🧰 The toolbox • A gentler approach to goal setting

+ inspiration for language learning goals

Dear reader,

Have you ever hit a wall with reaching your goals? You set them a few months back, and now then you find them so far from motivating (it “unmotivating” a word in English?) you end up not even looking at them any more. This is the issue I'm trying to fix for this summer quarter.

Here's what I've been doing for the past few years - which had worked reasonably well. I would set 3 main goals per quarter, with about 3 action steps for each. For example, a goal could be:

• Improve Korean understanding

  • Complete 10 grammar lessons and workbook exercises

  • Listen to 12 TV show episodes

  • Read 10 short stories

I found that I often end up taking a completely different approach depending on how I feel on a given day. For this reason, I'll try to try something new. Instead of a few action steps, I'll create a bigger pool of actions I can take toward my goal. It will give me more choice, but keep the tasks actionable and relevant to my main goal. Here's what it might look like:

Korean language learning toolbox

• Listen to 10 minutes of a podcast.

• Read one short article or blog post.

• Record a short journal entry.

• Complete one Korean lesson.

• Complete one Korean workbook exercise.

• Watch 10-minute of a Korean TV show / video.

• Explore a language learning app for 10 minutes.

• Write a short journal entry.

To work with my current system, I also added as a small goal to try and make one flashcard of a sentence for each short activity. This way, I shouldn't be overwhelmed but still learn useful expressions to add to my toolbox.

Here are a few ideas to help you pick different types of activities.

Not being able to make tables in Substack is painful for nerds

To gamify your learning and push yourself to diversify your learning, you could to add points to each activity. For example, you could add 1–5 points depending on how much it will help your language learning or on how hard it is to achieve on an average day. Then, you would gain only one point if you do it several days in a row. I should make an app when I have time to think about it! What kind of app would save you time and energy?

While I was planning, I also came up with this note I had written about quarterly planning. I hope it comforts you as much as it did for me.

Q1 is for trying new things.
Q2 is for maintaining habits.
Q3 is for slowing down and taking time.
Q4 is for reviewing and planning.

Best,

Lou

✍️ Dear language learner

As always, here are a few sentences to test yourself. You can add them to your notes or spaced-repetition system if you’d like!

🌱 Beginner

I am learning with a beginner book.

🌿 Intermediate

I study grammar with online courses and exercises.

🌳 Advanced

I like to listen to podcasts to deepen my understanding of native speech.

PS: Thank you to everyone who submitted their kind answers to last week’s post. I’ll be on a trip next week, but I’ll do my best to address your questions sometime soon. Have a lovely week.