0. Zeroth Law: Compare yourself only to yourself. And to newborn babies. 1. The Prime Directive: Have fun. 2. The Promise: Show up. 3. The Triple Path: Don’t learn: get used to. Don’t improve: suck less. Don’t binge: nibble often.
Mental Tools
Don’t Have High Standards, Have Wide Standards
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Wide StandardsLo! And Chagami sayeth: It doesn’t matter how many kanji you do a day/how many sentences you’re learning/how much vocab you’re picking up, all that matters is that progress is being made. I know that sometimes it can feel like we’re lowering our standards by just…
Language Is Murder
by khatzumoto
Learning a language is like committing murder. Although all forms of murder basically amount to suffocation, immolation, stabbing (direct organ and tissue damage) or “overwhelming the immune response”, there are an infinite number of variations within that. So to say “only method X works!”, “method X is the correct way” is like saying “human beings…
Competition is for the Weak and Lazy
by khatzumoto
“The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition.” ~ Kim & Mauborgne “Average ones compete with others. Great ones compete with themselves.” Vadim Kotelnikov “There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.” Hindu Proverb…
Luxurious Worries, Or: So Effing What If You Sound Like An Anime?!
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 7 of 12 in the series Secrets of SpeakingPeople, I am sick and phequing tired of hearing it. Whether on the Internets or in RL, if Japanese is the topic of discussion, there always seems to be a kind, intelligent, well-meaning buck futter waiting in the wings to tell you: “Don’t…
Kill Your Heroes
by khatzumoto
Heroes are not for worshipping. Nor for murdering either, titles notwithstanding. They’re for surpassing. Don’t worship your heroes. Absorb them. Imbibe them. Imitate them. Become them. Then, exceed them. 追いつき追い越せ and all that. You want to get to the point with your heroes that you have internalized so much of their repertoire — of their essence…