Okay, now I’m really determined to study Japanese and pass the JLPT 3.

I’ve been talking to my good friends about whether I should aim for the JLPT 2 or the JLPT 3.

So let me gather my thoughts.

What do I need to do every day? 

What are the daily habits I need to establish?

1. Listening to Japanese audio as much as possible
   1. Find a good source of audio podcasts 
   2. Download the podcasts
   3. Just listen to them all the time when I’m not working
   4. I think for JLPT N5 and N4 grammar, I will start with this awesome teacher’s videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLag_mhJfCJ-18WyYoklCPxIpYbeRgmWLJ
2. Study Kanji Flascards
   1. I’ve already made these, I just need to get back on  track with studying them
3. Study Korean Japanese Vocabularly Flashcards
   1. I’m already studying the JLPT N5 vocab, but I need to create the N4, N3 and N2 (and maybe N1) flashcards as well
   2. Also, I need to modify the existing N5 verb flashcards – they are not to my liking

Okay, I’ve been researching more and more about taking the JLPT (Japanese) exam.

I was surprised to find out that there are only 2 tests each year.

The TOPIK (Korean) test is quite different, because it’s available to take 4-6 times per year.

So I was talking to several friends about which level test I should aim for.

Eventually I want to get the JLPT 2, but on July 2021 I plan to sit for the JLPT 3 exam.

Also, what’s different with the JLPT compared to the TOPIK is that for the TOPIK, you can just sit one test and how well you do will determine what score you will get – 3, 4, 5, or 6.

For the JLPT, you have to choose the exact level test you want to take, and it’s either pass or fail.

So you have to choose your exact level (I will choose JLPT 3 next year in July 2021).

And you will either just get a JLPT 3 Pass or JLPT Fail.

Okay, I did an 80/20 analysis on my goals.

I also talked my thought process out with some of my friends, and I basically came to one conclusion.

In terms of what I want to accomplish for my studies, life goals, research, and future plans, my number one goal is to improve both my Korean and Japanese language abilities.

To be specific, I should get:

• TOPIK 5
• JLPT 2

And the most important thing for me to do is to just to memorize as much vocabulary as possible.

10,000 vocabulary words is the goal.

I also need to decide where I’m going to take the tests, in the USA or in Korea.

Okay, I’ve been analyzing a lot of Kanji but I’ve kind of hit a little road block.

I’ve been getting to the more obscure Kanji and a lot of them have given me a hard time when it comes to analysis.

So I have a lot of Kanji that I have looked at and analyzed a little bit, but eventually just marked “not finished” 

I’m going to have to go back and take a better look at those words and analyze them.

In any case, these words are the less common ones and I’m going to think about how I’m going to organize my data to write my books.

Okay, I’m going to try just writing as much as possible.

And by writing, I mean writing things physically by hand on paper.

I think doing too many things digitally can be a double-edged sword.

There are a lot positive things about technology to amplify one’s effectiveness.

However, there are just so many distractions on the internet.

The great thing about just writing things on pencil and paper is that it necessitates that you focus your hands, your eyes, your brain, and your mouth and ears if your speak aloud what you write.

So I’m going to just focus on writing these things:

• Korean vocabulary
• Japanese vocabulary
• Kanji
• My thoughts and plans (to get the chaos in my mind out into reality)

Wow today was an absolutely great day.

I went to a beach about 1 and a half hours away from my home and it was absolutely fantastic.

As a lot of close friends of mine know, I’ve been thinking about where I would like to live and I’m definitely a warm blooded creature and I love warm beaches.

One of my good buddies lives about a 15-20 walk and a 10 minute bike ride away from a beach in Japan and I absolutely love it.

I definitely feel like one’s location and environment have a huge effect on your mentality, healthy, and productivity.

And I’ve been thinking a lot about where my next move will be, and I am putting my energy into coalescing all of my efforts into a big life change.

All right! I’ve hit a pretty key milestone!

I finished my initial run through of analyzing the Kanji from books 1 and 2 of Remembering the Kanji.

Now all I have left is book 3.

In addition to that, I am about 80% complete, and book 3 is just around 20%.

And I’ve really got a hang of analyzing Kanji and looking for the “sound clues.” 

I have about 300 characters left to analyze.

I also managed to do a bit of housecleaning, so that’s a small win that I was able to accomplish.

I think sitting in front of the computer is a dangerous habit.

It’s both good when I work with data and flashcards and for teaching.

However it’s also the portal to wasting time on YouTube and the internet.

Okay, I’ve been talking to good friends of mine and getting more clarity about what I need to do.

I think I’ve decided my path.

I need to just focus on my Korean and Japanese ability as much as possible.

I’ll just focus on working on my language projects as much as possible until the application for the scholarship I want to apply for.

Actually, I should aim for getting a TOPIK 5 and JLPT 2 as fast as possible.

Once I do that, I can work on just working on my book projects.

I just gotta work on things one by one and knock them out of the park.

Okay, so now we’re about 76% complete!

However, one thing that came to mind was also adding the Chinese characters from the books Remembering the Hanzi 1 and 2 as well.

Most of the characters are probably already in the Remember the Kanji 1, 2, and 3 books.

However, for the sake of completeness, I could add them to the list.

I think the more important thing is to first just finish the 3000 characters from the Remembering the Kanji series, and audit only those 3000 kanji first.

Then after auditing those, I can decide whether or not I want to do the work of going through the traditional Hanzi books.

Wow, I feel like I’m making so much progress! I’m almost 75% copmlete with my initial analysis.

I think I might just start streaming so show myself making content like a study with me.

I posted on my FaceBook that I want to publish multiple books and study.

It was a public commitment, both to others and to myself.

It was also a good opportunity for me to clarify my thoughts and focus on what things are important and essential for me.

Also, the order of the things is very important.

It feels good to be working towards a goal and moving towards it. 

Just gotta keep working on them little by little.