Not Taking a Break Might Be Killing Your Progress

3 simple reasons pushing forward might actually work against your memory

Photo by Hongbin on Unsplash

When we look around us, it’s easy to come to the conclusion we shouldn’t take any rest and keep moving forward.

The internet makes it even worse.

We see articles, videos, and podcasts about why rest is for the weak or some crazy idea toxic self-help brought. There’s some content about the benefits of resting but it often is submerged in the middle of thousands of way-too-intense productivity tips.

I’m not one to talk. I’ve written my fair share of pieces about maximizing every moment of life. My most-read article, seen 131,000 times¹ is precisely about this.

And yet, taking breaks—or at least resting for a while—is crucial.

Mental health is still underrated

Let me ask you a question.

Which is worse? A physical disease you recover from a month later or a burnout you need as much time to get over?

If you chose the former, you’re wrong. If you chose the latter, you’re wrong too. It was a trick question: both are just as awful and should be avoided if possible.²

Sure, you could argue the disease might have repercussions later but you could also say the burnout may leave more psychological traces. And yet, most people faced with burnout won’t accept their burnout as a real problem.

One of my colleagues had a burnout recently and she came back before her doctor said to do so because she felt bad for not being there at an important time at work.

Was I happy to have her back to help? Sure. Was I surprised to see her even more burnt out just a week later? Nope.

We often push taking care of our mental health to later.

As if it’s okay to ignore what we need most to be functional each day.

So, yeah, taking breaks matters because the only other solution is burnout.

And burnout sucks.

It’s actually productive

I find it ironic how we think we’re lazy when we’re relaxing.

For a long time, I felt I shouldn’t be reading books in French or English because that’d be a waste of a good opportunity to read in my target languages.

The result? I didn’t read at all.

There’s nothing wrong with not making progress throughout our daily 24 hours. In fact, resting is productive in and of itself.

You’ve probably heard it before but most likely focused on one aspect of this research-backed fact.

The one part we’ve all taken notice of is we should take care of our sleep. We should sleep 8 hours or more. We shouldn’t compromise our sleep. You know what I mean.

It’s important. For sure. In (very) simple (and simplified) terms, during sleep, our brain connects the different dots we’ve amassed during the day and gets rid of what we don’t need.

And yet, that’s only part of the puzzle.

Taking breaks throughout the day is just as important.

We can’t focus for an entire day. Nor should we. It’s by taking the time to do other things we enjoy that we can later be 100% in what we want to focus on.

It even helps with memory too!

I think most language learners have heard of Anki. It’s a Spaced-Repetition System (SRS) which—you guessed it—leaves spaces between repetitions of the same flashcards.

Now, I know it’s not a real good example because it also forces you to come back to it to review some flashcards day after day but you get my point.

What a motivator it can be!

It’s no secret that I burned out on Korean after taking the Test Of Proficiency In Korean (TOPIK) in July. I completely blocked Korean off even though I was (and am) living in Korea. For close to a month, I didn’t even want to learn a new word.³

I’m now more motivated than ever to learn more Korean again.

That motivation has even spread to other languages too. I’m playing with Mandarin again for the first time in at least a year. I’m experimenting with Toki Pona for the first time since January or February. I’m even reading more in Japanese too.

Motivation is a strange beast.

We want to control it but, no matter what happens, it takes over us when we least expect it.

I started again Toki Pona by pressing Pause in the middle of a Netflix show. Out of the blue, I couldn’t wait to see some Toki Pona.

Take a deep breath

So, yeah, that’s it. Take a deep breath. Rest for a while. Take a complete break if need be too.

Not only is there nothing wrong with that, it’s actually a productive and healthy thing to do.

Take some pressure off your shoulders and you’ll come back to the language (or whatever else you’re studying) with more energy and mental space.

Taking a break isn’t synonymous with procrastinating.

Even if it sure feels like it sometimes.

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Thank you for reading the “first” edition of this rebranded version of The Average Polyglot newsletter!

Let me know what you thought of it and how you fit in breaks before reaching burnout!

Cheers,

An average Polyglot
Mathias

1. And on which a video seen over 4.2 million times was based

2. Of course, just because you recover from a disease quickly doesn’t make it less stressful and bad.

3. I did use Korean in my life but actively tried not to be curious. If someone I met switched languages, I’d switch with them without batting an eye. 😉