S6E44: It’s not always new and shiny syndrome

Full transcript:

Good morning, happy Thursday 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 wanted to pop in and remind you that the goal isn’t always to choose one thing and stick to it.

Sometimes, you have to experiment first.

There are a lot of discussions in the productivity world about shiny object syndrome, about what it is, how to overcome it, how to not get distracted, how to choose one thing, focus, and see it through to completion.

But is that what we want?

So, what is shiny object syndrome? Well, it refers to the continuous cycle of abandoning of the things you have already started or planned because something new and more exciting has come along. And it is important to talk about the potential consequences of always chasing the latest ideas, technologies, especially if it’s the novelty you’re chasing, rather than because you think this new thing is intrinsically an improvement on the last.

But I also think that with all the conversations that surround it, we’re at risk of mislabellling ourselves and our actions, of talking about all acts of trying a lot of different things as new and shiny syndrome, and bringing in the same conversations about lack of stickability, resource drain, and distraction when really, something really good is happening.

Experimentation is good for you.

Being a generalist is good for you.

Trying new things, and leaving behind the things that don’t work, is good for you.

Because it’s true that when you’ve got enough experience behind you in a certain area, you’ll be able to confidently look at something and say “that’s not for me”, and that be true close to 100% of the time. But what we don’t want is for us to go to our imaginations, and create a filter that’s made up of narratives about our lives, self-limiting beliefs, things we’ve been told by other people, to decide if things are going to work for us. We don’t want to be over-excluding, to the point where we miss out on things that could revolutionise the way we do things.

You need to go through a period of trying things do work out what you want, what you need, to gain a range of skills, and to get clarity on how these different products or courses can actually help you on your own journey. Because remember, you aren’t just learning your language. You’re learning how to become a person that can learn languages, it’s a meta skill, and that’s going to take some experimentation. Because it’s not just a checklist or a set of hoops you’re jumping through, like following the steps of a recipe until you get a delicious cake at the end. You need to try things on for size, to see how compatible things are with your current brain, your current body, your current life.

And it’s not to say that the conversations around new and shiny syndrome aren’t valid. It’s immensely frustrating and debilitating to feel constantly pulled around by your own brain. But what I’m worried about is that endlessly focusing on stickability, and putting it on a pedestal, might have the opposite effect than we’re hoping for, it demonises the absolutely essential work of trying things about and figuring out who we are, and furthermore, it rewards risk aversion. It rewards not even looking for better, because I’ve started, so I’ll finish.  

It's okay to abandon the things that don’t work. It’s not quitting, it’s not being easily distractible, it wasn’t time or money wasted, and it’s not something to be ashamed of. Every time you’ve tried something and you’ve observed that actually something isn’t right, you’ve identified a problem with it that’s big enough to say actually, this isn’t something I want to spend more time on, you’ve learned something.

It's worth it, language learners.

Have a wonderful day, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for the final episode of the season!