How does everyone else deal with being stuck in a rut in your studying? My vocab and grammar have both been suffering lately, my speaking has degraded, and I haven’t picked up any books in a while. It’s not that I feel overwhelmed or anything - I’ve just been on a streak of underperforming days. Part of me wants to take a break for a few days, but I feel like I’ll lose a few week’s progress if I do that. Any recommendations?
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Motivation does not lead to action.
Action leads to motivation.
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Honestly, I really feel you.
When I’m low on motivation, I set smaller goals for myself, such as only 15 minutes a day, or just 10 correct answers or reading a single newspaper article in Japanese a day. The most important thing in studying is consistency…
I always find that my motivation comes and goes… I work a full time job and I have responsibilities that don’t involve learning Japanese. I get tired. Being able to remove the pressure I put on myself to be EXCELLENT and give 100% to my Japanese studies ALL THE TIME really helps me get through the low motivation periods. If I prioritize consistency over achievement or excellence, I normally find my motivation again.
That being said… Taking a break is okay. Freeze your streak, take a couple days to recoup, and then come back, and don’t beat yourself up over any mistakes. Humans aren’t consistent animals, and getting tired or worn down by the repetition happens. Having periods where you don’t see your own improvements also happens, but I promise you, you are improving.
Don’t be too hard on yourself! <3
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This is something that is very difficult to give advice for, as it is a problem that we all suffer from, but all have a different way of dealing with.
The most important part of my daily study routine is finishing it with something fun. For me, that is reading a novel. Whatever rut I am usually stuck in, I seem to be able to forget about if I am using the language for enjoyment.
Depending on what level you are at, using it for something fun may also be difficult, in which case I would reflect on the things that you do know. Looking through old word lists or grammar points even if only for a few minutes. So that you remind yourself that you are definitely making progress, even if that progress is hard to feel on a daily basis. That can also be fun.
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As the others have said, this is a highly personal thing, as everyone has different ways of getting through, but I can share mine.
During the summer, I use to work like 60hr/wk leaving me totally devastated to do anything Japanese related. So whenever I get back to doing something and seeing my degradation it doesn’t really help. It also happens sometimes when I start a new level of learning, as all the confidence I had when I finished the previous one goes away in a mater of minutes.
What I do is a combination of things: I use the language to enjoy content (Reading/Watching/Playing…), and while learning I tend to add extra exercises of my previous levels, this last thing helps me with motivation as I see that not everything has gone away and that progress is still there.
I think it’s important to take breaks, but even though I feel the same: that it’s going to make me loose progress, and I’m not going to lie, it actually happened. Now, whenever I feel like having a break, I have a set of minimum objectives that I can complete in about half an hour, and aim to slow or stop the degradation of the knowledge acquired.
Hope this is of help and you get through soon!
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We all have been there 
No matter what is going on, I try to do the minimum SRS and reading goals I have set myself every day. Saying that in late December, I set my daily goals to the bare minimum (I may even skip Bunpro / Anki). I will do a bit of SRS stuff… but only for like 5 minutes at the very most. I will read “a bit” in Japanese too (e.g. 2/3 sentences).
At one point, I just started to concentrate more on reading Manga and just enjoying that (ie use the Japanese that I do know hehe). That motivated me to learn new grammar.
At one point, I just started to re-watch anime that I really like (with English subs). Another time, I started to read the light novel series that was one of my reasons for learning Japanese.
Sometimes there are reasons for this though. Like maybe I just need a change in my methodology / goals. I realised that as I learn more vocab / grammar / kanji and use Japanese more, what once worked does not work any more or it is not as effective 
.
Recently, I started to write a reading / watching / playing journal mainly in Japanese. That has been a lot of fun. I do make lots of writing mistakes haha. I also bought a Japanese book to learn Korean, I just thought it would be interesting to see how much I can understand and if I can learn something.
From time to time, I set myself new goals. Eg add 100 words in Anki, learn 30 new grammar points in Bunpro in a month.
Consistency is key. It may be hard to see it but as long as one does not stop, they are improving.
Hope this helps.
Edit: sleeping enough, doing some excersice and just feeling happy is also important! hehe
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Maybe a break isn’t a bad idea. I can understand the whole losing progress thing, but its minuscule in the long run. And if you’re already deeply into Japanese, chances are it’s still going to be part of your day one way or another. Whether it be a video, a music track, a title from a book around your work station, it will be hard to avoid it. But taking a weekend off from it may be a good thing. You may retain more than you think.
Changing up a study habit or the content I’m consuming tends to help me. As with other things, sometimes I just have to do the things I really like doing in the language. Sometimes I need to remind myself why I’m learning Japanese in the first place, and it isn’t for the sake of just studying Japanese itself.
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Personally it sounds to me like you may as well just take a break. If you aren’t actively working towards it and just putting in the least effort possible in order to maintain a superficial streak then you are probably just doing more damage then good.
