of accomplishing your English language learning goals this year?

10%?

50%?

100%?

How likely is it that you're going to succeed?

Well, if you're like most people, you're probably going to fail.

According to a recent article in Forbes magazine,

only 8% of people who set goals at the beginning of the year

actually achieve those goals.

That's less than 1 out of 10 people.

So what are all these people doing that causes them to fail?

And what can you do to make sure that you are part of that 8%

when achieving your English language learning goals?

In this video, I'm going to talk about some ways that you can make sure

you are more successful at achieving your language learning goals.

Now the first thing you neefd to do is have the right mindset.

You know, I get students coming to me all the time

and they say things like, "Aaron, I'm no good at speaking English,"

or, "Aaron, I have no confidence when speaking English."

And my response is, "Of course. Of course you don't.

That's what you believe and that's what you keep saying to yourself."

So that's not a really good mindset to have

because it closes you off from opportunities

and to move forward towards achieving your goal.

So what you need to do is examine your mindset

and change it to a more positive one because with a positive mindset,

you can really believe in your potential to succeed.

Everybody's got a potential to succeed

and you need to change that mindset to something more positive and more open.

So after you have the right kind of mindset,

then you need to learn how to set the right kind of goals.

So many people set goals in the wrong way

and they set themselves up for failure.

So what can you do to make sure you're setting the right kind of goals?

Well, the first thing you can do is set language learning goals that are realistic.

Think about it.

Some people say things like, "Oh, I want to become fluent in English in 6 months."

Well, for a lot of people 6 months is difficult to achieve fluency.

It might take longer than that.

Think about where you are and what your ability level is.

What is realistic for you?

Maybe a more realistic approach would be to say something like,

"My goal in the next 6 months is to increase the amount of time

I spend studying English and practicing English everyday."

Or, "I'm going to increase my ability to meet people and speak with them in English

and increase my confidence."

Those are more achievable. They're more doable

than becoming completely fluent in such a short time.

So the goal has to be realistic.

Also, goals need to be specific.

General goals are no good.

For example, some people say,

"Oh, in the next 6 months I'm just going to study English more.

I need to study English more."

And that's really, really general.

That's not a good kind of goal.

The best goal is something that is time-bound and measurable.

For example, "In the next 6 months, I'm going to make sure that I study English

for one hour a day, everyday, 7 days a week."

Okay, now that's much more specific.

We're talking about time and it's something that you can measure.

So think about specific goals.

And finally, not only should your goals be realistic and specific,

but they should also be meaningful.

These should be the kind of goals that are meaningful to your growth,

your development, your health and your happiness,

and especially to those around you.

For example, if you like video games and you set a goal

that you want to get the highest score in a video game,

well, that only benefits you and it's really not that meaningful.

But imagine if you achieved English fluency over time.

Wow, the benefits are amazing!

It opens up so many opportunities

and you can communicate with people all over the world.

That brings good things to you and it also shares that with other people.

So that's meaningful.

Now, once you have your goal set you need to write it down.

This is very important.

And I'm not talking about writing it on your computer.

I'm talking about taking an actual pen and a piece of paper.

You know what those are, right?

We don't use them as much these days but for this exercise it's very important.

Write it down in bold ink.

And this process of writing it down helps you to take your idea

from the mental and bring it into the physical world,

and that's important.

And that process of doing it helps you focus.

It makes your goal clear, concise, and concrete.

And then you need to take that goal and you need to put it somewhere visible,

somewhere that you see frequently everyday.

It could be the refrigerator or near the toilet or near your computer

or in all three places.

You need to keep seeing it, that physical manifestation of your goal.

And finally, you need to take action,

immediate action towards reaching that goal.

As soon as you write it down, what can you do right away

to start moving towards that goal?

You see, the process is very important.

And one way to help focus on the process is to make daily goals.

For example, if your long term goal is to achieve greater fluency in English,

then what you can do is make sure that today you start.

Today you set a goal to do some listening or some active speaking

or something that's going to move you in that direction.

So with all of these together,

having the right mindset,

setting the right kind of goals,

writing down those goals,

and taking immediate action,

you are going to be one of those 8% of people

that actually achieve the goals that they set for their English language learning.