Fading interest is natural In the summer 2018, inspired by my recent trip to Russia, I set out to learn the Russian language as quickly as possible. I completed all 7 levels of Memrise within a couple of months and then jumped up to Russian TV shows soon afterwards. I was studying 3–6 hours…

In 2017, I embarked on a once in a lifetime journey to climb the highest mountain in North America. Denali stands at 20,310 ft. (6,190 m) only 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Alaska. Due to the heavy pack weight and terrible weather, Denali is considered one of…

From an objective standpoint, I had a great life before I took mushrooms in Mexico. I was a newly minted digital nomad and high on life. The Mexican food, people, expat circles, and lifestyle had me in a trance. Even though I only had one architecture client (my previous boss)…

Single People Do Not Buy Tiny Homes I designed 30+ custom tiny homes, which were shipped all over the U.S. Not one client was a single person. The reasoning behind this I can only speculate, but it has to do with where you can legally park them. Single people want to live in urban centers and get…

Never internalize No, you’re not bad at languages. No, the YouTube polyglots don’t have better brains than you. No, your parents didn’t make a mistake not exposing you to a 2nd language as a child. No, you’re not too old. Internalization is a manifestation of lack of self worth. It has very…

Every home builder and architecture firm under the sun wants to see their designs get built. This fulfills the “meaning and purpose” aspect of their profession, and it brings great joy to see the lives of families improved. Sadly, not all remodels or new home builds go beyond the design…

One of the top questions I get about my language journey is how I squeeze so many hours into a busy schedule. Aspiring learners want to know with work, family, and social obligations, how they can steal more hours from their day. At the time of writing, I am averaging…

Without immersion, I would have never been able to acquire the Finnish language so quickly. Immersing myself for 2–3 hours per day in podcasts, TV shows, and audiobooks allowed me to get to A2 Finnish in only 10 months. The best part was I never once studied Finnish grammar. When…

So many language learners swear by Harry Potter, yet there’s little information on why it works so well or how to get started. You’ll forget you’re studying, because you’re in a magical world This is probably the biggest takeaway from language studying. You need to choose materials that you’re genuinely interested in. When I’m listening to Harry’s frequent trips to…