Every once in a while I get really passionate about some topic of study or a project, dive into it head first, devote all my (hopefully spare) time to it. Occasionally it has even been detrimental to my wellbeing. Like once I permanently fucked my stomach by skipping too many meals during a week long programing project.
Yet, nine out of ten times the whole shebang doesn't amount to anything. After a week or so I loose all interest and drop the whole thing.
Now, I'm getting one of those obsessions about learning a language and it got me thinking about the best way to deal with it. Maybe I should try pacing myself, stop myself from spending too much time everyday learning and maybe it will prevent me from burning out and losing interest in a week or two? Maybe trying to cram information into your brain ten hours a day is not an effective way to learn? Or maybe it's the opposite and the smart thing is to use this short period when I'm excited and eager to study to learn as much as possible?
Do any of you guy have experience with something like this?
if you're reading a lot about a subject but falling behind on necessary daily upkeep, you can switch it up and listen to a lecture/ podcast on the same topic while also doing another useful activity that is unrelated but simple enough to not be distracting. like, crocheting, drawing, doing meal-prep (!), spending time with / observing animal friends (bird watching on walks perhaps, with headphones?), tidying up, cleaning firearms, etc. so you're building skills, improving your ability to focus, taking care of yourself physically, or taking care of just general everyday business at the same time. the secondary activity can't involve language (such as idk organizing your emails, sorting out junk mail, texting), imo, since you're still trying to absorb the audio content of the subject you're passionately intent on mastering.
something that slows me down with this strategy is the process of picking out podcasts or lectures to listen to. so I've started just saving them for later when I see them out and about on the web! Hexbear has been a hugely important source for such things
or yeah you could pick out a secondary interest that is complementary to your other one. ive definitely noticed that when I get obsessed with a singular topic, I have a lot harder time socializing because it's all I want to talk about. lol