They use AI.

They use AI badly.

Prompts to generate specific word lists they will never memorize.

Prompts to generate personalized exercises they will not fill out.

Comparisons of language learning apps instead of consistently using one.

Reading articles on how to learn a language.

Following accounts that promise they will teach you that language and then telling me they always scroll past the posts of those accounts, cause they don’t feel like it.

They buy books they don’t read. They download audiobooks they don’t listen to.

They claim to write something in that new language, but it’s really AI that wrote it for them.

The same with all of life.

If they don’t have work related deadlines, things have a tendency to swirl around in the planning and strategizing phase.

If it’s not a purchase, or a thumbs up, or some quick online personality test, or some list with the top things to do in Cambodia (note: it’s NEVER understanding Pol Pot) plans are made, three hour long podcasts about what they want to do are listened to, and then another one, and then another one. To friends and colleagues they sound like they are already doing the thing. The company they hope to build already kinda exists, because they have a logo and a Facebook page and they know what color the chairs in the future meeting room will be.

Instead of doing something simple that requires some discomfort now, they do everything to prepare for the discomfort. Like rolling across silk sheets in the direction of hot coals they want to run over, but always circling the hot coals on their sheets of silk.

When they finally realize they will NOT learn a language, NOT build a company, NOT go to the gym five days a week they don’t blame their approach they will say they are too busy.

Too busy doing what?

They won’t tell you, cause yes, they aren’t lying, they are so busy they don’t notice what they are actually doing.

My advice in this world stinking to the high heavens with clickbait advice?

Just don’t. Don’t torture yourself with all these plans. Let the nervous system calm down. Don’t whip yourself into motion that you haven’t really chosen or made your identity.

It’s then that something may surface that your mind didn’t force on you, but that arises purely and cleanly and will be executed naturally.

To go back to the language example, if you are doing all kinds of things, without gaining any real fluency in that language, it may really be that you don’t care enough to justify the pain it takes.

That’s very much ok.

Let something arise you like so much that you will gladly pay the ‘pain price’ for.

Last hint: scrolling will not let it arise.