This French expression can help you learn more consistently

The best way to get good at French is to practice a little bit every single day.

Make French practice a part of your day.

But sticking to a new habit can be hard.

You slip out one day, then you forget about it the next day, then you realise it's been a week and you start feeling bad about it so, naturally, your mind starts to avoid thinking about it and all in all it's been a month since you've last been consistent.

That happens to everybody.

And the French have an expression that may help.

"un coup de pouce".

Before I explain it, we need to make a quick detour.

Enjoyment Beats Willpower

See, for a habit to stick, it has to feel good.

If it doesn't, you may be able to stick to it for a few days or weeks through sheer willpower, but then you'll run out and "take a break" for an indefinite amount of time.

And you'll make yourself feel miserable in the process. Even bodybuilders and people who lift unreasonable weights and become all red in the face and grind their teeth while doing it, actually report enjoying it.

If it was nothing but pain, they wouldn't do it.

If that's true for bodybuilders, who have more brute force and willpower than most people, then there's a good chance it's true for you and me.

But sometimes.... sometimes it's rainy and grey and cold outside, and you feel tired and, frankly, you just don't feel like it.

It's in those moments that habits are broken.

How you deal with those moments makes the difference between being comfortable speaking to French people one year later, and being in the same place as on that rainy day.

And that's where the folk wisdom of our expression comes in handy.

Un coup de pouce

"Un coup de pouce" literally means "a knock of the thumb". A tiny, tiny push. That idiom has many uses, but for this article I'll focus on the idea of that tiny push we all need to get started.

If your habit feels good, then once you've started you'll probably finish it.

All you need is to get started. All you need is un coup de pouce.

So, next time it's a rainy day (outdoors or in your head), don't give yourself un coup de pied (a kick, "a knock of the foot"). Push yourself, sure, but be gentle. Un coup de pouce is all you need.

Make yourself a nice cuppa, set a timer for two minutes, and tell yourself you're allowed to stop when the alarm rings.

But until then, gather all the willpower you have and force yourself to practice French for just two minutes.

If you enjoy what you do to practice French, more often than not, you'll find yourself still practising long past the two-minute alarm.

Even on a rainy day.

And if you don't, that's fine. At least you've given yourself a proper chance to do it — today was just not the day. Do it again tomorrow.

Repeat that over a year, and you'll make so much progress that you wouldn't believe it all started with something as small and seemingly insignificant... as a thumb.

P.S. when's the best time for your first coup de pouce?

You know the answer.

The best time is now.