I forgot to mention a few weeks ago, that the young lad moving in with us does not speak a word of English and we do not speak his language either. So the past 2 weeks have been interesting, but we have got by. The ability to communicate using mainly body language and gestures is quite powerful. It has made me understand that there are certain things that most people, across the world, will understand through body language alone.
Some of my gestures have had my wife rolling around laughing and I don’t know where they even come from! I also have to be careful not to raise my voice to try and make things clearer, after all, he is not deaf and I don’t want to be that person who just gets louder, repeating the same thing!
The good thing is that we do have access to a telephone based interpreter if we need to discuss more in-depth topics, rather that the day-to-day basics, which has been priceless.
I am impressed how well we have all done in our first coupe of weeks and he is a fast learner. I know he is keen to pick up the language fast, and integrate as soon as possible, so the motivation is clear to see. It’s refreshing to see someone that determined to learn.
I admire people that can speak multiple languages and, although I did study French and German as a child, I can only speak English. Having delivered training programmes around the world, all in English, I feel lucky that the world has chosen English to be a common language but it has made me lazy, when it comes to learning a new language.
I am a believer that you can improve in everything if you have the motivation to do so. You might not be the best at everything, but you can get better if you are prepared to put the effort in, get support and utilise the skills of others. I remember trying to learn to play the saxophone a few years ago. I never practised, I didn’t do anything between lessons and I never progressed beyond playing ‘Happy Birthday’ – badly! I set myself up for failure but, on a positive note, I still have a nice looking saxophone.
When I use that example with people, they always have a similar story, regarding learning something new and the common factor for failure is normally linked to the lack of motivation. If I really wanted to learn to play the sax, I would have practised, learnt from my tutor and got better. I would probably be quite good by now.
What have you failed at, or given up on? Was it lack of capability or lack of motivation? On the other side, what have you succeeded at and what were the reasons behind your success?
Things like motivation, determination, effort, desire, learning from mistakes, getting feedback, setting goals and creating action plans with time lines, are big reasons for success. When I reflect on some of my successes, I was always motivated and had fantastic support around me, they were the big factors.
What is your recipe for success and are you applying these, regularly enough, in your life?