Okay time for some brutal honesty.

What do I keep wasting time on?

• Random YouTube videos
• Playing smartphone games
• Doing unnecessary browsing around on the internet that doesn’t lead to any action

So how can I address these issues?

• Random YouTube videos -> I should just listen to Korean audio podcasts on my iPhone 
• Playing smartphone games -> Study Korean flashcards 
• Unnecessary browsing -> Decide what I want to accomplish before I start browsing

Also what are some problems that I need to get done that I’ve been putting off?

• Throwing away trash and cleaning my house
• Getting a certain important government document

Solutions?

• Trash – Throw away just a little bit of trash away a day instead of letting it accumulate
• Schedule when I’m going to go get this document

Okay, I managed to study a lot of flashcards.

Let’s just keep this up.

We need to make a consistent pace to get to where I want to be.

I would like to learn about 7,000 ~ 10,000 Korean words and Japanese words before the TOPIK on 11/15 and the JLPT on 12/1.

I should know about 3,000 to 4,000 words relatively comfortably in Korean and 1,000 words comfortably in Japanese.

I just need to get those flashcards reps in and keep practicing.

Daily consistency is key!

During my short work days, I’m going to cram as many flashcards as possible.

I already know a lot of the basic words, so I should be able to get to the 3,000 words mark pretty easily.

The flashcard set that I made starts from the very beginning, so it includes a lot of very, very basic cards.

My current work schedule is Sunday to Friday, with Monday, Wednesday and Sunday being very long days.

However, I want to actually enjoy my Sundays and do some Korean language practice, so I’m going to free up my Sundays starting on 8/30.

I have to take the TOPIK test on 8/23 and I am admittedly not really ready for the test haha

Well, I think I can most certainly get a 3, likely get a 4, and probably will get a 5.

If I don’t get a 4, I would be really shocked and would really need to cram more vocab.

It’s been raining in Korea for almost 3 weeks straight, so while the weather has been relatively cool, it’s been so dreary and kind of depressing.

I would say it is definitely affecting my feelings and motivation, though I shouldn’t be using it as an excuse.

Just gotta keep working consistently little by little.

All right, it’s time to cram.

Now that I have a clear goal and steps to get there, I feel very relieved.

I’m going to put off videos and stuff until after 11/15.

And I actually checked when the JLPT test would be, and it’s on 12/6, so I might even put off making videos and pages until after 12/6.

That seems kind of a long way to put off doing stuff that is really important.

But it is really important that I actually know how to speak Korean and Japanese and not only prove it to others, but prove it to myself as well.

So I’m hoping to aim for at least TOPIK 4, ideally TOPIK 5, and at least JLPT 4, ideally JLPT 3

Okay, I’ve made about 800 flashcards, but now it’s time to hunker down and get to studying them!

I don’t think I’ll do too well on this test on 8/23, but that’s okay.

It’s for the experience.

What is important is that I can learn as much Korean and Japanese vocabulary before 11/15, which is the next test I plan to take.

I could have taken a test in September or October, but I would rather just wait until November.

This is actually a good plan I think.

If all goes according to plan, I will have learned about 7,000 to 10,000 words in both Korean and Japanese.

This will give me a good foundation for my research.

It will also allow me to better understand the Kanji that I’m learning.

I was planning to write more for my 8/3 blog post, but didn’t get to finish it, so I’m going to add more to it here:

Going back to my main tasks and things I’m trying to do, Let’s add some daily numbers and add dates and deadlines

• TOPIK Test  = Test of Proficiency in Korean)
  • 8/23 Test date: Try to score a 4 out of 6 (6 is the highest)
  • 11/15 Test date: Try to score a 5 out of 6
    • 100 days until the test
• Sorting Unsorted Kanji
  • 5 a day
  • 35 a week
  • Finish sorting Kanji in about 6 months, by 2/1/2021
• Rewriting Japanese words into Pahanngana/Hangul/Korean Alphabet
  • 200 words a day
  • 1400 a week
• Making Korean-Japanese-English Flashcards to study
  • Since there are 100 days until the 11/15 test, I would like to have studied 10,000 words 
  • So I think I will try to study 200 words a day
  • This will also include words that I already know in the beginning
  • So that getting started will be pretty easy and straightforward
  • However, once I start getting to more complicated words, it’s going to be more difficult
  • This goal will align with the one above, where I rewrite Japanese words into my modified Korean alphabet
  • So 200 words a day
  • 1400 a week
  • So by 9/24/2020, I will have studied 10,000 words
  • Then from 9/24 to 11/15 it will just be about reviewing the 10,000 words
• Make YouTube videos where I explain how I am rewriting Japanese words 
  • Now that I am thinking about my priorities and what is important, I think I will hold off on making videos until after 11/15 to focus on just learning vocabulary before my TOPIK test
• Studying Kanji Flashcards
  • Reviewing Kanji to English Keyword Flashcards
    • 5 new cards a day, plus reviews
  • Reviewing English Keyword to Kanji Flashcards
    • 5 new cards a day, plus reviews
  • These Kanji flashcard study goals are not as important as getting a good score on the TOPIK, so I will hold off from studying them with a lot of focus until after the TOPIK test on 11/15
  • Since the TOPIK test is in about 100 days from today, I will have reviewed at least 500 Kanji by 11/15, which is better than zero!

Going back to my main tasks and things I’m trying to do, Let’s add some daily numbers and add dates and deadlines

• TOPIK Test  = Test of Proficiency in Korean)
  • 8/23 Test date: Try to score a 4 out of 6 (6 is the highest)
  • 11/14 Test date: Try to score a 5 out of 6
• Sorting Unsorted Kanji
  • 5 a day
  • Finish sorting Kanji in about 6 months, by 2/1/2021
• Rewriting Japanese words into Pahanngana/Hangul/Korean Alphabet
  • 50 words a day
• Make YouTube videos where I explain how I am rewriting Japanese words 
• Making Korean-Japanese Flashcards to study

• TOPIK Test on 8/23 (TOPIK = Test of Proficiency in Korean)
• Sorting Unsorted Kanji
• Rewriting Japanese words into Pahanngana/Hangul/Korean Alphabet
• Make YouTube videos where I explain how I am rewriting Japanese words 
• Making Korean-Japanese Flashcards to study

There are so many projects I am trying to do and even just one of these projects would take a lot of time and focus to do.

It’s kind of like each sub-project is a multi-year long class at university.

I feel like I wish I had started all of these projects 5+ years ago so that everything would be all completed today. 

Just gotta take things one step at a time.

Hanging out with friends is great and it’s really important to not live life alone.

Good friends and company and really important.

However, the important thing is to have a balance – work-life balance.

For some reasons, I seem to always swing back and forth between working too much by myself and hanging out with people too much and not accomplishing enough work as I would like for the day.

I think the important thing is just to finish my micro-habits every day so that I’m making little progress every day.

Progress, no matter how small, is progress.

I guess if I consider my project, research, website, and YouTube like a 4 year degree, I know I can finish my project.

4 years is more than enough time to do everything I want to do, but I guess I just feel impatient. 

I want everything to be done now.

Today was a very interesting day because I was able to record a lot of videos.

However, I didn’t get a chance to edit the videos.

One big thing I realized is that I don’t need much to record my videos.

However, because my computers are kind of weak and old, they can’t record two video streams at the same time.

If I could, I wouldn’t need to do any editing.

The temptation is for me to just spend my money on a cheap PC setup or a cheap Mac. 

However, I think if I wait for the new Apple Silicon Macbooks, that might be the best option for me.