This new year and I’m sure many guys will try to learn a new language. Fun fact last year I tried studying Russian for about three weeks before giving up. I downloaded Pimsleur’s speak and learn essential Russian course. The lessons were only 30 minutes and what I would do was make it a point to study first thing in the morning. I would wake up early and try to knock out lesson. What ended up happening was that I’d find myself counting down the minutes till the lesson was over. What made it even harder was I would attempt to take notes on the new words to study later but this made the lessons last even longer up to 45 minutes for me to stop and write down knew words. It was an epic fail.

I hated the feeling of being defeated by the Russian language and even though it’s a hard language to learn on its own I felt like loser for giving up so easily. Two months ago I started studying and learning again, this time I had to come with a better game plan, I’d have to fully commit and study more than just the 30 minutes a day. First off instead of sitting in front of the computer to learn I downloaded the lessons to my smartphone and begin lessons while I was going about my normal morning routine of getting ready for work. After I learned a new lesson in the morning I’d go back and listen to an earlier lesson on my drive to work. Once at work I listen to a Russian internet news station attempting to pick out the words I know or I’ve learned. In the afternoon if I have time and work isn’t killing my I attempt to go through a few courses on memrise.com (hat tip to ROK). Lastly at the gym I try and knock out a few more lessons.

Learning Russian is easily one of the hardest things I’ve done or attempted. There are some days where I feel like the lesson literally kicked my ass. But then the next  day or a few days later I go back to the same lesson and it’s not as hard as I remembered. When I first started studying I wanted to fly through as many lessons as quick as possible. This time around I have no problem going back and retaking a lesson a few times. There’s no rush, I know hobby like this could take a lifetime but I enjoy the challenge. I am by no means an expert yet but my goal is to suck a little less than the day before. Like the saying goes the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.