Advanced English Conversation: Getting Fired Up About Goals and Resolutions

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(upbeat electronic music)
- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com,
along with? - Kate.
- And we are back with another English conversation.
Today, we're going to talk about goals.
We're going to talk about New Year's resolutions,
and just about what we want to achieve
over the next 12 months.
Now, if you are new here, then know that we make
these conversations so that you can learn real English.
And I'm going to leave some of the key phrases
in the description for you.
And also, go over to my website,
'cause I'll give you information
on the type of language we use and also some information
on how you can get premium resources.
Okay, that was quite the introduction.
- It was, mmhmm.
- Now, there is a little bit of a structure
to this conversation. - Okay.
- And I've written down some questions
that you can ask yourself. - Uh-huh, okay.
- And we're going to answer those questions.
But also, answer the questions in the comments too.
- Oh, yeah, I love going through
and reading people's answers,
mmhmm. - Yeah.
So feel free just to take
any of these questions and do that.
And we also have finish the sentence, a task on this,
where, again, this is a great way to learn natural English,
because you're going to learn the types of phrases
that people use at this time of year.
Oh, one last thing.
If you want to achieve your English learning goals,
then get my book, Five Step Plan for English Fluency.
It's free to download.
Okay, so it's New Year's Eve. - It is!
- And we are recording this before our big
New Year's Eve party. - Mmhmm.
- Small party. - Small party.
- So let's just start with some questions.
- Sure. - Are you ready for this one?
- Yeah.
- What would you try if you knew you could not fail?
- Ooh, that's a great question.
I don't know any of these questions
ahead of time, by the way.
- No. - Since it's a surprise.
- And I haven't really thought about answers.
- I think that, if I knew that I wouldn't fail,
I would probably try something
that seems a little bit risky or dangerous.
Like, I would try hang gliding, for example.
- Mmhmm.
- Because I don't often try something that seems
like it would be risky or dangerous, because in my mind,
I'm thinking about the worst case scenario.
And so, I would try something like an extreme sport maybe.
- An extreme sport? - Mmhmm.
- Yeah, it's a strange question in a way, isn't it?
- Mmhmm.
- Because if you try something that you can't fail,
then it takes away any element of the surprise outcome,
or it takes away the whole fact that we do fail at things.
- Absolutely, mmhmm.
- So it's an interesting question in that sense.
- Yeah, yeah.
I guess to me, anything where.
- Because you could choose anything.
- True.
- You could say to run for president in 2020.
- Mmhmm, yeah.
- You know, you could choose anything in there.
- Absolutely.
- What would you try if you couldn't fail?
Let us know below.
- Did you wanna answer that one too?
- So, again, it just takes away a bit of the fun for me,
'cause I'd say, become a professional soccer manager.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Or apply for the England soccer job, football job.
- Sure. - Because you can't fail.
- There you go.
- Now, what new type of exercise
would you like to try this year?
- Ooh.
- Or activity. - Or activity, okay.
- I know what your answer is.
- You do? - Mmhmm.
Paddle boarding.
- Yes!
Sorry, I didn't even know that that was my answer,
but that's my answer.
I really have wanted to try paddle boarding for a long time.
- You tried it!
- I know, but, you know, in a more,
I tried it briefly for a few minutes.
I'd like to do more of it.
And it's where you stand up kind of on a stable surfboard,
and you use a paddle to move around.
It was really fun.
I really liked the little bit that I tried.
But I would like to do it more and try different conditions.
- Mmhmm. - Mmhmm.
- It's become popular.
- Oh, yeah, it's really popular right now.
- Do you know what mine would be?
- No, tell me. - Rock climbing.
- Rock climbing? - Yeah.
- Wow, okay. - Yeah.
I'd just love to try it.
Maybe we should do these things.
- Yeah. (Kate laughs)
- If we're actually saying we want to do them.
- Yeah, I'd say like, now we're here.
We're talking to each other.
We're telling everybody about it.
We should try it and then report back.
- Yeah, at the end of the year.
