New Year’s Resolutions┃Learn American English Pronunciation On the Go

Rachel: Welcome to the Rachel's  English Podcast. I am Rachel,  

and this podcast is made especially for non-native  speakers, where we try to reveal the idioms,  

phrasal verbs, and interesting vocabulary words  that Americans use in everyday conversational  

English. If you'd like a free copy  of the transcript for this podcast,  

visit rachelsenglish.com/podcast  and search for this episode.

This week, it is the final podcast of 2017,  the final week. And we're talking about New  

Year's resolutions, goals that you make for  yourself to achieve in the upcoming year. So  

I'm sitting down with my husband David, and we're  talking about any New Year's resolutions that we  

are making this year. Let's get started. New  Year's resolutions, David, do you make them?

David: I do make them  

almost every year. Rachel: Do you really? David: Yeah, I don't keep them, but I make them.

Rachel: I feel like you also don't tell them,  

because I didn't know that you've  made New Year's resolutions?

David: Well, then maybe I haven't in the  last three or four years. Rachel: Okay,  

but previously you would say  you have made them? David: Like  

I often have in my adult life. Rachel: Okay. And as a kid as well?

David: No, I don't think so. I think it was more  

maybe mid-20s to mid-30s.  How old was I when we met?

Rachel: Geez, I don't know.

David: Great.

Rachel: 30 something.

David: (Laughs)

Rachel: Upper 30s. Um, so okay,  so you've been making New Year's  

resolutions. What it will ... What are you resolving to do?

David: I feel like there have been  some common themes for me. Um,  

things like exercise on a regular  basis or do daily meditation practice.

Rachel: So there are things that you already did,  

but your goal was for more consistency? David:  Yeah, that's accurate. Mm-hmm (affirmative) 

Rachel: How did you do with meeting  those resolutions? David: Not well.  

That's not strong enough, um, horribly. Rachel: I think it's interesting we make  

resolutions to try to do things better. I  wonder, do we ever look at why we don't do  

things well? Like why aren't you  consistent in working out? Well,  

because it gets really cold out and you don't like  to run when it's cold. Like I wonder if you came  

up with looking at the why you haven't been able  to do it yet, and then came up with strategies ...

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative) Rachel: ... to count to you know, attack  

that doubt or that, "I can't do it today, because  it's too cold." If you had a list of strategies,  

uh, planned as part of your resolution,  if it would help people keep them more.

David: I think it probably would.

Rachel: Okay, let's come up with a  strategy right now. Exercise more  

in 2018. Would you say that would be a  New Year's resolution for you this year?

David: Yeah, mm-hmm (affirmative).

Rachel: Okay. Why do you think you don't  exercise consistently now? David: Well,  

laziness. Rachel: Okay.

David: Inertia.

Rachel: Inertia, meaning?

David: Like I'm in a pattern of not doing it, so  it's hard to start a new pattern. Rachel: Yeah,  

exactly. Good definition of inertia. David: Uh, a body at rest tends to stay  

at rest if you're doing a whole lot  of resting. Rachel: (Laughs) Right. 

David: Uh, why else? Hmm, well yeah, it gets  cold, but there had been winters where I've  

run almost every day right through the  winter, so that's not a good excuse.

Rachel: Well, let's look at the inertia and  the laziness. I mean how ... This is really  

the question that everyone has. If anyone could  solve this, they'd make billions of dollars.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: Everyone tries to solve  it and they all make some money,  

right? But then everyone drops out.

David: I wonder if there's an app for this.

Rachel: There probably is.  I actually saw you know,  

audible.com. David: Mm-hmm (affirmative) Rachel: For those of you who don't know  

audible.com, (laughs) it sponsors a ton of  website, uh, a ton of podcasts. They have  

not sponsored this podcast, but, uh, it's an  audio book, uh, database. You can download all  

sorts of different books read by people, famous  people and voice over artists, and, um, onetime,  

I must have been searching something about  them, because they started targeting ads at me.

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Rachel: And one of the books that  they are recommending was how to  

stay motivated for exercise. And  I thought, "Oh wow, they know me."

David: Yeah.

Rachel: They know what I need. So there is  stuff out there on how to stay motivated.

