Hello my friends and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast.
I'm your host Oliver and today we are talking about the new year.
If you're listening to this, it's already after the Christmas holidays.
And this is the time of year when everyone's English language begins to change.
We start talking about what will happen.
And of course about what happened this year.
But beyond the grammar, new year represents a change in our minds.
A reset or a change of year.
And it creates goals and opportunities.
And that is what I'm also going to talk about today.
We have a lot of new listeners joined us over the holidays.
So make sure that you are following or subscribed to the Easy English podcast and rate the podcast five stars.
So as always, let's look at our key vocabulary before we start today's episode.
So I'm going to read you the words, the definition and an example, and then we will look at our main topic.
So today's first word is resolution, resolution, resolution.
And this is a firm decision to do or not do something.
So my New Year's resolution is to read one book every month.
Resolution.
Our next word, intention.
Intention.
And this is an aim or a plan.
So something that you mean to.
Have the intention of eating more fruit and vegetables this year.
That is my intention.
It's something I plan to do.
Our third word, milestone.
Milestone.
And a milestone is an action or an event which marks a significant stage in your progress or development.
So maybe a certain point that you wanted to reach, a certain milestone.
So reaching B2 level of English language might be a big milestone for you.
Our fourth word, accountable.
Accountable.
And to be accountable is to or sorry.
When something is accountable, it is required or expected to justify actions or decisions.
Essentially responsible, if you know that word.
It's good to have a study partner that keeps you accountable.
They keep you responsible for your actions.
And our final word today is fulfill.
To fulfill something is to achieve or realize something that was desired or promised.
So if you have a goal, when you fulfill that goal, you have achieved it.
So I hope, for example, to fulfill my dream of owning my own business.
Try and listen out for these words in today's episode.
You will hear them in context, and this will help to learn exactly what they mean and how they are used.
Remember, quick announcement that if you haven't already, check out the Easy English Patreon.
A lot has changed over the last few months with the Patreon and, as well as weekly bonus episodes and the transcripts for every episode, you can also now get access to a flip card set to help learn vocabulary with each new episode.
With each episode, I also publish the flip cards, and this will help you to learn words.
It's one of the best ways to support Easy English, so check out the Easy English Patreon in the link in the description of this podcast.
This week we will have a very interesting bonus episode about Christmas and I'm going to tell you about how I celebrated my family Christmas this year.
And I'll tell you about some of the disasters that happened and the good things too.
Okay, let's look at our episode.
So, the psychology of a fresh start.
I mentioned earlier about New Year being a reset.
Well, why do we get so excited about January the 1st?
Sociologists call it the fresh start effect.
Essentially, our brains like to create these landmarks, these almost well, I wouldn't say milestones, but these landmarks which separate our past self from our future self, the us that we want to become.
And the new year allows us to create or to leave behind all of the mistakes and imagine a new version of ourselves in this new year.
And perhaps this new version of yourself is more productive.
Maybe it's healthier or perhaps even a better English speaker.
But before looking forward, we often reflect, reflect on the past.
So reflection, reflecting is very important.
It's looking back at what we've done, what we have achieved and the things that have happened during the year.
Perhaps you gained some great people in your life.
Perhaps you lost some loved ones.
Perhaps you achieved some of your goals.
It's really important to look back and appreciate the year that has passed.
And you might hear someone ask you know, with small talk or around this time of year, they might ask how was your year?
How was your year?
Or what was the highlight of your last year?
And this is usually an invitation to share about some of the milestones that you reached during the year, or perhaps some lessons that you learned during the year as well.
So I guess we're talking about the new year.
It's impossible to not talk about grammar at all.
When discussing the future, the tense that you use tells the listener how much you have actually planned.
So if you've just thought about it, if you've really planned this and you've been thinking about it for a while,
So let's look at the first one.
So I will say you're using a resolution, right?
So a new year's resolution, something you want to do.
And when we say I will, we are expressing a firm decision.
So it's something that you have made in the moment or you have made a general promise.
So you've decided then and there, like I will, I've made this decision.
For example, I will study harder this year.
I will work harder in my job.
I will exercise more.
Something that you have just decided or it's a general promise.
It's not specific.
Another way you might talk about the future is using I am going to.
I am going to.
And this is an intention.
We mentioned that word before.
Intention.
It's something you intend to do.
And we use it when you have already thought about a plan or you have an intention in mind.
So I am going to.
It implies that you have thought about it before.
So for example, I am going to study hard for an English exam in June.
I've already planned the exam.
I've thought about it.
I need to study and that's my plan.
Or I am going to visit Japan next year.
I've planned it.
I've thought about it.
It's a plan for next year.
Whereas if I said I will visit Japan next year, it sounds more general, not specific.
It doesn't really tell the listener that I haven't made a plan.
And perhaps I just decided it in that moment.
You can also use the present continuous for things that are already in your calendar, things that are already planned and in there.
Perhaps they're already fully organized and they're definitely happening.
