How to force yourself to learn English (and should you)

I suffered for a long time and endured five rules of how to force myself to learn something, I even made a course about it. I have studied English all my life: at school, then at the institute. Permanent process with zero result. And then I changed my strategy and now I read scientific articles on neurophysiology in English.

At the institute, I did everything according to the rules: I went to lessons and learned grammar from Murphy's blue book. But when you had to open your mouth or retell what you read, everything collapsed, and the meaning slipped away. The head seemed empty and I felt like an idiot.

One day I was called to a student conference in English, where I gave a talk about spam in e-mail. At the end, I was asked the only question: "How do you feel about spam?" I answered: "Zys is difinatli bad ¯_ (ツ) _ / ¯." They didn't ask me about anything else, but I was ashamed.

It seemed that in order to start speaking in English, you need to fill out a conventional scale of knowledge, but I still don't have enough of them: the vessel is empty, the critical mass has not been reached. Therefore, I was stupid and silent.

That all changed when I started DJing and streaming my music show. I scored on this whole scale, wrote as best I could in English podcast leads, reviewed cool records, asked cool foreign electronics engineers to make a special guest mix.

It was funny, I was chatting on weird sites for 10 people, with a stupid accent, wild mistakes, through an online translator. But I was not shy, because it was great to do my show. And it worked. My interest and immersion got my language skills off the ground.

Ten years later, I pulled from this experience five rules that now help to do any long-term business, not just learn the language.

1. I find the reason that clicks

The phrase "learn English" is abstract nonsense that cannot be touched. Everything was specific with the show: I want to broadcast my music, for this I need English. English as a tool. Clearly understood.

Everyone is tired of the word "motivation". Let's call this the reason. To find the reason for starting, I ask myself the question "why" and hammer myself with this question until something clicks inside.

- I need to learn English.

- Why?

- To speak it fluently.

- Not that. What for?

- To watch movies in original.

- Not that. What for?

- Hide it from your friends and then impress them with your perfect pronunciation on your next trip.

- (Click) Oh!

What is connected with your inner world, with values, clicks.

In English, the usual vanity worked for me. I started teaching him to be the coolest DJ in town, with exclusive mixes of cool guys in the program.

With other projects, something else clicks. I like the example of Ludwig Bystronovsky about the shower head, which he finally nailed down just so that it would cease to be an eyesore and draw out energy.

Important: if you want to learn English in order to “be smart”, then it is better to immediately make an appointment with a psychotherapist and start figuring out where it came from. Because a healthy goal is about current values and highs, and not about getting rid of fears (especially children's ones).

I made a text template, a questionnaire for myself. Answering it, I find out if any new business is worth my efforts. Copy yourself and use it for health.

2. I start with what I have

It is better to use the luggage that you took with you, rather than regret leaving it on the platform. Therefore, not “to learn English so that later to make a radio program”, but “to make a radio program in English right now with what I can do”. This is called project learning and works better for me than the traditional model.

Thanks to this approach, I have been making a documentary about my life for six years now, one second a day. Before him, I did not know how to shoot, edit and paint video - I wanted to learn, but I was constantly breaking. As soon as I came up with the clicked reason and started shooting on the iPhone, it went well.

At this stage, the main thing is not to be held hostage to the "ideal project", when it seems that everything is going wrong, and you are a sucker and a loser. To do this, I have two tricks.

First, I allow myself to do it crookedly, because for me any crooked project is better than an unfinished one. You can always return to it and correct it.

The second is the “progressive jeep method” by Artemy Lebedev. A progressive jeep is when you accept that the project is ready at any time, and it's all about the elaboration of the details.

learn English on your own: the progressive jeep method

This means that any radio program is ready as soon as I record the music mix. Liner text, overview, guest story - these are the levels of detail that make the program more interesting, but are optional.

Any article is ready as soon as I formulate the topic and who and how it can help. The structure, theses, illustrations and real-life examples are the details that make my idea clearer.

The run is credited as soon as I put on my sneakers, go outside and take the first few steps. If I want to - I’ll run, I’m not rushing - okay, I’ll try next time. Kilometers, heart rate, posture assessment, a hitch on the horizontal bars after - this is a detailed workout that helps to get high and pump.

Editor Yulia Medvedeva explains how this works in the life of an ordinary person.

3. Learning what you need right now

To write two paragraphs about music and a guest of the program, you do not need to study the entire grammar textbook and speak like a native. I just typed typical phrases of other presenters and pulled out interesting turns from articles in magazines - all according to the method of a progressive jeep.

When he realized that knowledge was not enough, he singled out problems, found a technique and honed it to automatism:

not “to make a radio broadcast in English”, but “to type in biting phrases”, “to describe the essence of the record in two sentences via Google Translate” and “to clean the recorded voice from noise”;
not “learn to write articles in an infostyle”, but “observe minimal text hygiene”, “describe your experience, not abstractions” and “make a structure in the reader's world that he can apply”;
not “shoot a movie”, but “shoot without shaking hands”, “choose a way to paint the video” and “automate the addition of dates”;
not to "run", but to "monitor the pulse", "correct posture" and "monitor breathing."

Over time, techniques are built into life and add up to a general skill. Programmer Katie Sierra says the same thing.

4. I do it regularly, but only for fun

Regularity is a system. The system is essential for learning. Every skill formed in the brain is a connection between neurons, a beaten path. The more I repeat the action, the more impulse walks along the path. The more often the impulse goes, the more comfortable the path is and the easier it is to walk along it. That is why it is easy to do what you have done a thousand times.

Watch the Khan Academy's four-minute video of this happening in the brain, it's pure magic:

Earlier it seemed to me that in order to understand new things it is important to concentrate more and work longer. "The longer I sit on the task, the better I will understand everything." This is not how it works.

In learning, it is equally important to dig and give the brain time for new information to decompose on the shelves, turning into knowledge.

If you constantly study or write, the brain will not have time to structure information. It will be a useless dump.

This means that studying for 15-20 minutes and every other day works better than studying one day a week for 2-3 hours. As in a rocking chair: muscles do not grow during training, but during rest. Why does it work?

This method relieved me of stress and taught me to work for my own pleasure. If I don’t want to do 20 minutes, I’ll do 5. I don’t want 5 - as much as needed for action without resistance.

The main thing is to regularly do approaches and enjoy it. There the depth will appear.

If you constantly push yourself, work will be associated with complexity and discomfort. This is when "now I will quickly drink the air and be free." When I was doing my radio project, I did not know this. I tried to finish everything on time and perfectly. As a result, he squeezed himself a lot and after a year lost interest in the project.

To learn more about the learning process, be sure to take Barbara Oakley's Learning How To Learn. It is in plain English with Russian subtitles.

To exercise regularly, you need to know how habits work.

5. Collecting feedback

It is important to take a break, take a step back and evaluate: what you did, what is ok, what can be improved. Without this rule, there is a risk of missing an important moment when you get bored and you have gone to the wrong place.

It would also be nice to record all observations in a special diary and right in the process: as it is and honestly. This helps to notice important details that can be forgotten over time. I take notes and projects on Trello.

Short

Find the reason that clicks inside.
Start with the knowledge and skills you already have.
If something is missing, disassemble a specific technique and bring it to automatism.
Exercise regularly and enjoy yourself.
Take a step back, collect feedback.