Everyday Habit to Improve Your English [+ Measure Your Progress]

192,990 views ・ 2021-02-03

Speak Confident English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Most of us are creatures of habit.
0
330
2370
00:03
What that means is that we prefer to have routines.
1
3030
2730
00:05
We find comfort in having a routine.
2
5761
2759
00:09
Think about what you do every morning after you wake up,
3
9090
3540
00:12
do you follow the same routine every day? Why?
4
12660
4290
00:17
Because we like having the routine.
5
17310
2040
00:19
We like the predictability of what's going to happen.
6
19351
3119
00:22
And not only do we enjoy the comfort of routines,
7
22471
4109
00:26
but having effective daily habits allows us to make progress to meet our
8
26910
4740
00:31
goals. But as you and I both know, starting a new habit is really tough.
9
31651
4709
00:36
Even if we have a goal we really want to achieve like becoming more confident in
10
36690
4650
00:41
English. Not only that,
11
41341
2039
00:43
but it can be difficult to know if you're making progress,
12
43381
3779
00:48
I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
13
48300
2370
00:50
This is exactly where you want to be every week to get the confidence you want
14
50970
4290
00:55
for your life and work in English. This week
15
55261
2879
00:58
you and I are going to answer those questions so that you can easily create
16
58140
4830
01:02
an effective English habit that helps you meet your English goals and know,
17
62971
3929
01:07
without a doubt, when you're making progress,
18
67681
2699
01:10
plus get a variety of common expressions, collocations and phrases,
19
70560
4200
01:14
English speakers use when talking about habits so that you can incorporate them
20
74761
4949
01:20
into your English conversations with friends and coworkers. In the end,
21
80010
4230
01:24
you'll discover five simple steps you can take to build an effective daily habit
22
84390
4980
01:29
and get eight common expressions to use as well.
23
89490
3120
01:33
Not only will you get all of that,
24
93090
1620
01:34
but I'm also going to tell you why I'm super envious of basketball players.
25
94711
4379
01:39
And I'm going to share with you a free download to help you get started in
26
99210
4320
01:43
building a daily English vocabulary.
27
103531
2579
01:58
The first step toward building an effective habit to help you meet your English
28
118550
4770
02:03
goals is to connect the new habit you want to create with an
29
123321
4679
02:08
existing habit.
30
128001
1589
02:10
That sounds more complicated than it really is in English.
31
130070
4260
02:14
We call this stacking your habits.
32
134331
2579
02:17
Think about how you stack plates or cups in a cupboard.
33
137150
3510
02:21
Why do you stack them that way? We do it because of course,
34
141140
3870
02:25
plates stack on top of each other or they fit together perfectly.
35
145011
4709
02:29
The same thing is true with cups and bowls.
36
149930
2670
02:32
So how does this apply to habits? Well, to answer that first,
37
152900
4470
02:37
let's talk about the habit that you want to create to help you meet a goal.
38
157400
4320
02:41
For example, maybe your goal is to read a book in English.
39
161780
2970
02:45
The habit you would create is to read something every day.
40
165110
3990
02:49
Or perhaps your goal is to increase your English vocabulary.
41
169400
2970
02:52
So the habit becomes taking time every day to practice specific
42
172640
4920
02:57
vocabulary. In both cases,
43
177590
2480
03:00
you're attempting to add something new to your daily routine,
44
180071
4289
03:04
which might be time to read or time to practice vocabulary.
45
184690
3420
03:08
Usually when we want to start something new like that, we simply say,
46
188560
4260
03:12
I'm going to start studying for 30 minutes every day,
47
192880
3000
03:15
or I'm going to read for 15 minutes every day,
48
195910
3030
03:19
but we don't really identify a specific time when we're
49
199240
4740
03:23
going to do that. As a result, we don't commit to it.
50
203981
3989
03:28
A more effective way to build in a new habit is to think about your current
51
208420
4470
03:32
routines,
52
212891
779
03:33
maybe your morning or evening routine when you already have time alone without
53
213670
4980
03:38
distractions. And you can commit to some focused time.
54
218651
3839
03:42
If you can identify a current habit that you have and
55
222940
4230
03:47
connect it to this time that you want to practice vocabulary or spend time
56
227171
4739
03:51
reading, you are stacking your habits.
57
231911
2669
03:54
You're finding an opportunity where your new habit fits perfectly
58
234580
4740
03:59
with your existing habits. Let me give you an example.
