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Too Distracted | ||
Tags: Surroundings | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| qklilx Moderator United States Joined 6192 days ago 459 posts - 477 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Korean Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 15 18 July 2009 at 5:07am | IP Logged | ||
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Does anyone feel this way? I don't mean that there's some source of noise that is keeping you from studying, I mean that thoughts are going in and our of your head endlessly. When it happens to me I find myself only studying for about 20 minutes in the hour I may sit down to study. Pretty much anything can go through my head, but it's very frustrating when it happens since I feel like I waste a lot of time and worry that what I do study won't stick.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to prevent it from happening? And proven solutions? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 6154 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes | Message 2 of 15 18 July 2009 at 5:18am | IP Logged | ||
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A brief relaxation exercise or meditation lasting for a few minutes before your studies might help. Or, if your studies don't involve audio, you could try to listen to music that helps you concentrate, the choice of which can be very personal, Mozart is popular but some people might find trance or other genres helpful.
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| Caveben Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5671 days ago 40 posts - 40 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Romanian, Slovenian | Message 3 of 15 18 July 2009 at 5:36am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, I am familiar with this. I find walking away from the computer is the biggest help. Checking e-mail, IM, facebook and reading things in my native language can always distract me from my studying. I don't think I am alone. It's very hard to concentrate with the internet at your command. I don't think it is a matter of simply having a short attention span, I know I am not alone in this. It is hard to pick something to do when there are a million other things you could be doing. If I sit down with a book that problem doesn't exist.
Don't worry if you think it isn't sticking. If you are giving it your full attention and effort chances are you are getting something out of it. The beauty of a book or course as opposed to a class is that you can come back to it as many times as you want. When I was learning to use the subjunctive in French (well, the mechanics of it, I still can't say for sure when I should use it :S ) I never felt I was getting it. Like it was going over my head, like water off a duck's back. If you keep practising, reading and saying it, it sticks. If I have to use the computer for my study I plan beforehand what I will do and stick to it rigidly. If I have to indulge my mindless facebook, internet reading and IM activities I at least stick some radio on in the background and try to pick up new words and improve comprehension so I am not completely wasting my time. And of course remember that 1 hour > 20 minutes > 0 minutes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5675 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 15 18 July 2009 at 9:57am | IP Logged | ||
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It is normal for your mind to wander. Few people can concentrate for an hour at a time. In fact, Professor Arguelles says that after 15 minutes on a task, it is good to switch to a different task to prevent this from happening.
How about if you set aside four tasks, e.g. 15 minutes grammar, 15 minutes vocab, 15 minutes reading authentic text, 15 minutes writing and do them one after another without breaks? Knowing that you have only 15 minutes on each task keeps you focused (as time slips away) and stops you getting bored. As they say, "a change is a good as a rest" and with this approach it is possible to keep going for many hours. The professor can go for up to 16 hours without breaks using this approach. He is near super-human. Alas, my maximum is far less than his : I found I could go five hours without breaks, on a good day - and it left me completely exhausted. I constantly fine tune the schedule, and these days I take a 15 minute break after each set of 3 x 15 minute tasks. Spending 8 hours a day doing this I get 24 tasks completed at 15 minutes each - giving a total of 6 hours language study each day without getting bored or distracted and I am still pretty fresh at the end of it. Edited by Splog on 18 July 2009 at 10:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5844 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 5 of 15 18 July 2009 at 11:07am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes.
Go to the pharmacy and get some earplugs -- some types are very efficient, some are rubbish. Or buy noise surpressing headphones for your mp3 player and listen to something ambient (no words) while you study. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5675 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 15 18 July 2009 at 11:29am | IP Logged | ||
Urm ... noise reducing headphones are great in some circumstances (I use them on flights for example) ... but the OP said his problem is NOT with noise, but with an inability to remain focused for longer than 20 minutes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5772 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 7 of 15 18 July 2009 at 11:30am | IP Logged | ||
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After two minutes. :D
Music you like can be a big help because it blocks outside noise and puts the listener in a good mood. (I don't know about you, but when I'm already in the state of mind that wants to be distracted, outside noises make it worse. Not hearing anything at all makes it far more worse, because then I get paranoid.) Mini breaks, maybe every 15 to 30 minutes. I usually go to make a cup of tea or something like that. Move during those breaks (stretching or refreshing yoga exercises are good.) Don't do anything that catches you attention like checking mails would do. Also, if you find yourself having great inspiration or you keep thinking about all the things that have to be done, take a sheet of paper to jot down those thoughts (do it before you start studying, but keep the sheet next to you.) I find it a lot easier to spend twenty seconds to write down something I don't want to forget than to waste five or ten minutes trying to ignore the idea. Edited by Bao on 18 July 2009 at 11:36am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6017 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 8 of 15 18 July 2009 at 12:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I also recommend music without words. It's better to make sure it's stuff that has never had words, because you can end up singing along to (eg) the London Philharmonic plays the Beatles.
Classical is generally better than modern electronica, even if only because it's generally longer with slower transitions -- there are few sudden changes to grab your attention. Studying doesn't always have to stick! When I start a new language, I usually read a lot about it -- too much to learn properly. But then months or even years later I'll see something and it'll remind me of something I've read and I'll start using it without any further work. Sometimes you've got to trust your brain rather than fight it 1 person has voted this message useful |
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