Overcoming Procrastination & Burnout In Language Learning

We all deal with procrastination and some level of motivational dip at times throughout our lives, so how can we counter these events? I tackle this question from two different angles - I hope you enjoy them and find them to be helpful!
The full podcast episode can be found at: / secret-language-58460491
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:57 - The Question
3:19 - Answer Part 1
7:26 - Answer Part 2
//== Links ==//
❤️ Join my wonderful Patreon community:
/ robinmacpherson
❤️ Follow me on Instagram @
_robinmacpherson
📖 Check out my book, How To Maintain Languages:
www.robinmacpherson.co/shop
💌 Join my delightful newsletter & access my free downloads:
www.robinmacpherson.co/newsle...

[@VINICIORAMIREZ]

Burning out is so real. And it's so hard to recover the motivation to start studying again... But yes, starting with fun small things really helps

[@Bruh-kz4db]

I was playing assassin's Creed Black flag in German and I get so frustrated when I don't understand a single word they're saying 😅.

[@itsrx870]

I found to just keep the language playing weather through Netflix or a pod cast and eventually it strikes your attention again. If I was not actively studying it I was definitely listening to it.

[@VINICIORAMIREZ]

@@itsrx870 I love watching series, but my Russian level is really basic, that I found out I enjoy comprehensible podcasts more than I enjoy series, so, now I think I have to find something I like according to what I'm learning and the level. I don't want to turn something funny into something awful, I will do series after my level increases.

[@courageux430]

When i learn English and then forgetting Vocabularies that is the true of burn out . I wanna cry because Im learning English for get new jobs but i don't know English well . So i just got frustated and my gramatical much of mistakes and i wanna cry . Because i don't have proper job to feed up my stomach.i don't know i wanna cry . I feel hopeless again after i have no friends and anxiety begin

[@VINICIORAMIREZ]

@@courageux430 try to find something you like, I like watching series for example, so when I was learning, I watched a lot of series on my free time. Then I got vocabulary and grammar questions and it was funnier to search them. To have fun is the key!

[@bunnyteeth365]

I've been having a harder time staying motivated. Tracking how much time I listen and read has been helpful for my motivation. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it up, but it seems to work well when you're in the intermediate stage and progress seems slower. I'm at the stage where I'm advanced enough to understand tv shows and read some books, but not advanced enough to really relax. I'll probably stop tracking once things become easy for me.

[@kyleklingebeil7447]

That’s a great tip! Tracking the time is really helpful! Plus it’s really gratifying to look back over time and see how many hours you’ve logged.

[@bunnyteeth365]

@@kyleklingebeil7447 Definitely. When I was a beginner it probably would have been too much to handle. So I don't really suggest it for beginners. It's best for when you're intermediate and not seeing as much progress anymore. Once I get to a more stable level I might stop tracking. I know I won't want to track forever.

[@stephtab922]

I think procrastination and burnout happens to everyone. I have been struggling a lot this last year trying to rearrange my schedule to fit in my language learning. I finally came up with a plan and I have been excited to implement it and am already seeing results. Before when I experienced burnout I would tell myself that it is ok to take a break. I remind myself that language learning isn't a sprint, it takes time, and if I need a day off from studying I should take it. I've noticed through the years that I go through periods where I won't actively study for days, and sometimes months. However, when I get back into it, it seems like I know more!

[@billywade7794]

May I add that I am a patreon supporter of Robin's and it is well worth the money with the secret podcasts. There are numerous questions he answers that you may not have known you needed to ask. Keep up the amazing work Robin. And to everyone else, you need to support him. Oh and you can PM him too which is powerful

[@JaredHoyman]

I started watching this video because I was procrastinating and now I feel guilty so I'm going to get back to my work and not finish this video. Thanks for the conviction ;)

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

Another part of motivation is looking to my past. For example, I had to learn Cyrillic script and Russian sounds by myself or maintaining my work out schedule in my early 20’s. Change wasn’t immediate. It took time so, not to except return on investment over night.

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

I find Duolingo and Babel repetitive at times so I am going to try reading and audiobooks. Also, movies and TV shows help.

[@kyleklingebeil7447]

I’ve found that not doing everything at one time during the day has been helpful. Sometimes using a spare 10 minutes while drinking your coffee doesn’t seem like a lot, but it all adds up. Right or wrong, my study language for 12 hours a week, which breaks down to a little over an hour and forty minutes. So if I’ve done 40 minutes already by the evening, then it’s just an hour of studying. Otherwise it just seems so daunting and I find that the quality of learning suffers otherwise. This has helped me to stay consistent.

