Episode summary
A practical conversation about goal setting — the kind of English you'll actually use.
T.E.A. Time is hosted by English teacher Tayvin Bayless. Read the full transcript.
Hey there, and welcome to T.E.A. Time with Tayvin Bayless. In this episode, I will be talking about goal setting. Everyone has different styles and preferences for ordering their life. Some people are very task-oriented and enjoy setting monthly, weekly, and even daily goals. Other people prefer to be more free or open with their daily schedules and feel that frequent goal setting adds unwanted stress to their lives. Whatever your feelings are about goal-setting, everyone can benefit from a clear understanding of how to set effective and achievable goals. But, before we talk about the How of goal-setting I’d like to talk about the different types of goals.
I divide goals into two main categories: big-picture, and roadmap. Big-picture goals are the final destination. They are the big achievement. They are where we want to go, or who we want to become. Some good examples of this are when someone says that they want to be a millionaire, they’d like to travel the world, or even when you say that you want to be fluent in English. I call them big picture goals because they are the type of goals that we like to dream about. We sit and imagine how our lives will be different when we achieve them and are motivated by them.
Then we have roadmap goals. These goals are not nearly as fun to think about. These are the things that we need to do consistently in order to accomplish our big-picture goals. If you had a goal to lose weight, then your roadmap goals might be exercising for 30 min a day 5 days a week and following a diet plan every day. These roadmap goals may not be as enjoyable to think about as their big-picture counterparts, but they are incredibly important if you want to see real results.
Now, let’s talk about setting effective goals. The first thing that we need to do is pick our big picture goal and clearly define it. If you have the goal to be fluent in a foreign language, then you would need to define what fluent means to you. Some people when they use the word fluent mean that they want to speak at the same proficiency level as the average native speaker on any topic. Some people mean that they want to be able to comfortably speak about their hobbies and everyday topics. Others might just want to easily use their second language for work. Understanding how you will be using your language skills can help you define your big-picture language goals more clearly.
Roadmap goals can be set in a variety of ways. They can be very specific or more general. I will give you some examples of effective ways to set either type. Let’s use the big picture goal of becoming fluent in English. A specific roadmap goal would be to set a practice schedule for when you will practice each day and what you will do. Here’s an example of what a specific roadmap goal might look like:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
6:30 am – 7:00 am I use the shadowing technique with an episode of TEA Time with Tayvin Bayless.
7:00 pm – 7:15 pm I go through Anki vocabulary flashcards.
10:00 pm – 10:30 pm I read Harry Potter before going to bed.
Tuesday, Thursday:
6:30 am – 7:00 am I read through the transcript of the TEA Time Podcast looking for new vocabulary words to add to my flashcards.
7:00 pm – 7:30 pm I watch an episode of Friends without subtitles.
7:30 pm – 7:45 pm I go through Anki vocabulary flashcards
Saturday:
8:00 am – 9:00 am I have an English Lesson with my teacher.
9:00 am – 11:30 am I watch an English movie with subtitles
Sunday:
7:00pm I watch an episode of Friends with subtitles
10:00 pm I read Harry Potter before going to bed.
For some people, having specific roadmap goals like this can be very helpful, but for other people, it may be stressful to try and create a schedule like that. An example of an effective general roadmap might be:
Practice English every day for a total of 1 hour. Things I can do that will count towards English practice are listen to a podcast, read a news article, read a few pages of a book, watch an English TV show/movie without subtitles, or review vocabulary flashcards.
By listing out a few of the ways that you might want to use your time to practice English you can make it easier to fit in a bit of study throughout the day without needing to specifically schedule it out.
The last thing to remember when it comes to setting effective roadmap goals is to keep them achievable. Don’t compare your goals to other people’s. 1 hour of English study every day may be a very achievable goal for one person, but impossible for another. If you can only do 10 minutes a day, that’s okay. If you can only practice by listening to podcasts while you drive to work, that’s okay. Think about what will fit in your lifestyle and schedule, and then set goals according to that.
Well, that’s it for today. If you have any questions or comments send me a message through Anchor, on Twitter, or find me on italki and I’ll try to respond as quickly as possible. If you’d like to read along with the audio of this episode, you can find a link to the transcript in the episode description or on my Twitter page. Until next time. Have a wonderful day.
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