goals

100 Books in a Year (Reflection)

Eric Kraus
learning
09 Apr, 2019

I've received a lot of questions about my 2018 New Year's Resolution goal of reading 100 books, so thought I would pull some of the frequent questions together in a single place with answers. Frequently Asked Questions How did you create the time to read all of these books? First, it came with a commitment towards the goal, followed by a break down of measurable outcomes. Doing the math, I knew I needed to read (avg) 2 books per week an

Learning Chinese - Week 12

Eric Kraus
learning
19 Mar, 2019

I am starting week 12 of my New Year's Resolution to learn Mandarin Chinese and a lot has changed over the last 10 weeks since my last post. Update Quick update on current status:currently studying lesson 10 (the last lesson) in the Integrated Chinese Level 1 book. I have been pacing at about 1 lesson per week which was aggressive, but comfortable given my time investment. by the end of lesson 10, I will know and be able to recognize o

Learning Chinese - Week 2 (Reflection)

Eric Kraus
learning
12 Jan, 2019

Quick update as I'm wrapping up my 2nd week of formal Chinese study. Technology As I mentioned, I drastically narrowed the mobile apps I'm using to the following: -Pleco - dictionary, stroke order, Live OCR add-on -Translator app: Google Translate or Microsoft Translate -Anki - spaced repetition, flash cards If you don't have a tutor or course book, I would highly recommend both first. YouTube and "Learn Chinese" mobile apps are fun and ent

Learning Chinese - Week 2

Eric Kraus
learning
30 Dec, 2018

I'm two weeks into my Chinese study and have made a lot of progress. I've also gathered a lot of useful tips and some lessons learned over my studying during my first week. Goal For starters, I've landed on an objective goal for 2019. I want to pass (minimally) the HSK 1 and hopefully the HSK 2 exams by the end of the calendar year. The HSK Chinese Proficiency exams are given to non-native Chinese speakers to evaluate their depth of understa

Learning Chinese - Week 1

Eric Kraus
learning
22 Dec, 2018

I just officially wrapped up my first week of self-study on Chinese. Here are some thoughts and lessons learned. This week I tried to focus on just getting familiar with Chinese, resources, pinyin rules/exceptions and not really worrying too much about vocab or Chinese characters. As I mentioned in the Learning/Resources post, I have been using the Anki mobile app for flash card studying - it is awesome. The Anki M

My 2019 Learning Goal

Eric Kraus
learning
19 Dec, 2018

Looking back... 2018 was a crazy year! I got a late start on my New Year's Resolution. In fact, I likely wouldn't even have had one if it weren't for a suggestion from a friend who was doing a similar activity."Sure! I'll do that too!"The idea was simple: read 100 books in 2018. Looking back, that was quite the audacious goal. Along the way, I've received numerous questions about how I chose the topics, where I bought

Learning Chinese

Eric Kraus
learning
18 Dec, 2018

Introduction As I'm working through my 2019 goal to learn Chinese, I am planning to gather some thoughts on my preparation and progress throughout the year. Challenge Like any foreign language, the key (and biggest challenge) to fluency, will be immersion. This is going to be especially difficult for a guy that doesn't live in a native-Chinese speaking country, is not married to a Chinese woman, did not adopt Chinese children, doesn't h

100 Books in 2018 - Book List

Eric Kraus
learning
25 Mar, 2018

I have set a rather ambitious goal for the remainder of 2018... Better late then never, right? For 2018, I am embarking on a journey of learning as much as I can. I am encouraged by a friend who is doing a similar challenge... So, I have set a goal to read 100 books in 2018. A few people have already asked for my list, recommendations, thoughts and reviews. I put together this page, a collection of the books I've read, and for a select few, a

My 2018 Learning Goal

Eric Kraus
learning
01 Jan, 2018

100 Books in 2018 I'm starting this goal late (February). Rather than figure out how I'll measure this against the year, for now, I'm just... starting. The goal is to read 100 books in 2018 and I'll be keeping track of them here. Other than generally not being a big fan of fiction books, I don't have much of a plan for what I'll read. If you have any suggestions, plea

What Climbing Mt. Rainier Taught Me About Setting Goals

Eric Kraus
personal
31 Dec, 2015

Introduction In August, I had the opportunity to step foot on the 5th largest peak in the contiguous United States. How would I describe it? Epic. Mt. Rainier is not only a moderately difficult, technical climb - it is used as a training mountain for higher peaks of the Himalayas. Those who have reached the summit will tell you, it is both physically and mentally enduring. So, what grand lessons did I learn from this adventure? Many. The

Responsive Resolutions

Eric Kraus
learning
31 Dec, 2015

Introduction Here's something new to try in place of the traditional New Year's Resolution: Instead of one, big new year's resolution, try creating 12 monthly responsive resolutions. The Old Way The challenges with trying to tackle one big resolution for a whole year is that it is difficult to attribute success early in the process, people often get board, and whether successful or not early in the year,