This is part of a series covering my challenge of learning Arabic in 2 months. I’m using lots of Peak Performance techniques and sharing them along the way. The series is filed in the “Language Challenge” category.

The Holographic Mind

Scientists have shown that different parts of the brain are responsible for different activities. The frontal lobe is responsible for cognition, speech, problem solving and complex motor movements. The temporal lobe is responsible for visual and verbal memory, smell and hearing in different frequencies. And so on.

Subsequent neuro-scientific research into brain plasticity has found that despite this specialisation, there is a certain holographic quality to the brain, whereby if one area is damaged, it is possible to retrain the brain so that other parts of the brain take on that “job function”.  (See references below for further reading).

So, what does this have to do with learning Arabic?

From a broad perspective, it shows that different activities, such as reading, writing and speaking, are processed in different ways and that if you’re not terribly good at something, it’s possible to call in help from other parts of your brain. I suppose in some ways, you could say that ability is a learned response.

There is a lot going on in the brain and most of the time, it happens without us even being aware of it. Your brain helps you raise your arm to put food into your mouth. It helps you to feel outrage when you see an injustice happening. At some point, you trained it to do these things, but you didn’t necessarily do it consciously. Somehow, the brain has enough ways to communicate with all parts of itself that it takes what it experiences in the world through all your senses, and translates it into what you *expect* it to translate it into.

Over-using the mind through habit and repetition

I don’t remember the actual process by which I learnt to read, write and speak my first language. What I do remember is that by the age of 5, I was speaking a mixture of Hindi, Punjabi, Swahili and English and at that age, I had no idea that these were four different languages. My little child brain had taken the information being fed to me from the world around me and translated it into what little child me *expected* it to translate into.

Now, “people” say that adult brains are not as receptive as child brains and that learning a new language is not easy, even impossible, for an adult.

And yes, as we get older, we do over-use parts of our brains to the point that they encroach on the “brain space” for other activities. For example, a postman who has been delivering letters for 40 years will be an excellent reader but he processes what he reads in a different way to a poet who is also an excellent reader and has been writing for 40 years. The postman reads the words “Beechwood Close” and in his minds eye sees a task, a map, a route and immediately starts planning how to incorporate it into his round. The poet reads the words “Beechwood Close” and it becomes a different sensory experience as he creates his own story and emotions around them.

There are no such stories and emotions for the postman and the poet has no map or task in his mind. The areas that their brain considers non-essential (because they are rarely used) have weakened in size.

Because of the holographic and plastic nature of the brain, both the poet and postman can extend their mental reach into the areas that they have “forgotten” about through lack of use. All they need is a will and a way.

Using what you already know to help make what you don’t know something that you do know

I have not studied a language since I was at school. So certain areas of my mind need re-activation.

As a child, I simply took what was in front of me and allowed it to “do it’s thing” in my head. Adults are full of assumptions and presuppositions that kind of limit what they allow themselves to discover. Adults sometimes forget that they have an advantage – they can use their life-experience to tap into past experiences and know-how to make re-activation nice and simple.

Over time we all develop preferred ways of processing information. Identifying these optimum ways of processing information will accelerate my learning because I can concentrate on what I know works. Unlike a child trying to process everything in range, I gain the luxury of strategy and focus.

As you read the rest of this article, remember that your optimum ways of processing information may well be different from mine. As I describe what I am doing, look into yourself to see how you can capitalise on what you already do in order to make a new skill easier to achieve.

Reading

Technically, reading involves recognising shapes and associating a meaning to them. I do not need to know which lobes of my brain are doing this. It would be useful however to know how I am attaching meaning to the shapes I see.

I think of the word “Cat” (in English). With the eyes of my mind, I see a furry, smiley black cat that belongs to a witch. The word “cat” is superimposed on this image and I can spell “cat” by looking at the letters.

I think of the word “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and with the eyes of my mind, I see Mary Poppins dancing around and singing. The word is easy to spell because again, it’s superimposed on this image and I can “see” it.

Now, I think of a word I have trouble spelling. “Stationary”. Or is it “Stationery”?? Bleugh. With the eyes of my mind, I see myself doing a spelling test at a recruitment agency for a Summer job that I don’t want. I’m bored, unhappy and for some reason, my success hinges on this stupid word. And you guessed it, this word is not superimposed on this image. It’s there, but it’s broken up with bits of it all over the “screen” and it’s a struggle to make the pieces fit.

