Buondì.
The Autumn/Fall Sale is over, thank goodness, as it’s been a lot of work for our team.
And yet there’s no rest for the wicked, as they say. This week I also start teaching a variety of English classes (kids and adults) for our 30-week academic year, which will end at the beginning of June 2022.
Oh well, it’ll get me out of the house, which after all the time spent at home during the pandemic is no bad thing at all.
That said, it’s at moments like this – when routines are changing, when I take on extra commitments – that my time spent reading, listening to and speaking foreign languages is most imperilled.
You’ll know the feeling I’m sure, as very likely our brains are running more or less the same software, give or take some minor differences between versions.
Things you’d intended to accomplish not getting done at the times when they would normally have happened, jobs getting left off the day’s already overstuffed ‘to do’ list, or worse, abandoned altogether…
I have no time to learn Italian, you lament.
I hear you, and know the feeling. I have no time to build my listening, reading and speaking skills in Spanish, French, Turkish or Swedish, especially while recovering from a stroke, tidying up after a Sale, and preparing for the beginning of an academic year.
And yet, it’s also at moments like this that our priorities can be reasserted, and new routines established, in ways that accommodate the things we have to do if we want to move closer to our goals.
Though who would want to add additional pressure to the overwhelm???
The trick then, and I write this after having employed it multiple times over the weekend, is to just do one small thing.
Listening to the news in the language you’re learning while preparing lunch, for example. Or browsing the headlines on that news app on your smartphone, while waiting for a meeting to get started, or for the bus to arrive. Or fixing a day/time to chat with your online teacher.
Do one small thing.
And then do another. And another. And another.
Take that approach and, pretty soon, you’ll be able to look back and notice that things are back to normal.
Or at least, to some sort of ‘new normal’ that respects your commitments, but also your objectives in life.
Though don’t think about that now.
Just do one small thing.
Do it today.
A mercoledì.
P.S.
For instance, you could subscribe to EasyItalianNews.com, or better still, send us a donation to help pay the site’s writers and hosting charges.
See who already has this month.
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Nicolás Adolfo says
Good afternoon, or evening already, perhaps, over there.
I normally read your mails late the day they arrive, but this time I managed to read it “early” (almost 10 a.m. over my end).
It was an inspiring reading, and a thing I’ve been trying to do for a long time: due to personal circumstances, I normally don’t make use of all the time I have available every day, which is upsetting and, you’ll guess, makes the burden even greater when it comes to trying to resume any activity.
Different professionals have tried to help me towards my habit building, but time and time again it’s my lack of motivation (as I call it) what puts a brake on my progress. Reading about someone with a similar issue regarding amount of activities yet with a clear outlook on the matter and actually succeeding in making use of his time towards his goals was refreshing.
I also study several languages, while doing many other things, including a long postponed undergraduate degree and related stuff, so if I could find the motivation to do my “chores” every time, I would definitely feel better about myself and everything else, plus eventually succeed in life, much as I think of yourself (someone who has been to different countries, has a business, has a family, etc.), which I guess is everyone’s goal in a broad sense.
Sorry for the long message. This was basically my way of saying thanks for your hard work.
Here’s hoping you have good health and continue being an example to people out there.
Hasta una eventual próxima instancia.
Daniel says
Start with small things that are quickly done. Repeat.
Build habits slowly if you want them to be easy to maintain.
One good tip is to replace things that waste your time (watching TV) with something that is more productive (reading in/listening to the language you’re learning), so you aren’t any busier but feel much more self-satisfied!
Small efforts done regularly pay back big-time over an extended period, a lot like investing spare cash…