The 3 Foundations of Language Mastery
Happy New Year! I hope your 2022 is off to a great start. In this first episode of the year, I would like to experiment with a new format. I have some exciting interviews lined up in the coming weeks, but I’d like to kick things off with a new segment called The 3 Foundations of Mastery. If you already subscribe to my Language Mastery Monday newsletter, you will already be familiar with this framework. If not, what are you waiting for? Head over to LanguageMastery.com/newsletter to get expert tips and tools in your inbox each week. So what are the three foundations and why do they matter? Foundation 1 is Mastering Your Mind, which means conquering fears and self-limiting beliefs that are blocking your path to fluency. Foundation 2 is Mastering Your Day, which involves building better habits and learning more efficiently. Foundation 3 is Mastering Your Environment, which means creating your own immersion wherever you happen to live. One of the biggest lessons I have learned over the last 20 plus years of learning and teaching foreign languages is that you can't master a language unless you also master your mind, your day, and your environment. Harnessing your psychology, wrangling your schedule, and designing your learning environment can each be extremely difficult, especially in our modern world of distraction and instant gratification. But master these three foundations you must if you want to have any chance of getting fluent in a foreign tongue. These factors are what really make learning languages difficult. The languages themselves are learned more or less automatically if you show up and give your brain the input it needs. (And yes, get tons of active practice, too, of course.) But YOU have to constantly decide to show up and put in the time instead of choosing easier activities that provide a more immediate hit of dopamine and serotonin (Netflix + Cherry Garcia, anyone?). Language learning can provide these “feel-good” hormones, too, but the rewards live on the other side of much more time and effort. So to help you win this mental battle, I will be sharing powerful principles and short, actionable tips each week that will help you develop the mindset, habits, and environment you need to learn any language, anywhere. Ready? Let's get started! Listen to today's episode to hear this week's tips for mastering your mind, day, and environment.