In Chapter 2, Jared talks about his ‘learning years’ during which he was constantly changing what he did to learn. His persistence in finding ways to meet his changing needs as a learner was crucial to gaining competence in Japanese. The theme of motivation is continued in Sensei’s Tips. Motivation is the key to sustaining learning until you reach a satisfying level of proficiency. Here, the pillars of motivation – reasons, effort and persistence – are discussed.