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Fail Often and Shamelessly

I encourage everyone to fail OFTEN and SHAMELESSLY.

This philosophy applies to just about any area of life where you want to learn and grow – and especially to LEARNING SPANISH.   Countless people, probably since the advent of humankind, have told us that we must be willing to fail BEFORE we can succeed.  Here are some examples:

  • Failure is the tuition you pay for success.
  • You’ll always miss one hundred percent of the shots you do not take.
  • I’d rather be a failure at something I enjoy than a success at something I hate.
  • While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.
  • In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.
  • Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
  • A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
  • Don’t think about failure. Think about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.
  • Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.
  • Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.
  • A life without mistakes is a mistake within itself.
  • You must be willing to do something poorly before you can do it well.
  • He who never fell, never climbed.
  • Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
  • Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

So with regard to learning Spanish, I encourage everyone to fail OFTEN and SHAMELESSLY.  Make tons of mistakes speaking Spanish –it is the only way to learn.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  You will simply not learn to speak and hear Spanish unless you are willing to make many mistakes along the way.  SO GET OUT THERE AND START MAKING MISTAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look for every opportunity to speak with someone in Spanish … any time you see someone who you think might be Latino, try it out.  Speak in Spanish to the bank teller … insurance agent … cashier … teacher … landscaper … software developer, etc.  Just go up to someone at every opportunity and say, “Buenos dias … ¿como está? … permitame presentarme, me llamo Keith,” and try to get a conversation going.  Is there anything wrong with that – no!

The worst that could happen is that someone gets offended by the fact that YOU THOUGHT they were Latino and that they speak Spanish.  That has happened to me only a few times, but in reality that is a rare occurrence.  But I don’t worry about that, and I will tell you why.  Countless times in my life I have interacted with someone who spoke little English … and I don’t get offended!  I am happy to try to help someone try to communicate in English.  Likewise, I encounter Latinos frequently in life (especially living here in Utah) and I always find them happy to converse with me in my BROKEN Spanish.  Latinos are wonderful and friendly people, and will be more than happy to help you with your Spanish.

So get out there and … FAIL … OFTEN and SHAMELESSLY … to speak and hear Spanish.   ¡Olé!

P.S. If you want an opportunity to make mistakes speaking Spanish, join us for the Sólo en Español Camping Trip this coming weekend, where only Spanish will be spoken all the time – total Spanish immersion!

Let’s Talk About Your Feelings

Are you still sad (triste) that the Utah Jazz traded D-Will to the New Jersey Nets?


Do you feel guilty (culpable) for not practicing enough Spanish this week?


Are you confused (confundirse) and overwhelmed (abrumado) because you cannot figure out whether we are in Spring, Winter, or Summer right now?


If so, don’t be worried (preocupado) … Sólo en Español Associates can help!  We are a supportive, caring, full-service group that can help you talk about your feelings (sentimientos).


In fact, you need to be prepared to talk about your feelings Tuesday night at Mestizo using any of the following adjectives:


exhausted – agotado
confused – confundirse
ecstatic – éxtasis
guilty – culpable
suspicious – sospechoso
angry – enojado
hysterical – histérica
frustrated – frustración
sad – triste
confident – confianza
embarrassed – vergüenza
happy – feliz
mischievous – travieso
disgusted – disgustado
frightened – miedo
enraged – enfureció
ashamed – vergüenza
cautious – cautelosos
smug – petulante
depressed – deprimido
overwhelmed – abrumado
hopeful – esperansado
lonely – sola
lovestruck – enamerado
jealous – celosa
bored – aburrido
surprised – sorprendió
anxious – ansiosos
shocked – sorprendió
shy – timido


Remember! – at Sólo en Español Associates there is always hope (esperanza).

Daily Contact with Spanish

You can learn to converse in Spanish, but NOT if you keep sabotaging your hard work and progress.  Why spend weeks or months, and maybe a lot of money, only to sabotage your development by NOT doing anything with your Spanish for days or weeks at a time?  It doesn’t take much to preserve what you have learned, but it does require DAILY CONTACT with the language.  Be VERY AFRAID of going even a couple days, and especially NOT a whole week, without doing something.


From what I have read by language learning experts, even 15 minutes a day is enough to preserve your current level until you can find more time to devote to building upon what you know.  If you want to keep building on what you know, you should spend at least 1 hour a day, but if you merely want to PRESERVE your current level, 15 minutes a day will do.


If you’re strapped for time and in PRESERVE mode, I recommend listening exercises that are FUN.  If you are lacking motivation or just plain tired, studying a grammar book is not going to pump you up.  Here are some fun listening exercises you can do to stay motivated and in contact with Spanish:


Pimsleur – The best program available, and you can borrow it from the library.  It will help you listen and speak, and it is fun and easy to use.


Destinos – This is also a free program, and available at http://www.learner.org/series/destinos/.  What could be easier than watching these episodes?  This program will keep your ear tuned to hearing Spanish, and it also includes fun and simple exercises.


