Mental Tools

The Fork, The Choice and You

by khatzumoto

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Engineered Inevitability

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Engineered InevitabilityWhat deserves your closest attention is neither your ultimate goal, nor your track record, nor your overall plan, but your next choice. What are you going to do next? Ultimate goals are heavy; they weigh on the soul. They’re useful and everything, but you…

by khatzumoto

I hate writing long articles. Which is funny, because a lot of the articles on this site are long. So, I guess it would be more accurate to say that I hate setting out write long articles (in fact, faced with the prospect of a long article, I’m liable to not write anything at all),…

by khatzumoto

I know you have kids. I know you have a job. I know you’re busy. I know your friends are making fun of you. I know your spouse is giving you funny looks. I know people make double-takes when they see you holding a Japanese book. I know you live in the boonies and there…

by khatzumoto

In “the literature” (a lot of it very good literature, like Talent Is Overrated and The Talent Code), it’s often said that, you know, we need to do “deliberate practice”, meaning stuff that’s actually a little hard and painful for us. Through deliberate practice, we grow. The reason pros get good and amateurs don’t is…

by khatzumoto

Spend some time around the old Internets, and you might start to hear a thing or two about how AJATT is “extreme”, Khatzumoto is “insane”, and “I want to learn Japanese but I don’t have time for that AJATT stuff; who does that guy think he is?! I have a right to watch reruns of…

by khatzumoto

martial arts noun any of the traditional forms of Oriental [um…I think we were looking for a better word here] self-defense or combat that utilize physical skill and coordination. From Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009. We think too much. But we also think too little. The thing…