- Yeah, or maybe even before then.
- I'm gonna ask one more question,
and I'm gonna give a quote that somebody gave yesterday
that I've been thinking about. - Sure.
- But last question for now is, what musical artist
would you like to see live in concert this year?
- Ooh.
Hmm.
There are so many.
This one's really hard.
- Well, you have to choose one.
- This is gonna be out of left field for you.
- Okay.
- But I think that Lizzo is so popular right now.
- Oh yeah, yeah.
- And I've heard she's really good live,
and that there's a really good atmosphere.
I think I would like to see Lizzo.
- Although she did steal that tune.
- You know.
- I actually looked it up the other day,
and so many people are saying the same thing.
- That it sounds like?
- What's that song called, Lizzo's song?
Is it Bad Boy or something?
- I'm not sure which one you mean.
- Something like that. - Yeah.
- But it sounds exactly like Black Beatles.
(Kate laughs) - Yeah, I don't mind.
I think that she's an interesting performer.
I think that she's been a little bit controversial
this year. - Has she?
She's talking about things that other artists aren't.
- You know she released that song in 2017.
- Wow.
- And it only became really popular this year.
- So she just kept going and working at it,
and she got there. - Yeah, and then,
that old song just suddenly became popular again.
- That's amazing.
- Yeah, for me, I think probably the Arctic Monkeys.
- Mmhmm.
- I've seen them twice. - Mmhmm.
- And I'd love to see them again.
- Yeah. - It's been a long time.
- Yeah, the last time that we saw them
was about 10 years ago, right?
- No. - No?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
(both laughing)
- Nine years ago.
Well, it will be 10 years in February.
- Yeah. - Wow!
- Uh-huh. - That's incredible.
- Are they still touring?
- No, they just did a tour.
- Okay.
- So maybe they'll tour again next year.
I've always had this thing in my mind
where I just think, they're going to do a show
where we live, and we'll suddenly just find out
they're doing it, and we'll get tickets to it.
- I mean, stranger things.
- They've never come here.
- No?
Maybe we should campaign. - Yeah.
I mean, it's a good campaign. - Mmhmm.
- Okay, so, this is a really interesting thing that,
one of my favorite people to follow is called Eddie Hearn.
- Okay.
- Do you know who Eddie Hearn is?
- No, tell me.
- He's a boxing promoter.
(Kate laughs) - Okay, okay.
- And I've followed his career for nine years now,
when he started out being a boxing promoter,
which is a very hard business to be in.
- Sure.
- And he had no fighters in his stable.
And now he's grown into the biggest promoter in the world.
So I've seen his progress over the years.
- Mmhmm.
- And he often talks about goals and motivation
and things like that. - Mmhmm.
- And he said for 2020,
keep it simple and make 2020 better than 2019.
- Okay.
- Like, that's his mantra at the moment,
is to say, instead of saying, I'm gonna this,
I'm gonna do all these amazing things,
I'm gonna completely change my life,
make 2020 better than 2019.
- Okay.
- What are your first thoughts on that?
- I think that, yeah.
I think it sounds kind of inspiring,
because a lot of times, we set goals that are too radical.
- Mmhmm.
- And then we feel, you know, we feel guilty,
or we feel. - Stressed.
- Frustrated when we can't reach those goals.
But if we just try to make, you know,
keep doing what we're doing but do it better,
then that seems much more achievable.
Yeah. - Mmhmm.
- That's exciting. - Yeah.
So my thoughts on that are that,
if you feel like you've got a good foundation now,
that's good. - Mmhmm.
- But I also think that, there's a term here I want to use,
but something like reach for the star goal.
- Yeah.
So, that's an expression, right?
Reach for the stars,
and if you don't make it, at least you'll land on the moon.
- Yeah. (Jack laughs)
- Or something like that.
- Yeah, reach for the stars, you'll land on the moon.
- You'll land on the moon. - Something like that.
- Yeah.
