New Year, New Language: Break goals down and be specific

This is the second post in Mauril’s New Year, New Language blog series about setting goals and ensuring success on your language learning journey. Read the first post, Identify your why, here.

Now that you’ve determined your unique “why” or motivation for learning a language, it’s time to break it down into specific points you wish to improve. Breaking your motivation down into smaller goals will make it easier to maintain your motivation and track your progress.

Exercise #1: Make a short list.

For example, if “getting to know someone” is your motivation for learning, you might break it down into these smaller goals:

-I want to be able to greet someone in my target language.

-I want to be able to ask questions.

-I want to be able to make small talk.

To increase your likelihood of success, it is important to limit yourself to working on one small goal at a time.

Exercise #2: Attach concrete actions to the goals on your short list.

Armed with your short list, it’s time to find concrete ways to get closer to achieving each smaller goal. Remember to stay as realistic as possible. Approaches that are too ambitious will seem unattainable and will challenge your motivation after a few weeks.

You might decide to find opportunities to introduce yourself to strangers. Or you might decide to practise greetings or questions a certain number of times per day or per week. Don’t be afraid to be specific. The more specific and intentional you are, the better your chances for success. 

Need ideas for concrete actions? Check out the Mauril 30-Day Challenge for fun and engaging language practice challenges at the beginner, intermediate or advanced level.  

Mauril’s New Year, New Language blog series continues in an upcoming blog post where we talk about the tools and time it takes to achieve language learning success.