"How do you find time to study languages?" That's a question I'm asked all the
time, especially when I explain that despite a demanding job, my wonderful
wife and two sons, and many interests, I do study languages every single day. So
if you're having trouble finding time to study, or if you think you are too busy
to learn a language, please bear with me because this video will solve your problems.
It's all a matter of priorities. I spend time studying languages because
it's one of my priorities. I know that my time is limited so I prefer focusing on
the activities that are really important to me. I can go a day without TV, social
media or video games, but not without practicing languages. Here's a pro tip:
write down your priorities and refer to the list every morning. This way you'll
be sure you don't get distracted by other, less important activities. I hear
people complaining all the time about not having the time to do something.
While I can certainly relate to this feeling, my answer is always: learn to
make time! You are the master of your day and of your time. It's as simple as that!
So take charge and deliberately decide how to spend your precious and limited
hours of each day. To succeed at doing so, there's nothing better than taking
out your paper or electronic agenda to book some time slots for activities you
care about, such as learning languages. There are many ways to make time. One is
certainly to reduce distractions. Another, which goes hand-in-hand with the first,
is to avoid activities that provide immediate gratification but do not leave
you with anything in the long term. Yes, I'm talking about social media and
TV for example... Let's talk about Facebook, Instagram & co. A recent study conducted
by GlobalWebIndex revealed that on average we spend two hours and 22
minutes every day on these platforms. 142 minutes of your day liking cat videos
or browsing your "friends" photos... crazy, right? And if we add television, many
people watch at least 3 hours of TV every day. Don't you think you could take
10-15 minutes a day to do something which could change your life, like
learning a new language? And if you are a helpless social media addict, then watch
one of my colleague Lize's latest videos, where she explains how to turn these
platforms into learning resources. (Link in the description below.) In another video
called "My Language Miracle Morning," I talked about my habit of waking up quite
early every day to spend time doing things I love, such as learning languages.
If you really don't have time (and you don't spend time on social media,
watching TV or on other distractions), then this could be a good solution for you.
No need to set your alarm at 5 a.m. Waking up just 20 minutes before you normally do
can give you enough time to practice a language. This will have 2 other
positive consequences. Whether you are a night owl or an early bird, your brain is
fresher and less distracted in the morning, so your study sessions will be
even more effective. By starting your day with a short study session, interruptions,
distractions and fatigue will be less likely to get in your way. You won't have
to worry about accidentally putting it off since it's the first thing you do.
It might be obvious, but if you start observing people you will notice that
many people do not make the most of the time they spend waiting in line or
commuting. We all have down time: waiting for a doctor visit, queuing to pay after
doing our shopping, commuting to and from work... If you add it up, you probably
have a lot of "dead" time, and some of it could be used to do
productive things like reading books or, again, learning languages! And your
smartphone can become your best friend during these moments of your day.
With just a couple of clicks and taps you can watch a video in your target language
or learn some vocab by using your favorite language app, which I really hope is
MosaLingua. To sum it all up, these are my tips for finding time to study
languages: first, set your priorities and make sure that language learning is one
of them. Second, learn to make time by planning your day and deliberately
deciding how you spend your precious time. Third, avoid distraction and
minimally beneficial activities. Fourth, wake up a little earlier and squeeze in
those 10-15 minutes a day of study, which will really make a difference in the
long run. Use your downtime as short time slots to practice languages instead of
wasting it. As always, these tips are useless if you do not act on them. If I
were you, I'd test one or more of them to see if they work for you. I think you'll
be surprised at how quickly and radically they change the quality of
your language learning and your life. Take care and happy learning!
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