What if I told you that learning Spanish isn’t about trying harder? Instead, it’s about making the process easier.
You’ve probably heard of James Clear’s book Atomic Habits. It’s all about how small, simple habits stack up over time to create big results.
Today, we’re going to apply those same strategies to learning Spanish. You’ll learn how to make Spanish a natural, automatic part of your daily life — so you can be consistent, stay motivated, and actually reach fluency.
Here’s the secret: According to Atomic Habits, people who achieve really exceptional goals — like becoming fluent in a second language — AREN’T the types of people who wait for big bursts of motivation.
Instead, they’re the people who make tiny, smart decisions every single day.
No matter who you are, if you make small amounts of progress on Spanish, and do that consistently, you WILL achieve your goals.
The book is full of great tips and tricks for creating consistent habits. For now, to apply Atomic Habits to learning Spanish, we’ll focus on three key things:
This guide will show you how to apply these evidence-based principles to your study routine, step by step.
Let’s start by getting to the root of the problem. If you’re like most Spanish learners, it’s not that you’re lazy or unmotivated. The real problem is that you’ve set unrealistic goals for yourself.
Have you ever set a goal like these?
When you choose crazy-big goals like this, you’re setting yourself up for failure. An impossible goal is just going to discourage you!
You’ll also get too obsessed with the idea of a finish line, some sort of big end goal. This is actually really bad for your progress. If you focus on the outcome — like Spanish fluency — you’re probably not putting enough focus on the process itself.
On the other hand, if you focus on the process itself, you can fall in love with learning Spanish.
Notice that I didn’t say fall in love with being fluent in Spanish, which is the finish line. I’m talking about becoming fluent in Spanish. That’s the journey itself.
This requires a mindset shift, so let’s start right there with an amazing pro tip that comes straight from Atomic Habits.
Our first pro tip is a “Mindset Hack”. You’re about to learn how to brainwash yourself into becoming fluent, one day at a time.
Let’s start with a little self-reflection about your personal identity as a Spanish learner.
Real question: Do you see yourself as a serious Spanish learner?
Now, you might be thinking, “Yeah, of course I’m serious about learning Spanish!” But we have to get honest here. If you’re a serious Spanish learner, what’s the evidence of that?
Let’s do a little reality check. Which one of these sounds like you:
Don’t worry if you don’t love your answer. This isn’t to make you feel guilty. It’s just to give us an honest starting point.
The good news is: Your Spanish-learning identity is flexible. You can change it if you really want to! And that’s today’s mindset hack.
Are you ready to brainwash yourself?
Let’s do it. Start by consciously deciding: “I am a serious Spanish learner.”
Say it out loud. Tell yourself that it’s true.
…OK, if you’ve done that, the next step is to back this up with real-life evidence!
Each day, you’re going to ask yourself, “What would a serious Spanish learner do today?” Then you’ll take one small action to prove that you’re a serious Spanish learner.
Remember, that DOESN’T mean that you’re going to do some gigantic, heroic thing in Spanish every day. Sure, on a good day, when you have enough time, you might be doing a 1-hour study session, where you review what you’ve learned, plus tackle some challenging, new topics. But on a busy day, you might just spend 3 minutes reviewing your flashcards and maybe 2 minutes with some spoken quizzing.
Remember, the important thing is consistency. That’s what’s going to make this mind trick work. After a few weeks, those small actions will reinforce your new identity as a serious Spanish learner.
This won’t happen overnight. At first, when you tell yourself, “I'm a serious Spanish learner”, your mind may not be convinced right away. That’s because it needs evidence. You have to make your actions align with that identity. After you've started building up this evidence with a little bit of daily work, your mind will be more and more convinced that you are in fact a serious Spanish learner!
If you keep the virtuous cycle going for a few months, it won’t just feel like effort anymore. It’ll feel automatic.
It’ll be who you are.
So today, start simple. Say to yourself: “I’m a serious Spanish learner.” That’s the mindset shift that’s going to set everything else in motion.
That brings us to the next step, which is creating that consistency every day. I’m going to show you how to create a foolproof pattern that’s going to keep you going on both good and bad days.
If that sounds impossible, here’s proof that it’s not:
Surely there’s SOMETHING that you already do every day, without having to think about it. Maybe it’s brushing your teeth, drinking a cup of coffee, taking a shower before bed…
…So what if Spanish was as automatic as those things?
Well, it can be! Here’s how.
In Atomic Habits, James Clear explains that every automatic behavior starts with a cue.
For example:
If you’re already doing things like this consistently, here’s how to make studying Spanish exactly that consistent. It starts with just choosing a cue.
The easiest way to do this is to use this format:
So for us Spanish learners, it could look like something like this.
This way, you're piggybacking on a habit that's already part of your routine, like brushing your teeth. So all you need to do is stack another habit on top of it, like reviewing Spanish flashcards.
Go ahead and fill in the blanks:
Now that we’ve started the mindset hack and set up our habit cue, it’s time for the third piece of the puzzle: Give yourself a study routine that’s easy to sustain.
The easier something is, the more likely you’ll stick with it. The harder or more complicated it feels, the faster you’ll drop your new habit.
Now, don’t get me wrong — learning Spanish is no easy task. If you’re serious about becoming fluent, you have to learn thousands of words, master core grammar, and practice speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
However, you should still start with a daily routine that’s simple, clear, and doable—even on your busiest days.
To make this process as easy as possible, my team and I came up with a three-part study routine to practice all the essential Spanish skills in as little as 5 minutes per day. You can check out the full, 5-minute routine here: Daily Spanish Study Routine
In a nutshell, the routine involves quizzing a few flashcards with core grammar, practicing saying some Spanish out loud, and writing at least one sentence in Spanish.
I can testify that this routine works! When we take on new Spanish coaching students, we have them start with this tiny, 3-part routine from the very beginning. The vast majority of them end up creating consistent habits for at least 6 months. Starting small pays off!
By choosing an easy daily routine like this that covers all of essential Spanish, you’ll build a solid foundation for long-term success — in as little as 5-10 minutes a day.
There are the 3 key steps for building the consistent habits that will get you fluent:
If you’re ready to set this strategy in motion, the Spanish in One Month Challenge is the perfect starting line.
We are running a 1-month challenge to get your Spanish habits off to the right start — with the accountability of hundreds of other students, and even support from my team of coaches.
This is the perfect way to kickstart your journey to fluency. It’s a four-week grammar bootcamp, with daily speaking, listening, reading, and writing. My team has carefully used the exact habit-building strategies from this video and turned them into daily action for you. You won’t have to make any decisions — we’ll lay it all out so it’s as easy as possible.
By the end of these 4 weeks, you’ll master essential Spanish, including the top 100 words that make up 50% of everyday conversation, as well as tricky grammar topics like Ser vs Estar, object pronouns, and subjunctives.
Our next Spanish in One Month Challenge is starting soon, so this is your chance to finally make Spanish part of your daily life. You’ll build a system you actually stick with, all the way to fluency.
