What Is The Difference Between Language Learning Burn Out And Procrastination?

When we are learning a language there are often a lot of things that slow us down. Procrastination and burn out are two common problems that are often confused for each other.

However, they are actually very different, so I will go through what exactly they are and how you can stop them both so you can get back to actually making progress with your language studies.

What Does Procrastination Look Like In Language Learning?

When you look at procrastination in general, it is when you just kind of keep putting something off, which is exactly how it will present itself in your language learning. You will just try and avoid studying for no real reason.

You might say “I need to study today” and instead of just doing it, you make excuse after excuse for why you can’t.

…“Oh, I need to do this first”

…“I will do it shortly”

…“I need more time, let me wait until later”

All these types of statements are procrastination. Sometimes an excuse can be valid, but most times we are just delaying ourselves and eventually it gets too late and it’s time for bed and we have avoided studying altogether.  

What Is Language Learning Burn Out?

Burn out is something that builds up over time and is basically when you push yourself to the limit, for too long and you become mentally and physically exhausted.

When you work too hard and reach this point of exhaustion, you will just want to give up on your language.

Your motivation and general desire to study will have just been eroded away to basically nothing. You will be so tired that you will want to avoid actually doing any study and you will just generally feel awful and not have the energy to study.

(You can read more about – What Is Language Burn Out and Why Does It Happen?)

Why Might Burn Out and Procrastination Be Confused In Language Learning?

When we look at burn out and procrastination in language learning, there is some cross over, so it is easy to see why there may be some confusion and it could be easy to think they are the same thing.

However, they are actually very different.

Procrastination is a normal part of studying and it can happen from time to time. It could be due to tiredness, laziness or just a general dip in motivation. Anything in your life could be making you a bit tired or lazy on that day, and while you know you should study, you can’t really be bothered, so you just push it off and try and avoid it.

Burnout is a more serious problem, where you are just drained of all your energy. When you reach this point you will try and avoid your studying as you can’t actually muster up the strength to actually do it, which is where the confusion can lie.

Burn out can look like you are just procrastinating. However, burn out is much deeper than this; you are probably so low on energy that you couldn’t study if you even if you were forced.

What To Do If You Are Procrastinating With Your Language Studies?

If you catch yourself procrastinating when you should be studying your language, you need to tell yourself to stop being lazy and get the work done.

This will require discipline, and you may need to train this, but it can be done. If you realise you are just being lazy, get angry with yourself, snap yourself out of it and go and study.

It might be hard, but the more times you do this, the stronger you will become. Every time it happens and you actually go and study …you will feel great at the end. You will finish your session and say to yourself “I can’t believe I tried to avoid this”.

The more you can build up this discipline and can feel that rewarding feeling, the easier you will find it to be able to overcome procrastination in the future.

Really the only thing stopping you from studying is yourself, so you can either allow yourself to slack off, or you can tell yourself that you need to go and study …the choice is yours and if you really want to learn that language, the choice is easy. 

What To Do If You Are Burnt Out From Studying A Language?

If you are suffering from burn out, then this is an actual problem, it’s not something you can just snap out of. Even if you are extremely disciplined, you still won’t be able to study.

Your body and mind are completely out of energy and the only way to fix this is to actually stop and rest. You have reached your limit and the only way to replenish this is through rest. You might need a good few days to recover, sometimes even more.

Just completely stop everything and try to rest. You will start to feel better and eventually you will be fully recharged again. It is only then can you start studying again.  

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see that there is a big difference between procrastination and burn out. If you are just being lazy and putting off work for no good reason, snap out of it and get back to work, don’t let procrastination get in your way.

However, if you are actually burnt out, then this is quite serious and you need to stop and rest and reset yourself before getting back to your studying, which may take a few days, it really isn’t something you can fix right away.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Language Learning Burn Out)