I’m generally not an advocate of “pushing” when learning languages, it should be fun most of the time.
The exception is when there is a domain (speaking, listening, etc.) that you have a goal to learn, but are afraid to take that step. For example, you might have a goal to learn speaking, but have gotten very comfortable with reading so you keep putting your energy into reading for hours a day. This feels like progress, but is actually not getting you to where you want to be.
In these cases it’s important to slow down and identify what your true goals are. In the above example if you truly wish to be more fluent with speaking, you should put all your energy into that. This might mean for example that you cut back your 3 hours of daily study to only 30 minutes, and that time is used to book a 1:1 tutoring session in your target language. After that, you allow yourself to rest for the remaining 2.5 hours.
Starting a new domain (speaking, listening, etc.) or even breaking into a new level of difficulty (maybe you are going beyond typical vlog videos and started to watch native university courses), the beginning is really taxing on your mind. In these cases it’s important to adjust your approach and not continue with the effort that feels/seems more productive.
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