Language Learning: Over and Underrated Ways to Motivate Yourself
How the right “why” keeps you showing up for years
How pure is your language learning conviction? Or how pure is your current endeavor? (Not all my readers are language learners, but similar principles apply).
As adults, we crave those pure childlike convictions that transcend “rational” norms. I think about how my 2014-era self in Boston wanted to live in Australia more than anything in life. I wanted this path so badly, that I slept in my architecture office on an air mattress behind the filing cabinet to save on sky-high Boston rent.
I had to leave the office by 5:50 AM every single morning, so none of the other tenants would ask questions. Then I would work out and shower at the local YMCA gym. After ordering a large Dunkin iced coffee with butter pecan flavoring and the morning sun hitting my face, I would come back to the office for work at 9:00 AM.
There were a lot of lonely nights at the office looking out over the traffic on the Mass Pike (I-90) imagining my future life in Australia. I watched the traffic at night so often, I contemplated why the cars were so evenly spaced out. How did everyone at all hours of the night decide to leave their houses in near-perfect intervals?
