I had to see if there was another way to live life...

"I happened to read this comic strip one day. It was a drawing about life, and it talked about how, in our professional lives, most of the time we are repeatedly refreshing our inboxes — as if we're living the same day over and over. It really struck me, and I had to see if there was another way to live life. I was happy at my job at Sony in Tokyo, but it also felt like a trap. A comfortable trap with lots of benefits, but a trap nonetheless. So I left. I had an idea for a video game I wanted to create and, in the meantime, I was receiving a little income from a book I'd written. The game took about a year to complete and then didn't make enough money, but I earned a reputation as someone who could build games. I started helping other people with the games they were trying to create — all the while, working on projects of my own — and that became my first business. It's been ten years now. I've had moments where I'd missed my old corporate life in Tokyo, but those moments are brief. Having my own business has allowed me to be free of the trap. I've realized that, to feel the most alive, I need to be creating. That's what I get to do now."