Haikyuu is such an amazing and inspirational anime that I rewatched certain scenes to pump me up when I was interviewing for my current job. I can’t say it didn’t work…

There’s so much to learn from Haikyuu, but today we’re going to focus on Season 4 Hinata. The below is a brief recap of the first half of Season 4 and there isn’t anything mindblowing revealed, but nonetheless if you want absolutely 0 spoilers, skip ahead to the Life Lesson.

In Season 4, Hinata crashes a training camp that’s filled with upcoming players who were invited based on their potential and physical attributes. Because Hinata is short, he doesn’t make the cut, despite his monster athleticism. So when he crashes the camp, he’s allowed to stay, but only as a ballboy. He’s also not provided any food or housing since he wasn’t technically invited and so has to bike 30 minutes home each day. Plus, he beat everyone attending the camp in the recent tournament, proving he already has what it takes to be at the top.

At that point, it’s embarrassing enough as it is that most people would have just left already. Why waste a week doing something so mundane when you could be practicing? Why spend a week filling up water bottles and picking up balls for players that you JUST destroyed with your insane talent? Well that’s exactly what Hinata did.

And instead of being embarrassed and shying away from it, he embraced it, worked equally as hard as normal as a ballboy, and learned from observing others from different perspectives. It’s not an opportunity he would have gained if he had just went to normal practice and trained as usual.

Guess what. It paid off in the second half of the season. His small subtle improvements that surfaced in the games amazed not only his teammates, but also his past and present rivals, ultimately helping secure a victory.

The Life Lesson

When I first watched this mini arc, it was so tough to watch. I felt secondhand embarrassment for Hinata—how he fell so far after all the epic, expectation-defying moments in the previous seasons. But after I finished Season 4, the next time I re-watched the entire season, I actually really enjoyed the training camp mini arc because I knew how much he would grow from it just a few episodes later. Also I absolutely love the Miya twins. JUST LOOK AT THEM! 

This is exactly like in life though. No matter how mundane a role is, whether it’s in the context of sports, a job, a class, or even the small things you do routinely, there’s much to be gained as long as you put the effort into it. It won’t feel like that when you’re doing it (like watching Hinata be a ballboy), but eventually you’ll realize how much those mundane things help (like watching Hinata kill it at the end of the season). As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Personally I’ve found this applicable multiple times in my life already. I worked my ass off at various customer service food jobs during my college summer after failing to get an internship. Many of my other peers and friends were all doing glorious internships at prestigious places and not gonna lie, it felt shitty. Looking back even a few years after that though, I see how much I grew from making milk teas and being a server. I don’t regret a thing. It honestly helped me strengthen my core communication basics, which is an underrated skill that is extremely important no matter what job you end up doing.

Another example is handling tasks outside the scope of your role at work. Yes, maybe it’s below you to do xyz, but sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. It might be repetitive administrative tasks, or taking over tasks for someone else. But that’s not always bad! With this, you gain empathy, understanding, and even some subject matter expertise. You’ve put yourself in someone else’s shoes, learned something new, or were able to see things from a different angle. Which means you can now say you’ve been there and boss others around now right? Just kidding. Personally, if I have a mentor or senior or manager at work, I’d like them to have that experience and expertise in order to help guide me.

All in all, don’t discount the non-glorious roles. Don’t forget about the basics. It’s like an optical illusion. Do you see a vase or two people looking at each other?

Do you see mundane roles as a waste of time, or a new perspective?