Pleasure, Pain and Language Learning
The motivation people say you need a mix of pleasure and pain to achieve any meaningful goals - pleasure to keep you going, and pain to push you on if you stop. They're right.
I know this, because this week I went to work for 40 hours, even when I was tired, felt a bit like I was catching a cold, etc. On the other hand, when I got home from work, completely worn out, instead of deciding not to go to work the next morning, I decided to skip Chinese that night to get a little extra rest.
What's going on? There's more pain in missing a paycheck than pleasure in learning Chinese, apparently. This is the origin of the excuses we make when we fall behind.
When we think about going to work but don't want to, we can instantly generate pain scenarios to get us moving. What about our language learning?
I am working on generating 3 pleasure points for study - things that make me want to work on Chinese - and 3 pain points on stopping - things where I will feel worse about myself or my circumstances if I don't find at least 15 minutes a day for study. Since I started playing with this, I've been reading at least one page of (simplified for beginners) Chinese a day.
Having trouble with your language learning? Don't just ask yourself how to get moving. Find reasons why you really shouldn't quit. If you can't, your enthusiasm will only take you so far before the things that give you trouble take precedence.
Coming next: Ways to make yourself feel like you need to study.
I know this, because this week I went to work for 40 hours, even when I was tired, felt a bit like I was catching a cold, etc. On the other hand, when I got home from work, completely worn out, instead of deciding not to go to work the next morning, I decided to skip Chinese that night to get a little extra rest.
What's going on? There's more pain in missing a paycheck than pleasure in learning Chinese, apparently. This is the origin of the excuses we make when we fall behind.
When we think about going to work but don't want to, we can instantly generate pain scenarios to get us moving. What about our language learning?
I am working on generating 3 pleasure points for study - things that make me want to work on Chinese - and 3 pain points on stopping - things where I will feel worse about myself or my circumstances if I don't find at least 15 minutes a day for study. Since I started playing with this, I've been reading at least one page of (simplified for beginners) Chinese a day.
Having trouble with your language learning? Don't just ask yourself how to get moving. Find reasons why you really shouldn't quit. If you can't, your enthusiasm will only take you so far before the things that give you trouble take precedence.
Coming next: Ways to make yourself feel like you need to study.
Labels: learning
1 Comments:
"There's more pain in missing a paycheck than pleasure in learning Chinese".
I don't get the deep meaning of this sentence... Are you a Learning Chinese sadomasochist?
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