0:00

This is the real English conversations

0:02

podcast.

0:03

Where you'll find the lessons and

0:05

advice you need to be able to confidently

0:08

use your English in the real world.

0:15

Hi, everybody. I'm Curtis, and I'm here with

0:18

Amy. Hi, everybody. And today, we're

0:20

going to have a really interesting conversation.

0:22

It's an important one too. About the

0:24

relationship between can consistency

0:27

and motivation especially when you're

0:29

learning a language.

0:30

Just a quick reminder that you can get

0:32

the transcription and audio download

0:34

for our latest podcast by

0:37

going to the description area

0:39

for this episode and clicking on the

0:41

link. This is also going to register you

0:43

on our email list so that you can be at the

0:45

first want to know every time we have

0:48

a new episode, so you can go

0:50

and grab those downloads right away.

0:52

Let's get back to the original conversation.

0:54

And the first thing that I want

0:56

to jump right into is talking

0:59

about how important consistency actually

1:02

is and how this is really

1:04

the magic tool, the

1:06

secret weapon, whatever you wanna

1:08

call it. This is the easier

1:11

way to learn. And I'm gonna give you

1:13

a really really quick example to

1:15

demonstrate this really clearly. So

1:18

if we have one person, person

1:20

a, they have to learn one hundred

1:22

words within a week. And

1:24

then we have person b who has the same

1:26

problem. Person a decides

1:28

they're going to spend three hours

1:30

on Sunday afternoon studying these

1:32

words because they know that they're working

1:35

throughout the week. Person b

1:37

also decides to take some

1:39

time on Sunday to learn maybe

1:42

forty words. Okay? And

1:44

they decide that on Monday, they're

1:46

going to spend twenty minutes reviewing

1:48

those words and learning some new ones,

1:51

and they repeat that each day of

1:53

the week until the following weekend.

1:56

At the end of this time, person a,

1:59

they can't remember the words by

2:01

the following Sunday. Maybe they know a few,

2:03

but the majority of them are very difficult

2:05

hopes to recall or they've forgotten them

2:07

completely. Right. Whereas person

2:09

b has these words very,

2:12

very well known in their

2:14

vocabulary now. They understand them. They

2:16

can recall them easily. And most importantly,

2:18

they can use them. But

2:21

person a has to relearn where

2:23

person b is ready to learn more.

2:26

Right. k? So this is a very, very clear

2:28

example of the power of consistency And

2:30

if you wanna learn faster, you

2:33

really need to focus on how you

2:35

can be more consistent because

2:37

when you're not having to relearn this

2:40

is when it starts to get easier and faster.

2:42

Yep.

2:43

So,

2:44

Curtis, when you're studying consistently,

2:47

what happens?

2:49

Well, I get more motivated.

2:51

I become more motivated. I

2:54

learn things. I actually learn.

2:56

Okay. So you're realizing you're making

2:58

progress then. Right. Okay.

3:00

So how does that connect

3:02

to the consistency? Can you elaborate?

3:05

Yep. Okay.

3:05

So when I'm being consistent

3:08

and learning a specific thing,

3:10

I Keep

3:12

reviewing. Reviewing is the

3:14

most important part for me as well,

3:17

reviewing consistently, learning

3:19

consistently. And then

3:21

when I have that realization of,

3:24

I know this. I've learned it. Perfect.

3:27

Exactly. and then I get

3:29

excited and I wanna learn the next

3:31

thing. Like you were able to use something

3:33

that you learned and or

3:35

you saw it being used and something

3:37

that you read or something that you were watching

3:39

and you realized, oh, hey, cool.

3:42

I'm learning. Okay. I have space in my

3:44

brain to learn something new. Right. Yeah.

3:46

It's that feeling

3:47

of accomplishment and achievement

3:50

that drives me to remain consistent

3:52

because it's all the pieces coming together

3:55

for for learning.

