Did you make it a point to set some New Year goals?
How’s it going?
Discussing progress on goals is a great way to connect in English!
In today’s episode, you’ll learn three new ways to share what you’re working on in terms of your life goals.
Listen in today.
Progress toward goals
Lindsay asks Michelle if she has any personal goals she is trying to achieve.
Michelle shares that she is in between figuring out some of her goals.
She has been trying to exercise regularly.
She has found that she can achieve her goals if she makes them smaller and manageable.
She breaks up her goals into small milestones and reaches them one at a time.
Lindsay shares that she often sets a goal and she’ll work toward achieving that.
Then, along the way, she thinks of other goals and gets distracted from the initial goal she set.
It then becomes like a ‘shiny object syndrome’ for her.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to navigate your own goals and share what you’re working on in an English conversation.
Connect about goals
It is vital to make sure goals are measurable.
You might be making an exercise goal or building eating habits.
Michelle shares that she has a goal to eat less meat.
She has watched some documentaries and has been doing research about this.
Cutting out certain foods was a first step; for example, she doesn’t eat as much smoked salmon for breakfast.
However, she has found that it is easier for her to succeed in this goal by cutting back gradually, rather than immediately cutting out all meat.
She often experiences burn out when she doesn’t take it slow.
Regarding her exercise, she started with working out twice a week, and then bumped it up to three after several weeks.
She avoids taking on too much and pressuring herself because she knows the pressure would cause her to fail to achieve her goal.
Mindset shift
Lindsay shares her take on Michelle’s goal, as she doesn’t eat meat often and has been practicing this for a while.
Her diet is 85% plant based and 15% meat.
For her, the technique is not to think too much about missing the meat, but rather developing the love for fruits and vegetables.
It’s a bit of a shift in mindset.
She also encourages everyone to be kind to themselves.
If experiencing a craving, allow yourself to indulge.
Limitation and reduction often works better than total elimination.
This conversation between Michelle and Lindsay can give you an idea about how to talk about your goals and where you are in your journey.
You can check out BE 222: Take these Baby Steps to Learn Career English to learn how you can take small steps toward improving English for your career.
Vocabulary to talk about goals
Here are some words and phrases you can use to easily share what you’ve been working on lately and what goals you’re aiming to achieve.
- I’m making it a point to… exercise three times a week.
- My long/short term goal is to .. eat less meat.
- By x, I hope to y… By the end of May, I hope to have learned 45 phrasal verbs.
Roleplay
Here is a quick roleplay from Lindsay and Michelle using the tips and vocabulary shared in today’s episode.
In this scenario, Lindsay and Michelle are friends talking about their exercise goals.
Lindsay: Exercising again? Nice!
Michelle: Yeah, I’m making it a point to do the bike twice a week and lift weights once a week.
Lindsay: That’s great. My short term goal is to start lifting weights- even just a few pounds.
Michelle: Oh nice! Yeah by the end of this month, I hope to have gained some arm muscle!
Takeaway
Everyone approaches goals differently.
This is a good opportunity for you to open a conversation and build that connection with someone in English.
You can share your own goals and what you’ve been doing to achieve them using today’s vocabulary.
Take some pointers from how Lindsay and Michelle talked about what they’ve been planning to achieve this year and try to apply them in your daily conversations.
You can also check back in with your friends and see if they’ve progressed with a goal they shared with you previously.
Keep having meaningful conversations and building relationships through English.
What goal have you set for yourself this year and how much progress have you made?
We’d love to hear your success stories in the comments below.
