Hello, my audience. English Speaking Tips here, teaching you How To Improve English Speaking. So, today’s topic will be Motivation and Discipline.
How many times have you started something then just went ‘Why do I even do this? It is pointless’. Then swoosh – you break the cycle of studying and all the hard work of learning English for nothing.
It just means that you didn’t have strong enough reasons to pursue your goals of learning English. When there is little excitement in what you are trying to achieve a natural tendency is to relax, stop trying to break your comfort zone (which is always required when attempting to get a higher level of success) and do nothing.
There are ways to solve this.
1 – Just plain discipline. Imagine you are going to gym or for jogging session. Sorry, but it just requires mechanical discipline and habituation. Get your books, go to your forums. And just go through the motions. Whatever you need – learn new words, revise the old grammar rules, practice speaking, etc.
2 – Find a strong reason for what you are doing. A compulsion. A passion, should I say. Then your habit is at least accompanied by a positive emotion. For example, when I was little I loved watching Japanese anime, but the local community was very small, so I decided to go to international forums, where everyone was writing in English. And also watching the anime with English subtitles helped establish the link between learning English and watching what I loved.
The reality is that, though, you probably will need to combine two.
How to find motivation
I. Some say fuel yourself with a sense of competition. I think it is a good reason, although externally dependent, which is not always good, because sometimes there is just plainly no one to compete with. Although brain and thoughts are like your workshop – you can make them believe into anything. For example, try to compete with your friend in how many more new words can you learn than him.
II. Find a reason stemming from practical purposes. If you suddenly really wanted to learn skateboarding and the only source of valid information was English forums or just Youtube lessons, then you would be Forced to learn it. Besides, by reading or watching these materials you will unconsciously start learning the ways English is delivered. I think I am repeating myself, but anyway.
Here is what one person said: ” I’ve been learning English for a year now. Helps greatly at my job. I read newspapers, magazines, not books yet, though. I listen to audio podcasts, watch youtube and movies. I talk with English speaking and non-English speaking people over the Internet”. English has its uses in multitude areas of your life.
III Another good way is just surrounding yourself with same-minded people. ” An excellent incentive can be achieved through participation in Language learning forums. When you see that everyday someone is asking questions, learning something, seeking the right path, it suddenly makes you feel like you need to take action as well.”
IV Set goals far beyond what you are capable of. Be cautious, because if you set them too high, you might get a decline in your motivation. But in my case,for example, I found it really pointless to study TOEFL listening and speaking for 26/30, because I was already at 23/30, so I just told myself to go for 30/30 and actually achieved that. Setting bigger goals will help you get more excitement, and, thus, motivation.
V The best source is internal one. You just have to love the language and how it sounds. The passion comes from within.
PRAISE yourself. Don’t whine. Start managing your time. Set plans, but don’t dwell too much on them, because what matters are Actions, Adapdability and Consistency.
Again, like in gym. Even if you don’t want to – just tell yourself that you will at least appear to the gym. Then work out a while.
Small steps at a time, but remember to always push yourself to new limits.
Keep success journals. Don’t keep negative thoughts. There will be setbacks, there will be moments when you feel nothing is being achieved and that your English does not improve. It is a natural process. If you enjoy the journey, then the problem with continuing will never arise. So enjoy the journey.
English is just a skill, and like any other skill there is a certain course of actions that all people go through in order to achieve it. But to achieve mastery (or any other level of proficiency level, honestly) you need to adopt this discipline and learn how to manage your own behavorial patterns.
Funnily enough, everyone wants to learn English. Ask anyone and most often you will hear:”I would love to learn English, but…”. And they don’t. Well, this learning was just not in their life priorities. So there you go – another point – set priorities in your life.
For concrete study-plans you should check in later. For now, English Speaking Tips presents just foundations. And I think it is a neccessary foundation to have in mind. Again, though, these are just my perspective on the subject.