S6E22: What’s stealing your focus?

Full transcript:

Good morning, happy Tuesday and welcome to the Language Confidence Project, the daily dose of language courage for people who love languages and those who really don’t, but have to learn one anyway. And today, I just want to check in and ask you, what’s stealing your focus?

Because quite often on this podcast, when I talk about distractions, I talk about the things that we run to when we start to feel uncomfortable. The frustration is building, so we check our inbox. The anxiety is starting to creep in, so we seek out cute cat videos. The boredom is getting to us, so we decide it’s time to really dive into the life and times of Cleopatra for three straight hours.

But today, I want to ask a slightly different question. And that is, what’s stealing your focus? What’s drawing you out of the study bubble when actually, you were quite happy there?

And the first and most obvious thing is notifications. Most of us are hard-wired not to be able to ignore the buzz of our phones or the pinging of a message that might be from someone we like. I certainly can’t.  

But it’s not just notifications. It might be people in your house or your study space. It might be other kinds of noise or disruptions. It might be other responsibilities or tasks for the day that are kind of nagging at you while you try to study, that feeling that you should really be in two places at once. 

So then, once you’ve identified the culprits, what can you do differently today, and this week, to keep your focus when you want it?

Because these things aren’t just a bit inconvenient. They aren’t just a nuisance. When you’re being disrupted over and over, it takes a lot of time to get back on track. It’s not worth the frustration. This is your language journey. You are allowed to have control over your time. So make sure you’re checking your phone when you want to, not when it demands attention. And of course you’re going to respond to your environment, so make sure it’s working with you and not against you. By all means acknowledge when people walk in the door, but make sure you say yes to yourself and your goals too!

Remember, you’re the architect of your own language journey. And that requires focus!

Good luck today, language learners, and I will see you tomorrow.