David: It just made me curious in the  moment. I hadn't thought about this before,  

but if there was an app and maybe it exists  called New Year's resolutions that had a  

social component and, and you know, gave you a  reminder every other day that say, "Go running."

Rachel: Yeah.

David: And you've missed one, better  do two in a row. Rachel: Yeah. 

David: Stuff like that and that was also  social that'd be, that'd be kind of cool.

Rachel: That would be. It could help  people keep their resolutions. Any other  

resolutions you've had as an adult,  anything not related to exercise?

David: No, I'm not thinking of anything. Uh,  

I probably need to be more specific  or, or not more specific branch out  

into some other areas. I don't know exactly  what that would be, but that's about it.

Rachel: You know, I, I do think actually  you're on to something by saying,  

"Be more specific." What does it mean to be  on to something? It's when someone thinks,  

"Okay, you've started a good idea.  We should take that further."

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Rachel: Like if you're brainstorming  how to solve a problem. Oh, I think  

you're on to something. Let's explore that.

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative) Rachel: I think you're on to  

something with talking about being specific,  because if your goal is to exercise more,  

that's very generic. It could be  three times a week for half hour.

David: Right.

Rachel: You could set something more specific that  

might help you keep the goal. You were  talking about the kind of goal to set.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: And you were talking about a SMART  goal, smart here being an acronym. An acronym  

is when you take the first letter of  several words and put them together,  

that is an acronym. And here, the acronym happens  to spell an actual word and that is SMART.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: What is a SMART acronym and how did you,  

or sorry, a SMART goal? And how did  you learn about these kinds of goals?

David: Right, we were talking about this before  the show. Uh, so one of my friends Bradley brought  

this up when a group of us a couple years ago, we  were talking about New Year's resolutions and we  

decided to go around the circle and see if anybody  wanted to share what their New Year's resolution  

was. And before we started, he suggested  that we all try to do it in SMART format.  

And SMART stands for specific, measurable,  achievable, realistic, and what's the T?

Rachel: Timely.

David: Timely. So, instead of us all going around  and saying, "I want to run more," you know,  

I was forced that year at least at  the beginning of the year to say,  

you know a little something  about each of those areas.

Rachel: Mm-hmm (affirmative), how you could  

measure it. David: Mm-hmm (affirmative) Rachel: Well, you would know by whether  

or not you ran, whether or not  it was achievable and realistic.

David: Right.

Rachel: Getting specific with your goal.

David: Right. Mm-hmm (affirmative). So, I  remember that being really helpful both for  

myself as I was thinking about my goal  and to hear other people putting their  

New Year's resolutions into that format. It  was just helpful to yeah, to use that as a,  

sort of a tool to get more specific. Rachel: It does force you to be more  

thoughtful and detailed about your  New Year's resolution I think when  

you have to say something that is specific,  measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Rachel: Speaking of timely, that brings me to what  I have decided to do this year, which is a little  

bit different. I find that having a goal for a  year is not great for me. It's just, it's too  

much time. So I decided to flip the idea of a New  Year's resolution on its head, rather than making  

a goal to do in 2018. I decided towards the end  of 2017, I was going to make a goal to do before  

the year was out, because that provided more of  a time crunch, more motivation to make it happen.

David: Now you said flip on its head.

Rachel: Yeah, that means do it  the opposite way it's been done.  

Change it around completely. So I flipped  the idea of a New Year's resolution on its  

head by deciding I had to do it before  New Year rather than in the New Year.

David: Got it.

Rachel: Okay, so my goal was to before the  year is out, sign up for and take my first  

piano lesson. And it looks like I'm going to be  able to do that. I have the piano getting tuned.

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Rachel: Next week and then the week after that,  

just in the nick of time. It's  going to be on the 20th of December.

David: (Laughs) Rachel: I'm going to have my first lesson.

David: You have ten days to spare.  Um, just in the nick of time.

Rachel: Yup. What does this phrase mean? This  means, down to the wife. Oops, another idiom. 

These things mean just before  time runs out. Is that another ...

David: Yeah.

Rachel: Yeah, it is, runs, runs  out. (Laughs) Okay. It becomes so  

hard sometimes to describe idioms without using  other idioms. If it's just in the nick of time,  

that means you have done something just  before the allotted time has ended.

