Don't make this Japanese mistake in 2024

Hey KoreKara Squad,

あけましておめでとう。Well, we’ve made it through another year. This means it’s time to self-reflect, evaluate, and set new goals. Everyone likes the idea of setting some New Year’s resolutions but few people actually follow through. It’s time for all of us, myself included, to look ahead, set goals, and reach for new heights.

💡 Don’t make this mistake in 2024

The most important part of setting new goals for the coming year is reflecting on your progress this past year.

So many people go into the new year with fresh new goals and ideals that never come to fruition. Don’t be one of those people.

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, makes a distinction between systems and goals. A goal orients us in a particular direction, while systems allow us to make progress.

If your goal is to pass the JLPT N1, your systems are Anki and immersion. These systems can have their own micro-goals, things like 10 new cards a day in Anki.

The trap is to set goals like “become fluent in Japanese”, because it is hard to measure and make progress towards. If it were “watch 200 hours of Japanese anime” or “add 5,000 Anki cards”, you can be sure you’re making progress towards it every day.

This is reminiscent of the very first email I sent out but maybe booking a time to take the JLPT N1 is just what you need to kick you into gear. The direction is heading towards the N1, now how are you going to get there?

And don’t worry if your goals change halfway through the year. There are a million ways to go about reaching your Japanese goals and maybe you’ll learn something that makes you realize the goal you set wasn’t what you really wanted.

I’ve got some goals of my own too that I want to work towards this year.

💪 Channel and Personal Goals

With KoreKara, I have a few projects I want to do this year.

1. Start uploading videos again. I have some videos in mind that I want to film and upload. Things I’ve learned that will 100% help people with learning Japanese. I might have some interviews or bilingual interviews here and there but the focus is more on cultivating a positive Japanese learning community and helping learners acquire Japanese faster.

2. Start a KoreKara learning community. One of the hardest things for me when I was intensely studying Japanese was finding other people that were also on a similar path. It was one of the main drivers for starting the podcast. We used to have a discord, but it quickly got filled with trolls/casual learners. I’ve been looking at a few different platforms but I think it would be cool to have a private community where we can arrange meetups, help each other out with Japanese, and hop on calls. Would you be interested? If you want to help beta-test this hit reply to this e-mail.

3. I want to help you with your Japanese. If you’re feeling stuck with learning Japanese or you’re a total beginner not knowing where to get started then I want to help you out. I’m going to hop on a few calls in January so if you’re interested just fill out the form below (I don’t want to just post my calendly here in case I get bott-ed or something.) In return I just want to get your opinion on some the future videos/projects of KoreKara.

Apply here: https://forms.gle/UEHcDsYR3ZwRmJC7A (This is not a sales call, I am not selling you anything)

✍️ Kanji of the week

A fitting phrase for the new year and new goals on the horizon. 抱 means embrace, hug, hold in arms and 負 means defeat, negative, or own responsibility. We embrace our responsibilities and face them head-on in the new year.

Good luck with your New Year’s resolutions.

🗣️ Q&A 

What are some of your Japanese goals for 2024?

See you next year, またね!

Eric