LiveMocha.com – I haven’t done much with this program lately, but it is free for the first few levels … and since it is a community of learners, you can make friends with native Spanish speakers who are learning English.  Help each other learn … they help you with Spanish, you help them with English.

Spanish Jackpot

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you hit the jackpot by winning the lottery?  Or, what if some distant relative that you did not even know left you a bunch of money?  What would hitting the jackpot do to your life?

Though I must confess to buying a lottery ticket while we were in Washington State this past weekend, I’m one of the people that think that winning the lottery is more likely to ruin a person than help them.  Imagine how complicated your life would get once all of your friends and family found out that you suddenly acquired a bunch of money … instantly everybody and their brother would be asking you for money.  And of course, you would be tempted to gorge yourself on your winnings, and, after spending luxuriously on yourself for a few years, you’d have to spend more and more each time to get the same high.  It seems that you could easily wind up being a tired, old, lonely, cranky, selfish, unloving, poor, bastard, shell of a human being.  That’s a good thing?

My plan for attempting to avoid such a pitfall is a pledge to immediately give away half the money, perhaps by setting up a foundation dedicated to doing good “para siempre.”  But even then I’d have to fight off everybody and their brother for the half of the money I kept for myself!

Speaking of jackpots … I hit the Spanish jackpot about a week ago, and I still haven’t told anyone.  I’ve been holding out and keeping this treasure all to myself!  I stumbled upon this incredible Spanish learning resource on the internet, which is in my opinion every bit as useful as Destinos.  And what’s more, it is free and available to everyone … you just need to know where to find it.

Do you want some?

Not so fast, Buster!  Before I will show you how to find this Spanish jackpot, you must email me and explain how you will use this jackpot to benefit the world.

Aaargh!  Don’t you hate it when people put a condition on receiving a gift!  What an “atorrante” (scumbag) I am!

Sorry Charlie, that’s just the way it is going to be.  I got the goods, and if you want some of the treasure I am going to make you work for it.  If you enjoy learning the Spanish language, you will really appreciate this resource.  Once again, send me an email and explain how you will use this jackpot to benefit the world, and as soon as I receive your email I will reply and send you the link to this Spanish language learning booty.

12 Mindful Movements

The following 12 mindful movements are adapted from the seminal work of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He developed 10 mindful movements that he and his friends have been doing many years, but I changed a few and added a few movements to make the series more amenable to my body … specifically, to make it easier on my back, hips, and knees.

The first 6 are the same as his, and I modified the 7th.  I replaced his 8th and 9th movements (since I prefer not to balance on one leg) with 4 exercises I regularly do for the benefit of my back and hips (which are the new 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th movements).  And the 12th movement is essentially the same as Thay’s final movement (Thay is the name his friends call him), however I do it at only a 45 degree angle, and I made it more of a Tai Chi “heaven and earth” stretch.  I hope you enjoy them.

The 12 mindful movements are rooted in breathing.  They help bring the body and mind together, and help you live more fully in the present moment.  Stay balanced.  Breathe into your belly, and enjoy your breathing.  Remember to smile.

1. Breathe in and lift arms, stretch forward.  Breathe out and lower arms.  Do 3 times.
2. Breathe in and lift arms to sky, stretch upward.  Breathe out and lower arms.  Do 3 times.
3. Place fingertips on shoulders, breathe in and bloom like a flower.  Breathe out and return fingertips to shoulders.  Do 3 times.
4. Stand with feet a bit wider than shoulder width.  Breathe in while making half circle with arms, breathe out while completing the circle.  Reverse direction and complete another circle.  This makes one set … do 3 sets.
5. Bend over and drop arms to earth.  Breathe in and raise arms to sky, stretch upward.  Breathe out and drop arms to earth, stretch downward.  Do 3 times.
6. Put hands on hips.  Bend forward and breathe in while making half circle with upper body, and at the point you are leaning back breathe out while completing the circle.  Reverse direction and complete another circle.  This makes one set … do 3 sets.
7. Breathe in to stand on tippy toes, breathe out while squatting and extending arms.  Do 3 times.
8. Lie on floor and breathe in, then breathe out while pulling knees to chest.  Do 3 times.
9. Sit on floor with right leg extended, breathe in with legs crossed and left foot at right knee.  Breathe out while twisting back to right.  Reverse and twist back to left.  This makes one set … do 3 sets.
10. Lie on floor and breathe in, then breathe out while pulling right leg up and over for hip stretch.  Reverse and pull left leg up and over.  This makes one set … do 3 sets.
11. Lie on floor and breathe in, then breathe out while doing stomach crunch.  Repeat at least 12 times.
12. Step right and forward at a 45 degree angle.  Breathe in while bending knee, lifting right hand to sky, and extending left hand to earth.  Breathe out and return to starting position.  Do 3 times.  Reverse, and do 3 more times.

Bow and give thanks with a smile.