59
239500
3390
04:03
I'm certain that in the mornings and the evenings part of your routine includes
60
243190
4650
04:07
brushing your teeth. I know that sounds kind of strange, but I'm serious.
61
247841
4289
04:12
You spend a few minutes every day, brushing your teeth.
62
252370
3240
04:16
It doesn't really take a lot of focus to do that.
63
256150
2700
04:18
So perhaps you could add another habit while you're brushing
64
258851
4949
04:23
your teeth. For example,
65
263801
1559
04:25
you could put a sticky note of vocabulary words on your mirror,
66
265361
4379
04:29
and while you're brushing your teeth,
67
269980
1380
04:31
you build in a new habit of practicing those words.
68
271540
4380
04:36
When you do that, you're stacking your habits.
69
276250
2280
04:38
You're incorporating a new habit into an existing one. As a result,
70
278531
4799
04:43
it's much easier to start that new habit and do it consistently.
71
283331
3659
04:47
Now the second step to building an effective habit is to start
72
287290
4800
04:52
small, really, really small. In English,
73
292091
3659
04:55
we have the expression bigger is better,
74
295750
2340
04:58
which means that something big or large is more valuable,
75
298300
3720
05:02
but that isn't always true.
76
302530
1890
05:04
Sometimes bigger means more pressure and stress,
77
304810
3420
05:08
a feeling of being overwhelmed. And when you're trying to create a new habit,
78
308440
4860
05:13
bigger is definitely not better.
79
313450
2130
05:15
A smart way to think about building a new habit is to follow the advice of
80
315910
4350
05:20
Desmond Tutu,
81
320261
989
05:21
who said there's only one way to eat an elephant one bite at a
82
321280
4860
05:26
time. When we aim to implement small,
83
326141
3929
05:31
bite-sized habits, they're more likely to stick.
84
331270
3300
05:34
To make a habit stick or alternatively to stick to a new
85
334930
4590
05:39
habit means to do it consistently so that it eventually
86
339521
4919
05:44
becomes automatic.
87
344441
1469
05:46
Just like brushing your teeth every day is automatic. You don't think about it.
88
346150
4890
05:51
You don't stress about it. You just do it because it's what you do.
89
351041
4439
05:55
And the goal of creating a new habit is that it follows the same pattern.
90
355990
4810
06:00
It just becomes something you do every day.
91
360860
3330
06:04
So let's go back to those ideas of building a habit, to meet an English goal.
92
364580
4980
06:09
For example, reading every day so that you can read a book in English,
93
369590
4350
06:14
a small habit would be read one page every day
94
374360
4740
06:19
or read for five minutes every day. Similarly,
95
379400
3720
06:23
if your goal is to increase your English vocabulary,
96
383121
2999
06:26
a small bite-sized effective habit is to practice just five
97
386450
4830
06:31
words a day. Again,
98
391281
1619
06:32
maybe while brushing your teeth or driving to work or walking your dog.
99
392901
3839
06:36
Step number three is do it daily several years
100
396740
4140
06:40
ago.
101
400881
509
06:41
British researchers found that it takes anywhere from 18 to
102
401390
4680
06:46
254 days to make a new habit
103
406130
4290
06:50
automatic. Now, automatic is a word I've already used,
104
410450
3810
06:54
and that's the key word here. Last year,
105
414261
2849
06:57
I did a lesson on how to master your English confidence. And in that lesson,
106
417111
4499
07:01
I introduced the word automaticity in language automaticity
107
421611
4979
07:06
is the ability to use the language without having to think about it too much.
108
426860
4770
07:11
In other words,
109
431930
960
07:13
without having to stress and search for the perfect word or trying to remember
110
433010
4770
07:17
the right grammar structure.
111
437781
1379
07:19
Instead, you just.
112
439490
1890
07:21
Say it, it just happens. It's natural,
113
441380
2730
07:24
which is exactly what we all want when it comes to communicating in our
114
444410
4980
07:29
second, third, fourth or fifth language.
115
449391
2579
07:32
So how does that automaticity happen?
116
452390
2760
07:35
It happens through daily consistent practice.
117
455780
4050
07:40
And again,
118
460130
833
07:41
that may take anywhere from 18 days to 254
119
461030
4590
07:45
days.
