S5E36: Foundation-building is essential work

Full transcript:

Good morning, happy Monday 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 today, if you started with a gusto, and now you’re worrying that the results aren’t coming fast enough, this is the episode for you.

And I think this is something that all of us around here can relate to, whether this is our first foreign language or one in a line of many, and whether we’re at the beginning of our entire language journey or just at the beginning of a new assignment, project, or phase of our language life. And that is the bit where you’ve done the initial planning, you’ve had your great idea and you’ve done the very basics, and now you’ve just got to do the work.

And you know that down the line, you might get to do some really interesting stuff. All the things that are promised to you far down the line are exciting, are good, are worth it, either because they’re really fun and freeing in themselves, or because they’ll bring you  directly to something else that you really want. Down the line, it all looks great. But between then and now, there is just… work.

You can’t do the complex ideas bit yet. You can’t do the creative bit yet. You can’t make great things and have enlightening conversations and be the expert you want to be. And if you’re anything like me, what you miss more than anything is the comfort and reassurance of having hours of your day where you can just sit down at your desk and feel like a person who knows what they’re doing. Who can do on autopilot, who can just do productivity by reverting to protocol rather than questioning and strategising and wondering if it’s right.

And it’s hard, and it’s uncertain, and you’re just impatient for the next milestone.

It’s hard to feel that much uncertainty again.

But you’re not lost. You’re not failing. It’s not that you’re not cut out for this or any of the things your inner critic is currently whispering in your ear. No, it’s nothing to do with that. You’re back at the stage where you’re building a foundation. And if this is you today, I just wanted to pop in with a quick reminder to look for the beauty in this stage too. Because you’re at the start of something new, where there are so many possibilities. You’re at the stage where you can experiment freely with what you want to do, how you want to do it, how you want to allocate your time, the space for dreaming, to use the Martha Beck phrase, is huge. And even though you don’t necessarily get instant rewards in the foundation building time, this is a brief phase of your journey, it’s not the whole journey, but the work you put in now will serve you through the whole of the rest of journey and you’ll feel its effects day after day.

So if you feel like you’re on a bit of a treadmill of the basics at the moment, in whatever you’re doing, keep going. Keep setting and keeping those routines. Keep working at it, even if it’s boring. Don’t let the frustration get to you or get lured away by comforting and familiar distractions. I know it’s boring. I know it’s frustrating. But remember what you’re doing this for. Remember what this thing is going to get you, what it’s going to allow you to do and whatever you do, do not lose sight of that thing.

Have a wonderful day, and I will see you tomorrow.