I've been in a bit of a slump these past few weeks due to lack of energy. I've been reviewing but not adding new cards. As a result, I've lost my forward momentum and now I find it hard to have the motivation to get started again.

Do you have any thoughts on how to get started again and remotivate oneself after such slumps?

This probably sounds stupid, but I find after just sitting and doing the first lot again helps give me that forward momentum. I struggle a lot with motivation and the best advice I've heard is to "just do it".

Stop wasting time on the forum and get back to it!

Slumps are really annoying, you feel like you aren't getting anywhere and end up wasting time elsewhere. The best thing would be to "just do it" as Tykklumi said, but thats easier said than done.

What has gotten me out of a few slumps is finding something in Japanese that you really like to get you motivated again. For example finding a new manga that you think is awesome or a new tv show, etc.

Start small, do a simple little thing for 5 minutes and ramp it up. NO MORE THAN 5 MINUTES Codexus, I FORBID YOU TO DO MORE THAN 5 MINUTES OF ADDING CARDS, OK?
禁止! DONT YOU DARE GO FOR LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES!

EDIT: After reading bombpersons post I'd like to add:
DONT YOU DARE WATCH SOME FUNNY ANIME/MOVIE/DRAMA OR READ SOME COOL MANGA! I FORBID YOU TO ADD CARDS BASED ON THAT KIND OF MEDIA.

I'll just leave this here:

As Nike said, just do it.

If you are still at the RTK stage, take your book and a notepad and go to a cafe with nothing else to do but study.

If you are doing sentences etc.. do something fun.

Do you regularly speak to Japanese people? Having conversations can motivate you, so maybe give that a go! Skype is your friend!

nonpoint Wrote:Start small, do a simple little thing for 5 minutes and ramp it up. NO MORE THAN 5 MINUTES Codexus, I FORBID YOU TO DO MORE THAN 5 MINUTES OF ADDING CARDS, OK?
禁止! DONT YOU DARE GO FOR LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES!

EDIT: After reading bombpersons post I'd like to add:
DONT YOU DARE WATCH SOME FUNNY ANIME/MOVIE/DRAMA OR READ SOME COOL MANGA! I FORBID YOU TO ADD CARDS BASED ON THAT KIND OF MEDIA.

I'll just leave this here:
http://okja.net/me/wp-content/uploads/20...065218.jpg

That Woman is all the motivation I'd ever need, goddamn...

Seriously though some Asian women are so hot.

Some women in general are... but you get the idea.

As others said, find something to inspire you--be it a new learning strategy, changing up the cards, finding materials that really refresh your desire to learn, whatever. + Timebox just a tiny amount if you need to, then work back into the routine. Reward yourself between timeboxing sessions. ;p Think about all the effort you put into Japanese. Why'd you want to learn it? If you continue this slump, you'll be just like so many others who start something then quit. I guess you're just proving the self-study naysayers right! ;p Just do it. Etc.

Also, don't let 'I still have failed/expired cards' be an excuse not to add new cards. While there's some practical truth to it and you'll need to make sure you're not biting off more than you can chew, the fact is you'll always have expired/failed cards, so just make sure those are the priority but keep adding a few new cards or more, because it's easy to relearn. Also, using those as an excuse is kind of like how ppl will screw up their diet with a single bit of junk food, then derail themselves and eat more junk food until some magical perfect moment when they can eat 'perfect'.

Thanks for all the encouragements and ideas.

The 5 minutes method is really one of the simplest and most effective anti-procrastinating technique I know of (maybe even more so when combined with nonpoint's reverse psychology).

Also maybe I need to try something different for a while (maybe finally play that 夢幻の砂時計 Zelda game for more than an hour). I have bought lots of books and manga in Japanese lately, maybe a bit too much and I'm getting the "spoiled child with too many toys" effect instead of getting motivated.

@zoletype: I never speak Japanese to anyone. Maybe it's something I should try to do but right now I don't think I'd be able to do much more than babble.

Anyway, rigth now, I'm feeling motivated just by talking about getting motivated. （笑）I'll add some sentences when I get home from work!

That shits rediculous mate!

I would be happy to skype with you if you wanted. My Japanese is far from perfect but we could at least have a chat!

That's open to anyone who wants to, by the way!

Who is that girl?
holy shit shes hot

It's me. Please buy me stuff.

I too am going through a bit of a slump, started by a technical error.. my laptop has imploded twice on me in 2 months >< another bill i don't need. I start university in a month time, studying Japanese and Media as a dual honours (i am aware what people think of classes, but i need a degree regardless, and as im studying it anyway, kinda makes sense)
My reviews have slowed, although i am still listening and watching. Im not advancing.
Going to order a new computer this week, and try clear my reviews out and get back to adding so i can be in a good place before classes commence.

liosama Wrote:Who is that girl?
holy shit shes hot

黒木メイサ
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kuroki_Meisa
"Father is South American and mother is Japanese."
I swear its the half-japanese effect...
Uhh, anyway, hands off, shes mine!

nonpoint Wrote:

liosama Wrote:Who is that girl?
holy shit shes hot

黒木メイサ
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kuroki_Meisa
"Father is South American and mother is Japanese."
I swear its the half-japanese effect...
Uhh, anyway, hands off, shes mine!

