S4E8: Use what’s good enough
Full transcript:
Good morning and welcome to the LCP, the daily dose of language courage for people who love languages, and those who really don’t, but have to learn one anyway. And today is a super quick episode with a super quick reminder, that, it’s okay to use what’s good enough.
When I’m writing these episodes, I’m always mindful of the possibility that the conversation around carving your own path, if it catches us wrong, can actually put extra pressure on. Sometimes, all the talk around working out what suits you, optimising your time, and making your language learning your own can make you feel like it’s your responsibility to find the things that are perfect for you. The very best resources, the perfect routine, a system that matches every part of us.
Settling for what’s available becomes almost… taboo.
And if we don’t know what we want, or we can’t have it, it feels like we’re doing it all wrong.
But that is never what this conversation is supposed to be about.
You’re not looking for perfect. So don’t stop yourself starting just because you haven’t found the perfect things yet. Don’t waste time looking for perfect before you can get going. Use what’s good enough until you find something better, and then replace it.
And this is something Oliver Burkeman says in his book 4000 Weeks, and it’s always stuck with me. He says “the decision to refuse to settle– to spend time restlessly scouring for better – is also a case of settling, because you’re opting to use your limited time in a different sort of less-than-ideal situation.” And what that means is, you could be learning your language at 60% efficiency using a method that’s 60% of the way right for you. But if you spend that time telling yourself that you can’t start because none of the options around you are optimal, panicking that the perfect tool never seems to materialise, you’re not learning the language you want to learn at all, and that’s a worse case of settling.
Using what’s good enough is not giving up hope that something better exists out there somewhere. It’s also not you letting yourself down as your own teacher or mentor. It’s about committing to start the journey with what you have, and knowing you’ll level up as you go. Carving your own path is often something you do one step at a time. You don’t need to have the full roadmap and bursting inventory right from the start.
So if there’s anything you have putting off, anything where you’ve been telling yourself it’s not worth starting yet because the resources aren’t there, the strategy isn’t finalised or the conditions aren’t right… today is your permission slip to just see what you can do with what’s immediately available. It might not be optimal, but optimal is overrated. Optimal is the icing on the cake. What you’re doing is good enough, it can be refined at any time, as soon as new information becomes available, and most importantly it is so much better than waiting.
And if you like what I do, come and talk to me! Leave a comment on today’s episode on a positit on Instagram, send me a DM, or even better, book a call as part of the 100 Conversations Project with me! This year, I would love to speak to 100 listeners of the Language Confidence Project, to meet you, to hear about how your language journey is going, and to find out what carving your own path means to you. It’s a really informal 30 minute Zoom chat over tea or coffee or whatever beverage you should like to bring, it’s completely free, and we can just hang out and chat about languages. If you would like to book a call, I have a Calendly link in the shownotes, and it’s also in my Instagram bio at @teawithemily.
Have a wonderful day, and I will see you tomorrow.