Hi everyone!

Today I wanted to talk about motivation and daily habits in order to learn languages. As many other people, I had English classes at school when I was a child. Those classes were boring and in most cases, useless. The system was the problem. I can remember how the teacher guided the class, some audio here..., a little of grammar there... etc. There wasn't any track of motivation. Nobody came to me in orden to explain why the English language would be so important in my life in the future. There wasn't real English, only academic English. And only a few hours per week.

Those days, English was something uncomfortable. I didn't catch why I needed to learn a language that I'd never use in the real life with friends or family (I was a child in a small town where nobody spoke English).

Today I know how crucial English language is to me. This language opens the world for you. If you already speak Spanish like a native (my case), and you can speak English as well, you'll own the world.

Of course, learning a language is not easy. Let me explain this point: it is not a complex topic (it's not rocket science), but it takes a long time and you'll never stop learning ever. It's an endless task. Besides, you need to repit everything once and again (phrases, words, verbs...) and of course, you'll make mistakes all the time.

Sometimes I think I'm stuck. I'm not be able to speak fluent yet, and I make a lot of mistakes. Of course, I see the progression across the time, but it's so slow... xD. Learning a language is not for impatient people. It's a long, long marathon.

So, in order to make my life easier, I decided to create a system of habits a few months ago. I invest time every day. I leverage in technology always I can. I know practice is key, not only to learn new things, but review all the things that you have learnt.

Things like spaced repetition, flashcards, social media, youtube videos, etc. Technology is useful because it allows you to create learning systems easily, so you only have to worry about following the system. Just follow the plan, regardless your motivation level at that moment. Discipline and little habits, that's the key.

It's normal to feel stuck sometimes. Maybe you can feel a little overwhelmed every once and then. You know, world moves fast, and you think that you need move fast too, but language learning doesn't work like that.

I have created some interesting habits in order to ensure I invest time every day, such as:

- About 10-15 minutes reading (usually at the end of the day, on my bed, before I sleep). If there are words I can't understand, I save them for later review (no drama).

- Spaced repetition using flashcards. This can be easily done whenever you want, there are many apps to do this. This is a complement and I can dedicate about 30 minutes along the day.

- Busuu. This app is amazing to me. I think it has a good English course and the most interesting thing is you can get feedback from native people. I can spend about 30 minutes per day.

- Youtube: I watch at least one youtube video almost every day. I follow some polyglots, native people, etc. Sometimes I use this to practise "shadowing".

Of course, sometimes I can't be able to do all those things, but the point here is that they are habits. So it's much more probably you do it.

Don't stop learning fellows! :D

See you.

Best regards, LorenzoVonMatterhorn