Overview

Various thoughts as January 2023 comes to an end

Studying English

I know that studying English requires consistency, but I often compromised with reality and procrastinated. Using the excuse of being busy, I sometimes fell behind on my OPIC homework by one to two weeks. Even though I knew each class was truly precious and that I was perfectly capable, I still put it off sometimes. Most people who have dramatically improved their English share a common trait: "desperation." I think I lack that desperation. There will soon be moments when I need to communicate in English with other developers, planners, and colleagues. I should not scramble at the last minute and instead work hard in advance. In February, I should not fall behind on homework and send emails to teacher Austin on time.

Jabdongsani (Side Project)

The Jabdongsani project has been stalled for nearly two months. There has been no progress since the color picker and base changer. I should not forget what I originally wanted to gain from Jabdongsani and use Next.js to master both backend and frontend with JavaScript. I need to be desperate.

Algorithms

I plan to approach algorithms like a marathon. I want to keep going steadily, even if slowly, without giving up. When I was preparing for job interviews and solving problems intensively, it was not that enjoyable, but solving them after getting employed is surprisingly fun. It is a very ambitious dream, but I would love to participate in Google Code Jam someday.

Exercise

Whenever I had free time, I ran about 5km in the park in the evening. It is certainly true that when the body is healthy, the mind becomes healthy too. While running, I used my calves and thigh muscles a lot, but I think I did not use the hip joint, the largest joint of the leg, very much.

Drinking More Water

During remote work, there were many times when I barely drank any water for several hours. I would feel my lips drying out and feel thirsty in between, but I did not drink water because it was too bothersome to walk to the fridge. So I placed a water bottle on my desk, and it was great because I started drinking frequently. Previously, I used to clean up trash often to keep my desk tidy, but what was far more effective was placing a small trash bin next to my desk. Keep water close by.

Miracle Morning

I tried the Miracle Morning this month, but I felt it did not quite fit my body rhythm, as I tend to concentrate better at night. If I stay up late doing something, I inevitably have to cut down on morning sleep, which made the whole day feel extremely tiring. For now, I think the best fit for me is flexible sleep, where I can sleep in when I have the luxury and wake up early when I am busy.

Things I Want to Excel At

Reading and Writing

I read a book called "The Contrarian." The author suggests that to achieve financial freedom, you first need to become smart, and to become smart, you should consistently read and write for two hours a day. This habit is like compound interest: the earlier you start, the better, and it influences everything else. I should read the book "Technologies Supporting Big Data" that my junior colleague recommended and write about it. I also need to gradually finish the posts that I have only written titles for but have not completed yet.

YouTube HadoopKing

There were few lecture videos related to Hadoop. I wanted to create some. The statement in "The Contrarian" that YouTube is the most efficient marketing tool motivated me. I also felt the need to create a blog and a YouTube channel to promote myself in my field. I looked into many Hadoop-related lectures, and a person named Frank Kane on Udemy seems to be the most famous and popular. I want to reference his lectures and videos extensively. Also, I have been watching videos by Comaeng Talchul lately, and there is so much to learn from them. To start a YouTube channel, I got a Blue Yeti Nano microphone at home. I also purchased a mic arm and shock mount. I have been trying out software called Camtasia for one month free, and it seems perfectly optimized for lecture video production with screen recording and cut editing. I really like it and want to keep using it after the 30-day trial. My first lecture will likely be about Django and React, the web framework I currently use the most. I plan to build a todo list with Django and React. After that lecture, I plan to record videos about libraries like Pandas and NumPy. While recording lectures, I will study those tools intensively, but I should also concurrently learn topics for future videos, such as Next.js.

Securing Time

Even with short periods of time, you can accomplish a lot if you use them with focus. In college, I received a lot of help from a YouTube channel called "Dongbin Na," and that person seemed to use time extremely efficiently. There are many talented people in the IT industry, like "Jocoding," "Seungineer," "Gi-hyun Baek," "Coding Angma," "Dream Coding," and "Nomad Coders," who excel at their skills, video production, and writing. I also want to become someone who accomplishes many things within limited time.

HBase Open Source

I want to become someone who can examine HBase at the source level and fix bugs. This requires not only the ability to understand existing HBase source code but also communication skills. I want to quickly gain the experience of contributing to open source, even if it is just a single line of comment. I want to become the person who knows the most about HBase and databases.

Philosophy

My father once told me that one should become a person who can bring future moments into the present and experience them. He also said that is the secret to studying well. Three months before an exam is a stable time when you do not feel the need to study, but if you could feel the desperation of taking the exam three months later at that moment, your concentration would be extraordinary. In other words, if you have the ability to bring the feelings of three months later into the present, you can dramatically boost your current concentration. Metacognition is also an essential ability. You need to develop the skill of seeing yourself objectively. You should also have regular moments of reflection to check whether you are heading in the wrong direction. To feel these things, apply them to life, and think critically, you need to study philosophy.

What was lacking in January 2023 can be made up in February, so do not rush or feel anxious. And do not try to do multiple things at the same time. They say a person can only focus on one thing at a time. Let me conquer things one by one, starting with the easy ones, slowly and steadily.