S6E29: Stop looking for tips and tricks! ;)

Full transcript:

Good morning, happy Thursday 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 just a reminder, the Language Confidence Project is now on YouTube too, with daily videos of encouragement to help you make language learning more creative, compassionate and meaningful! So please support me by subscribing, the link is in the shownotes, by liking my videos and if you do happen to stop by, I would love if you could like my video or leave a comment. It makes such a huge difference in helping more people to find my work, and word of mouth is absolutely the best way to get more people to know that The Language Confidence Project exists and help me to help them too.

And today, I’m just popping in to give you a bit of a push and remind you that you do know what you’re doing today, and you don’t need any more language tips to help you optimise it, plan it, or do it. So get off the internet, get off whatever forum you’re on, whatever social media, and trust yourself. 

You know what you need to do.

You know what’s on your list.

There is not a tip or trick that you’re missing.

There’s no rule that you’re not following. 

Go and do the thing.

Sometimes, advice is exactly what we need. But sometimes, it keeps us stuck. We hang around, kind of suspended, waiting for some flash of brilliance that will kickstart our day and it doesn’t come. So how do I know when I need advice and when I just, want some kind of advice packaged comfort? Well, my diagnostic test is: Am I looking for an answer to a specific question right now? And if yes, is that answer essential to me getting started?

Most of the time, I’m not, and anyway, it’s not.

It’s just that my big goal is scary and it’s easy to feel like I’m being productive and I am learning while I’m leafing through other people’s hot takes. But the reason it feels so safe is that we aren’t feeling uncomfortable. And we aren’t feeling uncomfortable because… well… we aren’t doing the work.

You already have everything you need.

So get going. 

If you'd like some company while studying your language, I’d love to invite you to join my creative Patreon community. We meet monthly to discuss all things language, productivity, and the world, and depending on the tier you choose, you could also join us for weekly co-working and co-studying in the Creative Space, and get personalised advice in the monthly Q&A. I’d love for you to join us.

Good luck, language learners, and I will see you tomorrow.