Koi §

In Japan, one animal that is often associated with movement and the desire to take action is the koi fish. The koi is revered for its strength and determination, as it is known for swimming upstream against strong currents. This characteristic has made it a symbol of perseverance, ambition, and the courage to overcome obstacles. In Japanese culture, koi fish are celebrated for their relentless energy and drive, which aligns closely with the concepts of movement and the desire to take action.

Remember my darkest moments, whilst appreciating the light around me: my relationships, my belongings, but most importantly, the world and its beautiful nature.

Remember why I want to do what I want to do, and remember what’s stopped me before.

Remember,

Before I leave Lincoln… §

There are three things that I want to achieve mastery in:

• Mathematics (数).
• Languages (語).
• Chess (碁).

Mathematics §

This is quite a broad subject, but certainly the one that I’m most passionate in. I am currently undertaking an undergraduate degree in the subject, and so I have a lot of resources and passive education. However, I want to extend this to more active education, in the form of autodidacticism: self-teaching.

Perhaps I’ll pick up a book to absorb the entirety of, once a month, or even more frequently to once a week. As for my university studies, I want to take a full grasp of them and fully understand every nuance of the material, alongside constant study and practice of applying the knowledge I’ll be learning.

I love maths: so do more of it.

Languages §

I’m, frankly, obsessed with the Japanese language and culture. Hence, I want to learn more about it, starting with speaking, writing, and being able to understand the spoken language. But, my ambition does not end with Japanese: I want to extend my formal education of French and German into more practical understandings, as well as learn the popular language of Spanish and the beautiful language of Italian.

However, my study of language is not entirely about ambition. Sometimes, I act purely out of competition - often against my brother. Hence, when he began learning Esperanto, and urged me to do so, too, I could not simply deny. So, that will be my main focus above all but Japanese to begin with.

First Esperanto, then Japanese, German, French, Spanish, and finally Italian. Some of these may have overlap, or be completely parallel to one another, but that is my rough guideline for my future self; afterwards, I may also extend to even more languages, even dead ones such as Latin, but we’ll see.

I love languages: so learn more of them.

Chess §

Of my more random goals, to be good at chess it to be healthy, focused, and disciplined. Three things I feel I lack, and am fed up of lacking. Daily games, daily puzzles, daily study - these three things should help me improve in chess, alongside the following in-between goals…

Between my goals §

However, this does not make me a completely well-rounded human - certainly not one that could potentially become a parent in the future. Hence, there are a few more things that I need to do:

• Read a book a week (読), to further my knowledge about this world, as well as the people within it.
• Cook twice a day (食), at least, so I can both economically keep myself alive and happy, whilst simultaneously learning how I can do the same for others in the future.
• Have morning and evening rituals (儀) to surround my day, to give myself an undeniable yet basic structure to my day, as well as build spirituality as the backbone of my drive, whilst I flesh out the substance of my self-drive.
• Demonstrate my self-discipline at least once a day (儀) - through either abstaining from comfort, or enduring discomfort. This will help me build my self-discipline, not by constantly using it, but by being comfortable with discomfort so I can use large reserves of it when I must.
• Walk for at least 13,000 steps every day (儀), to clear my head, calm my body, and explore the world - a little bit at a time.
• Work out four times a week (力), slowly progressing my ability to move my body, as well as increasing my health.
• Develop my tutoring business, not only helping communities one person at a time, as well as growing my economic health to sustain my future self, but also to grow my ability to teach so I can teach those around me in the future. This is a more complex idea, but I gather I can do so by beginning to advertise my tutoring services every 1-3 days (宣).