One Month Challenge

Are you lacking the motivation to learn Chinese and have not learned a single character since you started studying Chinese? A one-month challenge is just what you need. 

It has been saying that habits formed in about 30 days. When you put yourself to do a specific task every day for a month, you are likely to integrate it into your life as one of your everyday activities. 

Let’s suppose, what will be the outcome if you challenge yourself to study Chinese for 1 hour a day? 

Studying Chinese becomes so much easier when you make it a habit. 

What are Habits?

People believe that they are absolutely free of their behaviors and actions. They are the master of their destiny. But in reality, most of our actions are the result of our unconscious processes of the brain, we don’t notice, but what we do is governed by our brain. 

Psychosomatic addiction is an example of a habit. Drugs such as marijuana chemically do not have addictive properties but can make you psychologically addicted. To use marijuana, we have to understand that our brain is a muscle that needs to be trained, just like the muscles physically perform the brain orders. 

You can’t play the guitar for the first time, the reason is not that your fingers can’t physically carry out the required movements, but the reason is that your brain doesn't have the ability to do so. Over time, your fingers develop muscle memory that allows them to play guitar. Your brain concurrently develops the neural influences connected with playing the guitar, without that you are unable to play the guitar. 

Here I would like to discuss the question of why people procrastinate and why do they seem impotent to stop themselves? Most people have gotten into the habit of procrastinating, and they are unable to stop it. They can overcome this habit by training their subconscious to ignore the temptation and their conscious mind to follow. 

Developing the Habit of Learning Chinese

As human beings, we are creatures of habits. If you commit to studying Chinese an hour daily for a month, then you will get into a habit of it. Regular Studying will be much effective to maintain the routine than studying infrequently for a few days or weeks.

When you get used to it, you would not think about getting your daily dose of Chinese. It will become automatic, and it will be seen as the behavior that you determined by your subconscious as part of your daily routine.

Learning Chinese is not something you can get into the habit of days. Of course, you have to devote your time and effort to love the learning process. Start learning Chinese with strong motivation, and don’t stop until you get in the habit of studying Chinese. 

Here are some aspects that help you studying effectively:

Be Dedicated but Flexible: While learning Chinese, you have to be dedicated, but maybe you are busy someday and not capable to do your regular study. So what to do, be flexible don’t sweat it. I suggest you make a plan to study extra on the next day. But if you skip days often, you are likely decreasing the effectiveness of the one-month challenge. 

Set a Daily Target: I suggest you set a daily target of learning Chinese. Invest at least one hour a day on listening or reading Chinese. You can use different study resources. If you can’t manage an hour of study, make a half-hour plan, or even just 15 minutes. Make sure to study daily without skipping days.

Note down your Progress: After the constant struggle of one month, you will be surprised to see how well you go and how easy the study becomes. Note down your progress for every day. It will let you know your daily goal. After 30-days, you will recognize what you have achieved and what to get. 

Here I would like to share my one-month challenge to learn Chinese. 

My one month Challenge | 1 Hour of Chinese a Day 

I started my one-month challenge with the strong motivation of learning Chinese. I think motivation is very important to perform any task; it can strengthen you to complete the goal. Otherwise, you will give up after a few days.  

Do study Chinese as much as you can manage. Setting daily goals is always a good idea. If you reach your daily goal often, you are likely able to learn a language quickly. 

For easing steadily into the habit of learning Chinese, I suggest you start studying 20 minutes a day for the first month, then next month increase the time to 40 minutes, and then go to an hour. 

If you are too determined, you will likely exhaust quickly and lose motivation after a few days. It seems super excited to study Chinese for 2 hours on the first day, but keeping the habit for the whole month is challenging. So always go gradually and don’t be so quick. 

So, how did I go?

Well, I started learning Chinese to study 1 hour a day for one month. I used to listening Chinese for 30 minutes using different apps on my phone and spend the other half-hour practicing the language. This way, I used to invest my one hour in studying Chinese. 

My Analysis of Results

After one month of study, I noticed an obvious improvement in my listening skill. My listening has improved enormously. I felt the ease in my listening ability. Now I become able to understand the native speakers. 

I started from basic Chinese and then gradually went to a solid intermediate level of language. I am not saying that I learned all in the first month, but I learned plenty of new words in just 30 days of study challenge. 

Now I am learning upper intermediate level of Chinese. After 30 days challenge, I can watch Chinese TV shows but still facing some difficulties. Of course, it will take time to be a master in Chinese.

Final Thoughts

I hope this one-month challenge inspired you to start learning Chinese from today. 

I am sure this one-month challenge will not only help you in learning Chinese but also benefit you in other life goals. I use this plan for my life goals. You can try this out in the summer holidays.