How to Read “The beginning is important”
Hajime ga daiji
Meaning of “The beginning is important”
“The beginning is important” means that the start of something matters most. How you approach the first step, your initial decisions, and your first actions greatly influence what happens next and the final outcome.
This proverb applies to all kinds of starting points. It’s used when launching new projects, beginning lessons, or building relationships.
The saying emphasizes the importance of thorough preparation, setting the right direction, and building a proper foundation from the start.
Why does the beginning matter so much? If you start in the wrong direction, fixing it later takes enormous effort.
On the other hand, creating the right foundation at the start makes everything that follows go smoothly.
Even today, people widely recognize the importance of a strong start in business and learning. The meaning of this proverb never grows old.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of “The beginning is important.” The expression likely emerged from traditional Japanese values and practical life wisdom.
The word “hajime” (beginning) means more than just a starting point. It also carries the meaning of foundation or base.
In Japanese craftsmanship culture, people have long believed that the first move or first stroke determines the quality of the entire work.
In pottery, how you knead the clay matters. In calligraphy, how you place the brush matters. In construction, the foundation work matters most. Every field has always placed the highest importance on the initial process.
Agricultural culture also reinforced this idea. If you plant seeds at the wrong time or in the wrong way, no amount of later care will produce a good harvest.
These accumulated experiences created a shared understanding that success or failure is largely determined at the beginning stage.
People have also long known from experience that first impressions in human relationships continue to influence things later.
Observations and experiences from various situations crystallized into this simple expression: “The beginning is important.”
Usage Examples
- Because I was taught as a new employee that the beginning is important, I was able to learn the basics thoroughly
- The beginning is important in children’s education, so I want to help them develop good habits
Universal Wisdom
“The beginning is important” has been passed down for generations because it contains deep insight into human behavior patterns.
Once we start moving in a certain direction, changing that course becomes psychologically and physically difficult.
Humans have a psychological tendency similar to the “law of inertia.” Habits and perceptions formed at the start become standards for later judgment and create frameworks for behavior.
If you develop a habit of cutting corners at the beginning, that becomes your normal. If you approach something carelessly at first, taking it seriously later becomes difficult.
Conversely, if you set high standards at the start, those become your baseline.
Humans are also creatures strongly influenced by first impressions. Both how others evaluate us and how we see ourselves are largely shaped by initial experiences.
Once you’re labeled as “someone who can’t do it,” overturning that label is not easy.
Furthermore, things have a “compound effect.” Small differences at the beginning become large differences over time.
Whether you take the first step in the right direction or the wrong direction greatly changes where you end up.
Our ancestors left us the words “The beginning is important” because they understood this human nature and the essence of how things work.
When AI Hears This
Computer simulations of chaos theory prove that even when initial values match to six decimal places, a difference of just 1 in the seventh place produces completely different results after 100 steps.
This happens because of exponential amplification. If errors multiply by 1.5 each step, they become 57 times larger after 10 steps and 3,325 times larger after 20 steps.
A tiny initial difference of 0.000001 quickly grows into a significant difference of 0.003 that cannot be ignored.
What’s interesting is that this theory doesn’t allow the simple conclusion that “perfecting the beginning guarantees safety.”
In the real world, completely controlling initial conditions is fundamentally impossible. Even measuring temperature has limits to decimal precision. Measurement always has boundaries.
In chaotic systems, long-term prediction is essentially impossible no matter how careful you are.
Still, “the beginning is important” not to eliminate unpredictability, but to avoid amplification in bad directions.
For example, loan interest also grows exponentially. A 1 million yen debt at 10% annual interest becomes 2.59 million yen in 10 years and 6.73 million yen in 20 years.
If you keep the initial debt to 500,000 yen, the damage is cut in half. Perfection is impossible, but efforts to improve the starting state even slightly have definite meaning.
Lessons for Today
“The beginning is important” teaches us that our awareness and actions at the starting point greatly change our later lives.
Modern society offers many choices and creates the illusion that we can always start over.
However, in reality, initial choices create later paths, and initial habits form character.
When starting a new job, building a new relationship, or learning a new skill, how you approach the first few weeks and months greatly determines later success or failure.
That’s why when starting something, don’t compromise easily. Prepare thoroughly and face it seriously.
Precisely because it’s the beginning, approach it carefully, cautiously, and with full effort. That attitude becomes a strong foundation supporting your future self.
If you’re about to start something new, remember these words.
Taking that first step carefully becomes a light illuminating your future. People who value the beginning will surely achieve good results.
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