But, I mean, I could also see how you could land on the moon
and then feel, you know, land on the moon,
in this metaphor, and then just feel
still kind of like you haven't achieved anything.
- Yeah. - Mmhmm.
- And we can think about this in terms of learning English.
So for example, a lot of people watching this,
they have a B1 or maybe a B2 level of English.
And their goal might be to say, okay, C1 in three months.
And that's one of those goals which is radical,
where you have to really just change your life
in order to reach it. - Mmhmm.
- Whereas the goal where you make it better
is to say, okay, I'm just gonna stay consistent
throughout the year. - Mmhmm.
- Commit the amount of time that's sustainable to doing it.
And then by the end of the year,
I'll go from B1 to B2. - Mmhmm.
- Which is a great thing to do.
So it's interesting, because you want to have
that motivation to do something extraordinary.
But at the same time, is it always possible?
And it depends on the person,
depends on their life situation.
So, in a way, I want to say, go for it!
Do something extraordinary.
But at the same time, stay consistent and do things.
I'm gonna make a video on this, actually,
talking about the daily commitment to something
for the minimal time, but if you do more, you do more.
- Yeah.
- But the goal is to just do something every day.
- Mmhmm.
Yeah, I find that it's often easier to keep going
or to do a little bit more once you're already there.
Like, for example, going to the gym.
If I go and I tell myself,
oh, I'm just gonna do an easy workout for 15 minutes,
often, when I'm there,
I feel like I can push a little bit harder,
and I end up doing a harder 45-minute workout, for example.
But if I think like, oh, I need to go to the gym,
do a really hard workout for 45 minutes,
it's a lot easier to not do that.
- Yeah, getting started is usually, in a lot of cases,
the hardest part, just to start something.
- Yeah.
- And there's a method called like, the one-page method,
where if you want to commit to reading more,
just, okay, at this time, just read one page.
It's all you have to do.
If you do more, great.
If you don't, don't worry about it.
But often, you'll read one page,
and that commitment isn't so difficult,
but once you do it, you want to read more and more.
- So there's two different things.
There's goals, and then there's habits.
But they're really intertwined.
- Yeah. - Mmhmm, they go together.
- 'Cause you need a goal
in order to create the habit, right?
(Kate laughs) - Right, absolutely.
- Because if you say, just anything, really.
If you wanna get fitter, then that's your goal,
to then create a habit of getting fitter.
(Kate laughs)
- Now we're getting all tangled up.
- Get the book Five Step Plan for English Fluency.
It goes through it step by step.
- Step by step, nice.
- Yeah.
And then also, a good thing
to think about with this is, or two things.
One, people talk about going through periods of sprints,
and then periods of walking.
- Okay.
So a sprint is when you run just as fast as you can.
- Intensive. - Uh-huh.
- So for me, let's just say you're making videos.
It's where I'll spend a month making videos
and really being intensive with it,
and then after that, just relaxing a little bit
and easing off and doing something else.
- Okay.
- And the same with, you can think about exercise,
where you work out intensively for two weeks,
you do something and push yourself,
but then stay consistent when you're not sprinting.
- Okay.
- You know, literally and figuratively sprinting.
- Mmhmm. - Yeah.
And then the other thing I thought about with this
is that there are different areas of your life too,
and you can focus on one intensively
while keeping the others ticking over.
Explain that.
(Kate laughs)
- That's actually not an expression that we use.
- Is it not?
(Kate laughs) - No.
- You know what it means?
- Yeah, I do, from talking to you for, you know,
more than a decade. - What would you say?
- So, to keep something ticking over
is just to keep it going.
- Keep it going.
- Uh-huh. - Yeah.
So, for example, if you wanna focus on your English,
but you still wanna stay fit, and you can't really give
that attention to both in an intensive way,
you can just do 15 minutes of exercise a day while you're.
- Working on your English.
- Yeah. - Okay.
Yeah, but make 2020 better than 2019.
- Yeah, if you're happy.
- Mmhmm, yeah. - With where you are.
But I also just think that radical change
can be incredible, you know?
