You Are Not Alone In Feeling Like An Outsider

Ever felt it? That quiet, sinking feeling in your gut when you walk into a room and just know you don't belong.It’s the feeling of being invisible in a crowd. The feeling of speaking a language no one else gets, even when you’re all using the same words.

It's the subtle panic of an actor on stage who has suddenly forgotten all their lines. Some people call it "Imposter Syndrome." Others call it "culture shock." I call it the "Gaijin Moment."

For me, this wasn't some fleeting feeling. It was the air I breathed. When I first landed in Tokyo, the scent of stale cigarette smoke and damp concrete hitting me, I had nothing but $800 and a dream that felt laughably big. I was the literal "Gaijin", the foreigner, the outsider. Every face was a stranger. Every custom was a puzzle. For a long time, I thought this feeling was a curse. A weakness I had to hide. A flaw that, if discovered, meant instant failure. I was wrong.

It took years of struggle, of ramen for dinner, of small, hard-won victories to understand the truth: that feeling of being an outsider isn't your weakness. It's your secret weapon. Think about it.

The person who belongs, the "insider," walks through life on autopilot. They see what they've always seen. They think what they've always thought. Their brain is wired for efficiency, not observation. They follow the unwritten rules without ever asking if the rules even make sense.

But the outsider? The Gaijin? You see everything. Because you don't know the rules, you're forced to watch. You spot the details the insiders have ignored for years. You see the cracks, the shortcuts, the opportunities they are blind to. Your "ignorance" is actually a state of hyper-awareness.

You have no baggage. You aren't tied to "how we've always done it here." You have no reputation to protect, no sacred cows to defend. You're a blank slate. Free to invent, to adapt, to build a better way from the ground up. You have something to prove. That feeling of being underestimated? Of having your back against the wall?

That's fuel. Pure fuel. It's a fire that insiders, comfortable in their little world, can never truly understand. It forces you to work harder, think smarter, and be more resourceful than anyone else in the room. I didn't build a life in Tokyo despite being a Gaijin. I built it because I was one

My entire philosophy, the Six Hats, was born from this. It's a playbook for turning the so-called disadvantages of being an outsider into a strategic, world-beating advantage.

So, if you're feeling like an outsider in your job, your industry, or even your own life right now, I want you to do one thing: Don't fight it. Lean in, you are not broken. You are not behind , you are exactly where you need to be.

Welcome to the club