3:56

Yeah. So it's more like when

3:59

you're consistent,

3:59

you are

4:02

learning

4:03

faster,

4:04

which creates motivation which

4:06

creates motivation to study

4:08

again. And in my case,

4:11

when I'm highly motivated, I'm actually

4:13

more motivated to do activities that

4:16

are more challenging compared

4:18

to periods where maybe I have lower

4:20

motivation because I've been too busy.

4:22

I have and consistent, and I'm kind

4:24

of on that downwards spiral

4:27

out of consistency. So

4:30

it's kind of a winning combination.

4:33

If you're studying regularly, you're

4:35

going to be learning faster and

4:38

just, I don't know, able

4:40

to have more room in your brain

4:42

to be able to learn new things.

4:45

You're gonna have high level of motivation.

4:47

which is going to help you naturally want

4:50

to study without feeling like

4:52

it's a chore. And if

4:54

you're really motivated, you're probably

4:56

going to be doing activities that are

4:58

more demanding

5:00

on your concentration. Right? Yep.

5:03

And with me, another thing that I

5:05

realized with consistency is

5:08

the thing of not having

5:10

to relearn something over again.

5:12

Oh, yeah. because you were a Type

5:14

A. For sure. Yeah.

5:16

Yeah. I would say

5:18

Curtis was

5:21

Well, why don't

5:22

you tell us about your learning strategy for

5:24

the first

5:24

two years? Just a quick version.

5:27

Well, it wasn't really a strategy at

5:29

all. was putting

5:31

way too much

5:33

information into my head

5:36

and thinking, oh, okay. Well,

5:38

I learned that. move on to the next thing

5:40

without any review.

5:41

And then learning something else

5:43

random, you know, the next

5:46

time that you were studying

5:47

for three or four hours at a time. And

5:49

I have a bad memory as is.

5:51

So it it really

5:54

locked me into a

5:56

basic level and I wasn't moving anywhere?

5:58

No. You were just relearning and relearning.

6:00

I mean, and we're talking about basic, basic,

6:03

basic, stuff, like and

6:05

it's not that you didn't have the guidance. I

6:07

mean, I certainly gave you the guidance.

6:09

I said, why aren't you reviewing? Why don't

6:12

you know, you learn something and then you never look

6:14

at it again. Do you think you're gonna remember

6:16

it? Sorry, man. It doesn't work that way. Yeah.

6:18

You're you're on me. That's for sure. Yeah.

6:21

So anyway, I would say

6:23

there's one thing that

6:25

really changed in the last year

6:29

We actually have been living in Mexico now

6:31

for three years. So for the first two years,

6:33

your studying was pretty inconsistent,

6:37

I would say? Or those long sessions,

6:40

the three hours at a time,

6:42

once every week or two, not

6:44

reviewing anything. Okay? And

6:47

that strategy wasn't working.

6:49

So why don't you tell us about the moment

6:51

where you realized that

6:53

you had to change and

6:56

you had a strong reason to help

6:58

you change.

6:59

Okay. Well, it was

7:01

when I was with a group

7:03

of friends, and

7:06

they invited me to sit at their

7:08

table. There was ten or twelve

7:10

people, Mexicans, native

7:13

Spanish speakers. And I

7:16

was like, oh my god. I

7:18

sat down at this table. The music

7:20

was loud in this place. It was a lounge.

7:23

So I couldn't really hear what was going

7:25

on. and I

7:27

couldn't involve myself in in

7:29

the conversation

7:30

at all. They was just trying

7:32

to hear something or if somebody

7:34

looking at you or they're kinda saying

7:37

something right next to

7:39

you, then it was okay, but you were

7:41

lost at that point. Yep.

7:43

So it was a realization of, oh

7:45

my god. I thought I'd been studying

7:47

and learning a lot, and I've

7:50

I couldn't participate. I couldn't

7:52

be part of that conversation. So I had

7:54

this realization, well, I

7:57

I've got to do something to change this.

