Im at the point where I have baduk tv live, some go books, and pro games I want to study.

My problem is for a week or so I did reading books in all my free time so im a little lazy on it now. Last week I watched baduk tv english all week. The week inbetween those two I studied pro games.

So now im a bit eh, and want to say, watch anime, but Im afraid if I do I will be wasting time that could be spent on go.

So I play a game or two and try to watch baduk tv, but end up so distracted anyway it is just a waste of time and I do terrible.

So im probably going to take a break for a day or two, but do you think pros or insei do this as well?

This is a hobby, you should have fun.

For professionals, it is work...

Alas, time off is not a luxury that pros and insei can afford, but fortunately you're neither. Go is a hobby and you should feel free to take time off when you're not up for it.

Lately go has just been too stressful, im enjoying studying it but I can't play it for fun. Im thinking i was 2k when i was 12 in america with no teacher, and if medicial issues didnt happen I could be a strong dan by now. Im 16 now and i really wanted to resume playing go seriously again this year for a chance to at least become a high dan sometime in the future, so ive been reading some go books, doing L&D, bought baduk tv, etc. but now its like when I play I don't take my time and just care about winning, but I don't know what to study. All this material and im not sure what to do, I just want to get stronger. And when I played I end up playing very bad moves and not focusing on anything just thinking about winning, but I dont focus on playing. I feel like if I quit im giving up too easily, say if I want to play a game online instead. So then I keep trying to play and study more but do worse and worse.

Its like I have too much drive but too little time/don't followup enough and so I end up getting very frustrated. Before when I worked my way to 2k i just played like 5-10 games of blitz perday for fun not even trying anything special or studying, but I feel like now I have to study to become serious...

Do you have a budget?

As of right now only 7$ a month . I can probably get 10-15$ per week, and once christmas comes I get the 400$ or so to spend.

I keep re-thinking things. I would like to be a strong go player or teacher, a graphic designer, or something like that.

My options for my free time:
-Do graphic design stuff
-Study go
-Watch anime/play games and say screw it, take a regular 15-20$ an hour job and have hobbies for fun

Right now in school I already take a career tech/vocational graphic design class for like 2 hours of my school day, for this year and my senior year. Im around 1k on kgs still, i got to 2k from the age of 10 --> 12 on kgs by just playing. Then medicial issues and quit, came back for a few games here and there never really serious until around a month ago. When i came back i was around 4k again but got 2k back fast, now im around 1k/1D, althought a very weak 1D or average 1k.


I really would like to play go but I can't stand the thought of playing it and not becoming strong enough to reach my goals in the future, and I love playing go but if im never going to be stronger than say 3D its a waste of time to me, to not be able to reach my goals. I love go more than graphic design and anime/having fun, but I feel like if im going to do go im going to go all out 100% at it and want to reach my goals, whether it be now or in a year or 5 years.

What are your plans for college? What would you like to teach?

College= IDK.

General:
1. Graphic designer
2. Teaching some kind of math
3. JET program to go to japan to teach english in order to live in japan and study go more


For my ideal kind of job... it would be a job or something relating to and or around go/anime somehow. I like to be able to combine hobbies and work. So maybe a go teacher once im stronger, or even just editing pictures/videos for say baduk tv if I knew korean. Anything to do with go at all, like organizing events etc.

Or with anime, i really like editing anime pictures and video. So those would be the ideal jobs, but my general up above are my plans if those don't work out. I really dont mind number 3, even if I get like 10$ an hour being able to play go alot is more important than money.

Money to me isn't important, only being able to do what I want or to reach my goals, combining work and hobbies.

Another note: The reason I want to be a math teacher or go teacher even though I don't really like math say as a hobby, is that I like teaching. As you can see I get caught up in debates/arguments easily and like writing/reading/math a lot so I don't find it hard to get people interested in any subject or to learn.

We are armatures and for us, Go is a hobby. It's also a marathon, not a race. I started playing Go back in 08, And I'm still not a SDK because I didn't touch go for maybe 2 and a half to 3 years. Play when you are interested in it, and do other things when you are not.
If you have a genuine interest in the game, then the time you do put in will be more meaningful and productive.

I don't think pros or insei ever really take breaks, that is how they make their living and it is incredibly competitive. However I would bet money that if your avg. pro was given the luxury to take a few days off from go, sleep in, and not worry about things, They would take it. Some Japanese pro's avoid the Ki-In like the plague on the weekends.

It takes a long time to be good at things. In the book "Outliers" It is stated that people who become very good at things (musicians, athletes, chess players) all have one thing in common: About 10k hours of practice.

If you want to become that strong, But you are not on a time limit (like Insei are) Then why not spread your 10k hours out a little? Enjoy other things and become well-rounded in multiple fields of study.

When I took such a massive break from Go, When I started playing again, I had to start from the ground up (re-read the Learn to play Go series, ect) And I did think "Man, If only I had stuck with it, I could be so good by now!" But at the same time, I was doing other things that were still fun and I do no regret doing those things.

So I guess the point of my rant is that it is often a good thing to stop, take a step back and look at the bigger picture as a long road with no real end instead of just rushing headfirst at a full sprint and getting burned out.

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I understand this and it does make me feel a little better, but my main issue is still the idea: "I want to find something to do with my life, or do something I want/like".

I don't mind studying hours of go or graphic design, but both are risky fields and I may never reach the level I need to for either one. I think tommorow when I wake up ill go back to the whole watch baduk tv in the morning, go to school and do L&D if I feel like it, come home and read some go books/watch baduk tv and play games.

I feel a bit better now putting out my thoughts into words like this, so I think I was venting a little.

Sorry

Honestly man, No one knows what they want to do with their lives. Especially at 16. Heck, I'm 25 and I can only think of one or two people who really know. High School blows your future out of proportion. I'm not saying forget about it, it's not important, I'm just saying it is not going to ruin your life if you don't know right now. Take your time, enjoy your youth.

It's often times really good to vent. I'm finding more and more that it's best to say what is in your mind and risk sounding dumb or whatever, You will often find that at least one person around you is feeling the same thing.

Play go when you want. You will find the games to be more meaningful.

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Lose 1,000 games? Challenge Accepted.

Just FYI, I'm about to send my application in to the JET program.

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"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level." -- Bruce Lee

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure you will need a college degree to participate in the JET program. Even in China you can not get a decent English teaching job in Beijing or Shanghai without a college degree as it is a standard requirement for a working visa.

Korea is actually the easiest place to get a teaching job. All you need is be a native speaker, and have a degree in basically anything.

Japan is one of the harder places in Asia to get a teaching job. You actually need a teaching degree and there are a lot of people applying. I know 2 different people teaching English in Korea right now, 1 teaching in Japan and one looking into teaching in Japan.

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NoSkill, (1) get a college degree (2) don't pick Go as a career (enjoy it as a hobby for life if you want).Others more knowledgeable please correct me if I'm wrong:
if you want to teach math in a 2-year college, you need a masters.
if you want to teach math in a K-12 school, you need a bachelors.
Otherwise you can be a tutor for grade school math.

My $0.02.

I think that's what I heard too, but not fully sure what the actual requirements are (and they of course differ greatly in different places). For example, I think to teach high school math in Ontario you just need to have taken some math courses in university (though whether or not you'd be able to get hired as a math teacher to begin with is another question).

Scary. Ontario, Canada or Ontario, California?

Canada, but you also need to go to teacher's college and probably won't get hired as math teacher to begin with (though my grade 10 math was taught by a gym teacher - that was pretty terrible XD).

Must. Not. Make. Trailer Park Boys. Joke.

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What a coincidence, my grade 10 gym was taught by a math teacher .