At the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, admiring craftsmanship and contemplating perfection.
Last week I was in Tokyo. Part pleasure, part professional … part wandering around, Lost in Translation.
At some point, I found myself at the Imperial Palace, admiring the walls that surround it.
Massive blocks of stone, cut and fitted together with astonishing precision.
No holes, no empty spaces, no fillers.
It turns out this technique is called kirikomi hagi — the ancient art of shaping stones so perfectly that they interlock without mortar. Perfectly cut. Perfectly placed.
Five hundred years later, those walls are still standing. Which is extraordinarily impressive. And also … a bit intimidating.
As I idolized this wall, I caught myself asking the question:
What are the building blocks of the thing that I’m trying to create, and how do I make each block perfect?
But I soon realized … you can’t kirikomi hagi your life. Or your relationships. Or your best self.
We’re all builders in our own way …
Every day, every decision, every slightly wobbly effort is another block on the wall.
But unlike those stones in Tokyo, ours come with cracks, gaps, and awkward edges (oh that’s slightly poetic, isn’t it?).
What the perfectionist in us sometimes misses is this: those imperfections show us what’s needed next.
Where the next block, or repair, or bit of mortar is needed. That’s how your wall grows — with care, with curiosity, and with a willingness to keep building.
So here’s my invitation:
Pay attention to how the pieces of your life/project/next big thing fit together. Notice the cracks AND the pieces that are “precisely perfect”… and then keep crafting, adjusting, and trying again.
That’s how we become our best selves, block by block.