- Yeah, I agree with both things, mmhmm.
- Good.
Okay.
(upbeat electronic music)
Oh, this is a good one.
You'll love this question.
- Uh-oh.
- How would you like your style to be different this year?
- Ooh.
- It's hard for you to improve your style.
(Kate laughs) - Thank you.
I think that in the next year,
I would like my style to be more eclectic.
- Mmhmm.
- And more unique.
- Eclectic?
- So, if something is eclectic,
it's not the same as everyone else.
It's a little bit more off-beat, a little bit different.
- You wanna be a hipster?
- I mean, I would say more that I would like to feel
like I am comfortable,
but also maybe wearing things
that aren't the same as everyone else.
Maybe shopping more vintage.
Maybe even from my mom's closet.
(Kate laughs) Versus going to the mall
and getting the same things that everyone else has.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Be a little bit more daring.
- But comfortable.
- I'm always comfortable. (Kate laughs)
- It's so important.
- It's so important, mmhmm.
- I can't buy pants that don't have stretch in them anymore.
- I know.
- I don't know how I lived wearing normal jeans.
- I know.
So, women's fashion has had spandex
in the fabric for a long time.
Our pants have been tighter, but more comfortable.
I think that that's just happening for men.
- And for women, over the last five years,
it's just all about leggings. - Yeah.
- Isn't it? - I like leggings, mmhmm.
- That was a good question.
- Yeah, how about you?
- I guess a little bit smarter.
- Mmhmm.
- A little bit more formal,
which I did in the backend of the year.
- Yeah.
- And not to wear my sweatpants every day.
(both laughing)
They're so comfortable.
- I know, I know.
I have a very comfortable pair of sweatpants
that I wear as often as I can, mostly at home.
Mmhmm. (both laughing)
- But I also like going straight from work to the gym
and not having to change.
It's like, I just wanna be able
to wear the same shoes at work and at the gym.
If you could throw a themed party for yourself,
what would the theme be in 2020?
- Ooh.
- The roaring 20s, right?
- Yeah, the roaring 20s, mmhmm.
- For me, it would be a 90s dance party.
- Okay.
- Yeah, like a British 90s party.
- Uh-huh.
- So, I'd be like, throwing some Oasis in through, you know?
- Uh-huh. - So like, dance parties.
- We could make a playlist.
But I think that the roaring 20s
are just so exciting to revisit as a theme
because it was a time that was kind of daring,
when people were doing things
that were a little bit more extravagant.
- Mmhmm.
- Or more decadent. - Decadent?
- Mmhmm.
So, that's like, more luxurious.
- Yeah, like treat yourself.
- Treat yourself, mmhmm. (both laughing)
- She's from Parks and Recreation.
I think that's a great show
for people learning English, right?
- Yeah, I think it would be a really good show.
I wonder if the sense of humor would translate.
- That's, well, that's always an issue, isn't it?
- Yeah.
- And I do find though
that it does more than I thought it would.
That's a great little structure.
It does more than I thought it would.
- Mmhmm.
- Where a lot of people, when I ask them,
what shows do you like, comedies.
- Yeah, that's true,
and the better that you get at a language,
the easier it is to understand the humor too.
- And you understand the characters.
That's the great thing about TV shows with lots of seasons.
You understand the characters
and what that joke comes from, what place it comes from.
- True.
- What time-waster are you willing to let go of?
- Ooh.
- To let go of something
means to stop doing it, I guess, in this case.
Facebook.
- I'm not sure, yeah, Facebook.
And Instagram.
Not Zillow.
(Jack laughs) - Zillow is a property app.
- Yeah, it's like where people buy and sell houses.
You can see the real estate listings, and for some reason,
I have always liked to look at houses for sale.
But, I do spend too much time on my phone,
and there's actually a book that I'm interested in reading
that a few people have recommended to me
called How to Break Up with Your Phone,
like you're ending a relationship with your phone,
and I haven't read it yet,
but I'm interested in doing that a little bit more.
This is going to be strange, but I miss being bored.
