Cavesa wrote:One thing I have always admired you, PM, (one of more things, but talking about this one right now): how much time you are willing to consistently put into learning, how hard working you are. I think the time already invested will pay off and you'll get lots of value from it in your studies from now on too. I would love to be able to do so. 4 hours long sessions of anything! I am struggling even with 1 hour these days, and it is becoming a problem. How are you doing it?
I want to thank you for your admiration while I can, so thank you Cavesa...... but! I think the picture you have painted of me is not the reality of the situation. Yes I've done 3000 hours of study in 4 years, yes I'm pretty consistent and I try to work hard at improving my French, but the reality it this.
* The 4 hour plan I have presented is a 4 hour
rotating schedule. What this means is I don't do four hours in one day, but I study X amount on any given day, perhaps one, two or three hours, (highly unlikely to be four, as I generally only ever aim for 3 max) and where I finish, say "hour 3" for example, I continue on the next day by beginning with "hour 4" as my first study hour of the day, then on to hour 1 and hour 2, and therefore beginning with hour 3 the next day, etc. I devised a rotating schedule because I have too many things I want to cover and I'm unikely to do it all in one day, but I know myself well enough to know that there are too many interruptions, distractions, procrastination and so on, that a rotating schedule sees me being able to cover all things I want to cover without being worried about not doing it all in one day.
* In the last few years my average study amount per day has been below 3 hours a day, despite having a goal of 3 hours a day. I might devise rotating plans of 3, 4, 5 hours, but I don't even make it to three hours of actual study. Many days I might only do 1 hour, sometimes none, but that's rare. And my average has dropped over the last three years.
* My rotating schedule is for what I call dedicated 'desk study' time. This works well for me, I find it motivating, very much so, to have a planned schedule. This way, I wake and I know my priority is my study schedule with a target of three hours completed. However the time that I log when I add up my hours includes
everything I do in French. Meaning, the podcasts I listen to on the way to work, or while walking the dog, doing the dishes or gardening, the television I watch while eating breakfast, the reading I do before sleep (not when I read to my daughter though, or the odd brief news article). Thus the actual hours I keep track of, which average out to just over 2 hours this year, include in reality, probably only a little over
one hour a day of whatever scheduled 'desk study plan' I am using like the one presented in this thread.
* An unbalanced approach to my learning (ie course heavy) is likely not solely to blame for my frustration in progress. I don't stick to courses in a dedicated manner in anywhere near as much persistance and dedication as the majority of people here probably think. When you look at my numbers in the previous point (a little over an hour of desk study time averaged a day) and then count the fact that i'm not always doing courses, i'm actually not doing that much in the way of courses (I've done 250 hours of courses this year out of over 330 days of study). Thus I'm not so consistent as it appears.
* I devise many study plans. Honestly the amount of times i"ve made delcarations in my log, like completing "the Big 5" for example, I've done 10 times as much hashing, mashing and rehashing of my study plan (or rotating study schedule if you will) away from my blog. Some days pass in which I spent half an hour devising a great new rotating study plan only to a few hours later, tweak it again, then later that night stay up late rehashing it all over again. This is where my idealism meets uncertaintly and crosses with lack of consistency or getting bored easily. This is where my current log title holds true- the one thing i've remained committed to, is continuing to learn French, hence my log title- "Persistent French, Inconsistent Declarations". Oh and on the topic of my study schedule- i've already altered it numerous times (with more to come) since posting it
* I still waste time. My original log title a few years back was PM's anti procrastination log. I still procrastinate in many ways, such as refusing to study my courses but I do (95% of the time) replace my procrastination with something else in French, often drastically reduced in time, but still something. This week has been something of a mid-life language crisis for me, and i've not studied hardly at all, but at least I'm still listening and watching. I'm aiming to hit the ground running with this new approach. Staying up way too late is another thing I do. I fight sleep and put undue stress on my body by doing so, by distracting myself too much at night and finding it difficult to switch (myself) off. Then I wake early, end up tired, lack energy and motivation, struggle to study, neglect exercise and so on. The last year I've been particularly bad at this. I'd like 2017 to be better, that's my aim.
* I should be more in awe of your accomplishments Cavesa, than mine. I know what undertaking medicine entails. I have some idea of what studying multiple languages entails. I'm geting a good picture over time, of what it takes to bring a language up to a C2 level. You do all then and then some. It's incredible. I don't know where you find the energy and how you push through. Then again I put a massive amount of energy into my sport when I was younger, perhaps if I had that kind of energy again I could do it, but pushing yourself physically with plenty of down time is very different to pushing yourself like you do, mentally and physically with little down time if any. Oh and not to mention I keep waffling on about living in another country, and you just up and do it! That is not an easy process. In the middle of your medical and language studies you also have the time to go through the whole application process, deal with another culture and all it's red tape and up and move to another country all while doing all that study! I'm not that admirable when you look at all my earlier points and then read this one about you. You're doing and incredible job Cavesa, and I don't think anyone on this forum would deny that. Oh and I truly appreciate your input here btw, thank you for caring. And if anyone else is reading this and has posted, I appreciate your responses equally as much, thank you.