I was driving a Brazilian friend's friend to the other side of the country today, and of course we spoke English, one of the first things I told them was my portuguese is really bad.
So instead of me having 2.5 hours of practice we spoke in English.
On the way home I was listening to some personal development Cd's by Tony Robbins and 2 things really hit home, one was about following through with our plans to get to the finish, how we should do at least 1 thing each day that moves us closer to our goal, and that creates momentum and quicker progression.
The second thing was about what motivates us to do or not do things and it's the balance of pain and pleasure, for me the pain of looking stupid trying to talk in portuguese knowing I'm not getting the grammar right or not pronouncing words correctly or not understanding what someone says to me is much bigger than the pleasure of getting better and eventually becoming fluent in portuguese and the opportunities that will bring.
So I need to change that, I need to see the mistakes I make as part of the learning process and not some huge embarrassment
You're right Matt. But to reach the ideal balanca of pleasure and pain is not something that comes easily. Of course, the harder you try, the faster you'll get there.
Keep it up :)
Hi Matt,
You have to think that it ´s like a " piece of cake". If it serves as a comfort ... I thought it when I wanted to learn chinese. :) so... wan shang hao
I need to improve my english, if you want we can help each other...
see you
Felipe
Hi Matt,
I commend you for trying in spite of your pain. I once spent a half hour with my landlord in Germany as he tirelessly went through all manners of gesturing, running to the living room to grap objects and even dragging his daughter into to the room in order to say something that otherwise would have taken 2 minutes.
Near the beginning I was very uncomfortable (until he gave me a glass of wine) but as the conversation progressed I became more relaxed and amused and found that amazingly, my ability to understand went up dramatically.
This could be your goal, like a long distance runner, you want to fight through the pain of discomfort (and the pleasure that stopping would give) to go after the more lasting and useful pleasure that can come with finishing the race.
You are right to go after the pleasure of being able to speak and understand in spite of the discomfort. It might help you to have a clear picture of what that pleasure would look like, how you would feel, how you might laugh and enjoy the sounds of the words or even your own actions.
This is a powerful tool because it will help you to uproot limiting beliefs that are holding you back and help you to pursue your goal as a clear pleasure.
If you are interested in seeing more on how these beliefs in the usefulness of different pleasures influences our lives take a look at the post: Pleasure is the highest good https://pleasureworks.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/pleasureworks/
Te entendo completamente, Matt. Eu fico com receio de praticar o ''speak'' por medo de errar. Nós podemos treinar juntos pelo Skype, se você quiser.
Abraço,
Nadieli.
The most important thing is to put your feelings on your stuffs, this makes everything more easy to handle.
