30 Days of Taiwanese Summer

Posted by: doublebutter on: July 4, 2011

• In: Goals
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My professor once told our class a story about visiting Taiwan during his youth, expecting to party it up like never before. To his surprise, the streets were empty like a ghost town. He asked the locals where he might find people his age: clubs? bars? sports games? No, the young Taiwanese were all at the library. Studying at the library was such a popular event that people would line up before it opened and  stay the entire day as not to lose their seat. I think the original intent of the story was to make us appreciate that in the U.S. we are not subject to this educational torture. However, I gleaned a different interpretation: Not only is this level of discipline possible, but millions of people around the world are doing it, and leading happy lives. They simply have a different set of acquired tastes, and you know what: they are also stealing our jobs while we blame the global economy and overindulgence of our past generations. Its easy to forget those competitors are hustling everywhere in California, the United States, and the rest of the World.

After hearing this story, I created the idea of the Taiwanese Summer. It is unfortunate that these Taiwanese students aren’t really given a choice: their life doesn’t really belong to them. However, I have reached a similar predicament in my own life: I face a standardized test that will literally determine the rest of my life trajectory. My desire to reach the upper trajectory is so great that I would do anything for it…anything. These next few months do not belong to me. Although I don’t want to become transformed into a Taiwanese student (a.k.a. ultra-nerd),  I would like to steal their razor-sharp discipline and mental stamina. So how do I do this?

TED: Try Something New for 30 Days

A recent TED presentation pegged 30 days as the perfect amount of time where if we wanted to, we could bite our tongue and power through. It is also the perfect amount of time where a habit can be transposed into real lifestyle changes.

Given my lack of concrete commitments, I know I have been going in a somewhat wrong direction. Without a morning class, whats to stop me from surfing the web all night and going to bed at 9 AM and starting my day at 2PM? Nothing. Until now. I am planning on embarking on 30 Days of Taiwanese Summer. My plan is to wake up every day and be at the library before it opens at 8:00 AM. I haven’t decided how long I’ll stay but that isn’t the important part. Waking up and sleeping with the sun will introduce many subtle changes to my life. I also plan to keep my room blinds open so I don’t sleep all day. Any other thoughts or suggestions?