Push your studies forward with a fallback When your normal study methods are a bit much to handle, you should have a fallback to continue studying without ruining your progress.
This insight was originally published on April 06, 2021, and transferred here later.
I try my damnedest to study the Japanese language every day. Many of you reading this now may also try to keep regular study habits. And those of you that do, or at least try to, are probably well aware that studying consistently can be hard A.F.! After a while of keeping things up, life will inevitably find you and take your plans down as if they took part in killing John Wick's dog.
But when you fall, fallback!
During those days where my normal study routine becomes harder than usual, I've found that skipping the task leads me to fall into a heavy fog of disappointment. "I should do better", I think to myself. You should do better too, you might think. So let's do better!
To counter those days where I can't study with the fervor and intensity that I would normally prefer to, I have a fallback study method to make sure I am studying at all. But what does that mean?
A fallback study method should fit 3 minimal criteria:
- There is an indicator that something can be learned or practiced from it. (A very broad and vague requirement)
- It must be easily started or picked up again.
- It must be easily stopped with minimal interruption.
These criteria emphasize that an effective study fallback is supposed to be easy to do, let you know that you are still making learning progress, and is palatable enough to keep you focused on it with what little time or energy you have in that moment. The fallback should allow you to make smaller, more agile learning sessions that don't require you to keep track or manage a larger, more complicated system of ideas.
The real value of a fallback study method is that it can be used whenever, but is especially valuable when you really don't have the time or energy to do a larger or more intensive study session. And then, when you have the time and energy to do so, you will able to go back to your normal studies without having to truly miss studying or needing to fully restart your learning efforts. The specifics of the fallback itself really depends on you though.
Easy example study fallbacks:
For me, the most effective study sessions usually involve diving into a book and taking absurd piles of notes on a strict schedule I created throughout certain days of the week. There are also practice sessions and personally enforced "homework". When I can't keep up for an extended amount of time or just need to skip a day or two, I look to shorter study methods as a fallback that I can split up throughout the day:
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Flash cards
- Allows focus on small pieces of separated information
- Can be started & stopped whenever needed
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Youtube videos
- Easy & entertaining
- Can be paused and rewatched whenever
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Podcasts
- Easy & entertaining
- Potentially multitask-able, minimizing any major interruptions
With fallbacks like these and others you might be able to think of, you have a much easier way to continue studying when you otherwise feel like you can't. The easier you make studying for yourself, the better; and fallback study methods can be one of the super valuable tools for making that studying easier more accessible!
What kind of fallback study methods do you think could work for you?