From this, I know that in order to attach a meaning to a (correctly spelt) word, my mind needs to attach it to a “happy” picture. Knowing this, I can now take all these new Arabic words and phrases I am learning and make a conscious effort to attach them to a “happy picture” as I learn them. If I do it the way my mind wants me to do it, there’s a good chance it’ll work beautifully.

So now I find that when I think of an English word e.g. “yoghurt”, my English mind sees a strawberry flavoured Ski yoghurt. My Arabic mind however sees a yoghurt pot on a shelf in Spinney’s, a supermarket in the Sahara Mall in Sharjah. And SUCCESS!, the word superimposed on this image is the Arabic word for yoghurt, written in arabic!! Now, my fluency isn’t all that great yet and I do have to concentrate to spell the word out in Arabic – but the key thing is that it’s there and I CAN see it, read it and spell it.

By the way, my Hindi mind sees my Mum’s home-made yoghurt in a pan in the fridge. Interesting how the same word is represented by different images in the mind depending on the language I’m thinking in.

Try this one for yourself – what happens in your mind when you think about a word to spell? Do you see it the way I do or is it different for you? It can take a few tries to get used to noticing something that usually happens automatically and unconsciously, but stick with it.

Writing

Writing is the process by which your thoughts are made readable. This is a completely different skill-set from Reading.

In order to write, my mind has to:

1. Create the thought
2. Find words to represent that thought
3. Identify the grammatical structure for the sentence
4. Identify the spelling for the word

My vocabulary in Arabic is not quite up to getting past step 2 yet and Arabic grammatical structure is completely different from English. So currently the best way to write is through copying sentences in my tutorial book. And this is fine because what I am getting through this is fluidity and familiarity. My letters are becoming neater (thanks to a tip from a friend who advised me to write the letters as small as possible). I am also thinking about the grammatical structure of what I am copying. The typos in the book don’t help but it makes me happy that I am able to spot them!

Speaking

Speaking is the vocal translation of your thoughts. The steps involved are similar to that in Writing with the practical difference that speaking is more forgiving than writing. I am not studying Arabic to exam standard so I can afford to enjoy the fact that body language can do some of my talking for me. I do need to watch this though in case it makes me lazy. Ensuring I work on my speaking skills every day will help me keep pace with my growing vocabulary.

Speaking in an authentic accent is important to me. Ordinarily, I have an even London accent – but when I am upset, excited or emotional, my Croydon roots show themselves as a distinct South London flavour modifies my voice. This indicates to me that initial exposure to the sound of a language will set the tone of how I speak.

Unfortunately, my tutorial CD’s are atrocious for accent. They are spoken in the stilted, exaggerated way that is common in language CD’s – I’m mimicking these awful accents very well and it’s doing nothing for my street cred.  I am in urgent need for authentic youtubes or online radio etc where I can immerse my brain in the sound of the language. I’d be grateful for suggestions of suitable material online that I can listen to! Preferably the type of accent/style common in the UAE (Dubai).

My Routine – one month into the challenge

It’s now one month since I started my challenge. I know the entire alphabet and have basic vocabulary. I’ve been averaging about 4 hours study a week (plus review time). I’m satisfied with my progress so far but definitely need to step things up a notch now. My standard routine is:

• Reviewing what I learn – flash cards with new words and phrases that I can test myself on throughout the day. I’m training my brain to remember and repetition is a great trainer. Also, I know from having modelled people with excellent memories, that they have a habit (i.e. automatic activity) of thinking about and reviewing what they have learnt or read.
• Maintaining curiosity and interest – Reviewing my goals keeps me focused, especially on sunny days when it would be more fun to go for a bike ride.
• Remembering what I learn – Again, from my modelling work on people with excellent memories for what they read, I know that a fact that is made memorable will become memorable. The people I modelled unconsciously and automatically treat the things they read as items of intense interest (even on subjects that they don’t care about!). Intense interest equals curiosity. Curiosity equals questions. Questions equal analysis of the subject and cross-linkages to existing information they already know. Cross linkages equals reinforcement of what is currently being learnt. Even with something as standalone as a new language, there are cross-linkages to be made that makes remembering that much easier.
• Prioritising and giving myself room to grow – Some things come in time, Arabic grammar is one them. If a rule won’t go in quickly and easily, I don’t obsess about it. I know that continuing my study will bring me into contact with this rule again and again. The same way that constant exposure to a song has you knowing the lyrics without trying, I know that I will pick up whatever grammar rule is escaping me at this early stage.

