How To Make Learning English a HABIT | 5 Secrets Revealed

At Eat Sleep Dream English we are passionate about learning. So today I'm going to show

you how to make learning a habit and a part of your every day life. Now I want to say

a big thank you to Skillshare today for sponsoring our video. They are a superb online learning

platform that I'm going to tell you more about later on. This is going to be really valuable

guys so let's get going.

I don't know if you can tell guys but I am super passionate about learning. I think it's

the most important thing that we can do in our lives. Whether it's learning a new instrument

or learning how to swim or learning how to be a better person, learning is the most incredible

thing we can do. It's hard but it's exciting and ultimately it's life changing. One of

my favourite quotes in the world is 'what we learn becomes a part of who we are.' And

it's so true. The things that we learn, the things that we absorb change our character,

they give us a new perspective on life. And so that's why I think that learning is the

most important thing that we can do. So today, we're going to look at how to make learning

a part of your every day life. I know how important learning English is to all of you

guys. Some of you are learning English so that you can get a job promotion and a better

job. Some of you are learning English so that you can travel the world and meet new people.

Some of you are studying for your IELTS exam or your FCE or your CAE so that you can get

to university. Some of you are even teaching your children English which is incredible

to me. So learning English is so important to your lives so we need to make learning

a habit so that you can learn quicker and learn better. So let's look at how to make

it a habit right now.

To make anything a habit there are three stages. The cue, the routine and the reward. So, the

cue. The cue is something that tells you it's time to learn. So it could be a time of day.

So nine o'clock in the morning. That's your cue. Ok, it's nine o'clock, it's time to learn.

It could be a location. So, ok I'm in my living room, it's now time to learn or I'm in the

library, it's now time to learn. Or the cue could be that you are with somebody, so I'm

now with my friend and we both study English so now we are together it's time to learn.

So a cue could be anything that starts the learning process. It could be that you jump

on the bus. So let's say that you take the bus to work every day or the bus to school.

Now I'm on the bus, this is my chance, this is my cue to start learning. So you always

need a cue to start the habit. The routine is the thing that you are learning, ok? So

for us in this context, it's learning English. So our routine is to start learning English.

Now that could be ten minutes, it could be thirty minutes, it could be one hour that's

up to you, but the routine is the habit itself. And after the routine you need a reward. Now

a reward is something pleasurable that you get from doing this habit or doing this routine.

So it could be seeing improvement in your English. So that's a reward in itself, is

seeing that you are better than you were before. Now you can do something that you weren't

able to do before you started learning. So that's a reward. It could be a simpler reward.

It could be something like I'll have a bit of chocolate, ok? I mean a bit like when a

dog or something or a child does something good, you might reward them with chocolate

or with a treat of some kind. Do that with yourself. Ok, I studied English for thirty

minutes, now I can have a piece of chocolate. Or now I can have a cup of coffee that I have

been wanting all morning. So reward yourself in whatever way it is. Now I'll give you an

example of how I made something a habit. I started doing yoga in the morning and what

I would do is I would wake up and my cue was that I'd woken up and it was like right I've

woken up the first thing I'm going to do is my yoga. So the cue was waking up. I went

downstairs to my living room and I did ten minutes of yoga. So that was my routine. And

then my reward was breakfast. Now I love breakfast, I'm always very excited about eating breakfast

and that was my reward and I didn't eat breakfast until I'd done my yoga. So that way it forced

me to do it, to make it a habit and after a little while you know it was a habit. It

was what I did every day. So I started to enjoy waking up and then doing the yoga and

then having breakfast and it was actually a really lovely way to start the day. So I

made something a habit and you can do the same thing with your English. So, let's say

your cue is that you get on the bus to go to work. So getting on the bus is your cue,

right I'm on the bus my journey is thirty minutes to work so I have thirty minutes to

learn English. So the cue is getting on the bus. Then the routine is that you learn English.

So it could be through YouTube, it could be through one of my videos, it could be through

an app or whatever it is or with your text book or your course book. That's your routine.

Your reward, well it's up to you. What do you want when you get to work? Just before

you get to work maybe you go and buy yourself a coffee or you make yourself a coffee. or

it could be simply that you see the progress that you have made during that time. It could

be that you then get ten minutes to scroll on Instagram without any guilt, that could

be your reward. Whatever it is, whatever you value make that your reward. Ok, so let's

look at five important things that you need to remember to make learning a habit.

Make your goal achievable and sustainable. So what do I mean by that. Well to make it

sustainable that means you can continue to do it for a long time. So instead of learning

for three hours in one go, don't do that because you won't be able to continue to do that every

day. What I think you should do is give yourself a time limit, so ten minutes. Ten minutes

every day to study English. Therefore you'll make it sustainable, you'll be able to find

ten minutes in your every day. So ten minutes, every single day rather than three hours on

one day. So give yourself a time to learn English, ten minutes start with that. And

then if you can build up to more, to twenty minutes or thirty minutes a day fantastic

but start small and sustainable. Also make it realistic, ok? So for example, don't start

trying to read Shakespeare because it's difficult, that's really hard. Maybe that's your goal

eventually, is to read Shakespeare and to understand but that's not where you should

start, ok? So start with something achievable, so for example let's say you need to give

a presentation at work, that's your aim, that's your goal. So do the things that are going

to take you to that goal, give a presentation. So starting to learn useful phrases, for introducing

yourself, for presenting information stuff like that. Working on your pronunciation so

that you speak clearly. Practising in front of a mirror so that you get confident with

speaking standing up and in front of yourself. So think of something that is achievable so

