This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 56, English Immersion Overload.
Learn how to keep your energy up.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
We believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
Hey.
Don't get burned out when you learn English.
Today, Lindsay and Michelle show you the four things that you can do to make sure you don't get overwhelmed as you reach toward your goal of English fluency.
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Hey, Michelle.
Are you feeling good today?
Feeling high energy?
I am.
I am.
See, can't you hear it in my voice?
I can definitely hear it in your voice.
I mean, we're pretty high energy because... Yes.
Why?
It's because we take breaks from podcasting.
We just came off of a weekend and we did fun stuff.
I spent a lot of time outdoors over the weekend.
But if we didn't take a break, Michelle, what would happen?
We might get burnt out.
Yes.
What does that mean when we say burnt out?
Yeah.
Well, you feel like you can't do anymore.
You're tired.
You're not interested.
You need a break.
Lindsay, have you experienced burnout ever?
Absolutely.
You know, when I was a kid, I played a lot of tennis and I just got so into it.
I started playing tournaments.
I started traveling all over New England.
I lived in New Hampshire to play tennis almost every weekend.
And by the time I was about 16, I said, no, I'm done.
I just want to play high school tennis.
I don't want to do... tournaments around the region.
I burned out actually kind of permanently, but then I did play college tennis too.
So I got back to it, but I never did really the independent tournaments again.
Yeah.
What about you, Michelle?
Have you ever experienced burnout, maybe with your performing or your music, something?
Yeah, I do think so.
I mean, honestly, I haven't been doing as much music as I used to.
It's not so much burnout.
It's more that I don't really have the same resources that I used to.
I see.
Like in college, I was surrounded by a lot of musical people.
And now just my life is different.
And unfortunately, I don't have the same network that I used to in that respect.
Oh, that's interesting.
That's a good point, too, though, Michelle, that you need to be around the right people.
And we've talked about that for our listeners to move to that advanced level where you guys want to go.
You know, you need the right people around you.
It's so true.
It's so true.
So yeah, but I mean you can definitely get burned out, you know also with like music and things like that and just needing a break.
So also protecting your voice, protecting certain things, taking that rest is important.
Also with working out, you can get burned out.
Oh, yeah.
Your body can get burned out.
You can pull a muscle.
All sorts of bad things can happen.
So for a listener, I mean, you guys, you probably, you know, maybe you found Dollars English.
You're getting really excited.
You're doing other things that we're recommending you to do.
But we want to make sure you avoid burning out on English learning or really about anything in life fitness learning, something new.
So Michelle, what can our listeners do?
We have a couple of recommendations for you guys to avoid burnout.
Okay, so the first thing is to reward yourself, right?
So recognize what you have done well.
So really take the time to measure your improvement.
Like I think about this with kids, you know, they say, oh, a sticker chart or something.
Oh my gosh, I remember the sticker chart.
Yeah.
Like you know, take some time to say oh, if I do this, maybe I'll let myself like watch a movie, or I'm going to go out to dinner, or something like that.
So really, I mean, those things are important to to reward yourself and acknowledge what you've done, that you've achieved something.
Yeah, I remember when I was a kid, we had folders and our folders had stickers on them.
And there was always this girl.
Her name was Hannah and she always had so many stickers on her folder and I could never figure out how she got so many stickers.
Yeah.
Drove me nuts.
It drove me nuts.
But yeah, I mean, you guys, you're not kids, right?
You know this, this podcast is obviously for adults, for professionals, university students, PhD students.
You guys need to be that person.
Be that person that gives the reward to yourself.
No one is going to give it to you.
No one is going to say, hey, you've done a great job.
So you have to play that role for yourself.
Right, right, right.
I love it.
I love it.
Really take control over that.
Take control.
Another thing you can do is set your focus on very specific goals or the reason why you know, the reason that you're learning English.
What are your goals?
What do you want to do?
Do you want to get a new job?
Do you want to lead a meeting, read a book, right?
And then focus on those goals, right?
Focus on one specific goal and that'll help you avoid that burnt out feeling.
Yeah, it's kind of micro goals.
It's so broad to say I want to speak like a native speaker or I want to become advanced in English.
That's so broad.
But instead, what is the thing I need to do next month?
Do I have to give a presentation?
Do I have to lead a meeting at work?
Do I have to do a report in my university class?
What is it?
So set the goal as that micro goal.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
I think that's really important.
And then what's the next one, Lindsay?
Well, the next one is just take a day off.
Forget about your goals.
Stop thinking about it.
Do the opposite.
Yeah.
What would you do, Michelle?
Let's say, if you had a day off tomorrow and you had no responsibilities, nothing from work, nothing from family, nothing.
What would you do?
Wow, that sounds like a dream.
I have a son and it's a lot of responsibility and I don't know what that feels like.
So what would I do?
I'd probably read.
I'd like go to a coffee shop by myself and just sit there.
Just sit there.
Um, I would just kind of I would do a lot of sitting and just like, enjoy.
That's awesome.
I love that.
That's so good.
That's so good.
You would take a hike.
Well, I take a hike all the time on the weekends anyway, so I might do something totally different.
I almost feel like, if I were feeling really crazy, I might go and rent a fun car and go drive, because out here in the West it's just the oh my God.
I might go to southern Utah and just drive the state.
It's just so beautiful.
That's awesome and maybe get a convertible.
Put the music up loud and just be in the West on the open road.
That's probably what I would do.
That's pretty cool.
That's pretty cool, yeah.
And then the last one is set those expectations to be realistic.
You want to push yourself, guys, but be reasonable.
The quickest way to burn out is to set a crazy goal and then you don't hit it, and then you're totally demoralized.
Right, right, right.
Yeah, we don't want that, right?
Be realistic.
You know push yourself, challenge yourself, but also know what can you realistically get done.
Exactly.
That is it.
Well, that pretty much sums it up, Michelle.
I mean, those are the four ways to avoid burnout, guys.
And make sure that you are paying attention to your health, how you're feeling.
If you're working too hard at your English, pull back and use these strategies right.
Definitely.
Oh my gosh, I love it.
Guys, remember to follow the All Ears English podcast.
We are here four days a week talking about connection, not perfection.
All right, we'll see you in the next one, Michelle.
Bye.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English and if you believe in connection, not perfection, follow our show wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
