Free 7 Days of Mindfulness Challenge

“Mindfulness might simply be described as choosing and learning to control our focus of attention.”

- Jon Kabat-Zinn  

Starting Monday 11th March 2019 

In this busy, digitally distracting world it is harder than ever to focus on just one thing at a time! 

Mindfulness is a ancient eastern practice, redesigned for busy western society and backed by modern day science.

Contrary to what you may have heard about mindfulness it is actually a very simple concept to grasp!

In a nutshell mindfulness is about paying deliberate attention to the present moment in a non-judgmental way.

De-clutter your mind for learning and improve fluency via better focus and attention with this FREE 7 day Mindfulness Challenge.  

I’m sure you will be able to take away some mindfulness practices to implement  into your own daily study routines.

✨ 7 Day Mindfulness Challenge…✨

➡️ No email required - free to join.

➡️ Daily encouragement and support.

➡️ Mentorship programme.

➡️ Practice videos.

➡️ Exclusive group chat for participants.

➡️ Live Q&A & chat sessions.

➡️ Continued support on #MindfulMondays

Come join us…

I look forward to reading your responses to this challenge below and on social media. Share this with your friends so they can benefit from the challenge too.

When posting on Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest use: #7MindfulDaysand be sure to tag me @languagelearnersjournal so that I can follow and comment on your progress.

Further Reading…

The Science behind mindful language learning

10 Simple Tips for Mindful Language Learning

3 Simple Language Learning Activities for Mindfulness

What is a more mindful & holistic approach to learning?

How to Expand and Recall Your Vocabulary When Studying a New Language

Vocabulary is one of the most essential components of any language. While grammar is nice to know, the knowledge of what sequence to put those names, feelings, and concepts will do you little good if you do not know how to speak or write those things in that language. This article intends to highlight some suggestions and advice on improving upon your vocabulary and also better retaining the vocabulary you pick up.

Active Engagement is Best

When you set out to learn a new language, either as a hobby or as a means of advancing your viability in the marketplace, you will likely take every opportunity to use that language. By focusing on active vocabulary instead of passive vocabulary when learning a new language, you are better able to retain the words you learn. Especially if you can engage in a spoken conversation with another speaker.

Passive Learning

Passive learning is the form of education that many are familiar with from most classes in public school beyond languages courses. Passive learning involves studying your textbook, writing out answers in your homework and tests, and so on. It is dry, uninvolved and slow to take root. As foreign language courses are a standard element of most school curriculum beyond grade school, try and remember how much vocabulary and grammar you can actually recall from those language courses. Unless you took a language course you regularly use, chances are that you only remember a handful of words and phrases. And that’s likely just because the teacher incorporated some active components in their lesson plan.

Active Learning

Active learning directly involves the student. Having a conversation is one of the quickest ways to grasp a language’s vocabulary. A side benefit of learning from fluent speakers is that it gives you opportunities to learn regional dialects, as well as how certain terms taught passively are used to address specific examples or versions of that term’s definition. In short, you gain context with your vocabulary. One reason why active learning is better retained is that usage settles into the part of your brain governing life experiences. You fondly remember having a conversation, so you can better recall the vocabulary words you practiced and learned. In short, its okay if you want to learn a language from textbooks and software, they still are quite helpful with exercising your visual memory (like with character-based languages), but the best way to broaden your vocabulary is to actively learn and apply it in multiple aspects of your life. Learning is more than simply studying. It also has a lot to do with your state of mind and energy. All in all, there are a lot of ways to learn a language, and active learning will definitely help you to hit the ground running if you’re a traveler.

10 Ways to build better habits that will improve your life.

There is a misconception that it takes 21 days to form a habit. In reality forming a habit depends on the individual and the changes that one wishes to make. The misconception stems from a plastic surgeon called Dr. Maxwell Maltz.

Back in the 1950s Dr Maltz observed a  pattern emerging from his patients. It seemed on average it took a minimum of 21 days for a patient to readjust and accept the life changing surgery that had altered their appearance. This observation left Dr. Maltz to question his own experiences.

“These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.” - Dr. Maxwell Maltz (1960), Psycho-Cybernetics.