Resources for further reading:

The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge -  amazon.co.uk | amazon.com

The Holographic Universe, Michael Talbot -  amazon.co.uk | amazon.com

The Britannica Guide to the Brain -  amazon.co.uk | amazon.com

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This is part of a series covering my challenge of learning Arabic in 2 months. I’m using lots of Peak Performance techniques and sharing them along the way. The series is filed in the “Language Challenge” category.

What’s Eating You?

So far I have covered Peak Performance states, Goal Setting and the motivating importance of Curiosity. Now comes a peek into subconscious influences that direct our behaviour.

First a confession - As far as studying goes, I have been slacking off all week, fitting in a mini-break to Barcelona and catching up with friends. I may not have studied much Arabic but I have been paying attention to improving the way I process information for this task.

Reading, Writing and Speaking are separate brain functions but they are all open to being influenced by our thoughts. Our thoughts – and our beliefs about ourselves – shape our behaviour.

As we go through life, we subconsciously pick up lots of different ways of relating to ourselves, to others and even the things around us. This affects what we believe and how we approach things. It contributes to our uniqueness, making us feel our thoughts are a solid, fixed and intrinsic part of our personality.  Which they’re not.

In this article, I hope to show that through understanding and addressing what lies behind our thoughts, we can change our thoughts and shape ourselves to how we deserve to be.

Identifying beliefs behind our actions

Our beliefs about our abilities come from associations we’ve made through experiences we have lived through – either directly or indirectly through others. Some beliefs help us while others don’t.

To achieve peak performance in any given area, it’s useful to ensure that we are working with beliefs that support our goals. To do this, we first have to identify the beliefs (good and bad) that are having impact on the goal. This is what mine look like:

Goal: Reading
I was reading at the age of 3. My favourite place was in front of a book and I enjoyed the entire experience – turning pages, the mystery within them, following words with my finger, total absorption in the pretty pictures making up my own stories to go with them. I felt a genuine thrill combined with safety when I was reading and I still feel it now. I believe reading is desirable because I associate it with something good.

Goal: Writing
At school age about 8 and wasn’t allowed to write in ink until I could write neatly in pencil. All my friends managed it but not me. In the end I asked the teacher if I could give her an ink test page to prove I could do it. She agreed, I passed and became the proud owner of a fountain pen.  It’s a memory I did not even know I had until I started practising writing Arabic. I believe writing practice is a pain in the proverbial because I associate it with a teacher who kept saying “no”.

Goal: Speaking
Nothing jumps out at me for this goal. To me it feels like an activity much like going to buy a stamp for a letter – you do it when you need to, no fuss, no mess, just functional. I believe speaking is ordinary and everyday to the point where I have nothing else to say on the subject.

Goal: Remembering
I’m going to throw in memory too because I’m discovering associations with it relating to exams and the sheer impossibility of remembering useless dates and facts. I believe I can’t remember facts because I associate it with fear of failing an exam.

If you try identifying your own beliefs, you may find that you come up with several associations or that your beliefs are caught in some kind of a loop. Take it gently if that happens – take a break and look at the resources mentioned below to help yourself or find someone who can talk it through with you.

The impact of associations

As I go about learning to read, write and speak Arabic, these beliefs are affecting my behaviour. I am automatically giving priority to the reading aspects, feeling nervous and “on my best behaviour” about writing and not paying any attention to speaking – after all, I don’t actually need to speak it right now. I am also nervous about being able to remember what I learn. It feels as if I should only study concepts and outlines because I will forget the details anyway.

My associations and beliefs around:

• Reading… will help me so no need to worry about that.
• Writing… have a motivating quality to them so will help me by making me work harder.
• Speaking… will hinder me because I don’t view speaking as important. This means I won’t practice the words and won’t develop a good rhythm or accent. This will hurt my goal.
• Remembering… could lead to procrastination or even giving up. Because I’m strongly attached to the feeling of being unable to remember, there may well be self-hypnotic undermining of my own efforts to remember. This will hurt my goal.

Understanding the influence of my beliefs to this level of detail helps me to recognise the ways that some of my thoughts have the potential to hurt my goal.

Breaking unhelpful associations

To be at peak performance, I need to change the way I think about speaking and remembering. I can do this with logic or I can use a combination of NLP and EFT techniques. It doesn’t matter how I do it so long as I end up being able to see things in a different way.

