Mental Tools

It’s Not Time, It’s Choice

by khatzumoto

This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Engineered Inevitability

This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Engineered InevitabilityTime by itself will do nothing. It’s engagement or the lack thereof multiplied by time that makes the difference. So, if time “is” anything at all, it is at best a force multiplier. By itself, it’s powerless. Time multiplied by 0 gives you, well,…

by khatzumoto

This entry is part 4 of 3 in the series Hard and Easy

This entry is part 4 of 3 in the series Hard and EasyThere are only two choices in life. Do nothing. “I’m tired” “I’m burned out” “I can’t” Do something hard. “It’s good for me!” “Suffering builds character!” “I need discipline!” “I have to” “I should” Do something easy. “No way!” “This counts?” “But it’s…

by khatzumoto

The sooner you start looking at Japanese, the sooner you’ll start reading it. The sooner you start hearing Japanese, the sooner you’ll start understanding it. It is because the thing takes time, it is precisely because the result is not instant that we must start now. The longer a thing takes to do, the sooner…

by khatzumoto

This entry is part 6 of 14 in the series Intermediate Angst

If you want to get what you want, stop trying to get what you want.

by khatzumoto

Baseball legend Ted Williams was one in a million, widely considered the most “gifted” hitter of his time. “I remember watching one of his home runs from the bleachers of Shibe Park,” John Updike wrote in The New Yorker in 1960. “It went over the first baseman’s head and rose meticulously along a straight line…

by khatzumoto

…then you have time to focus on getting better. Worrying about whether or not you’re getting good is simply a sign that you still suck. So go suck less. No, shut up. And go suck less. You’re not especially dumb or smart. You’re just wasting your time and mine. Things tend to start going well…