(Estimated reading time: 4 minutes)
You’ve been wondering to yourself, “if only I could read my favourite K-Pop idol’s Instagram posts, or tweets on Twitter, or this Naver article about him/her without relying on a fan-translator…”
Then why haven’t you started learning Korean? Or maybe you’ve started taking lessons, finished your Basic Korean or Introduction to Korean 101 classes and realised how hard it is.
Maybe you just don’t want to start or continue because it’s hard.
Maybe you can wait for the fan-translator that you’ve always depended on; you can wait.
Yeah, sure. But you can’t deny that deep down, whenever you see anything of your interest that is in a language you don’t understand, you will cringe within.
If only I could-
Then just start doing it.
I’ve been through all of that myself and I’ve decided to do something. Which is why I’ve decided to change my mindset, stop procrastinating and take action.
In this blog post, I’ll list down three very important steps that you can take to start or continue what you’ve always wanted to start/continue, but didn’t.
You might realise that these three important steps are things that you already know but might have refused to admit how true they are.
1. Change your mindset
Some people have it, some people don’t. Some people embrace it while some people avoid it as much as they can.
It’s the growth mindset. I’ve learned this term from Carol Dweck’s Mindset, a book that I would recommend to anyone who wants to live a fulfilling life.
The growth mindset embraces change, learning and of course, growth.
You need to switch your mind to the learning mode. And in the learning mode, you must not be afraid to make mistakes.
Make as many mistakes as you can, get help from teachers if you have the money for classes; if not get help from forums – it’s free.
Learn from those mistakes, make the necessary changes, and grow. Grow as much as you ever can.
Change your mindset and tell yourself that you might be bad or clueless at Korean right now, but with time, you’ll be different.
You’ll grow into someone who can read, write and speak Korean a lot better than you are right now. That’s what people do, they improve.
Which brings us to the next step.
2. Stop procrastinating and take action
Now that you have your mindset right. You know you want to learn, absorb as much as you can, make as many mistakes as you can to grow from them.
But when? When is the right time? Now is the right time. Start now.
For anything to take place at all, you need to stop procrastinating and take action. Immediately, if you will.
It can start off as simple as coming up with a resolution and writing it down on a piece of paper. All little things contribute to your growth.
It’d be even better if you can actually come up with a study plan – a schedule – one that you will stick to no matter what.
The difference between a successful person and any other person who looks up to successful people, is conviction.
The conviction to take action and not procrastinate.
You could be tired from yesterday’s drama binging session (hopefully Korean drama). That shouldn’t give you the excuse to slack.
On to the last step.
3. Be consistent and persistent
Even if it means 10 minutes or 20 minutes each day, consistency and persistence are what differentiates a person who will make it, and someone who wants to make it.
Start small, start slow, but increase with time.
It’s going to be hard to slot in that 10-20 minutes (and hopefully 30 minutes or even an hour in the future) into your “busy” schedule. I know.
But if you can spend time scrolling through tweets or Instagram posts aimlessly, why not dedicate that time to something that is more purposeful?
You might have changed your mindset after reading this blog post, you might have taken action right away, but if you do not be consistent and persist till the end, you’ll be back to square one. And very quickly.
So if you set a study plan or a schedule, be sure to stick to it. Make it a habit.
You will realise that you won’t need anything to push you to study or read up on grammar, vocabulary, and phrases.
It will come naturally. You will want to study without even the slightest bit of procrastination. You will not make excuses for yourself anymore.
You will fight. With that growth mindset, you will take consistent action and be persistent.
It’s never too late to start. But now is the time.
Share this with your friends if you liked this and give your comments. I want to learn and improve too!
