Let me know if you've ever had an experience like this:

First, you notice a problem, a goal, something you want to change. Maybe you want to lose weight. Maybe you want to get a six-pack. Maybe you want to save money for a trip to Madagascar! Yay!

…Or maybe you want to learn a language.

But it's so hard to save money and lose weight and learn languages.

So you start making a plan.

If I study French 5 hours a day for one year, that's like 1,800 hours of language study. I'll be so fluent!

If I cut 350 calories per day, then I'll lose 1 pound every ten days, which means I'll lose 10 pounds in ten weeks. Awesome!

If I save $10 per day, that's $3,650 a year. Madagascar here I come!

There's only one problem with all of this:

Thinking about doing something is not the same as doing something.

• Thinking about studying French is not the same as learning French.
• Thinking about losing weight is not losing weight.
• Thinking about saving money is not saving money.

Don't get me wrong–I think having a plan is a good thing. This entire guide is a giant plan, in many ways.

But plans have their limits. And us humans like imagining that we're going to accomplish things, because it triggers the same sense of accomplishment as if we'd actually done something. Also, fantasizing too much about positive outcomes is scientifically shown to have a negative effect on the actual realization of goals.

Most of this guide isn't teaching you a new language. I think I'm sharing some truly valuable information with you, but a guide like this one can only help you so much.

So, yeah. Act on the information being presented to you. Download an audio lesson. Buy a grammar book. Schedule a lesson. Whatever. Just starting putting this new language in your brain from Day 1. I will show you how.

Productivity > Activity. Always, always, always.