The actual techniques I used need a detailed write-up and because I won’t be able to do them justice in this one article, I am planning a series of step-by-step tutorials on the subject of breaking unhelpful associations.

**** Subscribe to this blog by RSS or email to stay informed of when the free tutorial becomes available. ****

In the meantime, if you want to get a start and read around the subject yourself, I recommend the following resources:

The NLP Workbook – I recommend this book to my clients as it’s suitable for beginners to NLP and also detailed enough to be valuable to practitioners too. The workbook format is practical and encourages you to put NLP into action yourself.

Try it on Everything – EFT DVD and companion book set.

Introduction to EFT Manual by Gary Craig, the founder of EFT.

Thoughts Support Success!

So, having broken the associations, I now find my thoughts are stronger and more supportive of my goals:

• Speaking seems more accessible and more vital in my goal of learning a language. I feel differently about it and practicing it every day actually feels more desirable… and attainable.
• Memory has placed itself in context. Exam pressure is no longer the first thing I think about. I’m more attuned to my successes and am remembering very clearly all the times I easily learnt things. Coincidentally (or not), I am noticing that in all these times I was highly motivated, interested and curious. Remember from previous parts of this series that intense focus and curiosity provide the ideal conditions for information to be stored in long-term memory.

When your thoughts are on your side, you’re automatically more attuned to following through because you’re not sabotaging yourself.

Next time I will be talking about the mental patterns of Reading, Writing and Speaking. If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to subscribe by RSS or email to receive updates.

Language Challenge Part 5 – Allowing the Brain to Read, Write and Speak

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This is part of a series covering my challenge of learning Arabic in 2 months. I’m using lots of Peak Performance techniques and sharing them along the way. The series is filed in the “Language Challenge” category.

Brain Plasticity, Curiosity and Learning

Michael Merzenich is a neuroscientist and has been called the world’s leading researcher on brain plasticity. Brain plasticity refers to the physical ability of the brain to change over time – either weakening or thickening.

It’s not just a child’s brain that grows and develops. Research by Merzenich and others has shown that under the right conditions (i.e. appropriate mental stimulus), adults of any age have the ability to grow stronger neural networks in their brains too, strengthening the links and actually changing the physical structure of their brain.

Learning a new language creates the right conditions for stronger neural links by involving inputs from multiple senses that exercise the mind from a variety of angles and create a stronger brain function.  Martial arts, chess and dancing are other examples of activities that involve multiple senses.

Curiosity

Just one week into my challenge, I am feeling the input from multiple senses colliding as they try and find a place to settle in my brain. What I’m discovering is that Reading, Writing and Speaking are three separate brain functions and approaching them in the way they “want” to be approached greatly speeds up the learning process. I will explain more about this in my next post because today I want to focus on Curiosity and how it plays a vital part in keeping momentum going.

Some of the features about curiosity are:

• It fuels a need to explore
• It makes us question things
• It makes us open-minded and receptive to differences and things we don’t understand
• It stops habitual behaviour from stagnating us and weakening our brain function
• It drives us to learn

This week, I discovered an inherent ability to recognise sounds and shapes and put them together. Just a week in and I already know half of the Arabic alphabet by heart and can read it and recite it easily. However, I also found that writing these shapes is more difficult for me from memory.

There are only 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, but they all look different depending on whether they are at the beginning, end or middle of a word and also depending on whether they are printed or hand-scripted! I can recognise the shapes easily enough to read but writing is a completely different kettle of fish. “Blimey” I thought and screeched to a halt to re-evaluate my options and ask myself if I really needed to know scripting.

Guiding Curiosity

Now this is the important thing about curiosity. Curiosity can be like a pretty butterfly flitting from flower to flower. The path towards the goal is full of flowers – at each flower, curiosity gets a chance to change direction.

Curiosity made me start this challenge but it needs a helping hand to make me stay on track. The helping hand comes from the NLP PECSAW goal setting model. As I pause to re-evaluate my options, I revisit my PECSAW and the “Worthwhile” part of it floods me with the desire to break through my little alphabet issue – 28 letters, a million ways to write them? Pah! Easy!

Having a well-defined goal and constantly reminding yourself of the benefits of achievement helps to guide the butterfly towards it’s destination by reigniting it’s desire to get there.

Curiosity and Learning

If curiosity keeps you in touch with things to be explored, desire helps to create the right conditions for you to find a way to learn the new skills that ultimately strengthen the neuron connections in your brain.

