This entry is part 7 of 17 in the series The Art of War of LearningInvincible opponents only exist in our nightmares. They are the stuff of imagination. No real opponent is invincible. And so that means that for any opponent to defeat you, not only must they do significant things right, but you must…
Mental Tools
Don’t Beat Yourself Up: It Doesn’t Matter
by khatzumoto
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston “The Slightly Better of Two Very Bad Options” Churchill It doesn’t matter, said Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to Wyclef Jean that one time in that one song in the rapidly fading twilight of the 20th century. Don’t beat…
What Being In A Forever War Means For You
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 6 of 17 in the series The Art of War of LearningYou have to fight right now. But you don’t have to win right now. Not right this second. You don’t have to become the god emperor of Japanese right this moment. There’s no way of tidying your room so well…
Making Decisions Is Your Life Now
by khatzumoto
This entry is part of 7 in the series The First World Problem is ChoiceDecision-making is the defining form of labor for our age. Outside of obvious blue-collar contexts, nothing we do is physically very difficult any more, but it is emotionally so — hence the term “emotional labor”, something I first heard from Seth…
Why So Hurry, Grasshopper?
by khatzumoto
Trying to learn a language as fast as possible, so that what? So you can discard it and move on to the next language? Trying to spend as little time as possible on a language, so that what? So you can go back to your “real” life? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say…
The Forever War and The AJATT Way
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 5 of 17 in the series The Art of War of LearningThe Forever War is a 1970s military science fiction novel by Joe Haldeman. I actually found out about it in Japanese first, when it was referenced by 岡田斗司夫 (OKADA Toshio) under its Japanese title, 終り無き戦い (おわりなきたたかい, The Endless War /…