Newsletter 23 - Food

When you work with me, I give you and share with you a lot of food…for thought.

In this newsletter, I’m going to share some of the essential questions I ask my coachees during our first session - and then remind them of, regularly, to help keep their motivation up. These questions are designed to provide the ‘mental nourishment’ you need to fuel your language learning journey.

You could actually use this for anything you want to achieve, not just language learning.

Questions to Ponder:

1. How motivated are you?
   

   • Assessing your motivation levels is important for maintaining progress. Reflect on why you want to learn a new language and what really drives you. Understanding your motivation helps sustain your commitment.

   • I have some clients who sometimes answer “because my company is making me” and have very low motivation. As a coach, I accept that. I don’t need a justification. What I do though is help my coachees dig deeper and find other reasons why working on their English or French could be a good thing, beyond work.Or maybe that’s motivation enough and it’ll pull you through.
     

2. What’s your vision?
   

   Your vision is the big picture, the ultimate destination you see for yourself. It's the dream you strive toward.
   

   • I had a client who’s dream was to watch her series without subtitles, chilling in on her coach with a glass of wine.

   • Another client see’s himself at a dinner with his coworkers talking about things other than work, understand jokes in English, being able to follow a group conversation and just feeling relaxed.
     

3. What’s your goal?
   

   Goals are the specific, actionable steps you plan to take to reach your vision. Think about what you want to achieve in the short and long term. These goals should be clear, measurable, and attainable.
   

   • A coachee of mine was invited at a wedding 7 months down the line. The wedding was in France, but the families were American. She was seeing herself standing around in the beautiful garden with other guests with a glass of champagne in hand, just chatting away and not worrying about whether she understood everything or whether she had used the exact word she should have used (spoiler : she did, she had an amazing time, she’s still working with me but has a new goal now!)
     

4. What’s the difference between a vision and a goal?
   

   • Some say that a goal is simply a dream with a deadline. Your goal could simply be your vision…with an end date - mind you, because you’re the one who sets the end date, you can postpone it if you need to.
     

5. What are your immediate short-term goals and actions?
   

   • Break down your long-term goals into smaller, chewable bites. Identify what you need to do in the near future to keep moving forward. These short-term goals provide a sense of achievement and keep you motivated.
     

6. What actions are you going to take to reach those goals?
   

   • Interestingly when I ask this last question, I get to types of answers “I don’t know, you tell me” or “I’m going to watch series, videos, do exercises, read books, talk with my colleagues, spend an hour every day studying”.

     You won’t. Because you can’t. It’s not sustainable in the long run, real life takes over.
     

   • My suggestion when you ask yourself this question - or when I ask you this question - is ‘choose what fits more naturally in your daily routine, choose activities that you would do anyway’ (meaning don’t choose to read if you’re not a reader). The brain learns best when your ‘learning actions’ are grounded in your every day life.
     

Once you have the answers to these questions (maybe put pen to paper and actually write the answers), either you have a strong will power, in which case just start, what are you waiting for?

Or you need regular Check-ins with me (accountability maybe?) and some help figuring out the language (no excuses to procrastinate): together, we periodically revisit these questions to see how your answers evolve. You can then adjust your goals as needed to stay aligned with your vision - which sometimes also evolves.

The ideas and insights we explore together are vital to your growth and success.

I enjoyed doing this series of newsletters about Food. I enjoy food so that was easy!