That's my sister! Buy me stuff and I'll introduce you.

i'm having a little slump myself, been playing Resident Evil 5 too much with my wife lately... we are about to beat it soon though and then hopefully my study hours will go back up again

I went into SRS withdrawal when I quit for a few months. The cards were haunting me. Even now, sometimes words pop into my head, then when I open up Anki, they come up within a few cards. So odd. I think the algorithm has colonized my brain.

I find it funny how almost everyone here has an extreme Asian women fetish. I mean it's expected, but still lol.

No thanks, give me a blonde bimbo any time

ryuudou Wrote:I find it funny how almost everyone here has an extreme Asian women fetish. I mean it's expected, but still lol.

Like many people have told me before, it's the only real reason to learn Japanese.

blackmacros Wrote:No thanks, give me a blonde bimbo any time

Partial as I am to the Asian ladies, I gotta agree with this man, minus the bimbo part, preferably. Let's just say that Swedish is next on my languages-to-learn-list. Perhaps Tobberoth could be my 先生!

Oh right, on the topic of slumping - I've been in a pretty major slump for the past some weeks, myself. It sucks. Sometimes stuff just pops up that forces one to draw their attention away from less important things, and unfortunately, Japanese was one of those things.

I'd open Anki when I had the time and struggled to even get through 20 reviews, and forget about trying to watch stuff raw - that would only add to my frustration and stress.
Rather than break from Japanese completely until I felt the urge to seriously return again, I decided to kick back and relax a bit while things blew over and ease myself back into the groove. One of the things I did was going through through a few of my more complicated anime series with subs so I got the best of most worlds - no frustration from lack of understanding, able to pick out words easily and question various translations the fansubbers made!
So although I paused my studies shortly, I was still getting input from animu, dramas, blogs, music and so forth and doing as many reviews a day as I thought I could take (usually wasn't much).

Today, I'm finally back to my regular reviewing habits and feeling pretty damn decent. A gentle easing with a slow and steady trickle of study will always get me back into the game.

nonpoint Wrote:

liosama Wrote:Who is that girl?
holy shit shes hot

黒木メイサ
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kuroki_Meisa
"Father is South American and mother is Japanese."
I swear its the half-japanese effect...
Uhh, anyway, hands off, shes mine!

Thank you!! Thats very helpful it really narrowed down my choices of TV shows I'm going to watch

ryuudou Wrote:I find it funny how almost everyone here has an extreme Asian women fetish. I mean it's expected, but still lol.

Fetish, what fetish? It just so happens that most men like attractive women and Asian women in general are quite attractive

I think the best way to get back into studying is actually not part of studying. You really need a jumpstart on your moral, and studying usually is the opposite for me. Start reading, playing, or listening to something in Japanese again. It helps the most if it's something that is just above your level, so it makes you want to learn some more so you can really understand it completely. Really get back into the reason you want to learn Japanese, once you get that motivation back up then hit the studies again.

EDIT: Some people already touched on this but it works for me so might as well toss it out there again.

Codexus Wrote:I've been in a bit of a slump these past few weeks due to lack of energy. I've been reviewing but not adding new cards. As a result, I've lost my forward momentum and now I find it hard to have the motivation to get started again.

Do you have any thoughts on how to get started again and remotivate oneself after such slumps?

If you're not already doing these, do them: get more sleep (try getting one hour more than you have been for a few days in a row), do some simple cardio during the day (or even just take a walk in the morning), and some simple muscle workout (even if it's just push-ups and sit-ups).

I've found in the past that if I neglect to do any exercise for a few days I become unable to study anything. Sadly, I often get tempted to do nothing thanks to the ridiculous hot and humid summers here in Kyoto.

Tzadeck Wrote:

Codexus Wrote:I've been in a bit of a slump these past few weeks due to lack of energy. I've been reviewing but not adding new cards. As a result, I've lost my forward momentum and now I find it hard to have the motivation to get started again.

Do you have any thoughts on how to get started again and remotivate oneself after such slumps?

If you're not already doing these, do them: get more sleep (try getting one hour more than you have been for a few days in a row), do some simple cardio during the day (or even just take a walk in the morning), and some simple muscle workout (even if it's just push-ups and sit-ups).

I've found in the past that if I neglect to do any exercise for a few days I become unable to study anything. Sadly, I often get tempted to do nothing thanks to the ridiculous hot and humid summers here in Kyoto.

Cardio? Really? I suppose that could help because it gets rid of stress I think. *goes outside*

thurd Wrote:Fetish, what fetish? It just so happens that most men like attractive women and Asian women in general are quite attractive

1. You shouldn't speak generally especially for a topic like this ~_~

2. http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/335617/LOL.jpg