How To Light Your Own Fire
Without a doubt, learning a language (especially one like Japanese) is a tough slog. The Defense Language Institute lists Japanese as one of it’s “Category IV” languages that takes 64 weeks of full-time, intensive training to master. Yes, that’s full-time. If you’re just learning for fun and investing 30 minutes a day, imagine how long you’ll be studying.
In order to find the energy and interest to stick with it though good times and bad, you really need to have strong, internal motivation to succeed. Just liking sushi or anime isn’t enough to power through the challenging times. Here are some ways to kindle that fire.
First, think deeply about why you want to learn Japanese? When you think about your “Why?” do you feel energized and inspired? If not, you probably should find a different hobby, to be honest. Write down your “Why?” and put it in a prominent place as a reminder as to the reason for heaping these struggles on yourself. Add some photos, memorabilia or other items that will help connect you to your “Why?”
But even if you have a strong “why,” there will be times when you’re just not feeling it and it’s very easy to give in to the temptation to just skip a day. Next thing you know, one day turns into two, two into three, and before you know it you’ve given up.
To fuel your motivation, try the following technique. I first came across it in a now out-of-print book called, “The Ultimate Guide to Mental Toughness: How to Raise Your Motivation, Focus and Confidence Like Pushing a Button” by Daniel Teitelbaum. In it, he describes a process in detail by which you can create what he called “triggers” — vivid visualizations of very specific situations where you felt fist-pumping energized about chasing whatever goal you had in mind.
To try a simple version of this, imagine in as much detail as possible some inspiring situations in which you can see yourself actually using Japanese in some way that’s meaningful to you. What are you doing? To whom are you speaking? What do you see, hear, smell, taste, feel? Make a short movie or three in your head that excites you and replay it as often as you need to to fire yourself up.
For example, one of the highlights of my first trip to Japan was visiting a small, local restaurant in Nagoya that was run by a friend of my buddy Matt. Matt and the owner engaged in lively conversation about what to have for lunch, current events in the neighborhood, and so on. Just normal catch-up chat between friends, but I was very impressed by Matt’s ability to have this conversation with someone he clearly had a strong relationship with. It added to our enjoyment of what would have otherwise been “just another meal in yet another restaurant,” and I looked forward to the day when I could do that as well.
When my motivation flags, I occasionally replay that scene in my mind, swapping myself for Matt, and that often charges me up enough to at least get started with my studying. When I need an additional boost of motivation, I can replay that or switch to other inspiring scenarios I’ve created.
Give this approach a try. Create a few visualizations that are meaningful to you and that get your heart beating just a little faster when you play out the scene in your head. Then when you feel your motivation dip, play those mental movies a time or two, get energized and dive in.