The Average Polyglot

The Average Polyglot

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The Average Polyglot
The Average Polyglot
On the importance of reflection and the evolution of the newsletter

On the importance of reflection and the evolution of the newsletter

Thursday's Thousandth Thought (TTT) #7 - How I use positive reflection to keep learning languages

Mathias Barra's avatar
Mathias Barra
Nov 10, 2022
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The Average Polyglot
The Average Polyglot
On the importance of reflection and the evolution of the newsletter
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How could you not want to sit and reflect in front of this view? (Photo by me of a garden in Isehara, Japan)

I grew up with my head in the clouds. My teachers regularly met my parents to complain I was constantly absent-minded. I had a strong defense:

"I've got stuff running in my head."

I actually meant to say "more important stuff" but didn’t say it to avoid creating even more anger from my interlocutors.

My head was always filled with "what ifs." Each more interesting than the previous one, I'd keep on thinking about new worlds, new situations, new possibilities. Or, you know, new reasons to be worried, new things I could consider failures, new ways to disappoint myself and others.

With time, I learned to turn these reflections into entertaining and even useful moments. I’ve come to believe one fact: Someone who never gets lost in their own head is someone who'll be stuck in their current ways without any possible way to improve.

In short, you can only improve what you're aware of.

That applies to any aspect of our lives. Including language learning.

That's why we're turning to the importance of framing our language-learning reflections in the right way.

And, as the title says, we’ll also reflect on what will happen to the 7 bullet point newsletter after the 100th week later this year.

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