7:58

Yeah. Exactly. And this is when

8:00

we really started to focus

8:03

more on your consistency and

8:06

creating a plan to help you become

8:08

more consistent. Right. And,

8:11

you know, and, I mean, I haven't made

8:13

you a plan And I said, due

8:15

day one, day two, I had review

8:17

in there. I said, just follow the instructions.

8:20

You need an hour a day. Follow these instructions.

8:23

But that plan,

8:25

it was still difficult for you to

8:27

stick to that plan. Right? It was.

8:30

because you've got the distraction syndrome.

8:32

Yeah. And I've got

8:34

a bit of the put it off or

8:36

procrastination --

8:37

Yeah. -- what was a bit of a procrastination

8:40

problem. So for him, is really,

8:42

really difficult to remember the importance

8:45

of review coming back to something

8:47

and also puts it off.

8:49

He usually puts it off until another

8:52

time. Okay. But

8:54

lately, you've been okay. You've been more

8:56

consistent with your studying? Yes.

8:58

Yep. And I

9:01

don't move on to the next thing until

9:04

I know that I've learned something and

9:07

that I've reviewed it and I'm always keeping

9:09

it fresh by using it, then

9:12

I move on to the next thing that I can be

9:14

consistent with to learn

9:15

that. Yeah. Exactly. It's a little

9:17

bit more instead of having

9:19

so many different things that you're focusing on,

9:21

you're just focusing on one

9:23

thing, trying to learn it better, at least

9:25

reviewing it a couple times And,

9:28

you know, I've been talking about using

9:30

your flash card deck to put

9:32

in new rules or examples of

9:35

a sentence or whatever it is that

9:37

you're, you know, having to learn, whatever

9:39

you're reviewing, putting it in your flashcards

9:42

because when you're reviewing your

9:44

flashcards for the vocabulary, it's

9:46

really easy just to see a

9:48

sentence or the general

9:51

rule of something that you've been

9:53

reviewing, that can

9:55

be your moment to review.

9:58

That's a strategy and a trick

10:00

I've been using for a very long time. I

10:02

don't reread a page of grammar

10:04

rules. I take the most essential part

10:07

of that lesson and put it

10:09

in my flash card, so I see it like ten

10:11

more times before I'm done with it. Mhmm.

10:13

And learning

10:14

something new now has been very exciting

10:16

for me. I I have that moment

10:18

of achievement. It's like, wow. Yeah.

10:20

This is cool. I wanna keep going.

10:23

Yeah. Exactly. So right now,

10:25

you're motivated Everything is

10:27

good. You're on track. And,

10:29

really, this is the key. If you

10:31

can find some sort of cycle to stay

10:33

motivated, you know, sometimes it's a

10:36

reason something pops up

10:38

and you realize you have this sudden pressure

10:40

that you you have to learn the language.

10:43

But other times, you know, you

10:45

just have to go back to consistency, do

10:47

things that you enjoy, do

10:49

things that you look forward to doing,

10:51

and just really

10:54

let it help you to have the motivation

10:57

that you wanna have and get

10:59

that consistency going and get it working

11:01

for you.

11:02

Mhmm. Exactly.

11:04

That was a great conversation, and

11:06

we hope you learned a lot. Our conversations

11:09

are a great way to prove you're listening

11:11

and to learn the vocabulary and

11:13

phrases native speakers

11:16

use in real everyday

11:18

life. If improving your skills and

11:20

improving your fluency are a top

11:22

goal of yours right now, we would love

11:24

to help you with this. When you're working with

11:27

one of our teachers, we personalize

11:30

every lesson to your specific

11:32

needs and goals. Whether you need

11:34

English for your job or profession, or

11:37

you are living abroad in the US or

11:39

Canada where English is part of

11:41

your everyday life, we have

11:43

the lessons that can help you to

11:45

speak with more fluency, use better

11:47

vocabulary, and to feel

11:49

more confident every time

11:51

you communicate in English. The

11:54

best way to get started is to book a

11:56

trial lesson. You can find the link

11:58

to your first trial lesson in the description

11:59

area of this podcast.