23:32 on 12 July 2011
Winnetka
or something to that effect were Jeffrey’s parting words for me tonight as he headed South for a night out in the Chi. He was commenting on my hopes for the evening: relax and get to bed early. I agreed with his sentiment then and now.
In fact, its exactly what I wanted to hear. Its what I need to be doing right now in order to reach my goals: be boring. It doesn’t mean I move back to Japan and become a monk, nor that I cease partying in Chicago and elsewhere.
What it does mean is that more often than I have been, I need to be boring, i.e. sitting at my desk and working. Just do it.
Tonight Dad and I watched 13 Assassins, which relates to this post in the sense that “true” samurai (or at least my interpretation of the movie’s definition) study the sword for life. When chosen for the film’s mission, many commented that they’d been training and preparing years for this opportunity.
Similarly, as I blogged about before, Warren Buffett worked for 6 years out of his house building his business. Furthermore bands are forced to toil in obscurity before the make it big, like OFWGKTA who started in 2007 and went 4 years hacking in LA before they got huge (and are coming to Chicago on Sunday).
Should also be noted that the majority of samurai, entrepreneurs and musicians never get a “big” opportunity for honor in battle, lots of profits or sold-out stadiums, and that some of those who *do* didn’t necessarily put the work in to get there.
Nevertheless, the point I’m trying to get at is that to reach my goals (i.e. make money via businesses I’ve started and have millions of people reading my prose) its time to be boring more often. DFW’s “late” book had some helpful ideas here too, according to one of his old classmates.
A good way for me to walk the walk would be by blogging here everyday.
Charlie: I liked your thoughts. You need to add getting a Masters Degree in Teaching. Maybe an online course???? Love ya!
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Grandma: I think getting a Masters in Teaching would be wonderful, but right now it is not a good time or monetary investment. People have gotten money teaching online without them, like Josh Kaufman http://personalmba.com/about-josh-kaufman/ and Richard Grahm http://genkienglish.net/selfintro.htm
Additionally money/time spent on my Masters would be money/time not spent on growing my business and figuring out how-to teach online in a sophisticated copyright world, something nobody has mastered yet. Additionally if I had been researching at a university its unlikely I would of found the time or been able to study paragogy or collaborative lesson planning and then give talks on them. Possible, but not likely.
I have taken those 4 graduate courses from Indiana, which were wonderful. I think getting a Masters at some point would be very helpful for me intellectually and professionally, ’cause I think the best thing a teacher can do is get you to learn something faster, but right now I want to study on my own for a bit.
Charlie: Thanks for your response. Love ya!