Now

Updated 2024/05/22

Following Derek Sivers’ excellent example, this is my /now page. These are the things I am spending time on right now.

• School management. I am helping my wife run her school, which mainly consists of working on systems, supporting the teachers, running special classes and events, and covering for teachers in an emergency. I am also planning to take over the accounting aspects. This is interesting as it is forcing me to learn new skills. The ultimate goal is to sell the school to an appropriate buyer who will take care of the students and staff, and develop the school’s potential. Feel free to get in touch if you think you fit the bill (school is 400-500+ full time students, annual revenue 50-60m+).
• RetireJapan. I am not longer able to work on RetireJapan full time, but there is a huge amount to do, mainly improving the website, updating and writing more Guides, creating on demand video courses, expanding our YouTube channel, and growing our reach on social media so we can reach more people.
• EFL materials. This is mainly developing and marketing the Fluency Course. The base course for junior high school students is finished, so we are working on finalizing supplementary materials. One big planned upgrade is audio for the texts, vocabulary, etc. The next step is going to be a new version of The Fluency Course for adults. This will be similar in structure and level to the current books, but with content more appropriate for university students, working adults, and non-working adults.
• Health. I am 46 now, and health is very much a priority. First up is weight loss, mainly through improving diet, tracking calories and macros, and fasting. I aim to get under 80kg and stay there (this would be lighter than I have been since I was about 15). Then mobility and conditioning work, walking/cycling/swimming/rowing, and training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu more regularly.
• Life. This is a new category, but perhaps the most important one. I am trying to figure out what to do with my life now. It’s clearly going to be a mix of work, family, friends, health, interests, but how to balance those and in what proportions is the question I will be dealing with for the rest of it.

I am unlikely to spend much time on anything not on the list at the moment, but happy to hear from people 🙂

*To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: right now I am transitioning to a new phase of life, which is exciting and interesting and a little bit intimidating.