Intro
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| Becky: Welcome to a special Inner Circle Audio Lesson! I'm Becky and I'll be your host. My co-host today is the founder of InnovativeLanguage.com... Peter Galante! |
| Peter: Hi everyone! Peter here. |
| Becky: In this Inner Circle, we’re talking about How to Reach Your Language Goals... |
| Peter: ...By Taking A Step Back. |
| Becky: You’ll learn... |
| Peter: ...One: What the Real Reason Behind my Failure Was |
| Becky: Two: How to Start Over |
| Peter: ...and Three: How To Set Yourself Up for Success |
| Becky: ...All so you can master your target language and finally reach your goals! |
| Body |
| Peter: Listeners, welcome back. |
| Becky: Last time, you learned all about the importance of pressing the reset button... |
| Peter: ...and the problem with failing your language goals. |
| Peter: In other words, why most learners deal with failure the wrong way... |
| Becky: ...and make it even harder for themselves to get back on track. |
| Peter: This time listeners, we’re back on track. |
| Becky: Really? Peter did you reach your goal? |
| Peter: I did, Becky. 3 minutes of German conversation. |
| Becky: Ah, I thought you promised 2. |
| Peter: I did. But remember, I’m not exactly overachieving here. I hit 3 minutes back in March. |
| Becky: Right. Then you failed. So it’s like you had to take a step back... |
| Peter: ...to take a step forward. Exactly. I reset, I went back to the basics. |
| Becky: You know, I think this is a very realistic example of language learning. |
| Peter: What do you mean? |
| Becky: Well, you know how they say there’s no straight road to success? There are bumps along the way? |
| Peter: Or... a U-turn in my case. But you’re right. It’s never a straight line. |
| Becky: That could be a good topic for the next Inner Circle! |
| Peter: That’s true, Becky. But listeners... |
| Becky: ...The topic of this Inner Circle is.... |
| Peter: How to Reach Your Language Goals By Taking A Step Back. |
| Becky: And today, you’ll learn... |
| Peter: ...One: What the Real Reason Behind My Failure Was |
| Becky: Two: How to Start Over |
| Peter: ...and Three: How To Set Yourself Up for Success |
| Becky: So, Peter. Back in January, your goal was to hit 15 minutes by June. |
| Peter: ....and 30 minutes of German conversation by the end of December. |
| Becky: And you’re just now bouncing back to 3 minutes. |
| Peter: Becky, remember, when a goal isn’t working out... you need recalibrate. And in my case, I wanted to aim a little lower. |
| Becky: Right. Instead of making it harder by doubling down... or beating yourself up... |
| Peter: You adjust. Listeners, that was the big takeaway last time. |
| Becky: I bet it feels good to reach a goal again. |
| Peter: Becky, you have no idea. After such a rough patch... What was it? 2 months? |
| Becky: Yeah, I think so. |
| Peter: It‘s feels so good to have success again. I’m much more motivated to reach the next goal now. |
| Becky: You know... Maybe that was your problem from the start. |
| Peter: You’re not wrong, Becky. So, let’s get into that first part. |
| Becky: One: What the Real Reason Behind the Failure Was. |
| Peter: Becky, looking back at this past year, my biggest struggle was... motivation. |
| Becky: Why? |
| Peter: To be perfectly honest, this year, I don’t have a deep rooted reason to learn German. |
| Becky: ...one like learning for a significant other or going to Germany? |
| Peter: Exactly. I’m learning more as a hobby. And I think I’ve really been struggling with that. |
| Becky: This reminds me of last year’s Inner Circle lesson. How your “Why” can boost your motivation and guarantee your success. |
| Peter: Exactly. A strong reason... like having a spouse that speaks a language... |
| Becky:... or living in that country... |
| Peter: That, listeners, will boost your motivation significantly to learn! |
| Becky: ...and if you don’t have a good enough “why”... you’ll fail. |
| Peter: So, we talked about ways to grow your motivation in situations like this. |
| Becky: Oh? |
| Peter: So I went back and listened and I used some of the old tactics from that lesson you mentioned. Listeners, if you want to get the full story on how to grow your motivation... |
| Becky: ...Check out the January 2015 Inner Circle Lesson. |
| Peter: But we’ll get into a few points in the second part. |
| Becky: Two: How to Start Over... |
| Peter: So, long story short... the best way to grow your motivation is... |
| Becky: drum roll please...to buy a one-way ticket to Germany? |
| Peter: ...maybe in a perfect world, Becky, that is the right answer. But, some of us have jobs, kids and listeners, the best way is to develop connections with that language... |
| Becky: ...for example? |
| Peter: ...for example, start watching a TV show in that target language. Make a native-speaking friend. Invest in something that keeps you committed... like a real teacher. |
| Becky: ...or a Premium PLUS teacher if you’re learning with us! |
| Peter: Great point Becky. So, listeners, the more connections you make... |
| Becky: ...the stronger your motivation gets. So is that how you bounced back? |
| Peter: You got it. In terms of motivation, I found started with my Premium PLUS teacher. From there, I found a real in-person teacher who I like... and I meet with weekly. In addition, I started watching German TV shows with subtitles. |