[@Tenno2270]

This is something I have deal with a loooot when learning Japanese. I also enjoy hearing your thoughts and especially when it comes to topics like these. Thx Robin 👍

[@facegym-faceyouth5975]

I have had a burnout for three years. The recovery took me another three years. That was a tough time. However, doing what I love in very small steps really has helped me, although I still feel overwhelmed sometimes.

[@5more747]

Thank you for the videos! They are really well made and always spark motivation to keep persuing my second language! Merci Beaucoup Robin :)

[@sergei.shevchenko]

Wow, I haven't watched your videos in a while, and today I get back and I'm so glad to hear your advice - it's really great! Also the sound quality is amazing - it feels like we're in the same room while you talking, your voice is really clear!

[@movedchannels3680]

Thanks so much for this video, I woke up to this notification and I feel that this was for me! Japanese can be a bit rough. Your a real gem. 💎

[@RivkahSong]

Thanks Robin. I've been struggling to find the motivation to practice the last couple of weeks (i've been doing it anyway but not as much and I feel like I'm not making a lot of progress) and was frustrated at myself for my "laziness" but you've made me realize it's because my current study plan is just... boring. I've gotten so caught up in how MUCH I have to learn and how much I don't know since I'm a beginner that I'd forgotten the language is supposed to be fun, too.

[@amparogutierrezayala6322]

Thank you for your advice.

[@luisfuentes2432]

Thank you!

[@schoolingdiana9086]

I have an alert to post on Journaly every day, even just a few sentences, but haven’t done it in months. In addition to learning Norwegian and Cherokee at the same time, I’m starting my own diversity coaching business, and ended up adding advocacy for a Vulnerable Adult case over the last 3 months. I’m just doing too much. The advocacy is scaled back quite a bit now, and my coaching packages are launching next week--plus Cherokee 3 final exam is this weekend--so hopefully my Tetris life falls into place really well over the next week. 🤞🏽

[@rollingdownfalling]

I really have do thanks you for that, I really do have many episodes of procrastination and burnouts.

[@eli5113]

My problem is ive reached a point to where I can communicate with my friends and watch movies with the subtitles only in my target language but I don't have any motivation to study anything. I´ve just been talking to my friends only in my target language everyday (My friends only speak spanish) and I do the same thing with movies. I guess I´ve just been learning with immersion? Im still learning new stuff everyday just not through textbooks and stuff like that

[@eli5113]

I read everyday in my target language as well

[@lurklingX]

Your hair looks so sharp in this episode! For some reason that makes me feel motivated. Because, I don’t know, keeping up with short hair can take some effort. So it feels like seeing someone be in a good place where they are able to be productive. :) and the short hair just looks really nice on you. Maybe it was partly your demeanor but you felt a little weighed down in some of the earlier episodes, and some of the longer hair times…… -- I recognize the wave mug! Also looking at your set up, gets me thinking about minimalism again. And basically I think having less in your environment can make you more likely to put time into other things like studying. --I guess this is sort of a weird comment, unexpected observations. But it’s just the first stuff that popped out to me in the first few minutes ha ha. Now, tuning in for the rest of it. Thank you for making this content!

[@stevenrodriguez6900]

I’ve just finished my college spring semester and the burnout was so bad that i could not push myself to get back into languages until I texted my brazilian friend and started catching up with her, texting in Portuguese was the spark i needed to get back into it

[@th3bLackGraffer]

Learning slowly too sometimes take it slow when learning a language and not over do it. Great vid.

[@14xx07]

You have a delightful ✨ voice ☺️

[@NaturalLanguageLearning]

You beat procrastination by: 1. having a clear plan, and knowing exactly what the next steps are. 2. taking a few seconds to take a deep breath and think about your goals, and getting back to work, every time you start wasting time or getting distracted. That's it.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

For me the big difference was that I was reading about Flow, productivity, and the so-called Flow Channel (the sweet spot where the difficulty of a task is *just right*, challenging enough to stretch your skills but still at a point where you have the skill and experience to dominate the challenge). Upon reading further, I read about how one very common cause of procrastination in typically productive people is when you are outside of that flow channel, and for people like myself that is often on the side of being *too* challenging. If a task is so challenging and outside our comfort zone and prior experience, then it can actually create procrastination via anxiety and self-doubt - this is exactly what I was experiencing. So simply understanding these inner-workings was massively helpful in not beating myself up or being upset with myself for "just not doing it" or being lazy or something like that. This understanding helped to rationalize things and completely reverse that to almost rewarding myself, like "Good job for pushing yourself this much outside your comfort zone", and that alone actually solved it 🌟

