S4E43: Start with the times you're in
Full transcript:
Good morning, happy Wednesday and welcome to the Language Confidence Project, the daily dose of language courage for people who love languages and those who really don’t, but have to learn one anyway. And before we start, this is just a quick heads up that this is the final week of season 4 of the LCP, I’m taking a break over the summer, and then I’ll be back on the 4th September for season 5.
So one of the things that people come to me about a lot is how to go about reconciling learning their language with everything else going on in their lives. They say, they know what their end goal is, they know how they’d reverse engineer that into a path of smaller goals and milestones, they’re going on this whole journey of learning what suits them and what sort of language learner they are… or what sort of language learner they would be. Except, they’re just so busy. They’ve got full times jobs, and families, and all these commitments, and they’re just kind of almost drowning in circumstances and duties and obligations and time and time again, they’re like “how am I supposed to carve my own path in all this noise?”.
And if this is you right now, I just want to give you permission to breathe. Your path is supposed to work around your life, not the other way around.
When we talk about learning a language or pursuing any other big goal in line with our personalities and our values, it does not mean we need to go all in. And it doesn’t mean that everything we do needs to be perfectly optimal. If we were learning our language in a vacuum, with unlimited support and resources, just, our pure personalities and points of fascination, I’m so sure we would all be doing things differently.
But what it does mean is, whatever you’re working around, keep that vision and your goals close. Even if you barely have a moment to spare, don’t forget them, don’t stop imagining them, and don’t stop inviting them into your life in small ways, even if that’s only five minutes a day, or bringing them firmly into your life the way it is, like listening to podcasts on your commute or dancing to songs in your new language with your tiny children.
One thing that’s always stuck with me is a lesson Carrie Green from the Female Entrepreneur Association taught me when she was talking about ideas that might take years to come to fruition. She said, when she has an idea, she imagines it being in her orbit.
And so now, I think about language learning in the same way. Sometimes when life is really hectic, when there’s a lot of pressure, when people need so much from you, or when you don’t feel like you’ve got a lot of control over your time and energy, it’s just about putting the ideas into your orbit and trusting that while this season of your life is really busy, things will settle down.
It’s not putting it off. It’s not making this a someday project. It’s building that vision now, banking those good ideas now, and touching base with your goals whenever you can, so that when a window of time or a bit more headspace becomes available, you’re not starting from zero.
So when you’re thinking about carving your own path in your language learning, start with the times you are in. Look really carefully at the season you’re in now, how much time you have, how much energy you have, what access to resources you have, and how much capacity you have for newness or pushing out of your comfort zone. Remember, the path you’re carving is supposed to fit the life you’re living now, as the person you are now, with all the circumstances that surround you now. So work with those things, don’t fight them. Protect yourself and protect your goals, and you will get there.
Have a wonderful day, and I will see you tomorrow.