So you might use, you know I am.
And then the verb with the ing form, with that present continuous form, and then your sentence.
So for example, I am meeting a friend on Monday at 5pm.
So that's a plan for the future, maybe for the new year, for the first week, but you've already planned it or I am going to Japan on October the 7th.
So I've already made that plan.
Now, when we talk about the future around this time of the year, usually we're talking about goals and resolutions, things that we say we're going to do, things that we want to do.
And statistics show that about 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by February.
So they don't actually happen.
They're not successful.
But why?
Because they're often too vague, like I want to be better at English.
We don't have a plan.
We haven't really thought about it too much.
We just think I'm going to be better at this.
I'm going to do more work. but we haven't given a plan.
To actually fulfill your goals, many people now use what we can call a smart framework.
A smart framework.
What is that, you might ask?
Well, it's a great way to use functional English to describe your plans.
So I'm going to break down the word smart for you, what it means in this context.
So the S from smart is specific instead of, you know, better English.
For example, you might say, I want to learn 10 new phrasal verbs every week.
By setting those specific goals, we actually know how to measure it, what we need to do, what we have to achieve.
Specific goals are important.
They allow us to do all of those things and to have visibility and process behind our plan.
Now, the second letter, M from SMART.
M stands for measurable.
We want our goals and resolutions to be measurable.
So can you use an app to track, you know, if you're studying English every day?
Can I use perhaps even a notepad to mark that I have learned my 10 phrasal verbs every day?
Or every week, every day would be a lot.
Now our third letter in the word smart, and that is A. And A stands for achievable.
Achievable.
Is it realistic?
Is it something I can achieve?
So you don't want to try to become a native English speaker in one month, for example.
But you might instead have the goal of those 10 words a week or 10 frizzle verbs in this case.
Is it achievable?
Yes, I think so.
Now our fourth letter and that is R. And R in SMART, it stands for relevant, relevant.
So does it matter to your life?
Does it matter to your overall goals?
So I want to get better at English.
So does learning 10 phrasal verbs every week help me to get better?
In this case, yes.
And our final letter, T. The T in the smart word, it stands for time bound.
Time bound.
And this is your deadline.
It's when you want to have achieved what your goal is.
So when, really.
So you could have it by the end of March, by the end of April.
If it is a shorter goal, like a weekly goal.
So for example, I said 10 phrasal verbs every week.
It's knowing how long you want to do that for.
Maybe you have a bigger target.
So to learn a hundred.
And in that case, it would be 10 weeks of 10.
I hope that makes sense.
Okay, so today's listener spotlight, I want to simply ask a question.
We didn't have a lot of comments on the last one, and I think it was quite a difficult question.
But my question today is one that is very specific, and it's for you personally.
And that question is, what are your goals for the new year?
It doesn't have to be a smart goal.
It can be general.
It can be plans.
It can be something you want to change or maybe just your idea for the new year.
Tell me in the comments and I will choose a few to read out in next week's episode.
I always love seeing your comments, seeing your answers to these questions.
It's always really, really great for me to see.
Okay, back to the episode.
So we've been talking about these SMART goals and I set a SMART goal for learning 10 phrasal verbs per week as an example.
So very quickly.
You know, still on winter seal.
If you would like to learn more English phrasal verbs and you haven't yet got a copy of my book, It is half price on sale at the moment for Christmas and New Year's.
So you can check out the link in the description of the podcast episode and get a copy of that if you wish.
But with your goals, so with your SMART goals.
The final piece of the puzzle is not part of this S-M-A-R-T.
It is accountability, accountability, being accountable.
So that is having someone, that or something that checks on your progress, that holds you accountable.
And a good way to do this is to have a study buddy.
So a friend or another language learner that is going through this process with you and you're checking in on each other and seeing how you're learning, how you're doing and the progress that you're making.
It can make a really big difference and a big improvement.
In many cultures, the new year isn't necessarily about the self.
It's not about improving yourself.
It's about your community.
And sharing your goals with others can be a great way to create more community in our lives.
So in the Patreon bonus episode this week, I'm going to talk a little bit more about my goals as well for the new year.
So if you want to hear about those and you want to hear about my personal goals, you can subscribe and join the Patreon and listen to that bonus episode there this Thursday.
That's coming out on Thursday.
So in conclusion, the new year is more than just a date on the calendar.
It's a time to reflect on the past and to talk about and look towards the future.
So, while you're setting goals maybe a resolution, or you're just reflecting on the year that you've had, Make sure that you make some time for yourself, for your development and your progress with English this year.
Thank you also for listening so much.
You're all doing great.
It's fantastic that you're making this progress.
Even by listening to language learning podcasts every week, you're making an effort to try and push your English skills forward, which is amazing.
Thank you for all of the lovely comments that you leave every week, for the support.
I appreciate each and every one of you.
And I wish you a very happy new year.
And I will see you in next week's episode.
Goodbye.
