Never Quit

What’s worse than not finishing? Giving up as you approach the finishing line. I have this tendency to give up in the final mile. As I was flipping through my Korean textbook today, I came to realize that I was only one chapter away from completing book 1A!

How did I lose sight of the prize and drop the ball so hard? It’s a good thing italki credits (the tutoring service I use) expire, or I probably would’ve let my Korean regress to nothing. Chinese cheapness never fails, though. It’s shameful to waste money. Even if I have to wake up at the crack of dawn, I was determined to not let my credits go down the drain!

It’s surprising how much Korean I remember and the language made more sense this time. Somehow, the self-imposed break crystalised grammar rules I hadn’t mastered, so maybe I wasn’t such a dumb ass after all.

Korean was never a language I thought I’d learn. I’m too old to be a BTS groupie, and I didn’t get into K-drama until I started studying Korean. I’m more of an otaku. Japanese was my first choice, because anime was my drug. Korean floated to the top of my list by happenstance when my husband and I decided to live in Seoul for three months. I fell in love with the country’s food, culture, people, language, and especially the alphabet. Their alphabet is the most efficient and effective one ever invented, period. As they say “a week to learn, a lifetime to master.”

It would be a dream to master all East Asian languages, because I would blend in easily in any of their countries. For now, I just dabble, but I suck at all of them. I’m a jack of all trades, master of none. At the moment, I’m sitting on several half-finished projects:

• A white hooded cape made of technical fabric intended to protect me from the harsh UV rays in Dubai.
• Didier’s 100% FLE (Français langue étrangère) French A1 textbook.
• A custom dress block pattern.
• A signet ring for my husband.

Not to mention the hundreds of books I start and never finish. It’s an ugly pattern that keeps repeating itself. I live life as if I have eternity to master everything. The positive spin I tell myself is that I’m a “generalist”. Reality is I’ll probably die accomplishing nothing significant, because I juggle too many balls… but juggling is a flirty temptress!

There’s a famous story about Warren Buffett and his pilot, Mike Flint. (I’ve provided a link if you’ve never heard of it.) Buffett had Flint make two lists. List A outlined his top 5 career goals and list B contained his close seconds. The catch was that, according to Buffet, list B should be his “avoid-at-all-costs” list. Those were distractions to list A goals, and until list A was checked off, Flint shouldn’t even touch list B.

I tried living this Buffett philosophy once, and I’ve come to reject it. Unless you like living life full of anxiety and stress, I suggest you not self-induce tunnel vision as he prescribes. Sure, it may be the necessary ingredient for monetary success, but money doesn’t buy happiness. Happiness isn’t so black and white, and the road to it is different for everyone. Ignore what brings you joy at your peril.

So even if everything you do is shit and it brings you joy, keep doing it. Mastery comes when you keep going despite everyone telling you to quit. At least that’s what I tell myself. Take a break, sure, but never quit.

I don’t mean to say there’s no wisdom in Buffett’s lesson. There absolutely is value in focusing, but you mustn’t take it so literally as I once did. There’s a delicate balance you must maintain. I like to call it superpositioning, based on the same quantum mechanics principle that a system can have multiple states simultaneously. (It’s not an intuitive concept, but Schrödinger’s cat is the most famous example. If you’re not familiar with this theoretical cat, that’s both dead and alive simultaneously, it’s a fascinating thought experiment that you should check out!).

I believe work AND play can be one and the same. It’s something I strive to achieve in my life. I don’t want my life to be all work, no play. The outcome of that type of life is detrimental to your health, both mentally and physically. No amount of money is worth that.

And on that note, it’s time to play, I mean work, I mean play!