Atomic Habits: The Book That Will Revolutionize Your Language Routine

Lessons from Atomic Habits, And Why You Don’t Need Superhuman Willpower to Learn a Language

Many people think that learning a language takes a lot of willpower. But experience has taught us that that’s not really the case.

Of course, having strong motivation helps. But motivation can be inconsistent and unpredictable…

So what about all of us who don’t have a will of steel? Are our long-term goals doomed to fail?

No, willpower is not the silver bullet for learning a language. What you really need is to turn learning into a habit. Why?

Because habits are great allies when it comes to learning. When an activity becomes a habit, you can do it on autopilot – you don’t have to think about it or work up the motivation to do it. We don’t ask ourselves each morning whether we’re going to brush our teeth. We do it without really thinking about it because it’s an ingrained habit.

So, why not transform your language study into a habit, and take advantage of “autopilot mode”?

That’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today – how to build a strong learning habit that will allow you to make consistent progress over the long term.

The “4 Laws of Behavior Change”

In the book Atomic Habits, Clear summarizes what it takes to build a strong, lasting habit:

1. Make it obvious
2. Make it attractive
3. Make it easy
4. Make it satisfying

The 1st Law of Behavior Change: Make it Obvious

In a previous article, we underlined the benefits of applying the “1% Better Every Day” approach, also known as the “Kaizen” approach, to language learning.

To recap, small amounts of effort repeated over a long period can produce incredible results. In order to guarantee this repeated action, you need to establish a daily habit.

Let’s start with two simple, yet powerful strategies.

Strategy #1: Make a plan of attack

The best way to launch a new project is to set a goal and plan how you’re going to reach it. This is called an “implementation intention.”

Start by deciding how you’re going to create your study habit using the following formula:

• I am going to [study my target language] for [10] minutes [at 7:30 am] in [my kitchen].
• I am going to [study my target language] for [15] minutes [at 8:30 am] on [the subway].
• I am going to [study my target language] for [20] minutes [at 7:00 pm] in [my living room].

Strategy #2: Build off of existing habits

• After [having my morning coffee], I will [review my MosaLingua flashcards].
• After [brushing my teeth/taking my shower], I will [learn 10 new words or phrases].
• After [eating lunch], I will [listen to dialogues in my target language].

The 2nd Law of Behavior Change: Make it Attractive

We say this all the time, but it bears repeating: learning a language shouldn’t be boring!

Something that all polyglots have in common is that they enjoy the process of learning languages. They aren’t necessarily geniuses – they just dedicate time to learning and improving every day.

You don’t need to turn learning languages into your life passion, but there are strategies to make it more pleasant.

Strategy #1: Group your habits

• After [SOMETHING YOU ENJOY], I will [OBLIGATION].
• After [OBLIGATION], I will [SOMETHING YOU ENJOY].

• After [eating dessert] I will [study my target language for 10 minutes].
• After [drinking my favorite drink] I will [study with MosaLingua for 15 minutes].
• After [reviewing my MosaLingua flashcards] I will [watch a video on YouTube].
• After [learning new cards on MosaLingua] I will [eat dessert].

Here, the idea is to link your learning to activities you enjoy, which can serve either as a signal or as a reward that will make learning irresistible.

Strategy #2: Spend time with other language learners

The 3rd Law of Behavior Change: Make it Easy

The law of least effort

Every action requires a certain amount of energy to complete. We all know that energy is a precious resource – our brains are wired to conserve energy, so we try to expend the least amount of energy possible.

That’s why it’s a good idea to eliminate whatever obstacles exist between you and your desired behavior. Otherwise, your brain might make it too easy to make excuses.

This brings us to another useful strategy:

Strategy #1: Remove the obstacles between you and learning

This way, you’ll come up against fewer obstacles, and your language goals will never be out of sight.

Less resistance = better chance of meeting your daily study goals.

Strategy #2: Use the “5 minutes” rule

This rule suggests that any new habit should take no longer than 5 minutes.