I need to give a presentation and then do the things that are going to get you to that

goal. Ok, number three is make it fun. Make your learning fun. If you are studying English

and you are reading about something utterly boring that you have no interest in you are

not going to want to learn again, are you? You are not going to want to read it, you

are not going to want to learn the vocabulary, it's going to be boring and you are going

to hate it. So why do it? Ok, there's no point in doing that. So what you need to do is find

your passion, find the thing that you love and learn English through that. So if you

love yoga then learn English through yoga, yoga on YouTube, go to a yoga class that you

know that's in English in your city, read about yoga on blogs and on websites. There

are so many resources online for you to learn about yoga. If you love fashion then that's

perfect for learning English. There are so many fashion vloggers on YouTube with amazing

resources. You can learn about the new fashions around the world, you can listen to the key

vocabulary. I mean they are fantastic, there are some really great examples. So if you

love fashion then learn English through fashion. So find your passion and then learn English

through that.

I just want to take a quick minute to talk about our sponsor today Skillshare. Skillshare

is an online learning platform that has hundreds of videos teaching you anything from photography

to cooking, graphic design so much more. I signed up and the first video that I saw was

how to make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich and if you've seen my London vlog around Maltby

Street Market with my friend Gemma you'll know that I love grilled cheese sandwiches.

So I thought I should learn how to make one of those. So I'm going to tell you the three

secrets that I learned from this Skillshare video. The first thing is, don't tell anyone.

You need to use four different types of cheese. I know! Four different types of cheese. I

was using one type of cheese before in my grilled cheese sandwiches now I'm using four.

Allegedly it gets the kind of perfect meltiness, it's not a proper English word but I like

it meltiness. The second secret, you should use mayonnaise instead of butter on your bread.

It gives it that perfect sort of crispy brown crispiness. And the third secret is that when

you are cooking it you should put a heavy weight on top of the sandwich to squish the

sandwich down and melt the cheese together. So I tried this and these are the results,

that is some cheesy goodness. Excuse me! Skillshare videos are really easy to follow and they

teach you step by step how to do something. What I like, especially for you guys, is that

you can slow the them down to half speed so that you can understand every word they say.

And these videos are really great listening practise for anyone who is trying to learn

English. And this also goes back to what I was saying before about learn English through

a passion of yours. So if you love cooking, then these cooking videos are perfect for

learning English. If you love art, then the art videos are again ideal for you to learn

English. So they are kindly offering Eat Sleep Dreamers two months absolutely free if you

sign up on the link below. A couple of other videos that I'm going to check out. If you

love art, then you'll love 'How to draw cute animals' video. I mean, who doesn't want to

draw a cute animal, I mean come on! If you want to start your own YouTube channel, I

don't know why you'd want to do that, then you can check out their video about how to

start a YouTube channel. Whatever your passion or your interest they've got videos to suit

you. So check it out guys the link is in the description below. So sign up for your two

free months and take it from there. Let's get back to number four.

Number four is consistency. We talked about cues and how that was meant to start your

routine, start your learning habit. So keep it consistent, that means the same every time.

So if the cue is a time then keep it the same time. So nine o'clock every day, nine o'clock

every day that's when learn English. Or it's lunch time, I learn my English in my lunch

break so one o'clock when lunch starts that's when I learn English. Keep it consistent,

keep it the same. And number five, I'm going back to the idea of rewarding yourself. This

is really important guys because it's not easy to study a language. I know that so many

of us love doing it, I love learning but it's not easy and so we do need to reward ourselves

and to give ourselves something to look forward to after doing it. So, yeah whether it is

a piece of chocolate a cup of coffee, ten minutes on Instagram, whatever the reward

is guys make sure that you treat yourself well. The reward is going to help you to form

the habit and make it sustainable and consistent. So yeah make sure you reward yourself guys,

really important. And finally I have one last thought. Forming a habit takes time. It doesn't

just happen after a day or two days. It takes an amount of time to do. Now the exact amount

of time, we are unsure about. Some people say it's you know, ten days, some people say

it's thirty days some people say it's sixty-six days. i don't know exactly how long it takes

but it takes a while to make something a habit. So don't worry if at first you aren't able

to make it a habit. Don't worry, ok? Let's say you miss a day, it's not a big deal. Don't

worry. Just think right, ok, I didn't do it today but tomorrow I will start a fresh I

will begin my habit again. So tomorrow is a new day, I can do it. Now I think you can

do this guys, I believe in you because you have shown me over the time that Eat Sleep

Dream English has been going that you are passionate about learning English, that you

want to learn English and that you have very clear goals about why you are learning English

and this is your motivation. Ok, so in the comments below, I would like you to tell me

how you are going to make learning English a habit. What time are you going to learn

English? How long for each day and where are you going to learn it? Ok, so Tom I'm going

to learn English for ten minutes every day on the train as I'm going to school. Perfect!

Or Tom I'm going to learn for thirty minutes with my colleague in our lunch break every

day at work. That's what I want to hear guys. How are you going to make learning English

a habit? Thanks again to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. Please go check out their website,

have a look at some of their videos. Really cool stuff out there. Guys thank you so much

for hanging out with me. Remember I've got new videos every Tuesday and every Friday

helping you take your English to the next level. If you haven't already make sure you

subscribe make sure you hit that notification bell and until the next time guys, this is

Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.