A point made on the blog Zen Habits that has surfaced in my mind over and over is the idea that positive change is best effected by forming habits, and that crucially we can only cement in one new habit at a time, and only one per month.
I think that this limit is very real if an unstructured approach is taken such as simply reminding oneself on a daily basis, “ah, got to do my kanji study!”. If however we build a schedule, commit to a particular time of day for each new habit and protect that time as if it were a meeting with an important client then I think we can pick up the pace a bit.
The best example of when developing a habit has helped me was in completing my PhD. By committing to getting up at 6:20am every single day and getting right into writing it meant I was virtually guaranteed to make a step forward each day. This is the advice I’ve heard echoed in every workshop I’ve been to on academic writing, and that is to write every day, to give yourself a schedule and to stick to it.
In four months I’ll be going to Japan for a year. I don’t want to be stuck inside a poorly air-conditioned room on a hot day studying kanji so I’m aiming to get to the end of the Heisig method by Christmas. I have other goals to achieve before then too, and I think the only way I’m going to get it all done is to treat each like I did my thesis writing: make a schedule and stick to it.
What do you want to do? Are you happy with your daily progress? If you are, then I’d be interested in hearing if it’s something that has become a habit for you. If you’re unhappy with your progress, why not set yourself a schedule right now? Ensure that your schedule is as specific as possible, i.e. 8:00am, at my desk, 1hr kanji study.
Good luck!