- Mmhmm.
- Because since we have smartphones, I'm never bored.
At any moment that I'm not doing something,
I can entertain myself. - Yeah.
- And I think that sometimes,
the greatest things that we do come out of boredom.
Like, in order to be really creative
or to start something new,
first you have to have that state
of just not really knowing what to do.
- Yeah.
I like that. - Yeah.
So I feel like my phone is kind of a time filler,
but if I didn't have it,
I would be doing more exciting things.
- Yeah, I think that's a good one to have.
Yeah, we recently went on a vacation
where there was no wifi, and it was nice, wasn't it?
- It's like a luxury, yeah.
- Although we got very excited once we got connected again.
- Yes. - Yeah.
- Another thing, which I don't know if I'm ready for,
I don't even wanna tell you this.
Maybe less chocolate?
- Yeah, is that a time waster?
I guess, well, something to give up.
- It's something to give up, mmhmm.
- Yeah, to give up, stop doing.
Yeah, chocolate. - To quit.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- I like that.
- Save it for really special occasions.
- That'd be nice.
- I kind of eat a little bit of chocolate every day.
- Yeah, yeah, I like that.
For me, I think it is,
a time waster for me is not necessarily the phone,
but it's the checking on the phone, if that makes sense.
So it's to go and see if I've got any new emails,
to see the price of the stock market,
or just to update stuff, updating, swiping down.
- Mmhmm.
- To update things, to see if something new has happened.
- Yeah.
- So when we were without connection for two or three days,
I was thinking, oh my goodness, I bet so much has happened.
Nothing had changed. - Yeah.
- Right?
My fantasy football scores
were exactly what I calculated in my head.
- Uh-huh.
- Twitter was just the same.
There were a few posts on Instagram, but still, it's like,
if I miss them, it's not the end of the world.
- Yeah you can catch up later.
- And my email, I only had about 20 emails,
'cause it was over Christmas.
- Yeah.
- So it was fine.
- How many emails do you get a day?
- About 50. - That aren't spam?
- No.
- Like, people are emailing you?
- These people. - Yeah.
(both laughing)
- Not just random people.
(both laughing) Yeah.
So, I read every one. - Yeah.
- I respond to most of them. - Cool.
- But on my other channel,
I made a video on how to respond to emails quickly,
and I'll link to that, actually.
It's really useful.
It's like, keyboard shortcuts,
being able to give the same response
to common questions you have using text expander.
- Okay.
- Where I just put ;levelty,
and it expands the text into a response that I often give.
And then, yeah, just the keyboard shortcuts,
to go like, archive and open next email with one button.
- Wow.
- Reply, R, and then Control + Enter, send.
- Neat! - So I can batch emails.
- You're a machine. - I'm a ninja.
(Kate laughs)
I'm a ninja.
- Yes, you are.
(upbeat electronic music)
- Now, let's do a few favorite things.
- Okay.
- We'll do this quickly, quick fire round.
Favorite TV show of the year, 2019?
- Ooh, a show on Netflix called Schitts Creek.
- That was good. - It was good.
It's funny. - Yeah.
Yeah. - Mmhmm.
- I didn't really watch anything, TV shows.
- What about, was Game of Thrones?
- Yeah, but it was the last season.
- Yeah, you had mixed feelings.
But that was probably the one that you watched.
- That was the one I was most into, interested in.
Best accomplishment in 2019?
- Hmm.
- Should I go first?
- Mmhmm.
- 250,000 subscribers on this channel.
- Woot, woot, yeah.
- A quarter of a million.
- A quarter of a million?
That sounds.
- It sounds better, doesn't it?
- That does sound better, yeah.
- A quarter of a million subscribers.
Thank you for subscribing.
- Uh-huh. - And for you?
- So, I think that probably, my biggest accomplishment was
I worked on kind of starting a real estate business.
- Yeah.
- To remodel houses, so that took,
you know, I have a lot to learn, but I also feel
like just starting something was the right step.
- Yeah, something you love.
