The 12-Minute Method Podcast

In this episode I'm talking about how I *FINALLY* started learning Spanish. This was something I had been thinking about and wanting to do and not doing for YEARS. 

Then a move to Costa Rica made it very important that I had some Spanish and a combination of a great tutor, an app my wife's family used and the repeated decision not to give up mean that I have now been practising my Spanish almost every day for five years. And whilst I'm far from fluent yet - just listen to me stumble over the word 'aprendiendo' in the opening couple of minutes of the show - I'm immeasurably better than five years ago and far better than I would have been if I hadn't created a '12-minute method' practise for language learning. And if I keep going, who knows where I'll be in another five years? 

I get into a bit of positive psychology theory I learned about from one of Shawn Achor's books, and I also reflect on what I learned from listening back to Episode 4, where I talk about the origin of the 12-Minute Method. 

PS There's also a lot of love for Duolingo in this podcast. 

PPS I decided not to go for the clickbait-y title in the end! More on that next time, maybe!

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About the 12-Minute Method Podcast: In this podcast, I (leadership coach and author Robbie Swale) investigate why we sometimes don't do the things that deep down we really want to do. In each episode of season 1, I am going to reflect on a time in my life where I have beaten procrastination, become more productive and finally done something important to me, hoping that by doing this I will learn more about what it really takes to go from wanting to do something (but not doing it) to getting it done. And hoping that whatever you take away from each episode might help you get your idea off the ground and out into the world.

Right - it's time to talk about how the 12-Minute Method came about. In this episode, as part of my investigation into what we need to beat procrastination, be more productive and finally do the things we want to do, I talk about one of the most important commitments I've ever made: to write a series of short blogs on my train journey over a two week period. That became a blog I've now been writing weekly for six years, which has changed so many things about me and genuinely been one of the most transformative things I have ever done. It was also how I created the four books in the 12-Minute Method series. You can read the first of these - How to Start When You're Stuck - here: https://geni.us/startwhenyourestuck

Important parts of the journey included the gentle invitation I got from Joel Monk of Coaches Rising to create a series, the things I had learned from Tim Ferriss about how to get something going without your embarrassment stopping you, and Steven Pressfield's Resistance (and the rule of thumb: the more Resistance you feel about something, the more important it is to your soul's evolution).

The easiest way to read the 12-Minute Blog is on my website here: https://www.robbieswale.com/the-12-minute-blog 

It's also still on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbieswale/detail/recent-activity/posts/

Here is the first article of The Train Series, which became the 12-Minute blog: https://www.robbieswale.com/the-12-minute-blog/2021/11/23/the-train-series-1-stories

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About the 12-Minute Method Podcast: In this podcast, I (leadership coach and author Robbie Swale) investigate why we sometimes don't do the things that deep down we really want to do. In each episode of season 1, I am going to reflect on a time in my life where I have beaten procrastination, become more productive and finally done something important to me, hoping that by doing this I will learn more about what it really takes to go from wanting to do something (but not doing it) to getting it done. And hoping that whatever you take away from each episode might help you get your idea off the ground and out into the world.

In this episode, as part of my investigation into what we need to be more productive and finally do the things we want to do, I explore how I overcame my procrastination and created my coaching business, which got to a point where I could work on it full-time less than two years after I started my coaching training. 

Important parts of it were Steven Pressfield's Resistance and The War of Art; making space for what mattered to me; sitting down and staying sitting; and getting into a place - thanks to some insights on a Coaches Rising call from the coach Carolyn Freyer Jones - where my business's success felt within my control. Oh, and setting myself ambitious challenges, too!

If you want to hear more from me about coaching, check out my other podcast The Coach's Journey, and all the resources that I've created for coaches, at www.thecoachsjourney.com

In particular, this is the article I mention about building my business, which is still my most-read article: https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/writing/how-i-became-a-full-time-coach-less-than-two-years-after-starting-my-training

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About the 12-Minute Method Podcast: In this podcast, I (leadership coach and author Robbie Swale) investigate why we sometimes don't do the things that deep down we really want to do. In each episode of season 1, I am going to reflect on a time in my life where I have beaten procrastination, become more productive and finally done something important to me, hoping that by doing this I will learn more about what it really takes to go from wanting to do something (but not doing it) to getting it done. And hoping that it might help you get your idea off the ground and out into the world.

In this episode, on my investigation into how we can finally do the things we want to do, I reflect on creating The Wisdom of David Gemmell, a website dedicated to the philosophy of my favourite author. You can find it at www.thewisdomofgemmell.com or follow it on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wisdomofgemmell. 

The most important part of it reflecting on it was: I *didn't* start it for a long time.

It took the pain of seeing two ideas I had move on to other people (remembering what Liz Gilbert says: if we don't use an idea it will find someone else who will use it). It took navigating all kinds of Resistance, which tied me in knots. It took a call to arms from then-stranger-now-friend Inga Umblija to make me take action because of who it might serve. And then it took breaking it down into small steps. 

I hope you take insight from it that helps you get your idea out into the world. 

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About the 12-Minute Method Podcast: In this podcast, I (leadership coach and author Robbie Swale) investigate why we sometimes don't do the things that deep down we really want to do. In each episode of season 1, I am going to reflect on a time in my life where I have beaten procrastination and finally done something important to me, hoping that by doing this I will learn more about what it really takes to go from wanting to do something (but not doing it) to getting it done.

In this episode, I talk about my career change and how learning about start-up methodology on the Careershifters blog got me unstuck, out of my own way and moving towards work that really fulfilled me. 

I also have some technical problems, talk a little more about how the podcast is going to work, and discuss timers. 

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About the 12-Minute Method Podcast: In this podcast, I (leadership coach and author Robbie Swale) investigate why we sometimes don't do the things that deep down we really want to do. In each episode of season 1, I am going to reflect on a time in my life where I have beaten procrastination and finally done something important to me, hoping that by doing this I will learn more about what it really takes to go from wanting to do something (but not doing it) to getting it done.

Welcome to the 12-Minute Method Podcast. In this episode, I share what's coming up in season one of the podcast!