[@sarahba1897]

A clear plan does not help when you’re so unmotivated that you’re procrastinating by cleaning your room. Not having a plan works better for some type of people and having a plan works for the other half. Having a plan puts so much pressure on me that I don’t wanna do it no matter how small the steps may be. So not having a plan and just doing something without determining it beforehand works way better for me because there is no pressure envolved. The brain learns best when it’s relaxed not when it’s being pressured.

[@irenemcnamara9699]

I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon for a few hours. I missed my appt with my friend. I was procrastinating. I still have to prepare my French lesson for tomorrow, so I didn't get anywhere by procrastinating.

[@danb6118]

Great content, really helpful! 🙂 I know the topic has been covered alot but I am looking for some tips for learning language (chinese) as I don't have access to many study books. Is there any program for PC you would recommend? Maybe something similar to physical course books for beginner and intermediates? Apps on desktop are quite limited..like busuu is OK when I'm on the move but not that good for sitting at the desk and computer for 30 minutes.

[@schoolingdiana9086]

I know it depends on the phone that you have. Two of my sons have Huawei phones, and there are some fantastic Chinese language learning apps in the Petal store that you can’t get in the Apple or Google store. (One of them is in Thailand, the other is here with me in the States. If you’re stateside, eBay is your friend if you want that option-yes, they work with a US SIM card in them.) Do you have a library card for your county? Ours includes free access to Mango languages app. It’s geared for kids but I’ve honestly found that helps with burnout, because my brain is so overloaded from starting my own business, that super simple really helps ingrain the words in my brain. Small steps. 👊🏽Hang in there.

[@waditejada8871]

I feel like I'm just going over and over the same vocabulary, like the wheels are spinning and I'm not making any more progress. Than I try more advanced material but feel too advanced because I only get 1 out of every 100 words.

[@thealfredjeremiah]

Hi @Ronbin, i’m still learning german for 4 weeks now. What is the best method you can recommend for be to be able to have a normal conversation at least.

[@Emma-wb9lo]

Thank you for this so much for this! I'm living in Argentina bc of by bf and I'm struggling so much at the moment, to learn spanish here. Couldn't sleep this night, because I push myself way to hard and aiming to high. At the same time, I feel so pressured by my surrounding areas to learn faster, to make my and everyones elses lifes easier. I feel pushed in a corner, and it's making me so frustrated when learning. Any advise on that point?

[@LazyySam]

I understand the situation with burnout as I have been trying to learn Russian for 2-3 years now. I also live in Russia and am able to talk with people and do all my usual stuff. But I notice my lack of vocabulary when talking about more specific topics and I notice grammical mistakes (as Russian has gender with everything and cases). And doing grammar and sitting and cramming words is really boring. And I cant find the motivation to sit and do them. Because the words I now need to learn are not the most commonly used words but you use them while making topic specific talks. And grammar is just......., I don't know what to do with it. So, now I have this continuous feeling that time is passing and I am stuck without growth. I tried watching movies, books, podcasts, music, KZbin videos etc. I understand them except few words here and there. But they don't help with grammar. I tried stuff with subtitles and without. I just don't know what to do. On a different note, Robin I love your content. It just feels nice to hear someone talk about their language learning journey while I am having one.

[@Sam-shushu]

Hi Sam!

[@LazyySam]

@@Sam-shushu Hey back to you too Sam!

[@stuartlong6217]

I think the pandemic has made things worse. Some days you think -why am I bothering?, or 'I'm never going to have a meaningful conversation anyway'. Then I have to remember I'm just a dilettante learning for my own interest and enjoyment. At a reasonable intermediate level I should stop actively studying every day and just enjoy reading, podcasts etc which was the purpose all along.

[@vanessappp5672]

👏👏👏👏👏 ✨✨

[@Welivelton95]

Great video. What's your nationality?

[@French007-ej1ml]

I couldn’t help notice that you are now talking with a slight Scottish slant accent

[@YogaBlissDance]

I wish you had a bit more light on you in this video- it feels a bit dark or even low light.

[@o_felipe_reis]

I burned out learning languages. I burned out producing KZbin videos. It seems I’m pretty good at it.🫠