What can Jerry Seinfeld teach us about learning Spanish?
Before I say what it is, it’s definitely one lesson I wish I had learned earlier.
Jerry Seinfeld probably doesn’t need an introduction. But if you haven’t heard of him, let’s just say he was fairly successful.
With this in mind, it is worth taking a moment to see what he has to say about being successful. And how this advice will help you improve your Spanish faster.
The Don’t Break The Chain Approach
When offering advice to Brad Issac, a young and upcoming comedian, Jerry explained that one of his secrets to success was to use the “Don’t break the chain” approach.
The idea is very simple. He wrote new material everyday. When he finished writing the material, he would put an X on the calendar. He would continue to do this day after day. The idea is to keep going without breaking the chain.
The longer the chain the better. Just keep going and don’t break it.
If you have a day off or a gap, you have to start over.
I have talked about the importance of the daily approach before, but the key difference here is that this idea turns the daily habit into a game.
In today’s podcast episode, I talk about how this approach is so powerful. I also talk about some of the down sides. And how you can combat them.
This approach is useful because it forces you to start competing against yourself. I recently talked about how competition with yourself is the best form of competition. Rather than comparing yourself to others, you just keep moving the needle in the right direction.
I also mentioned in this episode that I made a 365 day calendar in a previous post. This calendar was made specifically for printing off and putting on the wall in a convenient location in order to start marking off the days and growing your chain. You can access the calendar here:
Other episodes mentioned in this podcast:
Quote from the episode:
“Keep your head up in failure, and your head down in success.” – Jerry Seinfeld
Would the “don’t break the chain” approach work for you? How can you use the idea to improve your Spanish faster?
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