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Vaniver comments on Language Learning and the Dark Arts. - Less Wrong Discussion

8 Post author: Lemmih 06 April 2015 11:33AM

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Comment author: Lemmih 06 April 2015 03:01:01PM 6 points [-]

Hm, I like this. Perhaps an automated email, sent once per week, saying something like:

My goal is to pass the Chinese proficiency exam by 2017. I have X days left. In the last week I've spent X hours practicing.

I want to learn Chinese because:

  • I want to work in Singapore/China/Taiwan after I finish University.
  • I want to prove that I can learn a foreign language.
  • I want to speak with my SO in her native language.

I fear that I would start ignoring the emails after a few weeks. It feels similar to Tony Robbins' advice to keep telling yourself why you do what you do everyday. Sounds good on paper but I can't for the life of me implement it in my daily routine.

I'll give the emails a try and see what happens. Thanks.

Comment author: Vaniver 06 April 2015 04:02:05PM 1 point [-]

It feels similar to Tony Robbins' advice to keep telling yourself why you do what you do everyday. Sounds good on paper but I can't for the life of me implement it in my daily routine.

I suspect some of the value of these sorts of affirmations is to identify which goals you get tired of, and which goals actually excite you. (But I also don't seem to like daily habits of that variety, so it may be a personality thing.)

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