How Studying Japanese Could Improve Other Areas of My Life

I've never been able to concentrate on the same thing as long as I've been able to concentrate on studying Japanese and I think I have stumbled across a nice concept to explain why.  I have always wanted to work hard at one thing, but I always get distracted by other things and don't devote myself fully to one goal.  When I played baseball, it was too easy to play video games in my free time instead of concentrating on baseball and hitting the weight room.  I just thought I had ADD and couldn't focus on one thing for a long time, but actually what I was doing was I was making it too easy for myself to get sidetracked.

With Japanese though, what I have unconsciously done is simply live in an environment of learning.  I don't force myself to study for 2 hours a day studying vocabulary.  What I do is watch TV and want to understand it.  I don't force myself to study kanji, but I see kanji that I don't understand and I want to understand it.  I simply live in an environment that makes learning Japanese convenient.

I have put this effort to other areas of my life too.  I have been eating pretty unhealthily since I got to Japan because I wanted to taste all the new flavors.  But instead of telling myself to eat more healthy, I simply have healthy foods in the house.  It's not that I've stopped eating chips, candy, tempura, katsudon and copious amounts of ramen, but I just have fruits and vegetables always available and I have to leave my house to eat all the fried meats and ramen.  

So basically what I'm trying to say is...don't force yourself to do something, just make it inconvenient to do a bad habit.  Instead of telling myself to study Japanese, instead I have my operating system and internet browsers in Japanese, I always have learning programs open, and there are about 30 Japanese books within arms reach of me right now.  I don't have to force myself to study, it is simply easy and convenient for me to study.  I didn't tell myself that I was going to start eating healthier, I just had fruits and vegetables within arms reach and made it convenient to eat better.

In conclusion, I know my dad is probably the only person that reads this blog and I have been trying to get him to stop drinking pop for about 10 years now (he drinks like 6 cans per day) and so papa, how about instead of telling yourself to quit drinking pop, how about just not having any pop in the house?  If you are at a restaurant and want a Pepsi, that's fine, go ahead and order a Pepsi, but make it so that it isn't so easy to access everyday at the house.  You can drink pop anywhere outside of the house, but no drinking pop inside the house.

For the one other person that reads this blog, if you've been trying to eat better, don't tell yourself to stop eating sweets, just don't have sweets in your house and have fruits and cut up vegetables at arms reach.  If you want to get in better shape, don't tell yourself to run for 20 minutes, just wear comfortable clothes and go outside.