully recovered and even had difficulty moving about, he started watching lots of videos to study different dance steps. He decided that he was over confident in the past. � I will throw that bad habit away, and make sure that I dance the best steps in the next concert!� �Anyone who plays chess will know that, the most dangerous moment is when you think that you will definitely win. At this point of time, you will be thinking about winning and will lose focus. This is when you start making wrong moves.� |
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