However, here is how the misconception started as over the years self-help gurus have misquoted and shortened the minimum of 21 days to the belief that it takes ‘only‘ 21 days to form a habit! This is simply not true and habit formation depends on may different factors.

The author of The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg wrote that habits are not born, but created. Every bad, good or insignificant habit starts with a psychological pattern that he referred to as a “habit loop.”

This “habit loop” is a three-fold process.

  1. The first step is the trigger that tells your brain to acceptance certain behavior.
  2. The second step is the behavior itself, or the routine it creates and finally the
  3. The final step is the reward, or “something that your brain likes that helps it remember the ‘habit loop’ in the future.”

ACCEPTANCE + ROUTINE + REWARD = HABIT 

 Recommended Reading:

Psycho-Cybernetics, A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Mindset: changing the way you think to fulfill your potential. 

65 Inspiring challenge ideas to improve your life…

How long does it really take to build a new habit?

A Research study conducted by Dr. Phillipa Lally (2009) concluded that on average it took 2 months (66 days) for a new behavior pattern to become automatic and the participants to start seeing noticeable results.

“To change a habit, make a conscious decision, then act out the new behavior.”  - Dr. Maxwell Maltz

20 odd days to accept the new behavior pattern as observed by Dr. Maltz, a further 20 days to build a routine and finally 20 days to ensure you are rewarding the brain for the new routine it is establishing.

Get the ball rolling for forming a new habit with community support from the #15x100Challenge.  The 100 day challenge focuses on one goal for a minimum of 15 minutes per day for 100 days. This walks you through the ‘habit loop‘ to ensure you are not just setting better habits to achieve your goals, but you are starting to see noticeable changes in your life.

Are you up for the challenge?

10 ways to build a new habit…

Photo by Bithin Raj on Pexels.com

1. Stop with the Self-judging

Research shows it can take months to build a new habit NOT weeks. So don’t be hard on yourself if you are not seeing the desired benefits straight away. 21 days is merely the point of acceptance and recognition. Push past this phrase to see success.

2.  Let go of perfectionism

It is worth noting that making a mistake once or twice has no measurable impact on your long-term habits. This is why you should treat failure like a scientist, give yourself permission to make mistakes, and develop strategies for getting back on track quickly!

3. Get into a daily routine

Your brain loves routine and habits are more likely to take effect if you work on a good daily routine. You will need to stick at this routine for a minimum of 66 days before it starts to become automatic.  So choose a time that you can stick to on a daily basis.

4. Discipline over motivation

There are a lot of articles on improving motivation, but this can be another misconception. The most successful of people will tell you that it is discipline rather than motivation that initially drives them. They continue even when motivation is low. Discipline drives motivation so by pushing through the difficult patches it will help motivate you in the future.

5. Learn to love the process

Remember habits are a process rather than a goal with a deadline. You need to embrace and enjoy the process.

6. Breaking goals into Small chunks

New habit formation will work best when you set small manageable daily or weekly goals  rather than focusing on everything all at once! Focusing on the bigger picture can sometimes feel overwhelming especially in the beginning.

7. Stop paying attention to negativity

Don’t pay attention to the negativity of others when forming a new goal. What they are really revealing is how they feel about themselves. Equally it’s your own choice if you listen to your own negativity or choose to push pass this. The most successful of people accept this is a stage that we all go through when building new habits and have learnt through experience that it will pass.

8. Don’t focus on the number

21/66/ 100 they are all but numbers, love the process and reflect upon your progress at regular intervals. Not making the progress you want? Reflect on goals and pivot if you have to just don’t give up!

9. “If we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always got“. - Henry Ford

If we keep doing the same things we will always get the same results. If you want to form a new habit then you must embrace change.

10. Get Accountable for your actions

I read a blog post once that said keep goals to yourself, actually the opposite is true hold yourself publicly accountable for your goals. You never know who might be able to help you or inspire you to continue when you feel like giving up.

Join the #15×100 Challenge, where you choose to focus one thing, i.e. learning a new language, mindfulness practice, exercise for a minimum of 15 minutes per day for 100 days with full support from an awesome community of goal-getters.

 

What new habit would you like to form? Let me know in the comments section below or on social media using the hashtag x15x100Challenge.

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