Mr Green

Hi there, Great topic. I learnt Spanish in a year through total immersion. It's the best and simplest technique I've found for language learning. You want to essentially remove English (or whatever your first language is) from your day to day life and replace it with your target language. There may be some obvious situations in which you cannot do this (your work for example) but for everything else you must. Yes, this is easier if you live in a country that speaks your target language, but it's not impossible if you don't. I learnt Spanish through immersion in Mexico, but I've learnt other languages through fabricated immersion whilst still living here. The trick is that you create your own immersion; surround yourself in books, movies, comics, radio stations etc in your target language. Plan Skype calls with native speakers, keep a journal of your progress in your target language. At first it will be really hard but eventually as the days turn into weeks and the weeks into months you'll feel yourself making progress and this should encourage you to keep going. Also check out www.fluentin3months.com for a supportive community and advice on how to progress

I think this a really interesting question and something I've spent a lot of time thinking about myself. To answer you first question, I think that study and work ethic is the same thing. This is the basis for the entire concept of a 'life's purpose' - that you are learning within a field, within a career, that you feel passionately about. To learn about this field you must expand your knowledge to the many subjects that encompass it, and ideally more, so that you can expand even further and find your own niche. I'll give you a personal example. I am a teacher of languages. For this I study linguistics, anthropology, speech and delivery, organisation, student behavior, not to mentioned the technique of teaching itself, and many other things. I am an eternal student of my craft, and in that I build my work and study ethic as if it were the same thing. This can be applied to any field, career, or pursuit. Just remember; knowledge is porridge. Question 2 is a very difficult question. I would say that there is a time to follow along, for example when you are in the 'apprenticeship phase' of your career, learning the basics and getting to grips with the rules of the trade. There will be time to push forward with your own values and ideas once you have absorbed everything you can. This also goes hand in hand with the above because the more you are learning the more personal ideas and concepts will start to swirl in your brain, and you will be able to start bringing them to life by starting your own company or pursuing a new idea, etc. That being said don't put yourself in a position in which the values and ethics of a company or career drastically miss-align with your own. Somebody who is an artist in their heart will not do well as a stockbroker and visa versa.

Yeh I have to agree with @jackson You can certainly study vocabulary using a variety of techniques but the most effective and most natural is reading more. When it comes to language acquisition (including first language) natural and repeated use of the language is by far the most prolific technique. Children learn basic vocabulary by reading basic books and creating context to derive meaning. You can learn advanced vocabulary by reading advanced books and doing the same thing. The Memory Palace is also a very good technique for those people with more imagery based memory. This is essentially building a house in your mind and placing words there using very memorable images to associate to words. I used this technique to teach basic Chinese to my step father and it was very effective. https://litemind.com/memory-palace/

This is definitely a problem, especially in modern culture with the prevalence of technology. I read somewhere that the average attention span of a modern human being these days is around 8 seconds, which is apparently less than a fish! The first thing you need to realise is that this is not an easy fix. You'll need to rewire your mind as it has been conditioned. The first thing that I recommend you do is to completely remove multi-tasking from your vocabulary. Multi-tasking is a disease, and the only cure is to remove it all together. Start giving 100% of relaxed, focused attention into absolutely everything you do, not just to study. Even if it is only drinking a cup of coffee or checking your phone messages. Instead of doing both at the same time as one would normally do, focus first on the coffee; savour the taste, the temperature, how sweet or bitter it is. Really enjoy it. After that is over focus time on your messages; text slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully. Now apply these principles to study, to reading, to listening to people talk, to everything that you do. It will take time and practise but it can be done and you'll become a better, more patient, more focused person for it. Secondly you can apply a technique that some people call 'time blocking'. Essentially by setting an alarm on your phone from chunks of time to perform specific time you can create artificial deadlines. For example, if you plan to study french, set an alarm for 30 minutes and that is the time you will study for. The illusion of the deadline allows your mind to focus more clearly for a period safe in the knowledge that the time will eventually end. You can combine this with more pronounced goals and breaks to make it even more effective. For example, don't just say you're going to study french, say you're going to study french verbs in present tense for 45 minutes, then have a break for 15 minutes, and then watch videos in french for another 45 minutes. Giving yourself these specific deadlines and activities to perform will help to narrow your focus. If you're too vague you're mind will naturally wander because it has no clear direction. Finally, the impact and importance of meditation as mentioned by others here can not be overstated. Think of your mind as a big machine continuously moving and grinding, even as you sleep. Meditation is like turning off that machine for half and hour, cleaning out the gunk and oiling it. Look forward to that time as it will make you sharper and more focused. Good luck!

Hi there! I really recommend a book, funnily enough called Mastery by Robert Greene. One of the most important pieces of practical advise that I took from it was to combine your passions into something completely unique. This, Greene speculates, is how the greatest examples of mastery and some of the greatest achievements in history have occurred. Not through the narrowing of focus into one area, but the encompassing of many smaller pieces of mastery into a greater individual whole. Say, for example, that your great passions are anthropology, writing, and teaching, do you really need to choose one of those to focus your 'life purpose'? Or can you see anyway those things could be combined into something creating a life purpose unique to that person? Anyway good luck and have a great time exploring Asia!

I've actually been thinking about this topic myself recently. I grew up playing games all the time but now I just don't have the time to get addicted to anything, not just gaming. I think there's nothing wrong with recreation, but there's a time for it. If I complete all my work and my habits and I still have the time and the desire to play a game or watch a TV show for 30 minutes then so be it. But integrating core habits and life projects into your day isn't just about doing a bunch of stuff you have to do, it should be about creating a life that makes you happy. A principle I always keep in mind is never to get addicted to anything. If you can't game without getting addicted to it then best not to do it at all.

Hi there, I'd thought I'd share with you my story as I changed careers at the age of 27. Basically I was working as an accountant with a pretty good wage in the UK. I just sort of fell into that career though and it didn't fulfill me at all. I spent a lot of time talking with my roommate who was in the same boat as me and eventually I realized that I couldn't spend another 30+ years working this career that frankly bored me to tears. I always wanted to be a teacher, it was something I regularly fantasized about, and after a lot of introspection and asking myself difficult questions I decided to go for it. To put the wheels in motion I basically started by having to go to night school to make up some much needed qualifications that I didn't have. It took me a couple of years of working 9-5 and then going to night school. Was it difficult? Yes. Was it tiring? Yes. When I had enough foundation qualifications to move into a basic position in the field I quit my boring accountancy job (all the late nights and exhaustion were worth just that). I didn't quit before I had a solid plan or some certificates to back me up like some people do. Was it worth it? Yes. Now I'm working in higher education teaching linguistics in Latin American cultures and I can honestly say my work is much more fulfilling and I'm very happy. Don't kid yourself though, you will have to make up for lost time. I'm still in the first stages of my career at the age of 30. I have to pay my dues and build up my experience all over again. It's hard work, and it's exhausting, but at the end of the day that's nothing compared to spending a life time walking in the wrong direction.