David: Just before the deadline. Rachel: Just before the deadline. So,  

the phrases we used were just in the  nick of time. You could also say,  

it's getting down to the wire.  When it's getting down to the wire,  

that means you are really running out  of time on getting something done.

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Rachel: What was the other one  we used? Oh, time's running  

out. David: Mm-hmm (affirmative) Rachel: Almost no time left.

David: Right.

Rachel: Those are fun idioms. So anyway,  yeah I think I'm going to ... I think I'm  

going to achieve it and I'm looking forward to  having that first lesson. I decided to have the  

person come to the house just because I'm a  little bit lazy. No, it's not that, right?

David: No. No. Of course, not.

Rachel: I'm not lazy. No. No, no, no.  It just had to do with spending time.  

I would rather spend the time that I would  be commuting to the lesson on practicing.

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Rachel: You know, time. Time is finite. It is  not unlimited. So, I feel like with Stoney,  

with running Rachel's English, I have to ...  I, I tend now to make many more choices based  

on what will save time whereas I use to make  choices based on what will save money. Time  

has become more precious to me than anything  now. So, they're going to come to my house. I  

don't know who it is yet. It's going to be a half  hour lesson. And I'm hoping that in the evenings  

before dinner when ... David's the cook in our  family. When David's in the kitchen and Stoney  

and I are playing downstairs, that I can be at  the piano practicing and that he can hopefully  

start to get the idea that music and making music  is an enjoyable way to spend time, is a fun way to  

be together. And I just hope that that starts to  become more of essential part of our household.

And really, I'm prepping him for a  desire to study the piano as well,  

because I would really like to give  him lessons in a couple of years.

David: Yeah, definitely.

Rachel: David, did you have any  kind of music lesson growing up?

David: No, I didn't. Uh, so I, I really  think it's, it's great that he's going  

to have piano lessons at the very least. Rachel: At the very least. I'm also kind of  

drawn to the violin. I don't know. I think  there are definitely people out there who  

have studied both, but, uh, I might have  to choose there between the two. If you  

had to choose between piano and violin for  Stoney right now, which would you choose?

David: Oh, well, this is a  non-musical person saying this,  

but I feel like I would say piano, because I feel  

like I've heard people say that that is a  really generalizable instrument to learn.

Rachel: Generalizable.

David: That's not a word.

Rachel: I don't think so. General? What  do you mean by that like versatile?

David: Well, that it, learning  that specific instrument gives  

you a broad general knowledge of music and ...

Rachel: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

David: ... cite reading, and gives you a sense  for how other instruments work. Rachel: Okay. 

David: Like it, it's ... It gives  you a general sense of musical  

knowledge. Rachel: Mm-hmm (affirmative) David: I don't know if that's true or not.

Rachel: The thing I like about piano is I do  think it's very versatile. Um, it can be used  

for solo performance and then it's used a lot in  ensemble, and it's used a lot in accompanying. So,  

accompanying a singer, or a whole chorus, or a  violinist, or that kind of thing. Uh, it appeals  

to me a lot. So, if you listened to the last  week's podcast where we were talking about a  

memorable gift that we've received, you know that  I had clips from two friends that have been on  

past podcasts actually, um, asking them. And so  I asked them not only their most memorable gift,  

but I also asked them about New Year's  resolutions. So, let's first listen to Eliot,  

my friend Eliot. And let's see what Eliot  has to say about his New Year's resolutions.

Eliot: I'd, I think there was a period in  my life where I thought, I probably should.  

I've never been one to make a lot of ones  that I ... Actually, as I was making them,  

I seriously planned on following through with,  but I will say, last year I made a, a resolution  

to run a half marathon, uh, and that, which is  something I'd never done before. I'm actually  

not much of a runner. And I, I don't enjoy it  as much as I do other kinds of, uh, exercises.  

But I signed up for it and followed through  with it and completed it. And so I was really  

proud of, of that as, as sort of, uh, one of the  successful examples of a resolution I've made.

I would say ... I'd say most of them  have, have sort of, uh, been something  

I intended to do and then they kind  of went by the wayside pretty quickly.