Curiosity gets you thinking about a goal, desire finds a way – but actively reigniting curiosity throughout the period of learning turns the goal into a destination that can be mapped – both outwardly as you become fluent at the task and inwardly, as your brain gains stronger neural connections.

Language Challenge Part 4 – The Influence of Thoughts on Learning

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This is part of a series covering my challenge of learning Arabic in 2 months. I’m using lots of Peak Performance techniques and sharing them along the way. The series is filed in the “Language Challenge” category.

Setting Goals

“When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.” – Jim Rohn

Previously, I mentioned I had some issues with time. My time analysis study has now shown me that I do have enough hours in the day. This has alleviated my concerns and I have comfortably and easily improved my time management. Mostly this is through getting rid of doorways to distraction (eg checking email) and timetabling non-essential but enjoyable activities like web-traffic analysis etc.

The PECSAW model in NLP is a set of guidelines that help design goals that are “do-able”.

I’ve only provided short example answers in this PECSAW outline below. If you do this for one of your own goals, make yours rich and full of information. The more detailed you are, the more your mind finds a way to make it happen.

P = Positive : i.e. What is my goal exactly? State this in a positive way i.e. “I want a new job” not “I don’t want to work here”

In two months time, I want to be able to read and write Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) to an introductory level and also to be able to hold a basic level of conversation through being able to adapt MSA to a more conversational dialect (Gulf focused). I want to have memorised the alphabet and have knowledge of scripting, pronunciation, basic sentence structure, numbers, gender differences in language and basic conversation. I also want to improve my knowledge of Arabic culture and customs.

E = Evidence : i.e. How will I know that I have achieved my goal?

1. Successful completion of all the exercises in my tutorial books
2. Being able to read – with a dictionary if necessary – a children’s storybook in Arabic
3. Showing some of my writing to an Arabian friend to see if they can read it
4. Being able to converse to some degree in Arabic
5. Being able to read UAE road signs and number plates
6. Being able to follow Arabic you-tubes

C = Context : i.e. Where am I going to do this? When will I do this? Have I got the right influences?

For information to go into long-term memory, the learning stage has to be intensely focused with high levels of concentration. For most people, 20-45 minutes of focused study is about the right length before concentration starts to wane and the return on study time diminishes. A 10-15 minute break helps to get the concentration back.

This feature of the learning process actually fits very nicely into my schedule as I can easily manage two or three short concentrated bursts of study throughout the day. Practicing what I have learnt uses different brain “muscles” to learning and doesn’t require as intense concentration or short periods of study. But as I only have short periods of study, I will be practicing between client appointments, waiting for the kettle to boil, in the car etc. This kind of repetitive practice is important particularly in the period that immediately follows the learning because not only does it help wire it in, but it creates better recall too. You’re effectively showing your mind that the subject is important enough for you to think about constantly so you need quicker access to the information. An advantage to practicing throughout the day is that I will be maintaining constant exposure.

As well as the where and when, you need to plan for the people in your life who are going to be drip-feeding negativity into your efforts. There’s a difference between constructive criticism and habitual putter-downers. You can learn from the former but the latter sap your energy. What can you do to limit this type of influence?

S = Self-achievable : i.e. Can I do this by myself? Making the goal completely within your influence gives you a greater opportunity for achievement.

I can achieve my goal through learning from books and other self-study resources. I am willing to get a tutor if I think I’d like one and having done a quick search, there are a couple listed in my area.

If your goal isn’t completely within your influence, is there a way you can change it slightly so that when you think about, it seems more self-achievable? For example, if your goal is to “get a job interview”, you are relying on someone actually offering you an interview. If your goal is “make myself worthy of being interviewed”, does this seem a more self-achievable route to the same outcome? If not, then adapt the goal until it does become more self-achievable and has a good feel.

A = Advantages & Disadvantages : i.e. What’s great about achieving this goal and what negative aspects are there?

It’s a good idea to think of the disadvantages now so you can address or eliminate them. You might even find that there is a disadvantage strong enough to make you not want this goal right now.

The numerous advantages to achieving my goal include the mystery of a new, exotic language, being able to speak to UAE nationals in their own language (even if it’s at beginner level) and of course, the fact that the actual process of learning a new language increases the physical density of neurons in the brain. I do believe that learning new things is the mental equivalent of oxygen.

Disadvantages include having to spend time learning, the expense of tuition resources, the effort of finding online video resources. Also, the “double learning” regarding the MSA and conversational versions of the language. However, none of these disadvantages are significant enough to cause any level of doubt or put me off my goal.

