Hello hello and welcome to smart language boost, a series of mini trainings to help you get motivated and come out of a rut in your language learning. This is day one and my name is Kirsten Cable. In today's training, I'm going to tell you three magic questions to help you create realistic study goals. Now, why do I say realistic? Why does a realistic study goal matter? Isn't it, you might argue, maybe more exciting, more motivating, more visionary, to set that big goal that keeps you going because you know you want to really really get there and it's a long term vision of the future? And I say yeah, absolutely, that big goal far in the future, that motivator, that knowledge that one day perhaps you will start a business in your target country, you might sit at the table sharing the best meal of your life with your significant other's family even if they speak a different language. You might travel the world, you might get that dream job in a different country. Those are great goals. But. If you are sat here day to day, reviewing that vocab, taking another online lesson, and you're feeling your motivation and your excitement for that big goal draining away from you in the day to day, then what you need is a realistic study goal. Something that falls in that category of being SMART - you know, specific, measurable, you know the drill, right, that's what we're talking about. Now, why do so many language learners fall down when they want to set those goals? It's because we're not really taught what is so special about a realistic study goal, why it is so much more awesome than to say my goal is to get fluent in this language. Of course your goal is to get fluent, that's why you're here, that's why we're all here. Every one, who's learning a language who you've seen, their goal is to get fluent, their goal is to become more confident, but we have found that this is a really moving target. Scrap that, let's give you a list of things that you can actually check off because you're going to feel awesome when you have accomplished those mini-goals. Right, think of your realistic goals as mini-goals, and the amazing thing about is that it's not like you have done one goal and then you're done, instead, you can give yourself a real list and you can see how much you are doing in your language. It's a way to make your progress visible, and there's nothing more motivating than that.
So the three magic questions that I want to share with you are all about setting yourself goals that you can accomplish and I want you to think about this, goals that you can accomplish in the next three to four weeks. thirty days. thirty days is what we're aiming for, let's say.
Question number one: what are you working on right now? Not what do you want to achieve in the far future, not how far have you come in the last years of learning your target language, not, how many hours did you put in last week? The question is what are you working on right now? And the magic of that question is that it clears your mind to what you're actually focussing on. Do you have a grammar problem you are wanting to conquer? do you have a specific resource that is taking up a lot of your attention? Whatever it is, this question's really going to help you figure it out, so ask yourself what are you working on right now?
Question number two - and this is where, again, the power of the mini-goal makes it so that it becomes something that you can fit into your life, you can find language routine time for. The next question is: what is actually on? What's on, what else is on in your life? Look at your diary for the next thirty days. If you've got something important happening there - perhaps it's your own wedding, perhaps you're moving house, perhaps you've got a really stressful time coming up at work, or you're looking after a family member, or simply it's the summer holidays and you've got more childcare than you normally do, or perhaps it's a global pandemic and you've got more childcare than you normally do. If any of those things apply, give yourself time for it, give yourself time to breathe. Stop thinking about putting in three hours a day every single day for the next thirty days. Actually look at your diary and see how many days realistically will allow that intensity, will allow maybe more intensity and might allow less. And then think about how you're going to distribute your language learning over those goals - that thing that you're working on when are you actually going to do it? Start looking at the calendar, in a manageable time-space like thirty days, and the magic really takes hold.
And here is the third question - and this is a good one: what do you want to happen in thirty days at the end? What do you want to happen once the thirty days are done, how do you want to feel? what do you want to have conquered? Do you want to say 'do you know what? that grammar point - I've got it. I've got it on lock.' 'do you know what? vocabulary about clothing - I've got it. I no longer mix up my socks with my shoes.' All those little things that bug us in language learning that we want to conquer that we keep putting off, once you sit down and you look at the next thirty days and you say 'this is what I really want to achieve, this is what I really want to accomplish', it makes it realistic and it gives you that power of being able to actually achieve your goals without having to wait years and years and years and feeling your motivation and your energy draining away.
So those three magic questions: what are you working on right now? What's on in your life in the next thirty days? And what do you actually want at the end of it? That is how you start building a really great language learning plan.
Now if you want a little bit of help from me, then head over to fluentlanguage.co.uk/thirtydays, and book yourself a slot on the new 'Thirty Days to Fluent' programme, which includes lots of one to one support and attention and full of lovely workbooks and lots of opportunities to help you get an honest review of your language learning plan, lots of support, lots of gentle guidance, and accountability every single day for the next thirty days.
That's it from me, you'll hear from me tomorrow. Byeeeeeee!
