Self-Discipline in English for Art Purposes

Educators need to know that task management tools that provide visual progress information can help creatives manage the acquisition of the many complementary skills needed to support creative careers, such as second language learning, business skills or grant writing.

(I.e. Things they don’t want to do, but have to do).

This article explores why visual information should not just be part of a system of ‘gamification,’ but a component of active and intentional goal setting.

Task management tools are good for acquiring English for Art Purposes – but only in a big-picture way.

They support, not replace, live teaching, coaching and real-world language experiences.

This article explores why, and its implications for:

  1. language studies within Art School education
  2. anyone learning English for Art Purposes.

In the companion article, I explore Why Committing to English Classes is Particularly Hard for Creatives.

The short answer is because they are thinking of other things…

artists aren't procrastinating graphic

Creatives Learn Differently

I recently shared an app I use for task management Tally, in a 2025 business planning Zoom session organised by a national business support organisation.

This organisation helps all kinds of micro-businesses, including a great proportion of creatives, because, in this part of rural Scotland, many micro-businesses are creative businesses.

It was guest-led by a business motivation professional, someone used to mentoring executives and entrepreneurs through planning and goal setting.

I shared the app because I was specifically asked how I keep track of the daily, weekly & monthly admin tasks my business needs, which I do not enjoy doing, but which I stay on top of (more or less) and others struggle with.

screenshot task management tool tally

Active Learning

The creatives in the group leaned in and asked questions, but the chat was shut down.

Find your own systems, he advised.

They don’t all need to be as gamified as that.

This business coach had missed that the creative business owners need a different information delivery style from the others in the group (the learner type he was used to).

Active and inquiry-led learning builds neurological pathways, making it engaging, memorable and real.

It’s proven effective for everyone, but for many visual thinkers, it’s essential.

Being unable to listen for long stretches is detrimental to conventional language education. 

It’s one of the reasons Why Classrooms Don’t Work for Art School English Lessons.

Artists, designers and visual thinkers need regular opportunities to see, touch, try, make and do woven into our education systems for effective learning.  

Goal Setting for Artists

Making statistical information visual is not gamification so much as a way of making stressful information easier to compute, and less scary.

This makes visual task management tools almost essential to sustainable task management if we (the creatives) have any underlying reluctance to do the task.

The expert was right in his advice to find our own systems, he just failed to recognise in a conversation about overwhelm, this digression was not just relevant, but a result.

“For artists, visual information processing tools are like a left-handed chef finally finding a left-handed kitchen to work within.

Visual information is intuitive, natural and easy to us creatives: and apps that use good graphics or pleasant visuals offer paths to navigating systems which naturally disadvantage us (and have, over time, made us fearful)”.

Ruth Pringle, 2025 

Artists Don’t Need Gamification

Thinking that artists, creatives and visual thinkers need gamification to be motivated misses the deeper point.

We don’t need the fake badges and mini dopamine hits to get things done.

I don’t use Tally because it makes a noise when I click it.

I use it because I can tell in one glance what needs doing: what has become urgent through neglect.

Infographics and visual progress tracking can support our accountability, and our learning journey, but they won’t trick us into learning.

Creatives need sincerity and simplicity before we can manage tasks autonomously.

This means art education institutions cannot pass their language education over to one single digital platform and expect to get lasting language results (no matter how handy it is for their school admin).

Task Management for Creative Careers

Artists and creatives need education systems designed around their priorities, and how they best think and process.

Tools like Tally can give a visual plan: an overall big picture immediately in our language.

For us, unlike the rest of the world, that’s rarely a spreadsheet (they fill us with fear), which means there is rarely a 5-year plan, a 1-year plan or a goal set for any additional learning, a huge disadvantage to managing a creative career.

Task Management Tools in Language Learning

The business expert was right to say goal setting is essential to a successful career, sustainable language learning, and good business management – perhaps anything requiring a long-term commitment.

It’s only recently that we have tools like this to help translate from ‘real world’ into ‘artist’.

Quite simply, visual information can help us understand how the stuff we don’t want to do fits into what we want to achieve.

Statistics: finally in our language!

There’s never been a better time to be a visual-thinking language learner!   

Do: find the right task management tools to optimise your language learning in English for Art Purposes.

Don’t: expect them to be all on one done-for-you platform like Duolingo.

Find Your Dream Combination

Consider combining task management tools for language learning. Here are a few suggestions:

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Time block

Time block regular language learning time slots in your calendar.

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Set a timer

Set a timer to create 20 minutes of active work (much better than 1 hour of daydreaming). 

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Use a pen and notepad

Making vocabulary lists is both visual and useful.

You could limit this to just Phrasal Verbs (which are best learned in context).

(I’ve put them in italics here on this page).  

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Use an Activity Tracker App

Make your effort and progress visible.

Set a goal to measure your progress. 

No one ‘just swims’ 28 miles in the sea, but people swim The Chanel every day.