Motivation is not always a constant feeling, therefore the ability to motivate yourself is an important personal skill. It helps you seize opportunities and find lifelong fulfilment. 

Unlike hard skills, self - motivation isn’t necessarily learned in school. It’s something you often build through everyday experiences.

Here are 10 useful examples how to stay motivated easier, all geared towards your goals of learning a language:

Define your purpose. Why do you want to learn this language? Is it to connect with a specific community of people, volunteer in a developing country, or provide language support to immigrants? Having a clear purpose will fuel your motivation. Knowing your purpose is powerful stimuli, but if you haven’t discovered it yet, explore your options.

Set realistic and achievable goals aligned with your purpose. Don’t aim to become fluent overnight. Instead, set smaller goals, like learning basic greetings by the end of the week or being able to have a simple conversation about daily life within a month.

Break down your goals into small, manageable steps. It will keep you from feeling overwhelmed by the new language. Instead of just “learn vocabulary”, create daily or weekly task like learning 10 new words or memorising a common verb conjugation.

Set deadlines. You could schedule daily or weekly practice sessions or use a language learning apps that tracks your progress. Seeing your improvement will keep you motivated.

Track your progress without striving for perfection. Making mistakes is part of the learning process. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t understand everything perfectly right away.

Reward yourself for your small achievements. Did you master a difficult grammar concept? Celebrate by watching a favourite movie in your target language.

Treat yourself with kindness and compassion. Learning new language takes time and effort. Everyone encounters challenges, learn from them and keep moving forward. Be patient, persistent and believe in yourself and you will be well on your way to achieve your goals.

Seek inspiration. For example, find a language exchange partner who shares your goal of using language to help others. You can motivate each other and celebrate success together.

Create a positive environment. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and support your language journey. Find a language learning group or community either online or on-site where you can connect with other and share your goals.

Last but not least build and maintain a healthy routine. Getting enough sleep, eating nutritious food, hydrating your body and exercising regularly, will improve your focus, memory and resilience making language learning easier.

By following these steps and keeping your purpose in mind, you’ll be well on your way to learning new language and contributing to the well-being of others.