Intro
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| Becky: Welcome to a special Inner Circle Audio Lesson! I'm Becky and I'll be your host. My co-host today is the founder of InnovativeLanguage.com... Peter Galante! |
| Peter: Hi everyone! Peter here. |
| Becky: In this Inner Circle, we’re talking about Big Commitments, Big Results.. |
| Peter: and Desperate Measures for Desperate Times. |
| Becky: You’ll learn... |
| Peter: ...One, Why I Signed Up for In-Person Classes This Month, |
| Becky: Two, The Importance of Big Commitments And Anchor Points, |
| Peter: ...and Three, How You Can Apply These Ideas To Get Results of Your Own. |
| Becky: ...All so you can master your target language and finally reach your goals! |
| Body |
| Peter: Listeners, welcome back. |
| Becky: Last time, you learned about input versus output.... |
| Peter: ...or tracking the results of time invested based on the amount you’ve studied... or input... |
| Becky: ...that you put in. That was a good one, Peter. Really made me think. |
| Peter: *flattered* Really? How so? |
| Becky: Well you said it last time. Nowadays, people just consume a lot of input. You could sit on YouTube for 4 hours straight without even realizing it. And at the end, you have nothing to show for it. No measurable results. |
| Peter: Exactly, no output. |
| Becky: But if you know your input, like 2 hours of audio lessons a week... |
| Peter: ...and if you know your output...maybe 4 minutes of conversation in your target language... |
| Becky: You now know what results you’re getting for the time you put in. |
| Peter: You can now double your input to double your results... and make more progress. |
| Becky: Alright, Peter so let’s talk about this month. |
| Peter: My goal for the month? |
| Becky: Yes. You promised 15 minutes of German conversation. You were at 13. |
| Peter: ...Okay, so I’m, uh, at 14. |
| Becky: ...Wait after all that talk about input and output... |
| Peter: Becky, I know, I know. Desperate times call for desperate measures... |
| Becky: Peter, there's one month left in the year. You promised us 20 minutes. And that’s after you downgraded from 30 minutes. |
| Peter: ...which is EXACTLY why I made a BIG commitment in the middle of November. |
| Becky: And this is the topic for today’s Inner Circle. |
| Peter: Big Commitments, Big Results and Desperate Measures for Desperate Times . |
| Becky: So today, you’ll learn... |
| Peter: ...One, Why I Signed Up for In-Person Classes This Month, |
| Becky: Two, The Importance of Big Commitments And Anchor Points, |
| Peter: ...and Three, How You Can Apply These To Get Results of Your Own. |
| Becky: Alright, so you enrolled ... |
| Peter: ...in a real, in-person class. |
| Becky: Really? Why? |
| Peter: Yes. Let me give you some background first about why I made this decision and why German’s been a struggle. Actually, this year has been a bit of struggle in general. You know, out of the many languages that I studied, I chose German... |
| Becky: ...because you thought it’d be easy? |
| Peter: Exactly. And it’s been the complete opposite. Not because of the language itself... |
| Becky: ...you just didn’t have the time? |
| Peter: Right. It was hard to fit this goal into my lifestyle. |
| Becky: Ah, so that’s why you enrolled in a class, huh? |
| Peter: Well, let’s get into the first part. |
| Becky: ...One, Why Peter Signed Up for In-Person Classes This Month. |
| Peter: So here’s the quick and fast answer as to why I did it – |
| Becky: desperate times? |
| Peter: ...call for desperate measures. This is a big commitment. |
| Becky: It is... |
| Peter: And I need to reach my goals one way or another. |
| Becky: Interesting, but why classes? Like at a real language school? |
| Peter: Exactly. Becky, look, there are reasons why traditional methods, like schools, are still around in a digital world. Yes, they’re very expensive.. |
| Becky: ...they take so much time - getting to and from class, studying afterwards.. |
| Peter: But, Becky, I appreciate in-person classes and I have my own reasons. |
| Becky: Alright. |
| Peter: The first reason is, they’re expensive. |
| Becky: Wait, how is that a reason? |
| Peter: So, if you don’t show up or study, it hurts! That’s thousands of dollars down the drain. So, the more you pay, the more you attend. |
| Becky: Ah, and the more you value it. |
| Peter: The second reason is, they’re structured. With online tutors or self-study, you can be flexible and skip a day or reschedule. But classes follow a strict curriculum. You can still skip a day... |
| Becky: Yeah.. but if you do, you’ll start falling behind. |
| Peter: Which is why it’s so motivating. Just like with losing money, you want to avoid this loss too. |
| Becky; Ah, I see. |
| Peter: The third reason is that it’s simply nice to have real, human interaction. |
| Becky: Yeah, you can feel a stronger connection with your teacher. |
| Peter: The fourth reason is... the school lessons become kind of an anchor point. |
| Becky: What do you mean by that? |
| Peter: We’ll get into it the second part but when you have to go to school your schedule revolves around it, not the other way around. So it’s very motivating. |
| Becky: Right, like you said, you can’t exactly call in and cancel or skip a day... |
| Peter: ...you definitely can, but Becky, it will hurt! Now the fifth reason is my personal one. |
| Becky: Oh? |
| Peter: I can connect what I learn in my GermanPod101 lessons to my classes. So, I’ll ask my teacher what the “can-do” statement of the lesson is... |
| Becky: Listeners, by the way, a can-do statement is simply what you can do after you accomplish that lesson. |
| Peter: So... for example, after this lesson, you can now use the past tense, or you can now order food from a restaurant in your target language. So, I’ll ask my teacher that... and then review all of the lessons on GermanPod101 that are related to that can-do statement. |
