Man, I’ve been stuck on analyzing a couple Kanji.

Going back to the 80/20 principle I’ve done a lot of thinking related to what the most important thing for me to do is.

It seems that making videos is the most effective use of my time.

Why is that?

Because after I make a video, I can then make a page/blog post on my website, an Instagram post, post it on Facebook, etc.

Also, it’s like the more videos I make the more reference material I have.

I can also start to link videos and resources to other videos and resources.

It’s kind of like things stack and can build on top of each other.

Okay, slow and steady wins the race.

But I think I need to implement these two “laws” more into my work and life:

  1. The Pareto Principle (80/20)
  2. Parkinson’s Law

The Pareto Principle (80/20) is basically the idea that most outcomes flow from few causes.

Parkinson’s Law is basically the idea that if you have short deadlines, you will magically finish tasks, and when you don’t have any deadlines, you will also magically not finish that task until the very last minute.

So the way to use these two ideas and principles is this:

  1. Decide what the most important tasks are
  2. Set very short and strict deadlines

 

All right I need to schedule out my things to do and decide how to spend my “dead time” as effectively as possible.

“Dead time” is time when you’re in between different tasks and not really focused.

For example:

  • Washing the dishes
  • In the bathroom
  • Preparing food
  • In between classes 
  • Washing clothes
  • Cleaning the house
  • Going for a walk
  • Exercising

So a lot of these activities require the use of hands, but my ears are still free, so I think I just need to always be wearing headphones and be listening to something.

The questions is – What should I be listening to?

I originally thought that I should be studying for the Korean language test, but I think I might just switch my focus to Japanese.

So it would either be listening to Korean podcasts and lessons or Japanese podcasts and lessons.

Okay, I was on the bus ride to Seoul from my home in Incheon thinking about what kind of video ideas and content I can create on a regular basis.

I want to make videos about the sound groups in Kanji, but I need to sort all of the Kanji first.

Well, I don’t have to sort all of them before I start making videos, but I would like to have them all sorted out.

I was actually thinking about what kind of fun and evergreen content I could make.

I actually came up with a very silly idea.

I’ve been watching a lot of Bill Burr lately and I love his ranting, non-politically correct comedy.

I was thinking about combining that kind of humor with analyzing the etymology of Kanji.

One thing that I’ve read about and heard from other authors and life hackers is the importance of outsourcing and paying for convenience.

For example, if doing something yourself would take 5 hours, and you earn $25 per hour, it would technically “cost” you $125 to do a task. 

If you could pay someone $100 to do a task for you, you not only save $25 dollars, but you get 5 hours of your  time back to do anything you want – work more and earn more money or just relax.

So how does that apply to my Pahanngana project? 

I think I need to outsource some basic tasks to accelerate the progress of my project.

Even if I don’t save $ with outsourcing, I would still be saving time, which is more valuable.

As much I just want to sit down and spend as much time as possible just working on my projects, I am an adult.

And as such, I have to do a lot of “adulting” things just to make sure life goes smoothly.

Filing paperwork, sending this document here, calling this center and talking to customer service at that center.

This kind of stuff drives me crazy because I want things to be as smooth and pain-free as possible.

Also, all of these little things to do are very draining to me and I just simply don’t want to do them and if I do do them, they suck away a lot of mental time and energy that could have been spent on more productive things.

All right, I think I’ve hit a pretty good milestone with my project to sort Kanji.

456/1,553 = 34.5% complete, so I’ve finished over 1/3.

And today is my last day where I have to go to work late, so it’s the last day where my sleep is going to be messed up.

Starting from tomorrow, I will finally be able to get my sleep in order and I will be able to get into a better routine for working on my Pahanngana projects.

I would like to get to 50 characters a day of analysis to just get the first stage over with. 

Then I can get over to editing, proofreading, and then publish pages and make YouTube videos.

Okay only one more night of crappy sleep schedules.

I need to set a limit for working late. 

Ideally, I wouldn’t work after sunset to keep my circadian rhythm in tune with nature as much as possible, but I still will have to work a bit after sunset.

In terms of analyzing Kanji, I’m about 28% complete, which is pretty good. 

I really want to just black through these unsorted Kanji as soon as possible, but it takes time to analyze data.

I also want to analyze the data, edit and proofread the data, and then finally make videos about them and publish them.

But then again, nothing is perfect and I can always just record another video to update the old data.

Since I work from home, I don’t interact with friends and talk to people much during the week.

I didn’t go out on Friday or Saturday and I regret it.

Humans aren’t meant to live alone haha

Even though I’ve been able to spend more time and focus on my work and data, going too long without hanging out with people will drive me crazy.

I found a meetup in Hongdae where I can both meet up with people and practice my Korean skills.

That’s gonna be great since it kills 2 birds with one stone since I need to boost my Korean skills in order to prepare myself for the TOPIK.

Okay, tomorrow will be my last long work day then it’s on to full on study and project mode.

By project mode, I mean that I can work on several projects:

  • YouTube videos
  • Instagram photos
  • Studying for the TOPIK (Korean language test)
  • Cleaning my messy apartment 
  • Catching up on various things I’ve been putting off around the house

In terms of the language project, thought, now that I think about it, I would like to finish sorting out the unsorted Kanji into groups before I make any videos about the groups.

I guess I could make videos about what the Pahanngana project is about.

I could also make more videos about congates and stuff.