When I was little, my Mum used to tell my brother and me to watch our negative thoughts. She kept telling us how our beliefs shape our realities. We even had stickers with sentences such as "Ich bin stark. Ich bin mutig. Ich kann das." on our mirror. I thought it was so ridiculous. How was it possible that only a thought and a repeated sentence can have such an impact.

It was only later when I experienced how true it is, and how it applies to all areas in life. Doing mental coach training and reading about it made it even more clear why it works.

So, what’s your inner dialogue when it comes to learning German or Swiss German?

Does it sound like:

"I am not good enough yet."

"I make so many mistakes."

"I am not good at languages."

"I am so bad at grammar."

"It’s so complicated."

"I should be at point xyz by now."

When you catch one of these thoughts, or you realise it’s a belief you have, notice how it affects you. And then try this:

1) Write your limiting sentences down.

2) Ask yourself if you want to continue believing this.

3) Hopefully the answer is no, so cross them out with a pen or even make it more dramatic and burn the paper.

4)Then write new ones. (Keep it with one to three sentences.)

5) Write them on paper, on a sticker, on your computer display, and read them over and over again.

6) Read them every day.

And then tell us after 21 days how it affected you.

You might be pleasantly surprised with the results!