120
465621
833
07:46
Daily practice guarantees that you get the repetition you need to
121
466580
4920
07:51
be successful and make progress,
122
471501
2939
07:54
eventually reaching your goal. And that brings me to step number four,
123
474680
4140
07:59
you have to track your progress and you need to celebrate your successes.
124
479420
4410
08:04
Now here's where I want to share with you why I'm envious of basketball players.
125
484370
4770
08:09
Not only are basketball players tall, which if you don't already know,
126
489380
4560
08:13
I'm not someone you would describe as tall,
127
493970
3270
08:17
but also it's so easy to know if you're getting better at
128
497840
4560
08:22
basketball. It's so easy to know if you're making progress.
129
502401
3599
08:26
When you throw a ball at a basketball hoop, either it goes in, or it doesn't.
130
506240
4710
08:31
A basketball player who practices consistently is going to see
131
511550
4770
08:36
that ball go in the hoop successfully more and more.
132
516321
3059
08:40
Their progress is clear that isn't always true when we're
133
520130
4620
08:44
starting a new habit, particularly related to language,
134
524751
4049
08:48
we don't always see what we're doing. You know,
135
528950
3750
08:52
you're practicing English regularly. You that you're going to classes,
136
532701
3849
08:56
but you still feel stuck, frustrated, nervous, or shy.
137
536551
3989
09:01
Why do all that work if you don't know that you're making progress?
138
541170
4350
09:05
I recently told some of my students about a huge mistake I made in my own
139
545940
4140
09:10
language learning. When I first started language learning,
140
550081
3059
09:13
I was extremely diligent in writing everything down
141
553141
4079
09:17
grammar structures. I was learning new words. I wanted to remember.
142
557730
3510
09:21
And the benefit of doing that was after some time passed, maybe a week or two,
143
561360
4830
09:26
or maybe even a few months, I could go back,
144
566191
3269
09:29
look at my notes and say, Oh my gosh,
145
569610
2970
09:32
I've done so much.
146
572640
2460
09:35
I remember when that grammar structure was difficult for me.
147
575340
3630
09:38
I remember when conjugating that verb was difficult for me,
148
578970
4020
09:42
but it isn't difficult anymore.
149
582991
3089
09:46
My progress was clear.
150
586740
1620
09:48
The mistake I made was at some point I stopped doing that.
151
588900
3630
09:52
I no longer had a written record.
152
592650
2790
09:55
I no longer had demonstrated proof of my progress.
153
595680
4290
10:00
And as a result, I lost motivation.
154
600270
2340
10:02
I got frustrated and I wanted to give up.
155
602611
2909
10:06
So the key to knowing if you're making progress is to track
156
606030
4770
10:11
your habit, keep track of what you're doing and to make it easy.
157
611010
4590
10:15
I've got a free download to help you do that.
158
615720
2340
10:18
I'll tell you more about it in a moment,
159
618270
1770
10:20
but first here's why a habit tracker is so useful.
160
620041
3839
10:24
Number one,
161
624240
833
10:25
it's a visual reminder to help you complete your daily
162
625080
4590
10:29
habit. This makes it easier for you to get into your new habit.
163
629671
4679
10:34
And second, it becomes your visual proof of progress.
164
634770
4590
10:39
Every time you mark a day of completing that habit,
165
639780
3630
10:43
every time you write down what you did, what you learned,
166
643860
2850
10:46
what you want to remember,
167
646711
1259
10:48
you're documenting another step toward your goal.
168
648900
3150
10:52
You're creating a written record of your progress. And on those days,
169
652620
4500
10:57
when you feel frustrated that nothing is changing, you can go back,
170
657121
3929
11:01
take a look at that documented record and say, Oh my gosh,
171
661080
3960
11:05
actually a ton has changed.
172
665370
2400
11:07
I have accomplished so much in the last few months.
173
667800
2940
11:11
That is an amazing feeling. And when you get that, celebrate it.
174
671340
4320
11:16
And step number five for building in a new effective habit to meet your
175
676410
4800
11:21
English goals so that your habit becomes second nature (in
176
681211
4859
11:26
other words,
177
686401
570
11:26
it's something that you do instinctively) is to use two of my favorite words in
178
686971
4739
11:31
English: yet and but. No matter what our goals are,
179
691711
4049
11:35
no matter how successful we are at implementing a new habit,
180
695940
4140
11:40
we all have days when we feel discouraged.
