The Tomabechi Method: Complete Guide to "Using Your Unconscious Mind"—The Blueprint for Your Brain to Achieve Goals Without Effort

“Effort is a virtue.” We were raised believing this. Many of us have clenched our teeth, sacrificed sleep, and believed that pushing ourselves forward through sheer willpower was the only path to our dreams. However, Dr. Hidetoshi Tomabechi overturns this very premise at its core.

“Watch this, and you’ll understand what ‘effort is unnecessary’ means” — Dr. Tomabechi states this unequivocally in this video. It’s a roughly 26-minute lecture that explains cutting-edge findings in brain function science and cognitive science in plain language, systematically unraveling the “techniques for harnessing the unconscious.”

When I first encountered this video, I recall interpreting the phrase “effort is unnecessary” as some convenient, self-help platitude. Yet now, I feel there exists little content that speaks so sincerely, so scientifically, to the very essence of human potential. In this article, from the perspective of Mindset Design, we will delve as deeply as possible into the core of the Tomabechi Method.

The Tomabechi Method’s Definition of the “Unconscious” and Its Astonishing Capabilities

First, Dr. Tomabechi begins with defining the terms. He simplifies the complex definitions of “unconscious” by Freud and Jung as follows:

What you are aware of right now is consciousness; what you are not aware of is the unconscious.

Hidetoshi Tomabechi

This definition is simple, yet its implications are profound. Unconsciously keeping the ember centered while smoking a pipe, unconsciously making minute weight adjustments while sitting in a chair, keeping the heart beating and lungs moving—these are all processes that “are not brought to consciousness, yet are definitely being executed.”

The doctor continues. Problem-solving works the same way. Haven’t you ever had the experience where, just as you consciously let go of a difficult problem thinking “Forget it,” a solution suddenly popped into your head? This isn’t a special phenomenon. “The unconscious mind was working on the solution the whole time. You just forgot to notice.”

The Three Overwhelming Advantages of the Unconscious

Dr. Tomabechi clearly outlines three key benefits of harnessing the unconscious. Let’s explore their meaning by rephrasing them in our own words.

• No sense of effort (doesn’t feel like you did it): The doctor describes this as “in Japanese, it feels like no effort is required.” Problems solved by the unconscious don’t feel like you did them—they don’t come with a sense of struggle. It’s like homework that “just got done by tomorrow.”
• Super-parallel processing: While consciousness can only process one thing at a time, the unconscious mind can handle infinite tasks simultaneously—controlling every cell in the body while keeping the heart beating, the lungs moving, and processing external information. This super-parallel nature is precisely why coaching can pursue 8 to 12 goals across life’s domains (the “Balance Wheel”) all at once.
• Overwhelming Creativity: The unconscious isn’t just fast; it possesses the power to creatively discover solutions that lie “outside the current reality.” This is the most crucial point and forms the theoretical foundation of coaching.

Creative Avoidance: The Unconscious Force Working in the Opposite Direction

Here, the doctor inserts an important warning: unconscious creativity does not operate with “good intentions”; it works toward “the direction it desires.” As an example, he introduces “Creative Avoidance.”

Imagine an employee told by their boss to do a task they don’t want to do. That employee will creatively generate a mountain of “reasons not to do it,” such as “I can’t do it for these reasons” or “That other task has higher priority.”

This is a manifestation of the brain’s terrifying unconscious power: when set to a “Have to” state, it endlessly generates reasons to avoid it. This isn’t “slacking off” to be criticized; it’s the brain’s natural mechanism. Conversely, if we channel this powerful unconscious creativity toward a “Want to” direction—it becomes an infinite resource for achieving goals.

When you try to do something with a “Want to” mindset, you naturally figure out creative ways to achieve it.

Hidetoshi Tomabechi

Herein lies the core of the Tomabechi Method. The power of the unconscious is overwhelming in both quantity and variety. The only question is “where to direct it.”

Setting Goals Beyond the Current Reality and Gestalt Collapse

What Dr. Tomabechi emphasizes most in coaching is “setting goals outside the current state.” The reason for this is directly linked to this unconscious creativity.

If you place a goal along the extension of the current state, the brain enters a state where it “knows” how to achieve it. Doing what you already know activates the problem-solving function deep within the unconscious very little. However, when you set a goal far outside the current state, the brain enters a state where it “doesn’t know” how to achieve it. What happens then?

