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Load-balancing Life | ||
Tags: Sleep | Learning Strategy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Principiante Senior Member United States lucasgentry.com Joined 6260 days ago 130 posts - 138 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 8 05 January 2010 at 6:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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So I've decided that I have too many things that I want to do. Too many goals that I've set that never come true. At it comes down to time management. My goals that consistantly come back to me are:
1) Learn Spanish -- to Conversational Level 2) Get More Exercise - starting out sedentary, aiming for "in shape", roughly 40 lbs heavier than I'd love to be, 30 lbs heavier than I'd be fine with 3) Be consistant in reading my Bible daily (I know, this part might not be so relevant to many on the forums, but it's important to me) 4) Sleep enough -- 8 hours per day? 5) Have a Healthy relationship with my fiance (just got engaged, planning on getting married at the end of 2010) Obviously, the priority of each of these things will fluctuate as time passes, but these things always stay on the important list. I guess I just don't know what to do. What tends to happen is I get really good at making time for one or two of these things, but very rarely get all of the list in a single day. To those of you with full lives -- married, full time job, responsibilities -- how do you balanace your time? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6052 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 2 of 8 05 January 2010 at 12:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I just want to say congrats on your engagement and all the things in your life going for you. Good for you, man!
As far as language time management goes, I have one big secret weapon..the countdown timer and a loud punishing alarm. I have found that a timer, plus at least 30 minutes a day (of anything) can get you anywhere. A great deal of multitasking and forcing yourself to be in a distractionless environment helps a great deal too. My 2c. Good luck in your endeavors :) Edited by irrationale on 05 January 2010 at 12:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6720 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 3 of 8 05 January 2010 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi Principiante,
I can relate to your predicament however, please don't give up on any of your goals. The one thing I do which helps me to keep on track with all of my goals is to "double up". I'm not sure what level your Spanish skills are currently at, but without considering that, there are a few things you could do to go with your goals: 1. Start using your exercise time to learn via your iPod - things like Pimsleur, Assimil, FSI, even music and audiobooks in your language are great to use while you are walking or jogging, or whatever activity you may choose to do. I do this one myself - it kills two birds with one stone! 2. Read your Bible in Spanish. Tricky if you are not at that level. OR 3. Purchase an audio Bible and listen to a piece each day while you are exercising, from your iPod. 4. Re: Sleep - I don't think there is any way to do this other than "trial & error". By this I mean that you need to test out what amount of time has you waking up fresh and happy and energetic. For me, it is currently 7.5 hours. Whenever it doesn't feel right, you need to reassess and readjust your times. We all require different amounts at different times/stages of our life. Just be sure to set a regular pattern - ie bed time and waking time to get the most benefit. 5. Nothing will help any relationship more than the gift of your time. And you can only truly give your time when you are present in the moment. That is, when you aren't thinking about all the other things you want to do, need to do, should do... when you can just focus on that person and that relationship. You CAN achieve this! And believe it or not, taking positive action at achieving your other goals will help you with it - because you will 'feel' how much you are achieving, and therefore be prepared to spend that time solely with your partner, as opposed to worrying. I hope this helps you! :) Cheers, Katie PS - I am a life coach, and I've done a fair bit of work on goal setting & life balance - both personally and helping others to do so! 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5587 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 4 of 8 05 January 2010 at 4:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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This post may be very long but bare with me, I'll recommend a lot of things for you :D
Time management is a very important practice that will be very effective if you use it right. I used to much like you, I could never find time to learn languages and balance everything else in my life. I don't have a wife yet or a girlfriend at the moment, but school, lifting weights, and having a job would probably be a similar schedule! (Tack a girlfriend on there and there goes my free time :P just kidding!) Honestly, It comes down to what YOU want in your life, What you WANT to get done, and what YOU will be content with. I'll show you examples. In the hallways in between classes I will take out my pocket dictionary and learn a few words while walking to class, (we have 5 minutes to get to class) rather than "waste my time" and learn nothing, why not progress in something!! If I'm on the computer (not as much as a typical teen, but the computer is a big part of my studies with FSI and other programs) While driving I listen to audio CD's or audio books for a language I'm learning. Since I'm on my way somewhere, why not learn?! (Pimsleur and Michel Thomas etc.) You should consider Assimil, the lessons are short, and effective when done correctly :) I think to myself what I COULD be doing to improve or be productive, I surf the web in other languages, and use myvideo.de (german) instead of Youtube.com, so I can learn without realizing it; almost passively. Wiederholen = Replay/Repeat :D I'll stay in a foreign chatroom for 15 minutes to "get up to speed" and increase my reaction time, reading comprehension, and sentence structure. It's a real challenge trying to stay up to speed with native speakers!! I agree with the previous poster that said to read the bible in Spanish. I remember seeing a side by side bilingual Bible for $25 in barnes and noble, hardcover, and very nice. As for fitness and working out, (I've been working out for 8 years now, I started at age 10 then it progressed into lifting, and running, and now a healthy obsession. :D) I recommend a man nicknamed "Scooby" his workouts and fitness advice is top rate, free, and very effective. I've used it for years. It's all healthy and straight to the point. No "magical pills" or gimmicks