W = Worthwhile : i.e. How does this goal fit in and support my deepest desires and values?

I love to learn, I see myself as capable of learning and I find the whole idea of learning Arabic fulfilling on many levels, so no problems there.

However, in the game of Rock, Scissors, Paper, your goal will lose out to your conflicting values.  If there is a conflict between your goal and something you believe or aspire to, then the goal is starting off on shaky ground and it won’t take much to drop it… or rather, it will take a lot more effort to achieve it.

The only possible conflict I’ve identified around this goal is time. I think I have sorted out this conflict because the personal fulfillment that comes from checking emails and analysing web traffic is not as important to me as the type that comes from learning a new language. However, because I know I have the ability to squander time, I will be keeping an eye on it to make sure that whatever motivates me to squander it does not creep in again. If it does, I’ll post about it and will demonstrate a combination of EFT and NLP techniques to combat it. So far, I’ve just used the data from my time analysis exercise and a conscious effort to apply more discipline. It’s vital to keep an eye on this potential goal-wrecker because if it creeps in while I’m not looking, it does have the potential to throw me off my goal and make me lose the motivation to get back on.

If you do this exercise, identify any clashes between your goal and your values and address them. For example if you want to lose weight but deep down you believe that thin people are miserable, then you’ll inadvertently be less committed to losing weight.

If you go through these steps, you’ll find it makes you think in immense detail - You’re now clearer about what you want and you want it badly.  Having worked through the kinks, the goal has become significantly more achievable, juicy and attractive!

My tutorial books have now arrived and I’m excited to move on from the mental preparation and get on with doing the task using methods to try and accelerate my learning.  More about that next time… Remember to subscribe by RSS or email if you’d like to receive updates.

As always, I invite you to share your experiences, thoughts and tips.

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Language Challenge Part 3 – Curiosity and its Role in Learning

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A friend claims that it is impossible for adults to learn a brand new language in two months because their brains aren’t adaptable enough.

I agree that as people get older, they can settle into habits that do not prioritise learning BUT (and it’s a very big but) this doesn’t mean that their brains lose the ability to be adaptable and learn new things.  

So I disagreed with my friend and said that I could learn a brand new language in two months – he grinned widely and said “prove it”. It was an impulsive response based more on indignation  and less on any proven ability to learn a new language. Apart from French lessons at school, I’ve not given myself too much exposure to languages!

The language I have decided to learn is Arabic. I have no knowledge of Arabic at the moment but I travel often to the UAE so it will certainly come in handy.

Now that I have taken on this challenge, it occurs to me that it might be useful to document my journey from the viewpoint of Peak Performance.

Abraham Lincolm said “Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality”.  I have made two physical commitments towards my goal:

1. Blogging about it allows me to demonstrate some peak performance techniques and it also provides me with accountability.
2. I have scoured Amazon and based on user reviews, have ordered Mastering Arabic, Mastering Arabic Script and Mastering Arabic Grammar.

Peak Performance in any given area occurs with a context specific balance of the following four states:

1. Physical : How does your environment or physical condition impact what you are doing?
2. Emotional : How does your emotional state impact the decisions that need to be made and your overall attitude? 
3. Mental : Do you have access to the knowledge you will need and is it stimulating in the right way?
4. Spiritual : How does the goal fit in with your perceptions of yourself? Is it supporting the way you want to be?

My problem areas are…

1. Physical – I have many pre-existing business and social commitments. Also, I have many leisure interests and my focus can drift between them. I’m wondering if I can physically do this.
2. Emotional – I’m quite conscious about the time. Not so much about the two month target – more how am I going to fit it in with everything else I do. I am reluctant to “give up” any of my other activities.
3. Mental – Again, the time aspects. Am I going to give up in a blind panic because I have too much else to fit in.
4. Spiritual – I feel a bit nervous about documenting this activity in a public blog. It’s going to look a tad silly if I fail.

Because achieving a balance in these areas is so important, I need to address them before I continue.  

The next post in this series covers how I deal with these issues and progress to the next stage.  Remember to subscribe by RSS or email if you’d like to receive updates.

In the meantime, it would be great to hear your thoughts. Have you done something like this? Do you think it’s achievable? Do you want to join me and take up a language challenge of your own?

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image: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/lusi
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Comment on this post at: My Language Challenge: Part 1 – An Idea is Born

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