The doctor explains this phenomenon as “Gestalt breakdown and reconstruction.” The coherent framework of perception (Gestalt) breaks apart (breakdown) and then reassembles (reconstruction) to align with the new, higher goal. This is the essence of the phenomenon known as “raising the comfort zone.”

The doctor describes this using the metaphor of “building a tall skyscraper in the information space.” If you try to build a low-rise building just above ground level, the unconscious mind doesn’t exert much effort. However, when you attempt to build an impossibly tall skyscraper in the information space, the unconscious mind begins to exert its full power, creatively searching for ways to achieve it.

Set your goal outside your current reality, and your brain will automatically find creative ways to get there. You don’t need to know how to achieve it.

Hidetoshi Tomabechi

This corresponds to Lou Tice’s oft-repeated phrase, “Invent on the Way.” It’s a paradoxical truth: it’s natural not to see the method of achievement—if you could see it, it would merely be the current goal.

Brain Waves and Consciousness States—Why There Are “Times” and “Places” for Creativity

Dr. Tomabechi then answers the practical question: “How can we make the unconscious function more effectively?” The key lies in “consciousness states,” specifically brain waves.

Beta waves (β) represent the so-called “awake, thinking, tense” state. These are the brain waves active when checking emails, attending meetings, or planning next actions. While this state excels at conscious, logical processing, it diminishes the unconscious, creative problem-solving function.

The state Dr. Kato most strongly recommends is the range from theta waves (θ) to low alpha waves (low α), specifically around 3 to 10 Hz. This corresponds to the “drowsy” state just before falling asleep or a deep meditative state. When in this consciousness state, unconscious creativity is maximally unleashed.

What Scholars and Researchers Practiced Unconsciously

In this context, the doctor shares an anecdote from his younger days when he was a visiting researcher at ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International). Taking advantage of his free status as an unpaid visiting researcher, he would say, “I want to get creative, so I’m off to a temple,” and visit temples and shrines in Kyoto or Nara, or go to hot springs.

This wasn’t mere slacking off. It was an extremely rational action to intentionally lower his consciousness into the low alpha to theta range. Time spent in quiet nature, gazing at beautiful architecture, relaxing in hot springs—all these were environmental triggers that lowered brain waves and opened the door to the unconscious.

The professor states: Writing 3-4 papers a year takes only 2-3 weeks total. What to do with the remaining 300+ days out of 365? He calls these “the days spent maintaining a creative brain state,” asserting that this is the true work of a basic researcher.

This perspective extends even to the mindset for attending academic conferences. The professor goes so far as to say, “Those who attend conferences solely to gather knowledge directly useful for their own field are not yet fully-fledged basic researchers.” Why? Because that state of mind—the state of “listening” to others’ presentations—that intermediate state, neither completely focused on one’s own theme nor in complete rest—is precisely the optimal environment for sparking insights into one’s own problems.

This is also a question for us

Pause here for a moment and reflect on your own daily life. Are there times or places where ideas tend to come more easily? Probably, many would answer: while showering, while taking a walk, or right after waking up.

This is no coincidence. During these times, your brainwaves naturally drop into the low alpha to theta range, opening the usually closed door to your unconscious creativity. Society’s norms command us to “be productive at all times, stay switched on constantly, and always produce output.” However, from the Mindset Design perspective, this very command blocks access to our most powerful resource: the “wisdom of the unconscious.”

The mystery of the human unconscious, working against the laws of physics

What particularly struck me in the professor’s lecture was the comparison between thermodynamics/entropy and the unconscious.

In the physical realm, entropy (disorder) can only increase. Farted gas disperses into the universe and never returns to its original location. Neatly stacked bricks will eventually collapse, and restoring them requires immense energy. This is why building a skyscraper from stones demands enormous energy. Within the laws of physics, creating order comes at a cost.

However, the doctor states that the human unconscious operates in the opposite direction. In the information space, even when consciousness is at rest (with low brain waves), the unconscious can assemble “coherent things.” It solves problems and constructs paths to goals without feeling hungry or tired.

