A disappointing day (see checklist below) in which I was reminded of lessons that I've 'learned' before.
It was already midday by the time I really got into substantive language learning. By 2:30 pm I was feeling my enthusiasm wane. By 4:30 pm my head was beginning to nod. And by 6:30pm I was fast asleep on the sofa ... sigh.
It's important to note that the late start, diminished will-power and later collapse were not the products of active procrastination. I really wanted to work — evidenced by considerable effort expended to keep going after 2:30 pm.
Set-up 'costs' account for most of the delayed start — unavoidable tasks, that I hadn't anticipated in my planning. The rest, and the later collapse, are best explained as psycho-physicological effects of sleep deprivation.
I hadn't gotten to sleep until 2 am the previous night. I'd woken up at 7 am and been unable to get into the additional sleep cycle, that my body was crying out for. Poor decision-making and executive inefficiency inevitably followed.
Stronger and better routine could probably have mitigated both defects, e.g. eating and exercising early might have allowed me to dispose of the set-up tasks more quickly — or even allowed me to anticipate and complete some them over the weekend. Its absence was probably also a factor in my loss of sleep — reducing my ability to resist anti-sleep factors in the environment. So ...
Apply more effort and better judgement to the task of routine-building. Is the over-arching lesson of the day.
| Task | M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read - Spa. press (10) | ✓ | ||||||
| Read - Spa. fict. (10) | ✓ | ||||||
| Read - Spa. nonfict (10) | ✓ | ||||||
| Talk - aural Spa. press (10) | ✓ | ||||||
| Talk - aural Spa. fict. (10) | ✕ | ||||||
| Talk - aural Spa. nonfict (10) | ✕ | ||||||
| Listen - Spa. audio news (5) | ✓ | ||||||
| Listen - Spa. audio fiction (5) | ✓ | ||||||
| Listen - Spa. audio nonfict (5) | ✓ | ||||||
| Listen - review aurals | ✓ | ||||||
| Listen & Talk - phrases (10) | ✓ | ||||||
| Listen & Talk - sentences (20) | ✕ | ||||||
| Listen & Talk - aural Qs (30) | ✕ | ||||||
| Listen & Sing - a song (10) | ✕ | ||||||
| Write - Sum. audio news (10) | ✕ | ||||||
| Write - Trns. audio news (15) | ✕ | ||||||
| Write - comprehension test | ✕ | ||||||
| Write - List today's 'issues' | ✓ | ||||||
| Write - Stop positions | ✓ | ||||||
| Physical - exercise (40) | ✕ | ||||||
| Watch - subbed drama (30) | ✓ | ||||||
| Watch - subbed Film (30) | ✓ | ||||||
| Watch - no-sub docu (10) | ✓ | ||||||
| Research - lang. acquisition | ✓ | ||||||
| Review - this checklist (15) | ✕ |