Use Tangential Immersion to Learn More In Less Time
How to be more productive, without changing your schedule
You have at least three extra hours every week for learning a new skill.
You may not know it, but it’s true.
I’m not even talking about the time you spend staring in the air or scrolling mindlessly on your phone.
I want you to think about the time you use for important, everyday chores.
Cooking, cleaning, folding laundry, ironing…
Those tasks that require little attention and yet take up so much time.
One way to approach them is to be a responsible adult and slog through them like a champ.
Interestingly, research has found that this kind of persistence makes you more likely to abandon tasks prematurely. [1]
The sheer boredom that comes from low-attention tasks makes you rush through them, yielding shabby results.
But what if there’s a better way?
Is there a way to perform these tasks meticulously and, as an added bonus, create additional learning time?
The answer is yes.
And there’s a fancy term for it: tangential immersion.
Even if you don’t know what it’s called, you’ve probably already been using it in some way or form.
In this article, I’m going to share ways to use this method more effectively to meet your learning goals faster.
A two-in-one solution for harnessing productivity
Tangential immersion is a form of distraction.
But not all distractions are bad.
When someone’s in pain, they could use some form of distractive task to reduce discomfort. [2]
With the use of tangential immersion, you’re capturing unused attention that is inherent to some boring ‘primary’ task.
Here, the primary task is the main thing you need to get done.
That could be cooking, cleaning, brushing your teeth, etc.
The secondary/tangential task is an additional task you choose to do concurrently.
To help you meet your learning goals faster, this task should ideally help with some learning.
Example: Listening to a conversation podcast as a language learner.
Key things to note:
- The primary task should demand minimal attention. This can be because it’s either really simple or frequently performed.
- The secondary task should not be overly engaging (more on this later).
- Together, both tasks should be integrated seamlessly and should not exceed your attention capacity.
Now that we have the rules laid out, let’s talk about what’s really important.
How can you start using tangential immersion for learning productivity?
Identify low-attention tasks in your regular schedule
This step is obvious.
There are many activities you carry out in your day-to-day without any thought.
Start looking at these activities as opportunities.
Some questions that can help you find low-attention tasks:
- What times do I usually find my mind drifting, out of boredom? This suggests that you have excess attention that is not captured while carrying out those tasks.
- Which activities do I wish I could get over with as fast as possible, even though they are important?
Once you find these tasks and get a fair idea of the amount of time you need to perform them, you can choose a fitting secondary task to pair them with.
Decide on an appropriate secondary task (learning oriented)
Most people simply play music in the background to capture excess attention while doing low-attention tasks, like using the treadmill.
This helps increase persistence, but not as much as immersive secondary tasks like listening to or watching an immersive video.
With tangential immersion, the tangential task you choose should be fun — something you enjoy — so you don’t defeat the whole purpose of helping you persist during the primary task.
However, the secondary task should also not be overly engaging, like watching an action-packed thriller.
You don’t want to stop in the middle of scrubbing your bathroom floor to go sit and watch the movie to the end.
Also, for most activities like cooking or ironing, the secondary activity should preferably be hands-off.
That means that most of your options would involve learning by listening, watching, and/or speaking.
For language learning:
- Conversation podcasts: e.g., the Duolingo podcast, Easy Spanish, Radio Ambulante.
- Perfecting your pronunciation. You can do this by listening, pausing, and imitating native speakers. I’ve had to repeat ‘Eduardo’ and ‘izquierda’ more times than I care to admit, before I could get the pronunciations right.
- Reading. But don’t cut yourself in the kitchen! This is slightly more difficult with some tasks where you need to keep your eyes on what you’re doing.
Most other skills:
- Listening to podcasts/audiobooks on what’s new and emerging in the field.
- TedTalks related to the topics of interest.
- Audio quizzes. If you can’t find a readily available quiz for your subject in audio format, compile a bunch of questions in a PDF format. Then, use the ‘Read Aloud’ function in Adobe Acrobat/Microsoft Edge (or any other tool) for reading them aloud as you perform your primary task. Listen and try to provide answers as you go.
Pre-planning
Always prepare the materials you intend to use for tangential immersion ahead of time.
Particularly for me, this is very necessary.
I can be indecisive sometimes, so I usually plan my podcast lists ahead of time so that I don’t waste an extra 20 minutes deciding what I want to listen to.
Download files or keep them on your device so that you just need to hit play once you’re ready to go.
Outro
Distracting yourself is necessary sometimes.
Tangential immersion allows you to persist during boring tasks using fun learning-related secondary tasks.
Do you already use this productivity tricks?
Please share other suggestions you use for tangential immersion with me. I’d love to learn what works for you.
If you’re interested in reading more like this, go here.
Happy learning!
In May, I will begin a free newsletter series called “DIY Learning,” where I write about how to learn anything effectively and productively, on your own terms.
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References
[1] Lieberman, A., Morales, A. C., & Amir, O. (2022). Tangential immersion: Increasing persistence in boring consumer behaviors. Journal of Consumer Research, 49(3), 450–472.
[2] Eccleston, C., & Crombez, G. (1999). Pain demands attention: A cognitive–affective model of the interruptive function of pain. Psychological bulletin, 125(3), 356.
