Today was quite similar to Thanksgiving.

I was able to do quite a bit of studying.

I think I’m going to really need to temper my expectations.

Also, I’m going to need to eliminate distractions more strictly.

For example, I’ve been watching a lot of American football recently.

It’s easy to get sucked in while just eating my lunch or dinner.

The next thing I know, a couple hours have already passed.

It’s fun and all, but not productive.

I guess the important thing is that I’m able to spend more time with friends and family and just enjoy our time together.

So I think that’s a pretty worthwhile trade off this holiday season.

A bit less studying in exchange for quality time.

Wow, contrary to my expectations, today was actually quite a productive day.

I managed to study hundreds of flashcards, all while hanging out and eating lots of delicious Thanksgiving food.

So how was I able to study so much?

I think the biggest factor was that I was away from my laptop.

It was just me and my phone, my stylus (for practicing writing Kanji), and I was just at the table or sitting on a chair.

I think my laptop is by far my biggest distraction, which is also ironic, since I also use it a lot to do research and study.

I think I need to really be strict about avoiding YouTube and the black hole of the internet.

Well this week hasn’t been going according to plan.

Well I guess the past couple weeks have been too lazy.

I’ve fallen way behind schedule and it’s gonna take a long time for me to catch up.

I’m going to have to look at my study schedule again and rearrange it.

I may have to push everything back one month!

Or I have to really be much more efficient with my time.

I think I haven’t been strict with my mornings.

I’ve been getting sucked into Youtube videos in the morning and before I know it, several hours have already passed.

I think the solution is conscientiousness – being more conscious about how I spend my time.

Okay, I need to think about doing things in order to manage my energy correctly.

The biggest hurdle I need to get over is studying flashcards.

Therefore, I should get them done at the beginning of the day.

Also, I want to get my research habit established, so I just need to work on a little bit a day.

It shouldn’t be too hard to just open the spreadsheets, do some analyses, and add the data.

So compared to studying hundreds of flashcards, doing a little bit of research a day is easier.

And then at the very end, simply watching video lessons is by far the easiest since it is a completely passive activity.

Man, the collection of little mistakes adds up to a lot over time.

I’ve fallen way, way behind schedule and I think I’m going to have to push back my entire schedule by one week.

This Thanksgiving week will be my “catchup week” to catch up on flashcard study mostly.

Video lessons are great, but the most important things for me to focus on are flashcards and getting back on the data/research creation train.

I’ll take this week to catch up on these projects and jumpstart my way back on track for next week.

Hopefully this collection of lots of little effort will add up to enough energy to set my habits straight!

So I decided to go back and look at my research files.

Wow, it’s so weird to see all this research that I’ve done and compiled, but haven’t really completed yet.

It’s like I’m basically building my own 2 to 4 year degree program.

I know I can complete all of these projects, but I just need time and effort.

I sorted the project worksheets in order, from 1 to 5.

So basically I can work on each one every day, little by little.

I would just start at worksheet 1, do a bit of data analysis, then move on to worksheet 2. 

Rinse and repeat.

I think that now I’ve organized my sheets, it’s just a matter of making it a daily habit.

Okay so I’ve fallen quite behind in my studies.

Let’s try to figure out what has worked and what has not worked.

Things that have worked:

– studying first thing in the morning

– studying during down time instead of browsing the web or watching YouTube videos

– avoiding Youtube and internet browsing for as long as possible

– studying while laying down in bed

– studying while slowly walking around in the backyard

Things that have not worked:

– trying to study while facing the tv, and I’m usually done eating food

– studying in front on the computer when it is on (however I can study while it is off)

– trying to multitask (focusing on just one thing at a time is better)

I really haven’t touched any of my data and research projects at all for months.

I don’t really like that feeling.

I think I’m going to do at least 10 pieces of data generation and research a day just to make slow and steady progress.

Over the long term, I will be able to finish my research with very low pressure.

For a lot of my data generation projects, even at a very modest 10 pieces of data a day, I would be able to finish them in about 1 year.

Well, I would finish the data generation in 1 year, so the 1st draft would be done, but I would still need to audit the data and actually write content to give context and story to the data.

But the important thing is that it is possible to finish ALL of my projects in 1 to 2 years.

I keep telling myself the same thing, and I thinking I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but mornings are truly sacred.

I consistently get the most stuff done in the morning, and that momentum pushes me to get more stuff done later throughout the day.

However, if I start my morning by watching YouTube videos about tech, video games, or other random stuff, my mind is already kind of “set” on wasting time the rest of the day.

Since my day didn’t start on the right path, it’s hard for me to get back on the right track.

Also, since I’ve already watched one video or a few videos, it’s easy to just mentally convince myself to watch “just one more.”

No.

I need to start strong and keep going strong all throughout the day.

These past couple months, I have been really following Apple’s transition to ARM chips and moving away from Intel chips.

I’ve also been watching a lot of video game videos, especially Overwatch, Among Us, SCP: Secret Laboratory, and recently, Apex Legends.

It’s so easy for me to get sucked into these videos and time just flies.

However, I need to be focusing on studying and research, not watching YouTube videos!

I need to focus more on study and output (making research), not wasting time on YouTube videos!

I think I’m going to establish some micro-habits such as:

• simply pressing play on Japanese grammar lesson videos I need to watch
• simply opening the spreadsheet files for the research I’m working on
• simply studying 5 new flashcards for all flashcard decks on Anki