People takes breaks all the time and it isn’t a sin or anything. You just have to create a goal and once you hit the goal you are allowed to take a break for a week. And who cares if you lose a few week’s progress…if you can lose that during a break then you never really had it. And that’s okay.
But that’s just my thoughts you do you George Washington, also the way you crossed the Delaware river…Legendary. And when you surrounded Botston with cannons even though you didn’t have cannon balls or gunpowder in what is probably still the biggest bluff in US history…you a genius for that one. Happy early birthday
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It’s hard to give specific recommendations without making too many assumptions but from what you have written it sounds like you lack a clear goal.
For example, you said this but tangibly what does this mean? How are you measuring this “progress” you feel you will lose? It can’t be what you would’ve have done in the few days you decided to take a break because that would only be a few days worth. And if not studying for a few days means you forget crucial things you may need to take a deeper look at how you’re studying. As the saying goes, only perfect practice makes perfect.
Perfect in this case meaning perfectly aligned with your goal rather than an idealized scenario of doing the maximum of what you can do everyday. Even if your goal is something big and vague like “Become Fluent” there are still many things that are ineffective and could be replaced with something more aligned with the direction you want to go.
My suggestion right now would be to pick one thing that you feel aligns best with your goal and make this the first Japanese thing you do each day. This way even if you do nothing else, you know you have made progress. Make sure it’s short (5-10 minutes) so it’s easy to fit in.
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I’m echoing many who have said that everyone’s goals are different (how fast, how much, are you planning to take JLPT, are you just aiming to be able to read manga / watch anime / make Japanese friends, going to Japan soon, etc) so it’s hard to give concrete suggestions that would really suit your personal liking.
I think if losing a few weeks’ progress or not seeing progress concerns you but if you’re not in a hurry like me, you could arrange how many Bunpro lessons and reviews you can do during your bad / tired days.
My own way has been to add lessons only when my SRS 0-2 gets below 3, so usually I only add 1 or 2 Grammar points when that happens. From my stats, it looks like I learn around 7 - 10 new Grammar points within a month on average. For others this might be too slow, but it is progress for me without being overwhelming.
What’s important to me is making sure I do 15 Reviews each day, even at my lowest and laziest of days. 5 Reviews in the morning, another 5 during lunch break and last 5 in my evening. If my days are better and more free, I’ll add 5 Cram during the day and try to do Shadowing with the voice recording during Reviews but most days I just need to get it done and over with so I can do my work properly or focus on other stuff that I’m doing on a particular week.
Don’t make Bunpro or other SRS a shackle from opening the Japanese book that you’ve always wanted to start reading or socialising online with native Japanese to practice your Speaking and so on. Try to pick the bare minimum that you think you’ll be able to handle daily, and when you hear yourself thinking “I should do more”, stop yourself and ask if it’s going to make you want give up next time from the additional volume or not. Progress not Perfection is my motto.
Don’t push yourself too hard. Maybe making a Minimum and Maximum capacity plan might be good for preventing burnout. But this is just a suggestion and it might not suit your aims or learning style. I think everyone else here has given great points that you can choose from. Wishing you all the best and don’t berate yourself if you need hit the Vacation Mode to take a break, before starting with your Minimum Maximum plan. Vacation Mode exists for a reason.
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I’ll give going to the gym as an analogy since I go to the gym and sometimes go through periods where I really don’t want to go.
On days that I really don’t feel like going I force myself to go anyway, and I just tell myself, ‘Okay, I don’t have to do my full workout but I DO have to run on the treadmill for 20 minutes and if I’m still not feeling it then I’ll go home after that’.
Usually I do my full workout on those days anyway if for no other reason than I got started.
Sometimes if I’m feeling like that for like a week straight, then I’ll allow myself to take a few days off and play video games or whatever instead.
I think that learning Japanese should be approached in a similar way.
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I have to say that all the people before me gave you quite good tips So nice!
Personally I almost slacked off a whole month consciously learning Japanese because of holidays and stuff. Before the month I’ve felt like punching my BunPro and afterwards I just blasted “streets ahead” because I had time to let the material sink in.
What I’ve learned is that you need real life Japanese/content before grammar. It doesn’t make sense to add grammar structures to stuff you have never encountered and as good as BunPro is, I love you BunPro, the sentences are not enough context. Watching Netflix without the need to “learn” and just passively listening to Kuroki-san talking about her arm pit hair with English subtitles “probably” helped me.
I have a different twist on Asher’s tip on reviewing old stuff.
I know I’m cheating because my partner is Japanese but I didn’t bother her daily with new grammar and just asked her like one month about the stuff I’ve learned before the break. Worked wonders.
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Thanks to everyone for the advice, I think I’ll try out a lot of what’s in here!
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Best of luck! Feel free to update us in this thread from time to time about how you’re doing. I know for me, it helps to have a few people I can share some of my silly frustrations with so we can laugh about it and support each other to get over the hump.
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