or anything, just a guy trying to help people out. You will feel better about yourself and your health in the first week. http://scoobysworkshop.com/6packabs.htm http://scoobysworkshop.com/cardio.htm ^^ watch the videos!! They are informative and very helpful 30 minutes of good cardio and an effective diet and lots of cold water and green tea is all you need. Nothing magical, just hard work. You get out what you put in!! Just like with languages. I like doing my cardio or working out to foreign language stuff, like watching the TV in Spanish or listening to German music. I've found that my comprehension increases greatly (I have no idea why) but I find it effective. (Shadowing?:D) If you need any help with fitness I'd be glad to help you as best as I can. I've been around bodybuilding and fitness for years, I know what works and what doesn't, I've been there n' done that ;D Having a healthy relationship starts with BOTH of you. Remember that you love each other and that nothing should ever separate you. The most important thing I can tell you is to live everyday as if it were your last. If you follow that mentality, you wouldn't fight with anyone, you wouldn't waste your time with anything, you would be nice to everyone, and you would go to bed happy at night knowing you had a good day :) try it, seriously. It changed my life. I promise you that there are enough free minutes in your day to get in an hour of study a day. 5 minutes here, ten minutes there, etc. Best of Luck, congrats on the engagement, I wish you the very best in your future, and the forum will always be here to help and support you in your studies :) Remember. If you want it badly enough, you can always accomplish it. Make it happen for yourself! Take care! Jordan Edited by datsunking1 on 05 January 2010 at 5:08pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kinan Diglot Senior Member Syrian Arab Republic Joined 5568 days ago 234 posts - 279 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, English Studies: Russian, Spanish | Message 5 of 8 05 January 2010 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi Principiante.
Glad to know you have many things to achieve. I am cursed more than you with being scorpio saggitarius cuspean which means many many things to be interested about. i play chess, learn spansih, learn russian, lift weight (getting in shape), play guitar, practice soccer, read history, philosophy, psychology and all different kind of subjects..not to mention doing courses in oracle and stuff. i try to do everything daily, but if i can't, i just make one thing once every 2 days, like excercising. i also ised to wake up at 4 am, practicing soccer and then playing chess cuz my mind would be clear, you will find out that waking up very early can save you a lot of time cuz your brain in the morning is completly fresh and can do many times better than any other time. Also, 8 hours of sleep is too much in my opinion, you are still young and i found out that 6 hours is enough for good sleep. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| canada38 Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5497 days ago 304 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 6 of 8 06 January 2010 at 12:20am | IP Logged | |||||
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Principiante, I feel the exact same way. My list of "things to accomplish" for lack of
a better description includes: 1) 3rd year chemistry major in university -- I'd like to get decent marks 2) Studying Spanish and Italian 3) Read a few Bible passages every day, attend Bible study once a week 4) Do some bodybuilding at the gym most days of the week 5) Part time job in a retail store, part time research job at school 6) Spend time with friends 7) Keep a healthy relationship with my girlfriend (long-term relationship) 8) Sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep sleeeeep sle.. zzzz 9) Have some fun from time to time! (Not saying languages aren't fun!!!) I agree with what Katie said about doubling up. Here are some things I do (some may not apply to you, but I just put them in for everyone): 1) On the bus to school I usually do some studying for school or language. Same in the car, but just for audio study of language of course! 2) Take language courses at school. Yes, I know university language courses have a bad reputation, but they're not totally useless if you take advantage of them. They make great electives for anyone who's not specifically studying language(s). Even though I'm studying two languages, you could say I'm only studying one language (Italian) and taking a university course (Spanish), because if I was studying both at home, I'd be taking another university elective such as history anyways! 3) As Katie said, listen to some audio in your language while exercising. 4) Again the Bible in Spanish suggestion is great. I plan to do that myself in the near future. Not only will it improve your Spanish and accomplish your Bible reading at the same time, but it will also familiarize you with Biblical words and concepts in Spanish (which I'm sure you can find a good use for when spreading the Word!) 5) As datsunking1 said, do short lessons like Assimil. I can't speak for that programme, but I can say that Pimsleur is also very short and effective. Half hour lessons everyday are easy to fit in. 6) I don't want language learning to become a chore. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't consider it a secondary part of my life that I only do when convenient. But if something fun comes up (not just anything, but something worthwhile), I'm not going to miss a good time to go over conjugations. This could lead to a sort of language burn out where even more time is lost from not studying for a few weeks. This is all I can think of, but if I get more I'll post it. Congratulations on your engagement! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5810 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 7 of 8 09 January 2010 at 7:04am | IP Logged | |||||
Great site! Thanks for the post. I've been working out on and off for the last 10 years and have been needing to get back into it. I love that he shows you how you can work out at home using simple equipment. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5587 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 8 of 8 09 January 2010 at 4:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
You're more than welcome! I'm a member of the forum there as well, very nice and friendly people there. I've made of ton of progress since joining his site and following his tips. I DEFINITELY can recommend it to anyone. There are no gimmicks/supplements etc. Just good health :) There's videos on everything, working out, dieting, and nutrition. I've put all of them into place and the results are amazing. and cheap :P -Jordan 1 person has voted this message useful |
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