Imagine being locked inside an empty room. Pretty boring, right? Not much to do. Now, imagine that the only thing in there with you is a textbook for language learning. A Danish textbook, perhaps. Now you have something to do! Something that can entertain you (at least until you get too bored and goes back to staring at those empty walls). With language learning as your only means of entertainment, you’d be a master in Danish in no time.
But that’s pretty unrealistic? you might think - and it is! This is an exaggerated example, but I think you get the idea, which is that:
By creating an environment with minimum distractions, you can focus on what’s important to you. Whether it being finishing art projects, working out, knitting, photographing, building a 1:1 scale lego-version of the death star, or, as this article is focusing on, learning a language.
If you are sitting in your room reading this I encourage you to take a look around. How many unfinished books, games or projects of any sort do you have lying around? Probably a lot. Unless you, unlike me, are super disciplined and finish anything you start - good job! Anyways, how many times have you been in the middle of doing something productive and suddenly your roommate sends you a funny video and now you find yourself on an one-hour YouTube binge. Or perhaps you thought to yourself “oh yeah, I should probably finish this soon… but look at this awesome new game I’d rather want to play!”. I know for a fact that this had happened to me a dozen of times. And to be honest, it can be stressful sometimes. So, how do we solve this issue?
With minimalism, of course.
But what is minimalism? you ask me.
Minimalism can be different for many people. For some, it’s about owning only bare essentials like Fumio Sasaki, the author of the book Goodbye Things. For others, it’s about living in a space with only things that makes you happy, or, as Marie Kondo would say it, things that “sparks joy!” And that could be less than a hundred things or more than a thousand things. Heck, for some people it’s only about being emotionally detached from material possessions.
Personally, I’ve been trying to minimize my possessions by selling and donating things that doesn’t make me happy and is just serving as clutter. I’ve also started being more mindful of what I’m buying. Asking myself questions like: do I really need it, what will I be using it for and do I own something similar that I need to take care of or put to use first? With this mindset, I’ve minimized the clutter that would otherwise stop me from focusing on what is important to me. It even helped me be more environmentally friendly! I have not perfected my surroundings, nor will I probably ever get there, but I am doing my best and it is helping me focus.
With this article, I encourage you to be more aware of what you are surrounding yourself with. Now, I’m not telling you to get rid of your things, but simply try and be more aware, which in turn will hopefully help you focus on your goals and stay on track with learning those tricky foreign words and grammar rules! Perhaps you too can adopt the word minimalism and make it your own.
If you are sold on the idea of implementing minimalism to your life, here’s a few tips on how to get started:
Clean your room and put everything back to their designated spots.
If some of your things have no designated spot, give them one.
If you can’t give some of your things a designated spot, read the two next points on this list.
Sell or donate things you haven’t touched in a long time.
Sell or donate things you never used or never will use again.
Good luck and happy studying!
If you want to learn more about minimalism, here’s some material that had helped me:
(FYI these are not sponsored. Just my own humble opinion)
I’m using my printable* while reviewing for my general psych class! My third column looks quite ridiculous to look at, but hey, it works for some reason!
*My first printable can be found here. I’m overwhelmed with the number of downloads it’s getting. Thank you very much!
Wouldn’t it be nice to compile all those terms and concepts you have to learn into one neat sheet?
How can I make the most out of this printable? The third column of the printable labeled “How to remember the term” encourages you to associate the concepts you’re learning to something you are already familiar with in order to improve memory retention. As Julie Neidlinger (2014) put it, “We remember things better by what they are associated with, not by what they are.” So whether it’s a much simpler, synonymous word or a funny story you remembered, if it’s going to help you understand a concept better, write it down!
Options: Terms and Definitions (with cells set to a height of 0.5″, 1″, or 1.5″) Terms, Definitions, and Formulas (with cells set to a height of 1″)
A tagged snapshot of your computer, phone, or study space using these printables will be very much appreciated. (Use #thearialligraphyproject or #arialligraphy!)
Need help? Check out how I used this printable during one of my study sessions by clicking this link!
i have been receiving a lot of asks asking about my daily routine!! so i decided to do an update morning routine.
1. drink water and make my bed. i’m a huge lover of productivity and neatness so first thing i do is drink some water and make my bed, i sleep with a lot of pillows and plushies so i organize them too.
2. journaling. most of you know i keep a bullet journal which i use for everything, but lately i’ve been journaling more rather than doing to-do lists, i sometimes write some words that are in my head or writing affirmations for manifesting with the law of attraction.
4. brushing my teeth. an essential.
3. tea! my personal favourite is the energy matcha from yogi tea, i always add some honey instead of sugar and in autumn i’m loving adding just a bit of cinnamon on it which also works as protection. then i cuddle my puppy familiar for 5 minutes and give him a big kiss.
4. yoga and meditating. i don’t like sports but doing some yoga stretches to start the day help a lot. i also meditate to raise my vibration for the day.
5. i do my makeup and put my clothes on. my make up consists on only bb cream, mascara, eyebrow pencil and some lipgloss, i keep it pretty simple.
6. make my bag. usually i bring my current read, my phone, earphones, a water bottle and my purse
Here’s to the last round! Survived yesterdays exam, next one is on friday! There’s a hell lot to study for, so i’m gonna spend the next two days cramming madly. I’ll be so relieved when this will finally be over! My body is reacting to all the sugar and coffee already - and not in good ways. So i need to reduce that consuming again after this, so that i can stay healthy. Hope you’re all doing good, don’t make the same mistakes than i do! Stay healthy and motivated xx
Self-studying a language is an amazing way to learn, if you’re careful to avoid the pitfalls! Here are the steps I go through when making a study plan:
Step 01: Decide what you want to do and what you can offer (what language(s), how much time/money/energy/etc)
Step 02: Gather resources (decide what type you like best and then research and test)
Step 03: Make S.M.A.R.T goals (follow the guidelines and make good goals that will encourage you)
Step 04: Create your plan (using the 3 steps above and some prompting questions on the guide, form a schedule. Be organized, but stay loose and adaptable)
Step 05: Add some back-up or pressure (find an accountability or tandem partner, add the pressure of a scheduled exam, etc)
Check out the link for more Info on each step + tons of tips and links to resources and other guides!!
Good luck!!! Self-studying a language is not easy, but it’s so rewarding and fun!!!
There is nothing stopping you from making everyday life more enjoyable. Put on that piano mix when you’re writing your essay. Wear your cat-ear headband at work just because you love it. Take a picture of that cute flower you saw when running errands.
Life can be gruelling and there are many things you have to do, but please take the edge off of them for yourselves.
