Just a bit frustrated at myself at how much time I’ve been taking to do levels, not because I’m having trouble with the reviews, I think I’m doing at least semi decently at them, but because I have long stretches of time where I lose motivation or forget about doing the reviews to progress.
I want to get better at doing the things I want to do, like learning kanji, and not get distracted or fall out of schedule and end up taking over an entire MONTH to complete a level that probably should have taken me a little over a week because I was too lazy to do the reviews.
I’m certainly not gonna get any better by complaining, I know that all to well, I guess I just wanted to post this to hold myself accountable to how lackadaisical I’ve been about learning something that I do genuinely want to learn. I live in Japan and would love to be able to with at least some confidence and competence read/speak the native language before I leave. I guess I just have to keep working to make a workflow/schedule that works for me.
Don’t be too hard on yourself, you’ll be studying Japanese for years so you have nothing but time. I’ve been sitting on my current level over a year because of the COVID blues and I’m only just getting the motivation to get back it.
From what I can see it looks like you’re well on track and doing really well, so keep at it.
I couldnt disagree with TofuMental (ironic name now that I think about it) more. Good on you for wanting to improve and setting the bar higher for yourself. Theres nothing I respect more than people who don`t go easy on themselves when it comes to achieving the things they want.
Best of luck in making that workflow and schedule. If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask. Im sure theres a lot of people who have overcome similar issues who could maybe share what they did on this forum.
Everybody’s got their own pace. 10 days on a level is pretty short, 34 days is a bit long. 14-21 is probably a good pace for most people if you are consistent.
The standard moderate pace is doing 10-15 lessons a day, and all your reviews. Throttling your lessons helps keep the review pile in check.
Doing these at set times everyday really helps with consistency.
If getting into a schedule of things is part of your problem, what about sending yourself timed/scheduled notifications to remind you to do you reviews and lesson? You could set a minimal bar for yourself as well, like you must do 20-50 reviews a session. If you can force yourself to do that, you should progress at a decent pace. Be careful of burnout though, it wouldn’t help to make you hate Japanese.
If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend taking a look at the ultimate guide to WK. There are lots of tips in there about creating an effective schedule that works with the SRS intervals and fits around your life.
I’m going about half full speed (so, about two weeks a level), which is the perfect pace for me, since I’m learning a bunch of additional vocab and grammar at the same time. I do 10-12 lessons every single morning (along with reviews from overnight), then do my reviews four hours later, then eight hours after that. The pressure of wanting to hit those intervals helps keep me from procrastinating, because I have a very precise window of time that I need to study. I’ve been doing this for long enough, I’ve formed a strong daily habit, which helps me keep it up even on bad days.
I’ve seen a fair amount of people burn out and quit, and it seems like the people who have had the most success tend to be the ones who craft a really consistent workload that they’re able to stick with every day.
People always say consistency is key, and while I know that this is true to some extent (I mean, I know the pain of being inconsistent) I’d say I’m too stubborn to completely give up anyway…
Routine is important. Then you don’t really need motivation. You just do it because it is what you do. It takes a while to get there though, some say three months. I would also spread out the reviews as much as possible, especially in the beginning. Doing hundreds of reviews in a sitting is not that fun. But doing 40 here and 40 here is. Once it’s a routine you don’t think much about it, you just go on autopilot.
Another satisfying feeling is that once you are done for the time being, all you know is that it’ll turn alright in the end. You’ll learn it all, it’s just a matter of time, lean back and chew on that thought.
Seconded. Making habits/routines out of something you need to do to accomplish a goal you have goes a long way. Not just on WK but for anything in life. Helps keep you from getting burnt out too, I find.
This is the exact same schedule I have and it helps prevent burnout. Consistency will always be key to success in anything we do in life. I’m taking a break from lessons now due to other obligations but I can’t wait to get back to it.
thanks to everyone for the support, and to those that shared their schedules so i knew i wasn’t alone in this issue lol. still keeping at it and trying to see what works for me, as of right now I’m just doing my review pile when i get to work in the morning while im not doing much of anything else, and then doing the pile thats there when i get home and it seems the review forecast is starting to mold to that schedule.
On top of that in the morning I try to do 10 or so lessons, if I feel the information is sticking. I try to avoid adding stuff into my review pile when I’m in a state of mind where I can’t even remember it 5 seconds after just learning it, so my reviews arent needlessly more difficult than they already can be.
hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be in level 6 and can start slowing chipping away at those lessons, as well as hopefully improving the trend of how long it takes me to finish the levels I’m probably going to start pacing myself on the reviews if they start getting to be at like 150 or more, as to not feel mentally drained when i just started my work day, but right now they sit at around 40-60 per session which is very manageable (I actually feel like I did when I first started and was impatiently waiting for more reviews)
) Good luck!! Keep us updated if you need to hold yourself accountable!