181
700081
2699
11:43
Those two words - yet and but - can be helpful when it's time to
182
703260
4710
11:47
shift your mindset from something negative to positive. For example,
183
707971
4649
11:52
if you start to think,
184
712650
1480
11:54
I still haven't reached my goal of reading a book in English. What's the point?
185
714220
4590
11:59
You can shift that statement to,
186
719590
2460
12:02
I still haven't reached my goal of reading a book in English yet,
187
722500
4170
12:07
but I will.
188
727180
2370
12:09
If I continue my daily habit of reading one page every day.
189
729551
4379
12:14
Or I'm not making any progress in increasing my English
190
734440
4710
12:19
vocabulary again,
191
739180
1950
12:21
using those two simple words yet and but we can shift that to,
192
741340
4200
12:25
I haven't made any progress in increasing my vocabulary yet,
193
745870
4110
12:30
but I will, if I keep practicing every day.
194
750310
4020
12:35
And the best way to know that you have is to use that habit tracker
195
755230
4890
12:40
a written record.
196
760210
1050
12:41
So now let me tell you about a free download I have for you to make all of this
197
761770
4200
12:45
easier. This download is available on my website.
198
765971
3719
12:49
So I'll leave a link to that just below this video, in that download,
199
769691
4559
12:54
you're going to find two things. Number one,
200
774251
2609
12:56
you'll find a habit tracker where you can write down what is the new habit that
201
776861
4259
13:01
you want to start? What month is it?
202
781121
2249
13:03
And you can track it every day that month,
203
783520
2730
13:06
all you have to do is write a simple little X or a check mark every time you
204
786640
4830
13:11
do it. Again, by doing that,
205
791471
2549
13:14
you're giving yourself a visual reminder of what you should do every day and
206
794050
4560
13:18
you're tracking your progress.
207
798611
1709
13:20
I'm certain that one of your goals in English is to build your vocabulary.
208
800710
3990
13:24
So I want to help, you know, how to do that effectively with this download.
209
804970
3990
13:28
There's a place for you to write down the new words,
210
808961
2879
13:31
collocations or idioms that you want to remember and practice for one week,
211
811841
4529
13:36
then every day, there's space for you to write down some example sentences,
212
816790
4650
13:41
or different ways that you might use that new language.
213
821441
3089
13:44
Following this pattern gives you that repetition to create
214
824980
4740
13:49
automaticity,
215
829750
1140
13:50
the ability to use that new word or collocation automatically.
216
830950
4650
13:56
There's a new page for every week, during the month. And then at the end,
217
836140
4200
14:00
there's an opportunity to reflect on what you learned that month.
218
840580
3600
14:05
When you complete those documents successfully,
219
845050
2520
14:07
you've developed concrete proof of how you've increased your
220
847571
4649
14:12
vocabulary that month.
221
852221
1199
14:13
And then you can do it again the next month and the month after and the month
222
853720
3600
14:17
after.
223
857321
833
14:18
So if you want to get started on increasing your English vocabulary
224
858310
4620
14:23
and build an effective daily habit to help you do that,
225
863020
4170
14:27
simply go to my website, get the free download,
226
867400
3480
14:31
and immediately start using it. Once you've done that,
227
871210
3390
14:34
I would love for you to tell me how it's going,
228
874601
2369
14:37
the best place for you to do that is in the comments at the end of the lesson.
229
877300
3720
14:41
And with that,
230
881650
750
14:42
you have five simple steps that you can take to build an effective habit.
231
882400
4860
14:47
Plus you have eight English, collocations,
232
887320
2460
14:49
and idioms to help you talk about habits in English.
233
889870
3040
14:53
If you found this week's lesson useful to you, I would love to know.
234
893180
3510
14:56
And you can tell me in three simple ways, number one,
235
896810
3060
14:59
give this video a thumbs up here on YouTube and subscribe to this channel so you
236
899871
4769
15:04
never miss one of my Confident English lessons. Number two,
237
904641
3449
15:08
share this lesson with friends or coworkers by email or Facebook,
238
908120
3780
15:12
and finally go to my website, download the habit tracker.
239
912170
3930
15:16
And tell me about what you're learning or share with me the progress that you're
240
916250
4050
15:20
making. I would love to celebrate with you. Thank you so much for joining me.
241
920301
4679
15:24
And I look forward to seeing you next time for your Confident English lesson.
242
924981
3629
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7