Are you seeing progress?
Perhaps you find it hard to make English a priority?
I want to talk briefly about something we can call “non-negotiable time”.
“Negotiable” means something is open to be discussed or to be changed. For example, we can have a ‘non-negotiable price’ on an item. This means you cannot bargain or haggle the price to be lower.
“Non-negotiable time” means a time that is 100% dedicated to doing one particular thing.
Some people may already have times like this set up for exercise or for going for a walk. Maybe, no matter how busy you are, you always do a specific thing at a certain time.
If you want to really see improvement in your English, I think it’s essential to set up some non-negotiable time in which you can study in whatever way you prefer. The key to doing this is, firstly, choosing a time that will never get interrupted. (For me this is 6:30am when I have no other things I need to do)
The second tip is to make it achievable. Don’t make it so long that you can’t always commit to this time. It has to be something you can do every day, no matter how busy you are.
For anything you really really want to do in life, I think setting non-negotiable time is essential. It could be for language study, working on your side-business, exercise, spending time with family, etc.
Is English a Priority?
It’s hard to find time to study a language, and the question to ask yourself is: Is it a priority for me?
If the answer is ‘no’, that’s totally fine! But I think we have to be honest with ourselves. If you want it to be a priority, then think about when you could set aside some time to dedicate towards English. And how much time can you spare? Perhaps you can try with a small amount of time and increase gradually each week.
The main question to ask yourself if you’re not seeing much progress with your English is: How much time am I spending learning it? (it’s often less than we realise!)
