When you run a business, there are seasons when everything goes well, and seasons when nothing seems to move at all.

You might be working in the same way, but the sense of traction feels completely different.
Sometimes it feels as if something beyond your own ability and effort is at work.

I believe one of the reasons is “the flow.”

Money, people, opportunities—
they may look still on the surface, but in reality they are always moving and changing.

This is close to what Eastern thought calls 諸行無常（Shogyō mujō）, meaning “everything is constantly changing; nothing stays the same.”

That’s why, in business, what matters is not
“How hard am I pushing?” but “Which flow am I standing in?”

When you are in the flow, you move forward even without forcing yourself.
When you go against the flow, no matter how much you push, you don’t progress—you only get exhausted.

Today, I’d like to share some thoughts on this idea of “working in the flow.”

Summary: How to Let Your Work and Business Ride the Right Flow

Let’s walk through these ideas in more detail.

There Is a Flow in the World

Money, people, and connections are all in motion.
We tend to think, “If I just work harder, things will work out.” But if there is no supportive flow—or if we are moving against it—then no matter how much we move, results don’t follow.

It may be easier to picture a river.
If you ride with the current, you move forward without doing very much.
If you try to swim against it, the resistance rises sharply and your fatigue quickly builds up.

Work is exactly the same.

Are Humans Slower Than Sea Turtles?

For example, they say a human swimming in the sea travels at around 4.8 km/h.
Sea turtles, on the other hand, look as if they are moving slowly, yet at moments they can reach 10 km/h.

They are not frantically moving their limbs.
By simply aligning with the current, speed arises naturally.

This is the power of flow.

In a Chinese classic, this state is described by the phrase 順水推舟（Junsui suishū）,
meaning “if you push the boat along with the water’s flow, things move forward on their own.”

It is not about grinding with clenched teeth, but about working in cooperation with the flow.
That is what creates a sense of lightness that still leads to results.

The Key to Riding the Flow at Work: 無為自然（Mui shizen）

So how do we actually ride the flow?

A major hint comes from the Eastern philosophical idea of 無為自然（Mui shizen）,
often translated as “effortless naturalness.”

“無為（mui）” is often misunderstood as “doing nothing.”

But the original meaning of 無為自然（Mui shizen） is
“not doing what is unnatural.”

Forcing yourself, clenching your jaw, trying to change yourself by sheer willpower—
or pushing against the broader current of the world—
these are all “unnatural actions.”

In contrast:

• Things you can do naturally
• Activities that don’t exhaust you even when you keep at them
• Work that, for some reason, tends to lead to good results

These belong to your “natural flow.”

Reducing the unnatural and spending more time on what is natural—
that is 無為自然（Mui shizen） in practice,
and the most concrete way to ride the flow.

Confucianism and “Heaven-Given Nature”

In Chinese Confucianism, there is an important concept for understanding flow and 無為自然（Mui shizen）: 天与の性（Tenyo no sei）.

This is different from abilities acquired by forced effort.
It refers to the “natural disposition” you are born with.

Simply put, it is similar to what we call “talent.”

For example:

• You find yourself doing it without thinking
• You don’t feel like you are “trying”
• People naturally praise you for it
• You can keep going without feeling drained

These traits are 天与の性（Tenyo no sei） itself.

When you use your 天与の性（Tenyo no sei）, the flow becomes much stronger and results appear more easily.
When you move away from it, you work hard but don’t move forward, and only fatigue accumulates.

In short:

• Riding the flow means making use of your 天与の性（Tenyo no sei）
• 無為自然（Mui shizen） means working in line with that Heaven-given nature

My Own Example: Letting Go of the Unnatural and Moving Toward the Natural

So far I’ve talked about 無為自然（Mui shizen） and 天与の性（Tenyo no sei）.
But abstract concepts alone can be hard to internalize.

So let me share how this has shown up in my own way of working.

For Me, “Unnatural” = Sales

I am terrible at sales.
No matter how well I prepare, whenever I stand in a situation where I need to push a service face-to-face, my whole body tightens up.

• “What if the client ends up disliking me?”
• “What if they think I’m just trying to sell to them?”

These worries run through my mind and both my heart and body stiffen.
Sometimes I feel heavy and anxious for an entire week leading up to a sales meeting.

I read books on sales, studied scripts, and practiced role-plays many times.
Even so, the results were almost nonexistent.

Looking back, I was completely swimming against the river’s current.

Similarly, editing videos for YouTube and carefully checking for typos are also “unnatural” tasks for me.
My concentration doesn’t hold, I spend too much time,
and no matter how many hours I put in, I cannot reach a professional level.

So I decided to stop doing these “unnatural tasks.”

• Video editing goes to our team member T.
• Fine-grained checking goes to our team member Y.

By trusting people who are naturally good at each of these tasks,
the overall quality of our work has risen and the flow stopped getting clogged.

For Me, 無為自然（Mui shizen） = Sharing Information

On the other hand, there are types of work that feel completely natural and that I want to invest in:

• Sharing information
• Copywriting
• Reading (deep input)

Blogging, YouTube, and podcasting feel as natural to me as breathing.
It may sound bold, but it almost feels like “play.”

No one has to tell me to do it—I simply find myself doing it.
When I’m working on these, I lose track of time and catch myself thinking,
“I should talk about this in my next YouTube video.”

Copywriting is similar.
I’ve always been relatively good at communicating value through writing.
So even though I’m bad at sales, by conveying value in writing, I was able to build trust with clients and eventually create a system where I hardly need to “sell” at all.

Reading is also important to me.
It’s not just input; it helps me arrange my thoughts, calm my mind,
and gain new perspectives.

The insights I gain from reading then cycle back into my information sharing.

These three areas are my 天与の性（Tenyo no sei）—
my natural, sustainable zone.

Once I focused my time on these three, the business flow changed dramatically.

What I actually did is very simple:

I stopped doing what was unnatural,
and spent more time on what was natural.

That’s all.

There is a saying, “You become skilled at what you love.” It truly feels that way.

When You Let Go of the Unnatural, the Flow Thickens on Its Own

Interestingly, when you let go of what is unnatural, the flow grows naturally stronger.

In my case, letting go of sales actually increased the number of inquiries we receive.

This combination builds trust and gently attracts people who think,
“I want to talk to this person.”

Where Is Your “Natural” Zone?

What feels unnatural for you?

• Your shoulders tense up when you try to do it
• You feel tired even before you start
• You feel drained after you’re done
• You feel heavy the day before you have to do it

These are signs you’re moving against the current.

In contrast:

• You can immerse yourself and forget the time
• You find yourself doing it without thinking
• People naturally praise you for it
• You feel like a child before a field trip—too excited to sleep

These belong to your natural zone—your 天与の性（Tenyo no sei）.

Where you can be natural, there is always a flow.

That flow points toward the direction where you can work without strain.

Closing Thoughts

Riding the flow does not mean “never exerting effort.”
It means focusing on natural effort.

To work calmly and still produce results,
we need to value our natural disposition (our “talent”)
and gradually cut away what is unnatural.

Instead of exhausting ourselves by swimming upstream,
we can stand where our own current is,
and move lightly forward in 無為自然（Mui shizen）.

Are you currently riding the flow,
or are you swimming against it?

Try letting go of just one thing that feels unnatural.
Even that small act can quietly begin to change your flow.

I sincerely hope you find your own current
and move forward without forcing yourself.