Hey there, this is Teacher Ola Podcast episode 30: 6 Steps to Achieve Anything. Vocabulary Booster.
My name’s Ola and I am an online English teacher.
This podcast is for you if you’re an English learner who wants to speak English with more confidence and get rid of speaking barriers. Today you’ll boost your vocabulary, but also brush up your grammar, improve your pronunciation, see how to have a tense-free conversation with another English-speaking human being! Go to my website for full transcripts and worksheets to each episode. Happy learning!
Hello everyone. Thank you for showing up again. If this is the very first episode you’ve ever heard from me, hell yeah! I’m stoked to have you here. I hope you’ll love the topic I have for you today because it is a vocabulary booster and more than anything I want you to learn a lot today. Hence I’m going to ask you to repeat example sentences after me throughout the whole today’s show. Wonders will happen if you do so, you will see. Trust me. All you have to do is you have to say the sentences out loud. Then go to teacherola.com/30 and download a worksheet. Practice some more.
Today we’re talking about your New Year’s resolutions. It’s the end of January 2020 and I’m super curious how do you feel with your resolutions today? Do you still feel excited about them? Do you even remember them? Today I’m hoping to help you with meeting your goals, with planning them, but I’m also hoping to help you absorb new phrases, collocations connected with goals, plans and achievements.
I’m going to show you the vocabulary in 6 steps I believe those 6 steps apply to anything you want to achieve. Are you ready? Let’s begin.
1 Take a look back.
First of all you need to, and it’s an absolute must, you need to take a look back. You need to take stock of 2019. Look carefully at your old resolutions, at the mistakes, failures but also achievements and sum it up. Draw conclusions. What worked well what didn’t work at all? Which methods, which ways you need to avoid in the future. Which of them you want to follow, continue. Repeat after me:
I need to look back at 2019 in order to summarise my old goals.
I want to take a step back and sum up all my achievements and all my failures from 2019.
I need to take stock of 2019 to be able to plan 2020 reasonably.
2 Vision.
Now it’s time for you to close your eyes and think about 2020. With eyes closed answer these questions: how do you feel? Where are you? What do you do? Who do you spend time with? How do you use your strengths? What do you do every single day? How do you spend your weekends? What do you eat? How much do you sleep? The list of questions you can ask yourself is really long. The point is, you want to be in high spirits. To capture your vision, your imagination. You want to see yourself as a spectacular achiever. Who knows, maybe this simple exercise will spark off your lifelong passion. You need to feel that burning ambition, so give yourself time to find this thing or a set of things to fulfil in 2020. Ok, my dear friend let’s not forget it’s a lesson and it has to be practical. Open your eyes please, and repeat after me:
When I’m in high spirits I know I can achieve anything.
Thinking about my future captured my imagination.
I can become a spectacular achiever.
Who knows, maybe this simple exercise will spark off my lifelong passion.
I need to envision that burning ambition within me.
3 Goals.
I’m sure you have a beautiful vision of this whole year, and beyond. Now it’s time to set achievable goals. The goals can be big, daunting, really challenging but please think of them as of achievable ones. You need to have the right attitude when setting goals for yourself. It’s up to you, look back at your vision and make a list of goals you want to achieve. Be bold about them, and remember: all your goals are achievable. I’ll tell you how you’ll probably feel afterwards now. I mean, after creating the list of goals. You’ll feel a burst of energy. You’ll feel you’re on the top of the world. You’ll get really excited and you’ll be ready to jump in both feet. Your motivation will be through the roof. You’ll be ready to meet all your goals at once. What happens next? Wait for it. Let’s practice some collocations. Repeat after me:
I want to set for myself one major challenge.
It’s time to set achievable goals.
It sounds like a daunting challenge.
I want to fulfil my secret ambition.
I’m ready to jump in both feet and rise to the challenge.
I feel a burst of energy and my motivation is through the roof.
I’m on the top of the world.
I’m focused on meeting all my goals at once.
