Do the thing

Last week I was talking to Joseph, a student from Alaska who challenged himself to learn Spanish in 90 days. We met in March when he was celebrating his 50th day streak and have kept in touch since then, way past that initial goal.

It turns out that although he made serious progress by studying on his own and taking lessons everyday for 90 days with tutors from different Spanish speaking countries, that was not enough to really learn the language.

Instead of giving up and saying it’s just not possible and moving on to another thing, he kept at it. If there’s a quality that will take you far in language learning, that’s consistency.

At some point into the lesson we mentioned something about the big difference between preparing to do something and doing something.

He mentioned a video, which I got from him after the lesson.

I think it’s a great video to take with you whenever you take on a new challenge:

And? Ready to do the thing or do you prefer to delay it?

See you around next time!

You might also want to read these articles:

• On Huevos and Pelotas
  Rich metaphors await to those who dare to read this post.
• False expectations are deadly
  In language learning, false expectations can do real damage. Here’s why patience and perseverance win the race.
• Argentinian Spanish vs Mexican Spanish
  In the past, I compared Argentinian Spanish to Peninsular Spanish and Uruguayan Spanish. Here’s the long due AR / MX comparison.
• Cognates and False Friends
  Learn about cognates and false cognates so they don’t surprise further down in your Spanish learning journey.
• Cancherear
  Dive into the nuances of the word ‘canchero’ and how ‘cancherear’ can make or break a moment.
• Hacer una vaquita
  I’m not going to argue how ridiculous this phrase may sound at first. Let me just tell you what it means in Argentina.