I see at the end of December, I wrote about this being the year I’d hit French. We all know how that goes…

I have now finished 39 lessons of Pimsleur Dari – the whole first phase and the first 9 of the second phase. I expect I’ll finish phase 2, but I know better than to make predictions by now.

I did run across one exceptionally useful idea though: The emotions of motivation don’t last, so if you want to do something, you need a plan beyond staying motivated. Doing the Dari course, there have been some moments when things clicked, especially around lesson 20 of the first phase and lesson 4 of the second phase. But what has mostly kept me going is routine: I do a lesson after eating dinner and then I can consider myself done for the day. There are days I look forward to the lesson, and days I groan, but the good thing is I’m not counting on motivation, just going through the motions. There’s an inspirational thought!