photo credit: batega

There are so many self development tools around that we can make use of to improve our lives.

The first mistake many of us make is to only read about tools and never try them.

The second mistake is to learn all about a tool by studying it in depth but postponing its use until we feel we have mastered it.

The third mistake is to gain information from using a tool but then not act upon the information we have gained to change our lives

I want to talk about the second mistake I caught myself making.

Learn tools through use

Over the last 9 months I have been steadily memorising kanji in my quest to learn Japanese. I am up to number 1828 out of 2042 ‘everyday use’ kanji.

Through how I was introduced to the topic I made the assumption that I should learn all of these kanji before I began trying to read.

Now I realise that not only could I accelerate my learning/memorisation process by trying to use what I’ve learned so far by reading, but I would also be getting closer and closer to my goal of understanding japanese by trying to use it.

By reading, I see the kanji more often, even if I have to use a dictionary on every single one. But I also start getting used to the sentence structures and which kanji often appear next to each other in words.

So when you start learning about a tool, start trying to apply it in your daily life. This way you start developing a personal experience and understanding about the tool and learn it faster. Not to mention benefiting from it.