How to transcend those deeply dippy moments

When I was at school I attended a talk by a rather eccentric Englishman, the adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. During his talk he spoke about the days when he was walking to the South Pole and felt like giving up … only he kept going because he wasn’t going to let his companion beat him to his goal. Whenever I feel like giving up on something I’ve set out to achieve, I always think back to what he said whenever I feel tired and want to give up.

In 1997, I was in Arizona and I met another eccentric Englishman who needed help pushing his car … he conveniently neglected to inform me that what really meant was that he needed help to push his car out of an aeroplane 13,000ft over the Senoran Desert.  I remember thinking to myself, well that’s funny … I only got my skydiving licence yesterday and the first thing I find myself doing is getting involved in a stunt for making a television commercial. But that’s the thing … you see, whatever it is, simply by doing something, the chances of opportunities presenting themselves to you just increase … remember that … because even when you don’t think anything is happening … stuff is happening … it might be that you are just reconfiguring yourself … well, that has to happen in order for you to engage in an action that you would previously have disregarded.

I meet a lot of people who inspire me in skydiving … one of the earliest inspirations came from a man called Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld (author of “Above All Else”). He was part of a world champion team, Arizona Airspeed, who were training for the national championships whilst I was learning to skydive.  That team were, in terms of language learning, the only people who were completely fluent in the language of flight. But just like native speakers of any language you're trying to learn ... these are the people who don't have anything left to prove ... their smiles are genuine ... that seemed apparent to me when I was learning to fly ... these people really got it ... and that's not to say that other people learning to fly don't get it ... lots of people do ... but occasionally I encounter people in skydiving who don't get it at all ... just like in language learning when I encounter people who seem convinced that because it took them years to learn a language (inefficiently) ... that it's going to really annoy them if anyone else dare to suggest that they might be able to learn a language a lot quicker. You'll hear, "oh, but that's cheating ... as if you can cheat ... it is what it is". I can already speak Japanese ... am I fluent ... sometimes ... I'm fluent at saying introductions ... oh, that's not fluent you fool ... yes it is ... but I aspire to speak beyond basic introductions ... where do I aspire ... well ... that's all part of my plan ... and will I be able to achieve my plan ... well ... back to Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld.

 He gave a TED talk about how to overcome all the odds: 

It boils down to asking yourself two simple questions.

Question 1: “Is it possible that I can succeed?”

Question 2: “Am I prepared to do whatever it takes to make it happen?”

If I can honestly answer yes to both these questions; then I stand a pretty good chance of being successful.  I get dips … sure … I’ve had a couple since the +1 Challenge begun … I had a lesson which made me feel utterly daunted by speaking Japanese … I came away feeling as if I hadn’t got above the tree line and the summit of this language was a long long way up. I had a weekend where I ended up completely exhausted … and thought, “oh dear, what happened to all the fun I was having before … have I killed it?”

I don’t hope that I will be able to speak Japanese one day … hope is simply an optimistic form of doubt. I have no doubt that I will speak Japanese once I’ve put in the necessary work to speak it. Am I prepared to do whatever it takes … yes … that gets me through the minor dips easily … but what about the major ones, the ones where doubt comes knocking at the door … hmmm … that’s when I think about this phantom character named doubt … he’s the guy who tells me learning Japanese will take many years … he’s the guy who tells me that even when I can speak Japanese the Japanese people would prefer me to be speaking English with them … he’s the guy who says, “you don’t deserve to speak another language” … and I shun him … because I’m a human being and I don’t need his permission to earn the right to speak another language, I claim the right to speak another language … in the words of Russell Brand … “I’m taking that right”. Am I prepared to do whatever it takes … yes … is it possible … yes … and to put this character called doubt in his rightful place … I take a step back and see him in his true perspective … I see the fun I have speaking Japanese already … I imagine how much more fun it will be when I’m better acquainted with this language … I imagine the opportunities that can occur once we’ve become better friends (for example, the moment I helped a lost Japanese tourist in London … the look of bewilderment and delightful sound of “eeeeeeeeeh YOU SPEAK JAPANESE!!!!” when I gave this guy directions in Japanese) … and when I watch drama’s and can understand a little more than the previous time … that reminds me that I am making progress when I don’t feel like much progress is being made … and I think about the other +1 Challengers who have given me words of encouragement … and I think about other people who’ve taken an interest in my language learning … people seem to have noticed that I’ve got the bit between my teeth and am striving forward … and I think about my language partner who says I’ve inspired her to learn more English because I’m catching her up in regards it always being her who has had the greater language ability in the past … but yeah … most of all, I look ahead and think, “wow, I’ve already had some amazing experiences on this language learning journey already … but this journey is going to be whatever I make it … let’s not sit around staring at the same scenery … lets go further … lets go off-piste … lets go higher and deeper and wider and take this path and that path and perhaps do a little dance here … I don’t know … this works for me … where’s my map … oh yeah … the plan … it’s good … but let’s not be too ridged … as Lao Tsu said, “a good traveller has no fixed plan and is not intent on arriving”. Some people don’t get that message … they instantly see it as being, “let’s not have a plan or a goal” … they’ve misunderstood … it says nothing about not having plan or a goal … it says, “don’t fixate on the route … don’t forget to enjoy the scenery” … for this is what makes one a good traveller … and this is how I get out of the dips … I transcend them … they are merely lower contours that one experiences on route.

Is it possible for you to succeed … most definitely yes … are you prepared to do whatever it takes …  you decide … when you think about the glorious possibilities that speaking another language affords … it’s well worth it isn’t it?