Hello, hello and welcome to Smart Language Booth, a series of mini trainings to help you get motivated and come out of a rut in your language learning. This is day one and my name is Kirsten Cable.
In today's training, I'm going to tell you three magic questions to help you create realistic study goals. Now, why do I say realistic? Why does a realistic study goal matter? Isn't it, you might argue, maybe more exciting, more motivating, more visionary to set that big goal that keeps you going because you know you want to really, really get there, and it's a long-term vision of the future? And I say yeah, yeah absolutely. That big goal far in the future, that motivator, that knowledge that one day perhaps you will start a business in your target country, you might sit at the table sharing the best meal of your life with your significant other's family, even if they speak a different language. You might travel the world, you might get that dream job in a different country. Those are great goals, but if you are stuck here day to day reviewing that vocab, taking another online lesson, and you're feeling your motivation and excitement for that big goal draining away from you in the day-to-day, then what we need is a realistic study goal, something that falls in that category of being smart, you know, specific, measurable. You know the drill, right? That's what we're talking about.
Now why do so many language learners fall down when they want to set those goals? It's because we're not really taught what is so special about a realistic study goal, why it is so much more awesome than to say "my goal is to get fluent in this language". Of course your goal is to get fluent; that's why you're here. That's why we're all here. Everyone who's learning a language who you've seen, their goal is to get fluent. Their goal is to become more confident. But, we have found this is a really moving target. Scrap that. Let's give you a list of things that you can actually check off because you're going to feel awesome when you have accomplished those mini-goals. Right? Think of your realistic goals as mini goals. And the amazing thing about it is that it’s not like you’ve done one goal and you’re done. Instead, you can give yourself a real lift and you can see how much you are actually doing in your language. It’s the way to make that progress visible and there is nothing more motivating than that.
So, these three magic questions I want to share with you are all about setting yourself goals that you can accomplish, and I want you to think about this, goals that you can accomplish in the next three to four weeks. Thirty days. Thirty days is what we’re aiming for, let’s say.
Question number one. What are you working on right now? Not what do you want to achieve in the far future? Not how far have you come in the last years of learning your target language? Not how many hours did you put in last week? The question is what are you working on right now? And the magic of that question is that it clears your mind to what you are actually focusing on. Do you have a grammar problem you’re wanting to conquer? Do you have a specific resource that is taking up a lot of your attention? Whatever it is, this question is going to really help you figure it out, so ask yourself what are you working on right now?
Question number two. And this is where, again, the power of the mini-goal makes it so that it becomes something that you can fit into your life. You can find language routine time for. The next question is “What is actually on?” “What else is on in your life?” Look at your diary for the next thirty days. If you’ve got something important happening there… Perhaps it’s your own wedding. Perhaps you’re moving house. Perhaps you’ve got a really stressful time coming up at work, or you’re looking after a family member. Or, simply it’s the summer holidays and you’ve got more childcare than you normally do, or perhaps it’s a global pandemic and you’ve got more childcare than you normally do. If any of those things apply, give yourself time for it. Give yourself time to breathe. Stop thinking about putting in three hours per day, every single day for the next thirty days. Actually look at your diary for the next thirty days and see how many days realistically will allow that intensity, or will allow maybe more intensity and might allow less. And then think about how you’re going to distribute your language learning over those goals. That thing that you’re working on, when are you actually going to do it? Start looking at the calendar in a manageable time space like thirty days and the magic really takes hold.
And here is the third question. And this is a good one. What do you want to happen in thirty days at the end? What do you want to happen once the thirty days are done? How do you want to feel? What do you want to have conquered? Do you want to say, “Do you know what? That grammar point. I’ve got it. I’ve got it on lock. Do you know what? Vocabulary about clothing? I’ve got it. I no longer mix up my socks with my shoes.” All things that bug us in language learning, that we want to conquer and we keep putting off. Once you sit down and you look at the next thirty days and say, “This is what I really want to achieve! This is what I really want to accomplish!” It makes it realistic and it gives you that power of being able to actually achieve your goals without having to wait years and years and years and years and feeling your motivation and your energy draining away.
So those three magic questions:
What are you working on right now?
What’s on in your life in the next thirty days?
And what do you actually want at the end of it?
That is how you start building a really great language-learning plan.
Now, if you want a little bit of help from me, then head over to fluentlanguage.co.uk/thirtydays and book yourself a plot on the new Thirty Days to Fluent program, which will include lots of one-to-one support and attention and full of lovely workbooks and lots of opportunity to help you get an honest review of your language-learning plan. Lots of support. Lots of gentle guidance and accountability every single day for the next thirty days.
That’s it for me. You’ll hear from me tomorrow. Bye!
