9 red flags I wasn’t serious about language learning (yet)
In September 2022, I finally got serious about the Finnish language once and for all, putting in an average of 2–3 hours per day for a whole year. The road to get to this level of seriousness was rocky. I started and quit Finnish several times before this point. Little did I know that the pathway to learning a language seriously requires a counterintuitive approach.
These are my 7 red flags I was not ready to learn any language yet:
I told myself this was a non-serious “hobby”
This is a classic ego protection: set low expectations to prevent future disappointment. This lower expectations, fewer disappointments philosophy does the opposite of its intention. You will never regret anything you tried seriously. Instead you will regret putting your own psychological restrictions on something that could have been big. Even busy people have to be open to a new endeavor becoming serious and requiring more time. To be not open for a life pivot is to have a fixed costs mentality. If something is meant to stay in the hobby stage it will. There’s no reason to deny yourself the possibility that something new could become big.