If you say “I’m going to study Spanish for an hour,” you risk losing motivation and feeling like you don’t have the time to meet your goal. On the other hand, if you say “I’m going to study Spanish for 5 minutes,” it will seem so quick and easy that you can’t say no!

This shouldn’t seem unrealistic – anyone can find 5 or 10 minutes to learn, even the busiest people.

For this reason, we often talk about the “micro-session” approach: instead of putting stock in long learning sessions, focus more on shorter spurts, totaling at least 10-15 minutes per day – every day.

Does that seem like too little time spent learning? It isn’t:

• Studying 10 minutes per day adds up (70 minutes per week ➡️ 6 hours per month ➡️ 72 hours per year), and over the long term, this can produce amazing results.
• These manageable sessions will help you establish the habit. If you want to study more, then by all means do! But remember that optimal study sessions range from 5 to 25 minutes because concentration does wane after a point.

Strategy #3: Use the power of a subscription

Do you have trouble working out regularly? Give yourself some financial motivation by purchasing a one-year gym membership. You’ll probably make a point of going, simply to avoid wasting your money. No one likes that!

In the same vein, you can opt for an annual subscription to a language learning course (we hope you’ll choose a MosaLingua course). This small yet mighty commitment will push you to study regularly.

Committing to something like this is very powerful because it helps us stay consistent when motivation inevitably wavers.

The 4th Law of Behavior Change: Make it Satisfying

The cardinal rule for making behavioral changes: Reward yourself right away

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear illustrates what he defines as “the cardinal rule” for positive behavior change:

“What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided.”

This law is based on a simple fact: our brains like instant gratification.

How else do you explain the fact that some people smoke, despite knowing that it increases their risk of developing illnesses later in life?

The immediate pleasure of the cigarette is stronger than the delayed punishment of illness. There’s little we can do to change this trait.

It’s pretty much the same for languages and other healthy habits. We know that it’s better to study than to scroll aimlessly on our phones. But one offers instant gratification, while the other is much farther in the future.

Thankfully, we can make this fact work in our favor!

Strategy #1: Make sure you get an immediate reward

The first way to make a habit more enjoyable is to link it to an immediate reward.

For example, you could say: after each learning session, I’ll reward myself with something I like. This could be eating or drinking something you like, watching a YouTube video, giving yourself 10 minutes of social media time, etc.

If you use MosaLingua, you know that you get an immediate reward after some study sessions, like bonuses with fun facts about the countries where your target language is spoken.

This way, in addition to the long-term reward—mastering your target language—you’ll also get some instant gratification every day.

Strategy #2: Track your habits

Tracking your habits is fundamental because it can provide you with an immediate reward. Having a visual reminder of your progress is very motivating.

The simplest way to do this is to use the “chain” technique: write an “X” on your calendar after each study session. After a while, you’ll have a nice visual streak going that you won’t want to break! There are other forms of visual tracking like progress bars, logs, etc.

In our courses and apps, we help you track your habits by displaying the number of consecutive days you’ve studied on the home screen and giving you access to your stats.

You can also use other apps to track your habits. Personally, I use HabitNow, but feel free to test a few to find one you like.

Strategy #3: Find a “guardian angel” to hold you accountable

This strategy is very simple: ask someone you know to become the “guardian angel” of your habit. With this person, you make a serious commitment to study your target language every day, and get a “penalty” if you don’t.

This way, if you break your habit, you will face two immediate negative consequences:

• you lose face with your guardian angel (and nobody likes that),
• you get the agreed-upon penalty (e.g. pay the guardian angel some money, do a chore you hate, etc.).

You can make this commitment verbally, but it’s best to do it in writing. A variation of this technique is to tell your friends and colleagues, on social media or in real life, that you’re learning a language. The power of public commitment will push you to keep going so you don’t lose face.

Conclusions about Atomic Habits: Now it’s your turn…

Now you hold all the keys to transforming your language learning into a powerful habit. Choose 2 or 3 three of the strategies listed above to start applying right away.

Don’t forget that it’s the sum of your daily efforts that will add up to your results. So start as soon as possible, and make every day count!