TTT 11: How to Not Force It
Hi friends,
இரவு வணக்கம் (iravu vaNakkam), Buenas Noches, and Good Evening from New York City - let's get into it!
Thing I did
I called my aunt, Giri Mami, and we practiced speaking Tamil on the phone for 5 minutes.
We'd never spoken over the phone in Tamil so I was a bit nervous. But, it went super well! She understood everything I was saying and I learned some new vocab.
Before the call, I sent her this text...
It’s important to lay ground rules for practicing new languages with native speakers.
Many times they’ll stop the flow of conversation because they want you to express yourself exactly how they would. However, the path to sounding like a native is long and windy. Starting with being understood and smooth are necessary stops along the way.
I am so pumped to teach other people how to do this!
Tweet I loved
I sucked at coding interviews coming out of college.
It was not intuitive at all. I spent upwards of 300 hours practicing them - sometimes up to 8 hours a day. It took me 6 years to get good at them.
These 300+ hours are spent before work, after work, and on the weekends.
The worst part about it is that the skills to be good at coding interviews and the skills to do the job are barely overlapping. If you want to find a new job, you have to start practicing again. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very much worth it to create a financial foundation.
I just don’t ever want to do it again.
Thought I had
I’m in 0 classes right now.
It’s tempting to want to sign up for another; however, I have enough information to act on. I’ve taken these over the last 3 months
Write of Passage
Small Bets
Newsletter Launchpad
Spanish “by ear”
Tamil
The foundation of creation online is memorable, concise writing. The awareness of one’s own assets (in Small Bets terms) is the foundation of monetizing. Publishing regularly is the key to making your writing better and establishing your own portfolio - independent of work.
I have to keep reminding myself that I don’t always have to be working on something.
There’s no need to rush and force something. There’s only so many months of summer to enjoy outside. Eat a slice of pizza, sit in the park, and people watch.
Listen to your gut, it’s usually telling you what you need to hear.
I'd love to hear any feelings you felt while reading this and until next time - be easy.
Love,
Janahan
P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, feel free to forward this email to your people or share this link. It'll encourage me to keep writing!