There are countless sources out there that tell you how to push yourself more, how to optimize your time, how to go that extra mile. I am your reminder to take a deep breath and relax. There is such a thing as pushing too hard.
We are constantly grinding and grinding and grinding, but that can come at a cost.
When do we realize we are pushing too hard, and when is it okay to say you have done enough?
Recognizing your limit
It is impossible to say where that limit is. On the one hand, the hustle mentality can be very toxic. If your successes are just a moment to pause between grinds, you really need to take a step back and realize life is now, not your envisioned future. On the other hand, you cannot be too relaxed with your achievements. Low-balling your goals will just give you a way to slack off while giving yourself a pat on the back and permission to indulge in the sloth. The dangerous power of laziness can overtake us and tell us that limit is much earlier than it really is.
There is something in the middle where you go out of your comfort zone for baby steps at first. Later, you increase that discomfort to achieve more. If learning 10 words in a month is laziness, and learning 1000 words in a month is just straight punishment, why not try 100? Three words per day seems very attainable. That is, however, attainable for me.
One thing is for sure: everyone’s limit is different.
For me, I have a significant amount of time for language learning in a day. My job allows for passive listening in the background at some times. For others, that is logistically impossible, and fitting in any language learning is a struggle. For that person, we need to applaud the small moments, too. There is no universal standard of what is enough. If you use others as reference points for your own limit, you are making a big mistake. You cannot know what is going on in their life. Goals need to be personalized within your own abilities and motivation. Pushing too hard for me may not be pushing too hard for you.
Motivation as a finite resource
Motivation cannot push your forever. We are animals, not robots. An overzealous polyglot might say “I want to learn 25 Chinese characters per day.” Believe me. I’ve been there. However, you are making a deal with yourself that might work today or this week, but the future is unclear. If you fail for one day, how do you handle that? Will you fully fall off the routine? Rather, you should start with a small goal and increase that over time.
Personally, I used to do 4 Chinese characters in one learning session. It fit my notebook perfectly, and the number felt right. With time, I found myself itching for more. A few months ago, I increased that tradition of 4 to 8 after testing it out a few times. If I had started with 8, I might have hated the activity and given up completely.
The drive we have to learn languages is like energy sources on our planet. You could use the finite resource as much as you can, and you’ll get pretty far. Natural gas could be analogous to the internal drive to learn. You can do it, but it will run out eventually. Instead, you should be using renewable energy that is abundant. Renewables are analogous to external systems that push you to do what you need. This could be reminders on your desk or alarms on your phone. The best option is to create a habit. When you wake up, read French for 5 minutes. We brush our teeth and never think twice. We ought to do the same with our language learning.
Watch for burnout in the New Year
The best thing for language learning is consistency. If you can keep your language learning at a level that accumulates significantly but does not hurtle towards your limit, your future is limitless.
Nothing is worse for your language skills than stopping. 5 minutes a day for a year is almost 30 hours after a full year. Think of what you do for 5 minutes a day. Brush your teeth? Make coffee? Imagine if you incorporated language learning into that 5 minutes. You can increase that number, but you cannot go below. At the very least, you will have learned the language for 1.25 days straight cumulatively. I think that’s something definitely worth praise!
When so many people lose motivation and never improve, why strive for a perfection that will never come? Pushing too hard only hurts you ultimately.
There is no need to make goals of 5 hours of Spanish per day. Less is more.
If you want to read more about language learning, you can find it on my blog.
I also have a YouTube channel where you can see some language tips or my language progress.
Keep learning! Every moment spent learning is already a great success!!!
