78 Hours, One Owl, and a Lot of Patience

I just hit a meaningful milestone: 365 days of learning Spanish on Duolingo.

Fifteen minutes a day, six days a week—give or take. That’s about 4,680 minutes, or 78 hours logged over the past year. Not all of it was glamorous.

Some days it was just me, my phone, and annoying Liky reminding me I was this close to breaking my streak (🥶 the stress of losing your streak!).

But it added up. Less time doom scrolling on social media and more time learning.


I’m celebrating this milestone in Spain, practicing my skills in Barcelona. Let’s just say I can confidently order food and find my way around, but real conversations? Still a work in progress. Tutor onboarding soon. 😅


Even better? This tiny habit had ripple effects:
• My 11-year-old is keeping up her own fresh fluency and surprising us all with how quickly she picks it up.
• My 8-year-old is teaching herself Haitian Creole—our family’s mother tongue.
• My parents are brushing up on English and dabbling in new languages.

A small shift in my own routine sparked something bigger in the household. Language is starting to feel like a shared investment—one we’re all contributing to.

Also, not an ad for Duolingo but… if the product team’s listening: can we please give Lily a bit more personality? Make her more jazzy! Right now she’s either passive-aggressive or just straight-up aburrida. A little energy wouldn’t hurt after a long day of work and parenting. 🦉

I’m sharing this here because it reminded me of something simple: consistent, quiet progress matters.

In accounting, in language, in life—it’s not always about the big moves. It’s about logging the small ones. Daily. Deliberately.

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