Rachel: Okay, so David, he just said, "Went by  the wayside." David: Yeah, I heard about that too. 

Rachel: When something goes to the wayside or goes  by the wayside, I guess we use "by" with that.

David: Ah-huh.

Rachel: That went by the wayside. That means,  you meant to do it, you wanted to do it,  

you intended to do it, but for whatever reason,  it became less important and you didn't do it.

David: Right, and you've moved on.

Rachel: You moved on. Yeah, you  know, I meant to mow the lawn,  

but the day got really busy  so that went to the wayside.

David: Yup.

Rachel: He also was talking about,  I was thinking about the idea of a  

SMART goal. David: Mm-hmm (affirmative) Rachel: And he made it very measurable.  

It was very specific. It was to  do one half marathon that year.

David: Right.

Rachel: So that, that does make  the goal. That's, that's a much  

better goal than run more. David: Right. Rachel: Just choose a specific race and aim to  

do it. Let's keep listening to that conversation. Now, will you do a second half marathon?

Eliot: I am happy to report that I am signed  up for one in November of this year and I'm  

doing it actually with my company, with  Magoosh. A bunch of people are doing it,  

so there's some, some good pressure at  work from people to keep me motivated.

Rachel: Oh, wow. Eliot: And so yes, I'm, I'm planning to do  

another one this year. Uh, and so we'll see. It's  great, you know, uh, though I guess it's harder to  

find ways to do things like team sports and play  basketball, and other things, so, uh, maybe with  

enough time I'll, I'll develop a love for running  that I didn't have before. We'll see. (Laughs)

Rachel: Is the half marathon in  November in the San Francisco area?

Eliot: It's in Berkeley. Actually, it's the  Berkeley half marathon at the end of November. Uh,  

and so, I've, I've started ... I took some time  off. Actually, I got a little injury from running,  

uh, in the spring, so I took a little time  away. And, and for the last few weeks,  

I've started my training program again. So,  I'm excited to do that. The, the one I did,  

uh, before, the first one I did was in San  Francisco. And part of the motivational aspect  

of that was we got to run along the coastline.  It was a beautiful day with the Pacific Ocean  

off to our side. And so, that was a nice setting  to do this in Berkeley. It will also be special,  

but maybe not quite as dramatic, but  it'll still be rewarding to finish.

Rachel: Yeah, the location makes  

a huge difference. Eliot: Yeah. Rachel: I want to do the ... I,  

I have it in mind that sometime I'm  going to do the Disney World Marathon.

Eliot: Ooh, yeah. That would be great.

Rachel: I ... I never will, because I'm  not going to run that far. Eliot: (Laughs) 

Rachel: But if I could be anywhere like to  run a marathon, Disney world would be it.

Eliot: You never know. That's exactly the way  I sounded, uh, little over a year ago that  

I would never do this kind of thing. I don't  know. When I finished the race, I told myself,  

"I'm never doing this again." Uh, and here I am  signed up for another one. It's, uh, I, I've heard  

from other runners that kind of happens too.  So, we'll see. Maybe this will become a habit.

Rachel: Now, would you ever do a  

marathon? Eliot: No. Rachel: Why?

Eliot: That I have decided I will not do. And,  uh, what I've learned about training for half  

marathon is that, eh, and a full marathon  is that at least for me, a full marathon  

would be completely different. Uh, it, it takes a  different kind of training. And I, uh, you know,  

I'm, I'm ... Your listeners won't know this, but  I'm a tall guy. Uh, I'm not ... I wouldn't say  

that my body type is one that's really  set up for long distance running. I  

think probably end up developing knee  problems or something like that. So  

I think keeping it to half marathon is  ambitious enough for me at this point.

Rachel: That sounds smart.  Wow, marathons, half marathons.  

David, what's the longest run  you've ever done, the longest race?

David: I did a 10-mile run, the Broad Street run  in Philadelphia, which is, starts from the north,  

um, north end of the city and run straight  down Broad Street. That's a really fun race.

Rachel: Okay, so I actually would've  thought that might be kind of boring,  

because it's just on one street  the whole time. There's not much  

elevation change. There's not  a lot of nature. Is that right?