4 Plans.
Ok, this is all beautiful, it all sounds fascinating but if you want to make your dreams come true make no mistake. You need to make them come true. That’s why now you need to take a calendar and plan it in details. You need to make sure you understand that in order to realise your ambition you need a true commitment to your goals. If you skip this step you’ll fulfil nothing. I’m just being honest. It’s obvious. I’ve been there too. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do too much. Your big goal needs to be divided into small doable, feasible pieces right now. Put them into your calendar. What comes next? Before we move on let’s take a small step back and look at the vocabulary. Please repeat:
I’m going to make my dreams come true.
I’m going to plan it all in details.
I’ll realise my lifelong ambition because I made a true commitment to my goals.
I won’t overwhelm myself by trying to do too much.
5 Resistance.
Well, well, well. Finally some reality. Ha! It happens to all of us. Nobody is free from resistance. It may come in various forms. For example, It was a bad idea. I’m not good enough. It’s too early for me, or: it’s too late for me. I’m too old for that. I can’t do it. I wasn’t realistic about my goal. I’m not smart enough. I’m not strong enough. I’m not ready. I have no time for that. I’ve already broken my own promise. Do you recognise any of these thoughts? I’m sure because they come to everyone. Think about someone you admire, you look up to. And guess what. They also had these thoughts. Ok, but be realistic now. Think about your vision. It’s perfect if you have it written down so that you can come back to it and remind yourself of your own dreams. You need to face all the challenges on your way. Be patient, and stay committed.
Follow your plan, stick to the schedule. Step by step you will move forward. If you think you have to stop because, for example, you’ve already broken the promise, you’re wrong. It’s all resistance. So what you made a mistake? Come back to the plan, come back to the schedule. Start all over. In order to pursue your dream, you have to deal with resistance. You’ll face barriers, you’ll lack motivation or you’ll feel your motivation is poor. That’s ok, it’s just resistance. Go on. Keep doing your thing. Believe in what you can achieve. It takes perseverance to achieve success. It takes overcoming failures, but it doesn’t require high motivation at all times. Sometimes you lack motivation but you keep pushing. Keep doing your small, daily portions until they turn into your habits. It has to become a part of your life, like your second nature. This is a commitment, right? Let’s revise the vocabulary by repeating example sentences:
Nobody’s free from resistance.
You need to face all the challenges on your way.
Be patient, and stay committed.
Follow your plan, stick to the schedule.
Start all over.
In order to pursue your dream, you have to deal with resistance.
It takes perseverance to achieve success.
Sometimes you lack motivation but you keep pushing.
Keep doing your small, daily portions until they turn into your habits.
6 Achievement.
What’s next? Resounding success. Enjoy your success. Savour the moment. You had the potential to do it from the beginning. You endured the lacks of motivation. You encountered problems, absorbed new information like a sponge and achieved your ambition. It wasn’t an overnight success. I don’t think it exists. It takes perseverance. What you did, you applied a true commitment to each step and now you feel a sense of achievement. Repeat after me:
Resounding success.
Savour the moment.
You endured the lacks of motivation.
I absorbed new information like a sponge and achieved my ambition.
It wasn’t an overnight success.
I applied a true commitment to each step and now I feel a sense of achievement.
This logic I showed you here in those 6 steps can be applied to anything. To learning languages, losing weight, eating healthy food, saving money, building relationships, literally everything.
So here you have it. 6 steps to achieve anything. Now go to teacherola.com/30, there you’ll find full transcript as well as a worksheet, all free. Download it and practice. See how much you’ve understood.
If you think someone you know could benefit from this episode, do tell him or her about it. Spread the word and let them know about me!
I have a question for you. Please share the one goal you have picked for yourself this year. Go to my website and share it.
Next episode is going to be a real special. I will have a guest performance here. If you loved the episode about ‘Unforgiven’ by Metallica you cannot miss it. I hope you’ll tune in. Have a great week, till next episode happy learning, bye bye!