Why You Need To Get Some Clarity Now
If you don’t already know, I’m all about getting organized and planning for your language studies. Having a clear plan is SO important to creating consistency and making progress in your target languages. But before you sit down to create that plan, you need to get clarity on where you are and where you want to go.
I call this your “Guiding Principle”, and if you don’t know what yours is, it’s time to change that!
In this post, I want to share:
- What exactly is a Guiding Principle?
- Mistakes you make when you’re not clear on your Guiding Principle.
- How to get clear on your own Guiding Principle and Organize Your Language Studies
What is a “Guiding Principle”?
When you set out to learn languages, you will always have a reason for doing so.
Maybe it’s because you want to travel and communicate with the people living in your chosen destination.
Or maybe it’s to read more books in your target language.
Whatever your reason is, chances are, as you continue to dive headfirst into the language learning jungle, you’ve lost your way.
I know I did!
I got so caught up in what everyone else was doing to learn languages that I completely forgot about myself and what I needed.
It felt like I was trying to keep up with other language learners.
- One person was sentenced mining and using Anki to create their own flashcards, so I did that.
- Another person was signing up for classes several times a week, and so I signed up as well.
- Someone else was talking to strangers for speaking practice and…
… I decided that this introvert needed to find her own way.
So what is a Guiding Principle?
Think of the Guiding Principle as your North Star. It’s your reason for learning languages, and if you’re trying to learn multiple languages, you should have several principles you live and study by.
For example, your reason for learning languages, in general, is your Main Guiding Principle. It’s why you continue to learn languages even when things get tough.
And for me, my Main Guiding Principle is that I truly love learning languages. I tend to say it feels like a secret club that I get to join whenever I learn more in one of my target languages. I discover new ways of communicating with other people and sharing ideas (and silly dad jokes). And more importantly, I gain access to more resources and content like books, videos, and games that I would’ve missed out on.
I’m a nerd through and through and I love this part the most!
Next, you’ll have Guiding Principles based on each specific language you are trying to learn. This is what motivates you to keep trying and making progress in your target languages.
So if you don’t already know what you’re Guiding Principles are, take a moment to figure it out.
Why Is It Important To Know Your Guiding Principle?
If you’re trying to create a plan for yourself, one that will actually work for you, you need to know what you’re planning for.
Language learning is all about developing the habits you want to build and maintaining consistent effort in those habits to make long-term progress.
That’s pretty much it.
And in order to create the habits you want and build that consistency, you need to sit down and get really clear on exactly what it is you want to achieve.
When you imagine your language learning life at its peak, what does that look like for you?
Knowing this, getting super clear on your Guiding Principle, will make it easier for you to stay on track with your language studies. And you will be less likely to make some easily avoidable mistakes.
What are those mistakes?
Mistake #1: Focus on the destination instead of the journey
When you aren’t clear on your Guiding Principle, it becomes easier to focus entirely on achieving your goals.
Now you might be asking, why is this a mistake? It doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me…
Here’s the deal: when you focus entirely on the destination or reaching your goals, you miss the progress you’re actually making. That hyper-focused energy is spent on measuring how close to your goals you are, or how far away you still are. And because of this, you miss all of the amazing progress you have made already in your language studies since you started.
This also causes you to miss opportunities to have fun with your language studies.
Language learning isn’t linear. There are highs and moments of major progress. And there are lows, where your progress slows down, or life throws a curveball and you pause in your studies.
It happens. And it’s okay.
But when you focus entirely on goals, that moment of pause becomes a moment to feel ashamed, frustrated, or guilty because of your “lack of progress”.
Mistake #2: Try to do things “perfectly” or “the right way”
Perfection is the enemy of progress. Seriously, if you’re striving for perfection, you’re never going to make the progress you’re actually hoping for.
I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but here it is again:
No one is perfect.
As much as some language learners might tell you, there is no “right way” to learn a language. There are just tons of strategies and resources that can help you make progress towards your goals. But the effectiveness of those strategies and resources depends on so many things, like:
- Your experience with learning languages in general
- Your experience learning languages similar to your target language
- Your experiences learning other skills
- Your interests
- Your personality
And so much more. Because of this, the “right way” simply becomes the way that works best for YOU. Focusing on perfection in your language studies leads to you putting a lot of pressure on yourself to reach that desired state “perfectly”. And ultimately, this can lead to analysis paralysis — where you overthink the entire language learning process and stop taking action altogether.
Mistake #3: Comparing yourself to other languages learners
I’m all for repeating things when I believe so strongly in them, so here it is again.
There are so many factors that impact a person’s language learning journey and their progress. The people around you and online who are learning languages live different lives than you.
They have different jobs than you do, or are going to school part-time while you are full-time. Maybe they don’t work at all, and have tons of time to focus on their language learning. They might have access to different resources than you do, and use resources based on their learning styles and interests. And they have a completely different experience with learning languages than you. Or different goals, and Guiding Principles.
It’s like comparing an apple to a light bulb. Comparing yourself to other language learners is a waste of your time and energy, and is actually causing you more harm than you might think.
(and I’m not talking about being inspired by other language learners, because that’s an entirely different thing and completely valid!)
So whenever you find yourself comparing your progress to other language learners, stop!
How Do You Clarify Your Guiding Principle?
Now that you know what a Guiding Principle is and why it’s important to know yours, it’s time to actually get clear on what is motivating you to learn languages.
All you need to do is ask yourself these three questions:
- What goals do I have for my language studies?
- What habits do I currently have around my language studies?
- What habits do I want to have for my language studies?
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