- Something I loved.
I loved it.
Mmhmm.
- Movie of the year? - Oh, gosh.
- Frozen II? - Frozen II.
(both laughing)
- It's the only one we've watched.
- Yeah, we're laughing and we're joking about it, but.
- Oh, what about the Secret Life of Pets 2?
- That was also good, mmhmm.
- These children movies. - Yeah.
- Now, what's the song that people sing on New Year's Eve?
- Auld Lang Syne?
- Yeah, it wasn't a trick question.
- Okay, I didn't know.
- Do you remember what that means, auld lang syne?
- Oh, I forgot.
- Times gone by.
- Oh, man, yeah. - Scottish song, Burns.
- I feel like, I'm feeling very nostalgic right now.
Like, I'm thinking a lot about the past.
It's kind of making me feel like sad,
a little bit wistful, like, wishing for the past.
- Yeah, sentimental. - Sentimental, mmhmm.
I wonder if it's also because we're not just ending a year,
but we're ending a decade.
- Yeah. - You know?
We'll look back, and we'll be like, these were the,
I don't know what we'll call them,
the 20-teens or something.
- Yeah.
- It was an important decade in our lives.
A lot changed and happened. - Oh, yeah.
And we'll probably release this video next decade, right?
- Yeah.
- Do you remember my joke from before?
- Oh my gosh, go ahead.
- So, I said, I'd like to predict what's gonna happen
next year, but I don't have 20/20 vision.
Now, jokes aren't really funny if you have to explain them,
but 20/20 vision, next year's 2020,
and 20/20 vision means perfect eyesight.
And it's true in my case, or in our cases.
- Yeah, we don't have perfect vision
or the ability to predict what will happen.
- Although, why don't we try?
What's gonna happen next year, just generally?
- Oh my gosh. - Give me a prediction.
- Okay, all right.
- We won't get too political.
- Yeah, no, I think more pop culture predictions.
- Yeah, or like, the zeitgeist, like, what the feel is.
- What the feeling of the times is.
Oh, this is so hard.
I think that honestly, our whole kind of working world
will keep shifting onto online platforms.
- Mmhmm.
- I think that already,
people are learning and teaching online.
I think that other businesses will find ways to move online.
I mean, they already have.
I think that the process will just keep going
in ways that might surprise us.
- Yeah.
It both creeps, but then also, over a year,
you notice things are radically different.
- Mmhmm. - Yeah.
Some people have talked about,
I was reading somebody's post about business stuff,
and he was saying that voice and things like Alexa,
they're just going to explode to another level next year,
where most people are using those devices.
And just from a business online point of view,
people are searching more through their voice.
- Oh, wow, interesting. - And asking questions.
- Yeah, that's really neat.
And I think artificial intelligence in general
will come into play, things like self-driving cars.
- We made a video on that.
- Yes.
- They're gonna explode. - They're gonna explode.
That's just our prediction, but the technology is there,
and it keeps getting better.
Right now, our house is probably being vacuumed by a robot.
- Oh, it's the best thing I've ever bought.
- So good, yeah,
it's so good. (Kate laughs)
- A robot vacuum.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
I really want new products like that to come out,
like a laundry machine
that washes, dries, and folds for you.
- Yeah, oh, that's the easy part.
It's the putting away
that is hard. (Kate laughs)
(Jack sigh) - Yeah, yeah.
- At least for us. - Mmhmm.
- And, yeah, it's interesting.
I would say that you are more of an early adapter than I am.
- Yeah, I'd say so.
- Like, you know more about new technology.
You're more excited to invest in it,
bring it into our lives, use it.
I'm a little bit more conservative about that kind of stuff.
- Yeah.
- I like things to kind of be simple.
If there's a hard way to do something,
I usually wanna do it the long, hard way.
(Kate laughs)
You're like, oh, there's this technology
that will save you all this time and effort.
I'm like, I kind of wanna use the time and effort.
- Yeah, there's a good word that I just can't think of,
but you're skeptical. - Yeah.