| Becky: Alright, motivation aside... what else did you do? |
| Peter: I went back and I stuck with my 7 minutes, 7 seconds a day routine, every day. Well, okay, every weekday. |
| Becky: So, putting in just that amount of time per day. |
| Peter: Exactly. And I went back. I re-took the Top 25 Questions Series. |
| Becky: Definitely a great lesson series for mastering daily conversation. |
| Peter: And this time around, I’m also using our newest study tool, Learning Paths. |
| Becky: ..which is a custom playlist of lessons based on your goals and needs. |
| Peter: Which my Premium PLUS teacher set up for me, which is one of the things I really like about Premium PLUS. Listeners, think of it as a learning course based on your goals and motivation. It caters to your goals. So, since I’m learning German as a hobby... I’m just learning with the courses or paths that fit my motivation best. |
| Becky: That’s smart. And we didn’t have this tool when you first started. |
| Peter: We did not. That’s a brand new tool. And that’s another reason why, maybe, my motivation suffered. Excuses? |
| Becky: Yeah, yeah, this didn’t even exist, so no. Listeners, be sure to check out Learning Paths on the site. |
| Peter: In addition, I’m also using the Daily Dose App for the daily reminders and the mini-German Lessons. |
| Becky: By the way, listeners, you already have access to the Daily Dose as part of your Premium package. |
| Peter: And I’m learning with my German teachers. |
| Becky: You mean with Premium PLUS? |
| Peter: Both. I have a Premium PLUS teacher, and an in-person teacher who I meet with, every week. |
| Becky: Ah, I see. |
| Peter: With my Premium PLUS teacher, I practice with her daily. This really helps. I send her the assignments she gives me. She sends me back corrections. She gives feedback and positive reinforcement. |
| Becky: And the other teacher? |
| Peter: I meet once a week with my in-person teacher. That’s for speaking practice. |
| Becky; I must say, you’ve made serious commitments, Peter. Learning with 2 teachers? |
| Peter: Well, Becky, I had to. Doing all of this helped me hit my goal... |
| Becky: ...and it definitely set you up for success. So how can our listeners learn from this? |
| Peter: Let’s get into that third part. |
| Becky: How To Set Yourself Up for Success. |
| Peter: Just like we mentioned in the last Inner Circle... |
| Becky: ...if you want to set yourself up for success, aim for a realistic goal. |
| Peter: ...and if you fail, aim for a much smaller goal. That way, you can’t fail... |
| Becky: ...and you’ll reach bigger goals with enough time. |
| Peter: Exactly. Having an easier learning routine and a smaller goal allowed me to slip back into learning. |
| Becky: Okay. What’s next? |
| Peter: Next. Well, this one is a personal one for me, but... positive reinforcement. |
| Becky: Ah, from your teacher? |
| Peter: Yes, Becky, from my German Premium PLUS teacher. Remember, every weekday, I’m exchanging messages wiith her. With every message she sent to me, there was always something positive. Like ...”great effort, Peter” or “good job. Keep it going, you’re getting a lot better.” That, by itself, was incredibly motivating, |
| Becky: Ah yes. Having a motivating teacher makes all the difference in the world, I think. |
| Peter: Listeners, if you’re a Premium PLUS user... |
| Becky: ...take advantage of the 1-on-1 learning. |
| Peter: Every day. Seriously, you can use this everyday for a small conversation. In addition, use the new Learning Paths which also set me up for success. |
| Becky: How did it do that? |
| Peter: Now, remember, your Premium PLUS teacher can set the list up for you. And, as I said before, I’m learning German as a hobby. So, when I started... I was taking lessons that didn’t exactly match my motivation. So what my Premium PLUS teacher did was – she created a custom Learning Paths based on my motivation and goals, which revolve around learning German as a hobby. |
| Becky: Meaning you’re getting personalized lessons? |
| Peter: Exactly, Becky. All with the help of Learning Paths. |
| Becky: So listeners, here’s what you can do. |
| Peter: Access Learning Paths on the site. Find it in the Browse Lessons dropdown menu. |
| Becky: Choose the paths that fit your goals and interests best... |
| Peter: ...and Learning Paths will guide you, lesson by lesson, until you reach your goals. |
| Becky: Okay, Peter, let’s talk about your next goal. |
| Peter: Okay, Becky. I’m going to try not to bite off more than I can chew, Becky. So, I’m going to aim for 5 minutes. |
| Becky: And the deadline? |
| Peter: July 31st. I’m pretty confident I can get to 6 or higher, but I want to play it safe. I don’t want extra pressure on myself. |
| Becky: Sounds good! And listeners, let us know! |
| Peter: Have you ever had to take a step back in order to succeed at a goal? |
| Becky: For example, coming back to old lessons to re-review them... |
| Peter: ...or completely starting over from scratch? |
| Becky: Email us and tell us at inner dot circle at innovativelanguage dot com. |
| Peter: And stay tuned for the next Inner Circle. |
Outro
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| Becky: Well, that’s going to do it for this special Inner Circle lesson! |
| Peter: Bye everyone! |
| Becky: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
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