Comments on: Birthlines, Part 4: If You Want to Succeed, Start Off On The Wrong Foot /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/ You don't know a language, you live it. You don't learn a language, you get used to it. Sat, 04 Jul 2020 16:09:19 +0900 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.13 By: Start Dirty: Why A Clean Slate Is Bad For You and What To Do About It | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-1000054152 Tue, 16 Jul 2013 00:37:08 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-1000054152 […] When starting dirty, any time is fine to start, because you’re dirty anyway! No need for the illusions of milestones and perfect times and arbitrary dates in the Gregorian calendar. You can start right where you are. As we say in Japanese: 思い立ったが吉日（おもいたったがきちじつ, omoitatta-ga-kichi-jitsu) — every day is a good day to start 7. […]

]]> By: There Is A Magic Silver Bullet | AJATT | All Japanese All The Time /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-1000053674 Wed, 03 Jul 2013 21:07:05 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-1000053674 […] Don’t worry too much about going wrong. As Norman Schwarzkopf once said, I don’t have the exact quote but basically: it’s easier to change course than to get started; it’s easier to correct course than to get started. You’re better off starting off in the wrong direction than not starting. Being stationary is w… […]

]]> By: Irrevenoid /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-62513 Wed, 01 Dec 2010 07:54:15 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-62513 “Decide when you’re going to touch it for just 1 minute even. And then come back. Treat it like Farmville. […]”

*blinks* That’s genius! Never thought of it that way!

And of course, if you START, you’re a lot likelier to get sucked in and CONTINUE (just like Farmville) and that’s just fine too…

]]> By: simon /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57258 Mon, 11 Oct 2010 18:22:50 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57258 all sorts of tricks are needed for ppl in our generation… ‘Generation No Discipline’
I’ve used all these techniques before, but i eventually just realized i am an inherently lazy spoiled x-computer boy and ppl in the real world with real jobs (like my wife) work 4hours +30min break +4 hours and don’t complain about it- even after 10 years of doing the same thing.
Work ethic isn’t a word you hear being thrown around anymore….Awhile back i was doing some reading on Norman Rockwell…. that dude was a discipline machine.

Anyway, now i just try to buck up and face the music, taking the ‘gawd i deserve facebook time, but i’m working’ along with the ‘wow, work is so inspiring right now, i’m glad i’m working’. At the end of the day i feel really good.

]]> By: Kevin /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57253 Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:02:41 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57253 @Maya
I think one of the points of timeboxing is just as a means to get yourself started on the task and working on the task with some consistency. So, if, after 30 mins, you are into the task and want to keep going, by all means go for it. I’ve read a good portion of this blog, and I think Khatz would probably say, if you are still having fun after 30 mins, continue.

]]> By: Jaybot7 /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57221 Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:30:18 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57221 @maya timeboxing really only works for really small chunks of time and *really* crazy people (including khatz 😉 ) if you’re doing 30 minute chunks, you may want to try out time-slotting (I just made that term up, but it’s what I do), which is designate certain portions of your day to doing the task you wish to do (be it taking a bath, eating lunch, reading a manga, or just doing SRS for 30-60 minutes).

Yeah, it looks like a schedule, I know. But the schedule can vary from day to day. You can stick that 30 minute time-slot of SRS in the morning, afternoon, or evening, or even on Tuesdays and Fridays, and *then* go crazy with it and make an excel sheet of timeslots for your entire week… like I did.

So… whatever crazy way fits you better, as long as you’re doing something, it works 🙂

]]> By: Emese /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57215 Sun, 10 Oct 2010 10:52:52 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57215 Oh well. I’m doing this right now for my physiology SRS. Just ten pages, then I can go back to Facebook. Or FF.net. Or anything, just for half an hour. My original goal was 3 chapters for this weekend, but I’m already done with five, whoa. I think AJATT just sets me right.

]]> By: Cush /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57213 Sun, 10 Oct 2010 10:19:41 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57213 I don’t know… Little and often is all well and good, but I think that you’re going to have to ‘hunker down and get serious’ every now and then. it’s like how you cant just sleep for 1 minute then be awake for 20 then sleep for 1 minute and so on. It’s better to get a solid 8 hours than to space it out. Or like how in another article Khatz talks about boiling water. Well you know what boils water? Constant heat! Not having the heat on for one minute, turning it off for 20 then turning it on for 1. So what i’m saying is hunker down’ i.e. turn on your flame till the water boils then you can turn the flame down(i.e.timebox) to keep the water hot.

]]> By: Maya /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57207 Sun, 10 Oct 2010 06:38:18 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57207 Oh yeah, khatz, I have a question related to timeboxing (it kinda relates to something you mentioned in this post):

When you sit down to do something and you timebox (eg. “I’m only giving myself 30 mins to do this”), how do you enforce that time limit? Assuming you have a bit of extra time after those 30 mins (eg. you’re not obliged to leave the house right after), isn’t it almost too easy to tell yourself that you can just continue for another 10-20 mins? I find myself doing this a lot, and I feel like it’s defeating the point of timeboxing in the first place.

]]> By: Cush /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57201 Sun, 10 Oct 2010 02:34:36 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57201 Damnnn… Khatz just described my life to a tee!

]]> By: sisio /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57190 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 22:35:45 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57190 Thanks:)

]]> By: Theo /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57189 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 22:16:30 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57189 Ktz sama, hehehe. You have the skills of the greatest masters, retell the same thing in a crappy way that all this crappy readers can get it! thnks! GB

]]> By: Einar /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57188 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 21:31:47 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57188 you saved my day 🙂 Made me realise that tinkering my physics report ahead is actually kinda fun 😀

If anything is worth doing it is worth doing it is worth doing is suckishly.(Is that a word? Oh well now it is)
Anything that is worth doing suckishly is worth having fun with.

]]> By: The Real CZ /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57184 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 20:46:06 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57184 I needed to read this. I have a rough draft of a paper due on Tuesday. I actually read all of my sources and did an outline, but I’ve been putting off starting typing the actual paper. Off to do a crappy job on something important!

]]> By: John Biesnecker /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57183 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 20:43:36 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57183 I like this. I’ve never used the term birthlines, but I’ve been a fan of just sucking less every day for a while. Even at work, where other people impose deadlines, I just put in time (hopefully proportional to how important each task is) and somehow it always works out, or at least I’ll have done enough to make a good case for why the original deadline was all a bunch of hand waving and made up numbers in the first place.

]]> By: Maya /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57180 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:43:38 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57180 @Koneko: I think he mis-labelled it as “part 4” on purpose, as a joke. The article talks about getting stuff done, even if it means doing a half-a$$ed job, right? Think about it.

]]> By: Koneko /birthlines-part-4-if-you-want-to-succeed-start-off-on-the-wrong-foot/#comment-57178 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 17:40:42 +0000 /?p=2961#comment-57178 “No really. How do do you guys read this and stay sane?”
Sane? SANE? What gave you /that/ idea?

Also… Part 4? May I ask what happened to parts 2 and 3?

Anyways, great article as usual~

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