- When I got the robot vacuum,
(Jack sighs) you know, skeptical.
But now, it's the best thing.
It's the best thing ever.
It was $100 on offer.
It's changed our lives.
- It cleans our house every day, mmhmm.
We also have animals and children.
- Yeah, yeah, it just gets up all the dog hair.
- Although. - Go on.
- It did.
(Jack groans) - Oh, right.
(Kate laughs)
Our dog didn't get outside enough one morning,
and it pooped on the floor.
- Yeah.
- And then our robot vacuum went off automatically.
It was an absolute disaster.
- Just like, poop everywhere.
- Luckily, luckily, it got jammed in that vicinity,
so it didn't actually go all over the house.
- Yeah.
- So it was confined to one little area.
But, well, cleaning the floor was one thing.
(Kate laughs)
I think it took me 45 minutes to clean that vacuum.
- Thank you for doing that. (Kate laughs)
- Yeah.
Well, I thought I'd got away of it,
'cause you cleaned the floor,
and I thought, oh, good, I don't have to clean up the poop.
And it was one of those nights where we were so busy
and I had so much to do,
and it was nine o'clock, and I noticed it.
(Kate laughs)
I had to take all the wheels apart and unscrew things.
- I know. - It was horrible.
- Mmhmm, it was really bad.
But worth it.
- I've taken off automatic go now.
- Okay, so now we can kind of survey the floor,
make sure it's good. - Have a look, yeah.
- Sorry, I know that's not funny,
but it was a little funny. - It was a little funny.
I might post a picture of it on Instagram.
- Whoo! - If people wanna see it.
- Yeah, I don't know if anyone would wanna see that.
(Kate laughs)
- If you would like to see that,
let me know in the comments.
(Kate laughs)
So yeah, it's great,
but make sure that your floor is not too dirty.
- But it also creates unanticipated challenges.
- Yeah. - Mmhmm.
- How long have we been going for?
- I don't know. - Can't tell.
- Well, should we just do a couple more quick fire?
- Sure, mmhmm.
- I want to gain, complete the sentence.
- Weight.
- I want to lose.
(both laughing)
- Okay, no, I wanna gain more,
oh my gosh.
It's awkward to use. - It's a weird verb, isn't it?
- Yeah.
- That's why I introduced it, in a way,
because you would say gain weight.
That's what you said there.
- But you would say earn money.
- Earn money, make friends.
- You would say make friends.
- These are collocations.
- Yeah.
So, words I'd use with gain.
You can gain experience.
- Yeah! - I wanna gain experience in.
- Real estate?
- Yeah, real estate, writing, photography, mmhmm.
- I want to repeat.
- Ooh.
- That's a tough one again, isn't it?
- Yeah, that's a tough one too.
Second grade?
(both laughing)
'Cause it's another one.
- Yeah, I'm working in a second grade classroom right now.
I wanna repeat, you can't really repeat vacations.
- No, this is a gray thing.
'Cause you say I want to go on vacation again.
We want to go to Spain again. - Again.
I want to repeat.
- You don't have to answer. - Okay, sorry.
- I want to, no, I need more.
- Sleep.
(Jack laughs)
- We made a conversation lesson on sleep.
- It's gotten a lot better since then.
We're getting much, much better sleep.
But I feel like I could always use an extra hour.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- I need more help. - Mmhmm.
- Around with cleaning, with my business.
- Mmhmm.
- And we'll talk a little bit about plans in a second.
- I was about to say I need more chocolate, but that.
- No, that's I want to lose.
- You can't lose chocolate. (Kate laughs)
- I need to say that.
- Oh, I need to say that.
- These are strange, aren't they?
- That my friends are really important to me,
and I need to say that the people that I care about
are important to me and I love them more.
- Good. - Mmhmm.
- Now, 2020, what's your overall theme for the year?
And if you want me to go first.
- Yeah, go first, 'cause you've had a.
- 'Cause I've thought about this.
- You've thought about it, mmhmm.
- So, my theme for next year is to delegate more.
