You want to take Online French lessons, but you don’t know if you can find the time to do it. It's true that learning a new language is a time commitment, but so are other things that we make time for like exercising, doing the dishes, or playing video games. Why should achieving a personal goal be anything but equal to these things?It's no secret that we put our own priorities at the bottom of the list more often than not. It's easy to do. The consequences of putting off our own goals, needs, and wants are less immediate than when we put off other things. So how can you make time for your French lessons? Here are a few things you can do to help ensure that you find the time and that you use that time for learning French as well!

1. Commit to it.

How often have you decided to learn something new or start a new habit only to give up after a few weeks? For many of us, we do it at least once a year with our New Year's resolutions. I know I do it frequently. The nice thing is that if I keep trying, I will eventually get it right!So what can you do to help yourself truly commit to taking the time to meet with your online French tutor? It may help to have another reason for learning French other than that you just want to learn it. For example, would knowing French help you in your present job or future career? If you can tell yourself that it is for work, it may be easier to make it a priority. If that doesn’t help, plan a trip to France, even if it is 5 years out. That will give you plenty of time to learn the language and gives you a concrete reason for learning. Oftentimes, taking it from an abstract desire to a concrete goal is all you need to be able to make it a priority.

2. Minimize distractions.

How much time do you suppose distractions account for each day? Fifteen or twenty minutes? You may be surprised to know that it can take up to 15 minutes to recover each time you are interrupted. Think about the things that distract you in your daily life. Do you have notifications on your phone? Consider going through and eliminating all of the non-essential ones, like games, social media, etc. Do the people you live with suddenly want to talk to you when you are trying to do something else? Maybe you need to go to a different room and lock the door. Hang a Do Not Disturb sign if you need to!Eliminating things that pull your attention away from the task at hand throughout the day can help you be more productive. In turn, you will have more time to spend on your personal goals, like learning French, of course!

3. Make it routine.

One of the most effective ways to help you stick to your goal is by adding it to your daily routine. Try to find a time that you can consistently do your French through the week. You may have extra time in the morning before work for lessons and book them Monday through Friday, which would be a great way to add it to your routine and make it a daily habit. You could even step it up a notch and study independently on Saturday and Sunday mornings. If you add your French lessons to your daily routine, it will become a habit, and habits can be good! Repetition and consistency are your best friends when learning French. Doing it each and every day will help you gain fluency faster and help you maintain it once you have achieved it. The old adage, “use it or lose it” is true of language too.

4. Rearrange your schedule.

You may find that you have to change you schedule to make time for your French lessons. Make sure you are being realistic when you do this. For example, you would not want to schedule your French lessons before work if you are someone who likes to hit snooze and sleep in as much a possible. If you are a night owl, schedule your lessons in the evening after things calm down. Perhaps your lunch hour is the only real free time you have during the day. Think about packing your lunch a few days a week and spending half of your lunch taking a lesson. It is hard to make ourselves a priority, but what if it were someone else? Would you spend part of your lunch time helping your kid or best friend succeed at something? Then why not yourself?

5. Hold yourself accountable.

One of the great things about taking French lessons with a tutor is that you are accountable to that person. You have someone relying on you to show up and do your part. We can often justify skipping out on our personal goals to ourselves, but it is usually much harder to face another person and explain to them why you can’t do it. Being accountable also helps keep you on track. I know that if I were to make a personal goal to learn one new French word a day, it would be easy for me to neglect it here and there. But if I had someone who expected me to know these 7 new words a week, I would have a lot more incentive to learn them all.

6. Eliminate something else.

When it all comes down to it, you may find that your life is so full and busy that you just can’t make room for lessons. Well, how badly do you want to learn French? If it is not a high priority in your life right now, then that is one thing. But if it is something you really want to do, maybe there is something less important to you that you can sacrifice for it. It doesn’t have to be a painful sacrifice. Maybe you spend a lot of time cleaning up the house. If you live with other people, why not make them help out? You may be sacrificing their warm fuzzy feelings toward you, but I think the satisfaction of being able to speak a second language will make up for it. Think about the things you are doing right now that you don’t have to be doing. Are there things that you can get help with or have other people do for you? Are there things you can simply eliminate?

7. Make it fun.

You are more likely to stick with learning French if it is something you enjoy doing. Think of ways that you can have fun with your French lessons. It could be something simple like listening to a new French song with your tutor and using it to learn vocabulary and culture. If you enjoy Entertainment News, find some in French and try to read it for understanding. If you love to cook, try to follow a French recipe. There are endless ways to make learning French more fun. Just think of what you enjoy doing, and then try to do it in French!