The doctor recounts that while scuba diving underwater, he consumed oxygen (air) faster than others while contemplating Fermat’s Last Theorem. Pushing your brain to its limits certainly uses energy—but that’s the case for “conscious, beta-wave, head-scratching thinking.” Creative problem-solving happening unconsciously operates at a level that “consumes almost no additional energy,” much like keeping your heart beating.

This fact rewrites the very equation that equates “effort with exhaustion.” If we set the right goals and enter the right state of consciousness, the human brain can continue performing astonishing problem-solving at “nearly zero energy.”

Two Practical Approaches to Harnessing the Subconscious

In the latter half of the lecture, the doctor delves into the practical question: “How can we harness the unconscious?” There are two main approaches.

First: Regulate Your Conscious State (Utilizing Functional Sound Sources)

What the doctor refers to as “what you can do yourself” is utilizing functional audio sources (Dr. Tomabechi’s audio sources) to guide your conscious state into the low alpha to theta range. His assertion is that simply listening to these audio sources achieves the same environmental induction effect as visiting temples or hot springs, as done in ATR.

The specific content of the audio sources isn’t the focus here. The crucial point is this fact: “Entering the correct state of consciousness is the fundamental prerequisite for accessing the creative unconscious.” No matter how lofty your goals, if your mind is flooded with beta waves, dominated by anxiety and worry, the creativity of the unconscious will not manifest.

For many modern people, smartphones, social media, and 24-hour news completely rob them of time to lower their brainwaves from the beta range. Checking your phone immediately upon waking and looking at it right before sleep—from the perspective of consciousness states, this is “the least creative lifestyle pattern.”

Second: Setting Goals Beyond Your Current State and Building Your Self-Image

The method for setting correct goals is what the doctor emphasizes as “knowledge he shares with everyone.” It can be organized into the following three steps:

• Set goals significantly beyond your current state, evenly distributed across all aspects of life (the balance wheel): career, family, partner, learning, community contribution, social contribution, hobbies, health, finances—by setting goals “outside your current state” in each of these 8 to 12 areas, you can unconsciously run 20 to 30 problem-solving tasks simultaneously.
• Build a self-image in your mind of yourself having achieved those goals: Establish a high comfort zone where “succeeding feels like me, failing doesn’t.” This is fundamentally different from mere positive thinking. Rewriting your self-definition at the unconscious level—that “this is who I am”—makes it easier to naturally choose actions that bring you closer to your goals in every aspect of life.
• You don’t need to know how to achieve it. The further the goal is from your current reality, the better: “Not seeing how to achieve it now” is proof it’s a goal beyond your current reality. Your brain will unconsciously keep searching for creative ways to achieve it. What’s important is not having a “map” to the goal, but only a “compass”—as long as the direction is correct, the most powerful compass, your unconscious mind, will guide you to your destination via unexpected routes.

Mindset Design Insight—The Synthetic Curse of “Effort as Virtue”

Some may feel uneasy hearing the core message running through Dr. Tomabechi’s lectures—”Effort isn’t needed; leave it to the unconscious.” Reactions like “Not needing effort sounds too convenient. Isn’t that just being lazy?” might arise.

Where does this discomfort stem from? I believe it doesn’t arise purely from within ourselves. It’s the “Effort Doctrine” program meticulously implanted into our unconscious 95% by society and the education system.

In Japanese society especially, the values “value comes from hardship” and “no growth without suffering” are deeply ingrained. This is simply the logic of agricultural culture and factory labor during the Industrial Revolution elevated to a “virtue” in the social code.In factories, simply investing time and physical strength did indeed increase output. However, in a knowledge and information society, a brain functioning calmly in the low alpha and theta states produces vastly superior output compared to one that is exhausted and strained.

The narrative that “effort is a virtue” may have functioned in certain eras and contexts, but in today’s knowledge-creating environments, it actually acts as a “curse that hinders peak performance.” When the professor says “effort isn’t necessary,” it’s not advocating laziness; it’s a scientific proposal for enabling the brain—our most powerful resource—to function correctly.

The True Nature of the Comfort Zone

Within Dr. Tomabechi’s teachings, another crucial concept closely tied to the “unconscious” is the “comfort zone.” Without understanding this, simply being told to “set goals beyond your current state” may not actually work.

While often translated as “comfortable area” in Japanese, Dr. Tomabechi’s definition is more precise. When the self-image (“this is who I am”) diverges from reality, the human unconscious generates a constant force to realign them. The comfort zone is the “natural state” defined by this self-image.