- Mmhmm.
- Now, this year, the second part,
I've hired a couple of people to help with To Fluency.
So, I have a video editor and two writers,
two content writers. - Neat.
- Yeah, or just like admin stuff.
- Yeah.
- But I want someone to help me with emails next year,
and then I want to delegate
more stuff around the house to people, if we can.
- Mmhmm, yeah. - Yeah.
And then also, just to get ahead.
It's always been my goal,
and I got ahead for a while, and I'm still ahead.
But it just means to make videos in advance,
to create lessons in advance.
- Yeah.
- So, going back to that theme of sprinting,
doing something intensive for a while
and then, you know, letting go of it.
- Nice.
- Yeah.
And what about you?
- So, mine is a little bit more abstract.
I think that my, how did we phrase it, the theme?
My theme for the year is gonna be wonder.
I would like to just have a lot of curiosity about things.
I think that I'm interested in a lot of things,
but I don't pursue them, and I want to be curious
and find out more, ask more questions,
and hopefully just really like, immerse myself,
really get into things that I think
are just interesting and fascinating, you know?
- I love that. - Just to be open to things.
- That is my theme as well.
- Mmhmm.
- And delegating is gonna help do that.
(Kate laughs) - Yeah.
The practical things are gonna help you pursue that, yeah.
- Yeah, 'cause just before Christmas,
I was looking at the world map, and I just tested myself.
We were doing it together, weren't we?
- Yeah, yeah, we were quizzing each other.
It was kind of dorky.
- Yeah, like, to name all the states in the USA,
or to name, in your case, counties in the UK.
- Oh, yeah, I don't know them very well.
They're hard. - They're really hard.
- They all end in -ich, like Norwich.
- That's a city. - Yeah.
- But what do they all end in?
- Shire.
- Shire, they were all -shires.
Lancashire, Cheshire, Berkshire.
- Made a lesson on how to pronounce those.
- The shires?
- Yeah, "shire."
(both laughing)
But I found myself like, just going through the process
of learning where every country is in the world.
And I can do it.
I can name every country in the world.
- Cool.
- On a map, and then every state in the US.
And this is the kind of stuff I used to do, I used to love.
I could remember a pack of cards shuffled.
I trained myself to do it.
And I love doing stuff like that.
So it's about creating the space and time
in order to do that guilt-free.
- Mmhmm.
- Because we can constantly be doing stuff.
- Yeah.
- For family, house, and work.
- Uh-huh.
- But to try and find that space
just to do stuff you wanna do.
Like just go take a hike.
- Yeah.
- That sounds. - No, I know.
(both laughing)
- Like, take a hike. - Take a hike is an expression
that means get out of here. - Get outta here.
Take a hike. - Take a hike.
(both laughing) - Not that way.
But yeah, take a hike, go explore nature.
I would like to take a class or two,
because it's such a wonderful thing to go into a class
or an experience or even an online course,
and you can just see how much you can learn and get exposed
to new things that you wouldn't have thought of.
Somebody has created this experience and this knowledge
that you can just consume.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
I wanna take like, a cooking class.
I wanna take writing classes, photography classes.
- That would be cool. - Yeah.
- So there we go.
Let's see how well we do by the end of the year.
- Mmhmm.
- Yeah, we'll end it there.
So, again, if you've enjoyed this,
then please like and share it.
Kate's question. - Ooh.
I mean, the obvious one.
- Yeah? - Yeah!
What are your New Year's goals or resolutions?
- Yeah, what are your,
and if you're watching this in July,
what are your goals right now?
- Yeah. - What are you working on?
What kind of things do you like to do?
- Yeah.
- And then yeah, head over to the website, tofluency.com.
I'll leave a link in the description,
and go check out the notes on this lesson,
and also, how to get premium resources.
All right, thank you for watching.
- Happy New Year. - Happy New Year.
Bye-bye for now.
- Or anytime. - Just happy, happen anytime.
- Happy anytime. - Bye-bye.
(upbeat electronic music)