Conditioning Your Mind to Speak Portuguese | 004

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste” is what they always say, and rightfully so as it’s the powerhouse for our bodies.

The truth is that our minds are so full of untapped potential that we will barely use 20% of it in our lifetime!

Though, most people don’t realize how easy it is to untap more of our mind’s potential to speak Portuguese.

You see, our mind is a huge muscle and like any other muscle in our body, it get’s stronger the more we “work out”…

…and it’s fueled by what we eat, how much sleep we get and other factors. This may sound like we are working our way into some deep science here, but we aren’t.

Today’s part of the Portuguese Acceleration Blueprint is focused on understanding and untapping your mind’s potential when speaking Portuguese – in a fun and rewarding way!

Before I tell you how, let me share a story with you…

Note: you are here in the Portuguese Acceleration Blueprint

Late Night Portuguese and a Splitting Headache

When I first started learning to speak Portuguese, the fact that my brain was a muscle was oblivious to me.

Late at night after coming home from a long day’s work, I would sit and study Portuguese for hours on end.

It felt like I was moving very slow…

And every time without fail, a heavy feeling in my mind would come that felt like the beginning of a headache was coming.

That headache-like feeling would always discourage me and make me want to give up…

…and to be honest, it did make me give up many times!

It wasn’t until later on in the Portuguese learning process that I discovered what was going on.  After a long day’s work, a lack of understanding of what was going on and too much fast food, my brain simply didn’t want to function.

If I knew what you are about to learn, it would have made things a whole lot easier and faster to speak Portuguese!

What Happens to Your Mind When Learning Portuguese

Your brain is a beautiful intricate network of billions of neurons that function together to form your mind.

And as you challenge your mind with learning Portuguese, new networks of neurons are developed and connected to adapt to your new language.

- Scientificy language off -

Think of it this way:

Let’s say that you decide to take up jogging to get into shape and get your best beach body going.  You enjoy jogging because it frees you from the daily grind and there is nothing better then the wind on your face as you stride and enjoy the early morning sun gently kissing your skin.

You are just getting started and have invested in a decent pair of running shoes to get you going.

The first jog is only a half an hour but it feels like a lifetime!

You are quickly winded and all of your muscles seem to scream at you from the top of their lungs as you push them in ways seemingly impossible…

…and as you arrive back home, you feel a bit queasy and uncomfortable – that was tough!

For the next few days, your muscles ache but you know that you need to keep focused on your goal of being able to enjoy your jogs.

A bit reluctantly, you go for another jog a few days later and it’s noticeably easier, though it’s still tough but you arrive home more satisfied.

This process happens over and over again until after a few months time, you are really enjoying your jogs and feeling satisfied and uplifted each time you do it and can’t wait for the next time.

The same is true for speaking Portuguese

You have a dream and goal of being fluent and after the first several times you study Portuguese, it’s tough and challenging for your mind…

…it screams at you from the top of it’s lungs but you know that it’s only temporary.

As you learn more and more Portuguese, your mind adapts to speaking and it becomes very enjoyable and rewarding.

Then speaking Portuguese becomes nothing short of a pleasure as your mind “muscle” has become strong and conditioned.

How Your Mind’s Potential is Unlocked

How your mind’s potential is unlocked to speak Portuguese depends on 3 major factors:

1. Exercising your mind right
2. Being well rested
3. Eating brain foods
4. A good state of mind

Exercising your mind right

Like the metaphor above about jogging, your mind is dependent upon being challenged.

Though a lot like jogging, it’s important that you get into the right routine from the get go so that you can consistently build on you momentum.

After some time, it won’t feel like exercising anymore and will be very enjoyable.

I’ll give you some “exercises” to condition your mind to speak Portuguese at the end of this post.

Being well rested

Sleep is a catalyst to your success in speaking Portuguese.

If you are like me, then there is nothing better then waking up well rested, positive and ready to take on the day.

This is one of the most important factors to speaking Portuguese as sleep fuels your brain’s abilities.

I fell short in this area as I was working long hours, staying up too late and studying Portuguese late at night.

This is one of the main reasons as to why my brain couldn’t take all that learning on at first – it felt like a headache was coming everytime I started.

So do your best to be determined to get to bed on time and wake up at a good hour every day.

Eating brain foods

I live with a nutritionist, my wife, so my days and evenings are “enriched” with lovely facts about food and nutrition.

The advantage of that is obviously that I get to hear about how different kinds of foods effect our minds directly, increasing our learning capacity – cool!

Here are some foods to look for:

• Salmon
• Flax seeds
• Nuts (mixed)
• Avocados
• Eggs
• Whole grains
• Dark chocolate
• Berries
• Broccoli

No joke, introducing the above foods into your diet will increase your mind power and make it easier for it to adapt to speaking Portuguese!

State of mind

Are you stressed, juggling about a 1000 things or just down?

Believe it or not, your state of mind directly affects your ability to learn and speak Portuguese.

So it’s important that you get yourself into the right state of mind when learning Portuguese by believing that you are going to succeed.

Because the minute you decide or circumstances lead your mind away from achieving your goal, it will put a huge road block in your learning process.

You can see more about your state of mind in the post from last Friday.

Techniques to Unlock Your Mind’s Potential

With all of this talk about unlocking your mind’s potential to speak Portuguese, it wouldn’t be right to leave you without any fun an practical techniques to do so!

Here are some of the best of the best techniques you can use right away (my favorite is the last one!):

1. Clearing Your Mind

Whether doing a Portuguese lesson, watching a Brazilian movie or listening to some Brazilian music, it’s important that your mind is cleared before doing so.

This way your attention won’t be divided and your ready to give all of your energy to your Portuguese learning.

A good method for doing this is to close your eyes (maybe to some good Brazilian music?) and focus on closing the doors to the other attention grabbers around.

Calm your mind and bring peace to your heart, this will torpedo you into benefitting from whatever it is you are doing to improve your Portuguese at that moment.

2. The “33″ Minute Trick

Someone once told me that our mind has the ability to use 100% of its potential for 33 minutes at a time before needing a break.

Since hearing about this trick, I’ve put it to the test and noticed a large improvement over what I was doing before (long sessions of studying Portuguese where my focus was very lousy).

When you say to yourself “I’m going to spend 33 minutes on my Portuguese course” and do it, the results will be great, fast and rewarding.
After the 33 minutes are up, take a 15 minute break (or so) where you relax your mind so that you’re refreshed to come back and do another session.

This is especially great for when you are first starting to learn and your mind gets tired fast.

3. Playing Fun Mind Games

Whether on Facebook, our phones, computers or gaming consoles, we all love to play games!

And as a matter of fact, many of these games (think Wordfued) actually build our intelligence up and our mind’s ability to learn.

This ability to learn and adapt will benefit you when learning Portuguese.

Some courses have different games built into them to break up study sessions and make it more enjoyable.

Rocket Portuguese (affiliate link) has some really fun and engaging games built right into it.

Note: please note that the above link is an affiliate link and there is no pressure for you to buy.  Though if you do, it is at no extra cost to you and let me know if you do so that I can personally thank you!

Final Words

With your mind fine tuned and well oiled, you will be jetting towards Portuguese success!

So my challenge to you is to put your mind into the right gear with the above info so that you can propel yourself into success!

Now it’s time to hear from you:

What works for you to condition your mind to speak Portuguese?

Valeu – Cheers!
Kevin

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