| Becky: Ah, so your in-person classes and your GermanPod101 studies are tied together. |
| Peter: Exactly. There’s no disconnect. I’m not learning about apples here and oranges there. I can also talk to my Premium PLUS teacher and practice what I’ve learned with my in-person teacher. I can use the Premium PLUS teacher to prep for the next class. And my real teacher has a GermanPod101 account so...she’s well versed in our learning system |
| Becky: What really sticks out to me is the concept of the anchor point. |
| Peter: So that’s what the second part is about. Let’s get into it. |
| Becky: Part Two, The Importance of Big Commitments And Anchor Points. |
| Peter: So, listeners, if you’re wondering just how important and powerful this is... |
| Becky: ...having an anchor point... |
| Peter: Here’s why it works. You know, a lot learning, especially digital learning, is very flexible. |
| Becky: ...which is not a bad thing. |
| Peter: It’s not, not at all, Becky. It’s perfect for people that have school, jobs, responsibilities and kids to take care of. You can learn whenever you want. You can find ways to fit it into your daily routine. The problem is, you can excuse yourself from learning... because other things come up. Like work. |
| Becky: But with school and classes... |
| Peter: ...my daily routine revolves around it. There’s no way I can skip it. |
| Becky: Right. When I was in university, my life pretty much revolved around going to class. |
| Peter: Exactly. And it’s no different with language classes. To get to class on time, I have to leave work on time. This means, I have to wake up earlier and go to sleep earlier. And I have to make time in the day to study. |
| Becky: So, your routine revolves around the in-person class... and the class becomes an anchor point. |
| Peter: But the bigger point is... you show up, you learn, you make progress, you succeed... |
| Becky: ...and you have no way to excuse your way out if it. It’s a big commitment. |
| Peter: Which is what makes this anchor point so powerful. |
| Becky: It’s like that Woody Allen quote... |
| Peter: Which one? |
| Becky: Eighty percent of success is showing up. |
| Peter: Ah, that’s a good one! Ok now... let’s talk big commitments. |
| Becky: Listeners, big commitments, like enrolling in a class... |
| Peter: ...or even joining our Premium PLUS subscription, which is somewhat pricier than Premium... |
| Becky: ...almost force you to stick with it because of how much you invest. |
| Peter: ...or because of how much you stand to lose if you don’t take advantage. And like I said, that’s why I appreciate in-person classes... |
| Becky: ...they’re expensive! Fear of losing money is a powerful motivator. |
| Peter: It is. Listeners, it’s been studied by psychologists. It’s called loss aversion. People feel more pain from losing $100 than satisfaction from gaining $100. |
| Becky: Huh. You’d imagine it would be about the same. |
| Peter: It hurts, Becky! Actually, some years ago, I had a Chinese tutor that would charge me DOUBLE for canceling a class... or if I came late. |
| Becky: Double? Why? |
| Peter: Well first, for missing that class, and second, for wasting her time. |
| Becky: Oh, wow. Ouch. |
| Peter: But here’s what happened. After paying once...I never missed a class again. I was never late again. And more importantly... my I reached my Chinese language goals. |
| Becky: So big commitments really do force you to succeed. |
| Peter: You got it. The second reason why big commitments are powerful is... |
| Becky: The bigger the commitment, the bigger the progress. |
| Peter: By December, I’m confident that I’ll reach 20 minutes. I’ve already made double the progress in the second half of this month. I just wish I started earlier! |
| Becky: Okay, how can our listeners apply this? |
| Peter: Let’s get into part 3. |
| Becky: Three, How You Can Apply These To Get Results of Your Own |
| Peter: Listeners, if desperate times call for desperate measures... |
| Becky: We highly recommend making a big commitment and making language an anchor point. |
| Peter: So whether it means enrolling in a class... |
| Becky: Or investing in a Premium or Premium PLUS membership... |
| Peter: ...by signing up and, more importantly, having something to lose... |
| Becky: like money...you’re a lot more invested in your success if you’re paying a lot. |
| Peter: And classes cost THOUSANDS. Now, with anchor points.... |
| Becky: Once you make that big commitment and you can’t get around it... |
| Peter: It dictates your schedule and daily routine... |
| Becky: ... so the only way you can go is up. |
| Peter: I think fitness is a good example. Take a look at any serious gym goer. They leave work on time to get to the gym on time. They go to sleep on time to get enough rest. Their diet is centered around their fitness goals... |
| Becky: All because they made that commitment.. And now that goal dictates their schedule... |
| Peter: ...instead of having their schedule dictate their goal. |
| Becky: Alright, Peter. So 20 minutes of German by the end of December? |
| Peter: You got it Becky. The pressure is on. Desperate times call for desperate measures. |
| Becky: Sounds good! Well... sounds rough actually! And listeners, let us know... |
| Peter: What do you do in desperate times? |
| Becky: Do you take on big commitments? |
| Peter: ...and is language learning an anchor point in your life? |
| Becky: Email us at inner dot circle at innovative language dot com. |
| Peter: And stay tuned for the next Inner Circle. |
Outro
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| Becky: Well, that’s going to do it for this special Inner Circle lesson! |
| Peter: Bye everyone! |
| Becky: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
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