The Almighty Study Chain
The Study Chain System is designed around the concept that missing one day (of studying, for example) makes it much more likely that you will miss two days. Missing two days makes it more likely that you'll miss three days. Missing three days makes it likely that you'll give up completely.
I first got the idea for this study system a few years ago when I read this article on Lifehacker: “ How Seinfeld's Productivity Secret Fixed My Procrastination Problem." Since then, I've seen it reiterated over and over again in books on habit change, life coach blogs, etc.
The general idea is that you buy or print a monthly or annual calendar, and each day you have a few recurring tasks that you must do. And if you manage to complete all of the required tasks for a day, then you put a big [blue] X over that day in your calendar. For example, if today were January 12, you'd want your calendar to look like this:
The motivation here is that you don't want to break that chain of X's. Something about the OCD nature of humans seems to make this more motivating.
Our chain is going to consist of 3 items:
- Flashcards
- Listening Practice
- Grammar and/or Speaking Practice
Every time we do all three of these, we can write a Blue X on our calendars (or whatever color you want). But, if we miss some items one day, we put a Red X. So a pretty successful month for January would look something like this:
I have three Red X's, but other than that I have all blue X's This means that on every day with a Blue X, I (1) reviewed my flashcards, (2) listened to audio lessons, and (3) practiced grammar and/or speaking. In other words, it was a successful day!
On the three days with Red X's I failed to do one or more of the daily study chain items.
A Red X is not such a big deal. In other words, I give myself a pass for slipping up one day. Nothing more than a small slap on the wrist—that hideous red on my beautiful ocean-blue chain of X's. However, if I miss two days in a row, then I can't put any X's on my calendar at all. So my calendar would have ugly, disgusting gaps in it, like this:
If you see in this calendar, there is a Red X on the 14 th of February. Valentine's Day. Maybe I have a very demanding girlfriend. Or maybe I drank myself into a lonely stupor and forgot to study Japanese. Think of any excuse you want, but this marks a day that chain items were not studied. Then, even worse, I didn't study February 15th either. So the 15th gets no X at all!! *Failure* *Pain* *Disgrace*
I like to think of “don't break the chain," of Phase #3, as a kind of reward system. Each day's small amount of studying is building to something grand and magnificent: Total fluency. But it's hard to keep that vision in mind. We humans are weak creatures, prone to favoring immediate wants over future wants. I'm going to start studying tomorrow. I'm going to start losing weight on New Year's Day. Goals like these are fun, because we get to imagine ourselves achieving them without actually doing anything right now. Then, a year later, we end up in the same spot we were in before… and it sucks!
We can beat this by rewarding ourselves with those X's on our calendar, by building a chain. And as the chain of Blue X's (or whatever color you choose) grows, you will really start to appreciate the magnificence of what you're doing. That's why I like the idea of doing this with an annual calendar, like the one above. It can really help you to visualize just how much work you've put into this endeavor, and after a while of consistently performing, just looking at a long string of Blue X's will be motivating all on its own.
If you can just build a long chain of items, you are guaranteed fluency. It's okay if a few Red X's pop up here and there, but as long as you don't see any numbers, everything is okay in the world.
Phase #3 Assignment
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