Every Year,
I have made the promise to work harder, reach higher, and prove to myself that "Yes, I can".
"I can achieve whatever I put my mind to".
And I'm sure many of us have started out every new year feeling that urge to be better, and that fire to do more.
We start out with a blazing passion, always working, running, chasing after our goals. But very soon, we fizz out. Sometimes, life just gets crazy (read Covid-19) and, before you know it, the year is up and there's that familiar feeling of regret and that looming question of, "What if?".
- "What if I had continued to work everyday?"
- "What if even amidst the chaos of life, I tried harder to accomplish what I set out to do?"
- "Where would I be today if I had just pushed myself a bit more?"
Personally, I'm quite tired of asking myself these questions year after year so I have decided to make a change in my method of approach towards my objectives. Firstly, I am a strong believer that anyone can do anything they put their mind to. The reason I believe this, is because I have seen it countless times in both others, and myself. From self-learning Music Production using complicated D.A.W. systems, to studying the intricacies of human anatomy, I do see my potential when it comes to passionate learning. I have gone from 0 to 100 in many things, not because of any skill or raw talent, but because I genuinely wanted to know more. That burning curiosity and constant need to grow has pushed me to reach towards the top of every mountain, and the only times I have "failed" was when I doubted that I could. Now, I would like to stress that "Yes, I can", and "Yes, you can" so do not become your own obstacle.
This Year,
I'm not going to regret the past because it is already done. I'm not going to worry about the future because it is impossible to predict. I will simply give my best, with no extra thoughts of doubt/failure or any kind of self-demotivation. I urge everyone reading this to do the same. All of that gets in the way of accomplishing things, and I have many things in need of accomplishing. One of my biggest sources of inspiration writing this is none other than Robin MacPherson, the creator of this amazing Journaly platform. Watching his struggles, hard work, and never-ceasing positivity really had me questioning myself. His videos were eye-opening, to say the least, as I realized how much more I am capable of doing, and how all I need to do is just get up and do it. Thank you Robin for motivating me to believe in myself, and for creating such a beneficial tool for us language enthusiasts!
Language Goals:
I am a native speaker of English, so this will be my first and last post in full English because I am here to learn other languages. Specifically, Spanish (Español) and Korean (한극어). I would say I'm an intermediate Spanish learner, and a complete beginner of Korean, but I am looking forward to learning both with equal vigor. Here are some of my long-term goals for each language:
SPANISH:
- Improve native-speaking comprehension abilities.
- Achieve first level of fluency in speaking.
- Become comfortable with all grammatical tenses.
- Write/speak less "bookishly" and more native-like.
- Learn more about the Spanish Culture.
- Differences between Mexican and Spain Spanish.
KOREAN:
- Learn how to form sentences (word order).
- Understand Informal/Formal situations more.
- Learn common idioms/expressions.
- Learn more about the Korean Culture.
- Read characters with more ease.
Although this was not a post directly meant for receiving feedback, I would love to hear if anyone has had similar thoughts, or has similar goals this year, and if I could possibly be doing more. Thank you for reading (I know it was a tad lengthy)!
Hello Maya! I have similar goals for this year regarding Thai. After being in Thailand a few and learning a few words while there, forgetting them after being back in Germany, I decided to put more effort into it a few month ago. I never before studied a language that has a totally different writing system than my own. And just the fact, that I am now be able to read (not automatically understand ;) ) those "signs", who (a year ago) looked liked something I would never be able to decipher, is a huge motivation to continue. I hope to reach an intermediate level by the end of this year, but I don´t want to push myself. Informal/Formal situations are also a big part of the Thai language. Sometimes it feels like you have to learn every word twice :D.
@bastian I couldn't agree more with you about the amazing feeling you get after being able to read characters in a different language! Learning the Korean alphabet (한글) was a huge boost of motivation for me. I also like how you have goals, but you are leaving yourself some wiggle room :) As for the informal/formal situation, Korean works the exact same way, and it's definitely difficult! But we got this :D
Hola Maya, como tú, estoy aprendiendo español. Llevo aprendiendo desde el veinte de Septiembre 2017. Originalmente mi objevtive fue a ser fluido en dos años y aunque he estudiado mas o menos cada dia todavia no puedo hablar español con soltura. Pero en realidad no importa. La cosa mas importante es no rendirse. Como tú, mi objectivo por este año es dominar español pero esto ha sido mi objective por los ultimos dos años jejeje. Buena suerte con tus retos y ¡Feliz año nuevo!
@TinTin Hola Ian! Muchas gracias para compartiendo su historia, y estoy muy feliz que tu decidiste seguir aprendiendo porque puedes solamente lograr sus objetivos cuando tu continuas trabajando (aun si su progreso puede estar lento) Espero que ambos logramos fluencia con hablando español, todo lo mejor para el año nuevo! :D
Hello, Maya. Glad to read that you plan to embrace each day with such positivity. I do hope 2021 will be a year both growth and encouragement for you. Btw, what Korean learning resources have you been using so far?
@KevinO Hello Kevin, thank you for reading my post! I hope 2021 will be a great year for you as well :) As for the Korean resources, I am currently using the TTMIK (Talk To Me In Korean) grammar textbooks because they are very detailed and easy to grasp. I am also using a pre-made deck on Anki to study vocabulary and sentence structure. I hope that helped!
Hello Maya. I love your post and your positivity. The thing that transformed things for me as far as goal setting and more importantly achieving is concerned was bullet journaling. It really helped me to refine my goals and break them into smaller chunks as targets through the year. As a result I have vastly increased my ability to achieve my goals and keep going. Good luck achieving your goals this year. I’m sure you will, with your brilliant attitude.
I found one of the best resources for helping me to get into the right mental space for learning Korean is the Spongemind podcast. Related to that, there is also the Motivate Korean podcast and youtube. I have found these so helpful.
@Lynne Hello Lynne, thank you so much for your kind words! I also love that you started bullet journaling. I completely agree that breaking down goals makes it much easier to work towards them, and it's much less overwhelming. I really enjoy writing as well, and I purchased a few journals, but I find this platform super great for it too. I wish you all the best for 2021 as well :)
@KevinO Thank you so much Kevin, I will definitely check those out.
@Maya I'm also learning Spanish. I'm going to focus on Spanish this year. Next year, I'll start learning German. I have been on and off with Spanish for so long, I feel that I just need to concentrate on it for a bit. My attitude has always been getting discouraged when it gets hard. I worked on meditation and yoga last year, and I feel like I'm in a much more positive head space to learn and push through when it gets tough. I followed you for more of your writing.
@John_Ty Hello there John, so glad that you are also deciding to get back your Spanish! It's great that you're being resilient against the challenges, and I hope we can both accomplish our goals of finally knowing Spanish with confidence :) Thank you for the follow, I'm looking forward to reading your posts as well!