Hi everyone, I am James from Cambridge in the UK!

I’ve been listening to MTM since November 2007, and became a premium member soon after the start of 2008. I’ve really been enjoying the programs so far and am very excited about the changes coming up!

My goals include:

- Getting in better shape/health - I’m doing ok so far, I’ve lost about 10lbs and have another 20 before I reach my target weight of 12 and a half stone (175lbs).

- Becoming more productive and motivated at work. I am doing a PhD at the moment, and am about half way through - I’m hoping to apply some of the life skills advice from the daily boost to increase my work rate and quality of work! I’ve started a few new techniques here and things are already showing improvement - still a long way to go though!

- Learning a new language. My Girlfriend is from Poland, and although she speaks excellent English (she is an English teacher!), her family mostly speak little or none. I’m hoping to learn Polish so I can communicate with them more! So far this is my weakest area - I am finding it very difficult to sit down and do some learning each day, which seems to me is the best way of learning a language.

Anyway, if anyone has any tips on the above, it would be fantastic to hear them! I may try to start a thread in the journal forum to give some regular updates - this seems a good way to motivate myself to continue!

Hi James....

and Welcome.

learning to be disciplined, in any area of your life just requires you to answer some really basic questions.  How do I want to feel? is one.... and figuring out the WHY’s of what you want to do. 
Getting in shape (getting to 12.5 stones) is a goal, so figure out the why?
being more motivated / productive.... why?
leaning a new language...(you answered the why)....

Now all it takes is setting up small steps to get there.  If sitting down and studying is tough.... take smaller ‘bites’.... and set smaller goals, until you are able to get through more each time.

As a physical example....I started training for a triathlon .... I did not start doing an ironman… i started using an elliptial....then running some, then longer distances, then swimming, then biking.......

Like Scott says....start moving....stay moving....

small goals...monitor your progress, and measure how you are doing.... always give yourself room to succeed (and fail too)!

Welcome to the MTM community!

Welcome and great start, James! What have you been doing to lose the 10 you’ve lost so far?

Bree

Thanks to both of you for the welcome!

Tom - good advice, I found in the past that I was most successful at achieving goals which had a clear benefit to me. I will do some thinking about why I want to be organised and slim. Getting a strong visualisation in my mind as to what life would be like if I was in shape/organised at work would help I’m sure!

Bree - thanks for asking! I’ve been following Scott’s advice mostly - 4+ workout sessions per week with a mixture of Cardio and strength training (and a small but growing amount of flexability work!). In the past I have done a fair amount of exercise, but losing weight was much more of a struggle, since I didn’t control my food intake so well. This time I have been trying to eat small but regular meals with a good mixture of nutrients.

Anyway time to get ready for the gym! I look forward to posting in the forum more this evening!

Welcome, James!

I like your combining your intellectual/linguistic goals with your physical ones… it gives us some of your individualism, which is fun.

Hey, did you know that there are some “learn Polish” resources in iTunes? I just did a search. There are two audiobooks for retail sale, and one podcast, “One Minute Polish.” If you have an iPod or spend some time commuting in a car, this might be useful.

You’re reminding me that when I turned forty (nearly five years ago) I was going to make this decade of my life about learning proficiency in a few languages. Other than taking a short course in American Sign Language for the deaf, muddling through a few articles in Le Monde in French, and doing a learn-Italian CD-ROM, I haven’t done much. I’d like to revisit that and add some focus.

Dobre szczęście!  (I cheated, used the translator at poltran.com to yield “good luck” in Polish.)

Peace and joy,

Ann

Thank you very much Ann - I’ve checked out the one minute Polish, and it looks like it’ll be very handy for some quick refresher lessons! I have a book with a CD that I’ve used so far, but in the medium term I hope to get some actual lessons. I actually managed to sit down and do 20 minutes study of the book today so I feel quite good - I just have to turn this into doing it every day through momentum!

Dziekuje (thank you) for your kind words and welcome!

By the way, 5 years left in the decade - more than enough time to reach your goal of mastering some languages!

Hi James,

How nice to read that there are people in this country who want to make the effort to learn a new language

My boyfriend has been trying to learn Dutch for over 3 years now, but he “doesn’t have time” for anything but work, as he’s studying to be a barrister. He does have a lot of time for video games though! Let me know how you get on with the Polish and whether you find anything helpful.

Also, well done on losing 10lbs, that’s amazing!