Post by Jembru on Apr 30, 2016 13:56:57 GMT
This is something I've become a victim of lately. I was going to discuss this in Demonhead's journal post but I decided it's something learners of all levels should be aware of, so will discuss it in English instead.
So Demon got me thinking because of a comment he made about having a room full of reading material. Like many learners, I too have accumulated more and more textbooks, workbooks, phrasebooks, novels and so on over the last 4 years. Add to that the websites I frequent and the youtube channels I subscribe to, not to mention my recent addiction to trashy Japanese dramas, and suddenly I find myself surrounded by an ocean of study material.
The problem is that the more options there are the harder it is to decide what to study. Even though I have a methodical study time table that tells me what to study, there are still options within that. For example, for 'kokugo' I can study my main textbook, or I can study one of two grammar books. There are videos on NHK I could study from too. If I started my main textbook on Monday but didn't have time to finish, on Wednesday should I finish the section I started while it's fresh in my mind, or should I study grammar for a bit of variety.
I'm using two JLPT books side by side too, and there are countless activities I do outside of my scheduled study. My audio journal for example, is just something I do when I'm in the mood to grumble on about something in Japanese. I'll post to lang-8 because there's something I said or needed to say and I'm not sure about the correct wording. When I'm in the mood to watch something on the playstation, do I watch a letsplay, something more educational, or do I pop on crunchy roll and watch some drama?
The problem with having many options is that your satisfaction from the decision you've made decreases as the amount of choices increases. This concept has been popularsied by The psychologist Barry Schwartz who called it the paradox of choice and suggests that it underpins a lot of our feelings of dissatisfaction in life.
For us learners, it can lead to us starting one task and then quickly getting bored and wanting to try something else. Before you know it, your study time is over and you've wasted most of your time chopping and changing. Or else you just don't get started in the first place.
So.. how do you guys combat the affect of the paradox of choice, so you can be fully absorbed in, and satisfied by, your study method of choice?
So Demon got me thinking because of a comment he made about having a room full of reading material. Like many learners, I too have accumulated more and more textbooks, workbooks, phrasebooks, novels and so on over the last 4 years. Add to that the websites I frequent and the youtube channels I subscribe to, not to mention my recent addiction to trashy Japanese dramas, and suddenly I find myself surrounded by an ocean of study material.
The problem is that the more options there are the harder it is to decide what to study. Even though I have a methodical study time table that tells me what to study, there are still options within that. For example, for 'kokugo' I can study my main textbook, or I can study one of two grammar books. There are videos on NHK I could study from too. If I started my main textbook on Monday but didn't have time to finish, on Wednesday should I finish the section I started while it's fresh in my mind, or should I study grammar for a bit of variety.
I'm using two JLPT books side by side too, and there are countless activities I do outside of my scheduled study. My audio journal for example, is just something I do when I'm in the mood to grumble on about something in Japanese. I'll post to lang-8 because there's something I said or needed to say and I'm not sure about the correct wording. When I'm in the mood to watch something on the playstation, do I watch a letsplay, something more educational, or do I pop on crunchy roll and watch some drama?
The problem with having many options is that your satisfaction from the decision you've made decreases as the amount of choices increases. This concept has been popularsied by The psychologist Barry Schwartz who called it the paradox of choice and suggests that it underpins a lot of our feelings of dissatisfaction in life.
For us learners, it can lead to us starting one task and then quickly getting bored and wanting to try something else. Before you know it, your study time is over and you've wasted most of your time chopping and changing. Or else you just don't get started in the first place.
So.. how do you guys combat the affect of the paradox of choice, so you can be fully absorbed in, and satisfied by, your study method of choice?