How To Stay Productive In Your Language Studies
What does productivity look like when learning multiple languages?
If you google productivity, you’re going to find tons of articles, resources, books, and videos on the subject. We all have our own definitions of productivity and what it means to be productive, and I’m no different. Oftentimes, these definitions of productivity can lead to us feeling guilty when we don’t meet our “productive” expectations.
Raise your hand if you’ve been there, done that! I’ve experienced this a TON.
The truth of the matter is, you’ve been thinking about productivity all wrong. And it’s been hindering the progress you could be making in your language studies.
Are you up for completely transforming what you know about productivity and jumpstarting your language studies?
I hope so!
In this post, I want to share:
- What productivity TRULY looks like in our language studies — and how that is different from what many others think.
- Why this definition works and just MAKES SENSE — the reasons why I have redefined productivity.
- How I stay productive every day.
What is Productivity?
By definition, productivity is “the state or quality of producing something” or actions that “yield results, benefits, or profits”.
When you value productivity in your life this definition alone may cause you to prioritize productivity. You’ll begin to feel upset with yourself when you don’t maintain or uphold that value of staying productive.
Sound familiar?
For instance, think about the moments when you see someone on Instagram sharing photos of their daily study routines. You see something inspirational and immediately think to yourself, “wow, they’re making so much progress. I want to do that too!”
But then you’re faced with the fact that you have a full-time job, classes, your hobbies, etc.
All of these other things in your life you have to maintain and take care of. You don’t have 7 hours a day to dedicate to learning languages!
Personally, this made me so frustrated! I’d constantly have to go on a social media detox so I could SEE my progress (and stop comparing myself to others).
For me, I think of productivity the same way I think of being an introvert and using up my social energy. Filling up my “productivity meter” is just as important as using that energy in ways that align with my reason for learning languages in the first place—my Guiding Principle
Why This Definition for Productivity Just.Makes.Sense.
As an introvert, I know that my energy drains when interacting with lots of other people, and the rate of that draining changes depending on things like: the type of interaction I’m having, the location I’m in, the people I’m with, and how much time I’ve had to ‘mentally prepare’ for said interactions.
It can be a physical drain on that energy, a mental drain, an emotional one, or a spiritual one, and you have to listen to your body when it tells you which one.
I’ll explain this more in another article, but to be brief:
If it’s physical, you might be tired and yawning, or hungry. If it’s emotional, you might be feeling frustrated, or bored, or stressed. When you’re feeling a mental drain, you might feel more easily distracted and need to recover. And if it’s spiritual, you’ll often feel a lack of motivation or desire to DO the work.
In this same way, our productivity meter is like a battery. When we use energy to “produce something or to “yield results, benefits, or profits”, it drains that energy.
And the rate of how fast that productive energy drains depends on things like what the current task is, deadlines or end goals, if it’s a solo activity or requires other people, etc.
When that meter is empty, I can’t continue to study. I’m done. Tapped out.
So instead, I have to “produce” more energy, replenish my meter for the next session.
And it’s still being PRODUCTIVE!
If you pay close attention to your productivity meter, you will notice when your energy has been drained and you need to replenish.
This is normal! And again, STILL PRODUCTIVE!
How I Stay Productive When Learning Multiple Languages
Sadly enough, when you decide to learn multiple languages, you quickly learn that you don’t get multiple ‘productivity meters’ for each target language. It’s all lumped together into one and holds just about as much energy as if you were only studying one language.
Because of this, you have to be strategic on how you learn—especially if you’re trying to learn multiple languages at the same time.
For example, if you are in the beginner stage of your target language, it tends to draw more energy from your meter than when you are at the advanced stage.
And when you’re trying to learn multiple languages, if they’re all at the beginner stage, they will be draining the same amount of energy, leaving you with less to do the work you set out to do. So that hour-long study session becomes more like a 20-minute session 4 times if you have four target languages. This means you’ll take a lot longer to reach your goals and improve your skills the way you planned.
In my studies, I have a selection of activities that REPLENISH my energy at the same time it maintains or improves my skills. These are things like playing video games and listening to music.
This works for me because I don’t have to work hard to interact with my favorite artists’ songs, or to play games that I’ve logged hundreds of hours into. And it’s something I would’ve done anyway, so why not do it in one of my target languages?
What does productivity look like in your language learning routine?
Do you have some habits that use up your productivity energy? What about habits that replenish that energy?
Let us know in the comments below!
PS. If you want to know how to create your own study system, download my FREE guide to jumpstart your studies and help you build consistency!
— The Polyglot Fox