David: No, no, no, it's pointedly  not nature-y. Um, but it's great,  

because you run down a street that's the  city's most iconic street. And it's usually  

obviously packed with traffic. And, um,  people lie in the street and you end up  

down by all the sports stadiums, and, uh,  it's just, it's a great, it's a great race.

Rachel: So, not boring at all?

David: No. Rachel: Urban, urban energy.

David: Urban energy. Tons of people just you know,  

walking out their front door and  cheering and yelling and it's great.

Rachel: Is this something that you will  do again? David: Oh, I would love to. 

Rachel: All right. Hey, maybe that's your,  going to be your New Year's resolution for  

this year? David: Maybe. Rachel: When is it?

David: That, that race has gotten so  popular that you can't just decide  

to sign up. You have to win the  lottery to get, uh, to get a bib.

Rachel: Okay, a bib is what you wear on the front  of your shirt when you're in a race. David: Right. 

Rachel: So, when is it? Is it March? David: It's May.

Rachel: May. I think you should try to, try  to enter the lottery, try to get that. David:  

It's true. Get into lottery, see if I get it. Rachel: It could be a really measurable goal  

for this year. David: Quite. Rachel: You know, another  

thing that I think would be fun is there is a,  

a half marathon in Manhattan that talk about  urban energy. I think that would be really fun.

David: Yeah. Is that the same day as the New York  

marathon? Rachel: No. David: Okay.

Rachel: I think it's like  one of the runs people use  

sometimes to qualify for the New York marathon.

David: I see.

Rachel: I'm not sure. New York marathon is  something that happens right around my birthday. 

It's usually the first Sunday. It's  the first Sunday of November, right?

David: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Rachel: And we a couple times have  gone and before I met David, I went  

quite a bit. It's just so much fun to watch  that. I love seeing the elite racers go by.

David: Oh, yeah.

Rachel: And then when the elite racers  are done and it's just all your other  

more average marathoners, a lot  of them have their names written  

somewhere so you can shout to them  individually. I, I love doing that.

David: Yeah, that's fun.

Rachel: Cheering people on.

David: That's a lot of fun.

Rachel: All right. Well, I'm going to make it my  New Year's resolution to watch the New York City  

marathon again this year. David: Okay.

Rachel: Because we missed it. We  missed it this year. David: That's  

a great call, I completely agree. Rachel: So, rather than run a marathon,  

my New Year's resolution is to  watch the New York City marathon.

David: Measurable. Either  we'll be there or we won't.

Rachel: Yup, one oh, if I reach that one. Okay,  when I was with my cousin Brooke recently,  

I also asked her about New Year's resolutions.  Let's see what she had to say. Yeah, so Brooke,  

do you make New Year's resolutions?  If you do, do you keep them?

Brooke: Um, yes I typically do make maybe one  New Year's resolution. And, um, my husband and  

my three children also make resolutions, and  we make them public to one another. We write  

them down and we typically post them in our  room, um, so we can all see what the other  

folks are working on. And I would say, I mean  it's not high stakes. It's not like if you, if  

you don't do this you fail, but it's just a goal  that we're trying to aspire to in the New Year.

Rachel: So do you keep it posted  the whole year? Brooke: Yes, we do. 

Rachel: And generally, does everyone  meet their New Year's resolution?

Brooke: They make progress toward  their New Year's resolution. So,  

as long as there's growth,  that's what we're working for.

Rachel: So what have some of your New  Year's resolutions been in the past?

Brooke: Um, my personal New Year's resolutions  typically are around wellness and taking care  

of myself. So maybe like taking time in the  morning to do a little bit of yoga each day or,  

um, reserving like 15 or 20 minutes in my  calendar, in my schedule every day to like  

go on a walk. Um, or like even just take a  little time where I don't do anything. Um,  

so that's typically what, what might have been.

Rachel: What about your kids, are theirs focusing  

on wellness or what tends to be  the focus of their resolutions?

Brooke: Um, Xavier who is 12, his New  Year's resolution for this year was to eat  

more vegetables. And we actually didn't coach  him on that. He came up with that on his own,  

because he tends to have a sweet tooth and  he loves candy. And so he was trying to kind  

of you know, counteract his sweet tooth  with some more vegetables in his life.  