For example, consider someone with a self-image of “I am a person who earns 300,000 yen per month.” Suppose they happen to gain an opportunity to earn 1,000,000 yen that month. However, their unconscious mind senses a discomfort (a homeostatic pull) thinking, “This doesn’t feel like me.” Unconsciously, they might spend all that money or take actions that prevent the same level of income from continuing the next month.Conversely, if someone holds the self-image “I am someone who earns ¥1 million monthly,” even if they only earn ¥300,000 this month, their brain recognizes this discrepancy as “abnormal” and prompts creative actions to return to the ¥1 million level.

Understanding this mechanism makes it clear why coaching prioritizes “raising your comfort zone (rewriting your self-image)” over focusing solely on “goal achievement.” Updating your self-definition at an unconscious level—believing “I am someone who achieves that”—is far more powerful at changing reality than conscious effort to reach a goal.

The current Gestalt functions as a gravitational pull

What the doctor describes with the term “Gestalt” is precisely this gravitational pull of the comfort zone. Your current reality—your income, relationships, health, and lifestyle habits—is unconsciously stored as a coherent “whole.” This whole is the Gestalt.

Even if you try to change just a little, the gravitational pull of this Gestalt pulls you back to the original state. This is why you might stick to a diet for a bit only to return to your original weight, or why attempts to save money often slip back into the same spending patterns. This isn’t a lack of willpower; it’s the brain functioning normally.

However, setting a goal significantly outside your current state causes this Gestalt to temporarily “break apart.” This is because a large gap exists between your current self and the goal, one that your present Gestalt cannot explain. The broken-apart Gestalt then seeks to reassemble itself toward the goal—this is the “Gestalt upward reconfiguration,” the true mechanism behind the comfort zone being raised.

This process unfolds automatically at the unconscious level, even without the individual consciously mustering resolve with “Alright, let’s do this!”Once the goal is strongly set (the desired destination is clear) and that self-image becomes firmly established in the brain, the unconscious mind begins to select actions to elevate the current state toward the goal state in a hyper-parallel and creative manner. This is the automatic self-organizing mechanism brought about by setting a high comfort zone, as described by Dr. Tomabechi: “If it works out, it’s me; if it doesn’t, it’s not me.”

Conclusion and Next Action—Unleashing Your Most Powerful Partner: The Unconscious

When we distill the “method of using the unconscious” taught by the Tomabechi Method, its essence is remarkably simple.

• The unconscious mind continues to solve problems in a hyper-parallel and creative manner even while the conscious mind rests.
• This power of the unconscious is maximally unleashed when you set a “goal outside the current reality.”
• And this unconscious mind functions most effectively in a low alpha to theta consciousness state (brain waves).

Therefore, what we should do is not exhaust ourselves by overworking our minds, but rather intentionally create the conscious state where the brain is most creative, and within that state, set a “big goal outside the current reality.”

And most crucially, “don’t panic even if you can’t see how to achieve it.” Not seeing the method is proof you’re outside the current reality and a sign your brain’s unconscious is starting to work. You don’t need to agonize or think desperately—the optimal path in life is already being calculated in the background, provided you have the right goal and the right state of consciousness.

Three Actions You Can Start Today

• Practice consciously letting go with “That’s enough for now”: Stop banging your head against a difficult problem. Intentionally letting go by saying “That’s enough for today. I’ll leave the rest to my brain” is delegating homework to your unconscious. The solution will surface in the most unexpected moments—the next morning, during a walk, while showering.
• Write down “beyond the status quo” goals for every aspect of your life: Work, family, hobbies, health, social contribution—list goals in at least five areas that you currently have no idea how to achieve. Rejoicing in not knowing the method is the right attitude for this step.
• Create time daily to lower your conscious state: Put down your smartphone right before bed and instead secure ten minutes to close your eyes and breathe quietly. This alone brings your brainwaves closer to the low alpha to theta range, activating unconscious creativity.

Dr. Tomabechi’s message is never a license to slack off. It is a scientific and philosophical invitation to rewrite your OS: “Use your brain—the ultimate resource—correctly and let your unconscious build your future.”

Even as you finish reading this article, your unconscious mind is quietly yet surely continuing to forge a path toward your set goals.