The Hoarding Villain

If you're learning a new language, then you need to know that six villains are out to get you.

Yes, these evil characters will stop at nothing in their quest to prevent you ever becoming fluent in your new language.

But, who are they and how do they lure you into their seductive traps? And, most importantly, how do you stop them dead in their tracks? 

Let's dive into Villain number three and vanquish him forever. After all, your language learning success depends on it.

When you're ready, make sure you check out the other villains:

1. The Grammar Villain
2. The App Villain
3. The Comparison Villain
4. The Inconsistency Villain
5. The Fear Villain

Who Is The Hoarding Villain?

Take a good look around your bookshelves… in your desk… behind the pot plant… wherever you study your languages. How many textbooks do you see?

Which apps are lurking on your phone? How many courses are hiding on your laptop?

Far too many, I'm sure. 

I'm willing to bet that the cunning Hoarding Villain has been sitting on your shoulder each time you visit a bookstore and on every trip to Amazon. Even when you're browsing through the language blogs, he's there, inventing compelling reasons why you should buy THAT THING right now!

How Does He Work?

Is that really a problem? Surely it's not a bad thing to have some useful resources on hand when you're learning a new language. After all, they're bound to come in handy one day.

The Hoarding Villain whispers sweet suggestions into your ear. “You need this! Buy it now! It'll come in handy one day, for sure!” 

So, you whip out your credit card, and before you know it, there's another book on the shelf, or another course in the cloud and our cunning villain is rubbing his hands in glee. Because he understands that with so many resources available, you'll never be able to focus on the job in hand.

Why Does He Get Away With It?

That's right! The Hoarding Villain knows all too well that instead of settling on one resource, you'll skip from one to another. This book today, that course tomorrow; never doing the one thing necessary to make progress.

He's grinning because he knows that the key to learning languages is to focus and concentrate on one thing at a time. But when you're distracted by your hoard, our villain wins again.

He's evil, and he must be stopped today.

How Can You Defeat The Hoarding Villain? 

Whether you're a beginner, intermediate or advanced learner, you can make one simple change to send that Hoarding Villain packing. 

Take one language book down from your shelf — the one that's the best fit for you right now. Then, HIDE everything else. Literally, put it out of sight and out of mind.

Now, work through your book from beginning to end.

The Hoarding Villain has no power over you when you're laser-focused. You'll get the full benefit from that one book or course. You can go further and learn much more than you ever would by jumping from one thing to the next.

Concentrate With Story Learning

I designed the Story Learning method to be built around a story because it makes the job of focusing super easy for you. 

Your job is simply to make it to the end of the story; the learning takes care of itself.

You'll probably be a lot happier too because the temptation has disappeared. No longer can you say “What will I work on today?” 

You already know your task. And when you reach the end, it feels terrific. It's motivating. Suddenly, you can't wait to do even more.

So, I guarantee that when you defeat the Hoarding Villain and concentrate on one resource, you'll make a giant leap forward in your language learning journey.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.