And, uh, my daughter who is  9, her New Year's resolution  

was to be able to do the splits this  year. And she's making good progress.

Rachel: Wow. So she's working  on her flexibility? Brooke: Yes,  

her flexibility. Rachel: I like that resolution.

Brooke: (Laughs) Yeah.

Rachel: David, I have another idea for a New  

Year's resolution for you this  year and it is to do the splits.

David: (Laughs) Ouch.

Rachel: How close are you to doing a split?

David: Um, it's physiologically  not going to happen. I'm nowhere,  

I'm so not close that I would harm  myself if I try to even make progress.

Rachel: I think actually we might need  to define it just in case that's not  

clear. A split is something that like  a gymnast or a very flexible person  

would do where you're sitting on the  ground and one leg is directly forward  

and one leg is directly backward, but  you are completely down on the floor.

David: Yeah, ouch.

Rachel: I've not ... I was never able to  do a split. David: No. Not even close. 

Rachel: And I, I mean I took dance,  like I was sort of supposed to be  

able to do one. David: Oh, okay. Rachel: But I, I couldn't. I never  

quite got there. David: No. Rachel: Maybe if I'd made  

it a New Year's resolution.

David: (Laughs). Maybe. But I don't know if that  would be realistic though, the R in SMART. Rachel:  

Yeah, it, it, it would maybe not be a SMART goal. David: But I love this about Brooke's family. I  

love the public aspect so that people can look  over your shoulder. That's a real motivator. So  

I'm thinking now, our family should use  your flipped on the head idea of, it's  

due by January 1 and combine it with the public  thing that Brooke's family does. And every year,  

that anyone in our world mentions New  Year's resolutions, all of us have to  

make one that's due January 1 and we'd post  them on the fridge. I think that'd be good.

Rachel: Okay, so by public you mean,  sort of within the family putting  

it up somewhere rath- rather than  just saying it, you write it down.

David: Yeah, written down in Sharpie and stuck  with a magnet to the fridge. Rachel: Sharpie is  

a brand of permanent marker. David: That's right.

Rachel: So David's saying, you  can't make it in pencil where you  

would maybe erase and change it. It  has to be in Sharpie on the fridge.

David: In SMART format.

Rachel: In SMART format. David: (Laughs)

Rachel: Wow. He's making a lot of rules  here for resolutions y'all. Okay guys,  

that wraps up this episode. And actually, it may  wrap up the podcast. David and I have decided,  

here it is the end of 2017, this is the  last podcast of the year and we've decided  

that we're going to take a break. We're  not planning on recording in January.  

And this is one of those things where I  don't know if it's a break where we will  

then record again in February or if it's one  of the things where we never record again,  

or maybe in a, a year. I don't know. David, what's  your gut telling you on the fate of this podcast?

David: Well, uh, I don't know. We may be  back. I, I think it's been a lot of fun,  

uh, but it is a lot of work.  So we have to figure that out.

Rachel: Yeah, basically, it’s become a bigger  time commitment than I expected it would with  

the audio editing, and the podcast, transcript,  and the artwork for each episode. And it's,  

yeah, it's a little bit of a bigger  commitment than I thought it would  

be when I started out. So for now,  it's going to fall by the wayside.

David: There you go.

Rachel: To use the idiom from earlier in the  podcast. So if you've been just loving the  

podcast, I do apologize. It’s gotten some  positive feedback, and I hate to takeaway  

a resource that I've been offering for free. Uh,  and so, it, it may come back, but in the meantime,  

you know, there will be a new YouTube video  every week as always. And follow me on  

Instagram and Facebook, and this is just  a way you can keep up with us in general,  

me and David. Both sometimes David and Stoney  also make it into photos on the Instagram feed.  

So there are ways to keep up and I appreciate all  of you listeners out there who have since July,  

been faithfully downloading and listening to the  podcast. You are the reason why we are doing this.

I'm wishing everyone out there the best  in 2018. I hope that you reach all of  

your English goals. That's it guys and  until the future, this is Rachel and ...

David: David.

Rachel: And we're signing out from  Philadelphia. David: See you later guys.