Do you ever wish you could improve your language skills with ease? While I can’t promise zero-effort strategies, what I do know is that we often make things way more complicated than they need to be.
If you do a quick search online, you’ll find tons of language learners sharing their goals for their students. Or even, learners who switched entirely from setting goals to building habits.
And you might be wondering, “okay, so what even is the difference??”
And maybe even, “Should I be doing that too?”
Don’t worry, I’ve got you
In this blog post, I’m sharing the difference between goals and habits for our language studies, and how to strategically use both to make more consistent progress and start USING the languages you’re learning.
Let’s start with diving into goals vs habits.
I talk more about goals in this post here, but goals are essentially your target. They are the milestones that you want to reach, or the signposts along your language learning journey that tell you if you’re going in the right direction.
And many people will tell you to set goals so you can stay motivated and make progress.
S.M.A.R.T. goals, even.
Habits, on the other hand, are the behaviors or actions you want to take regularly. I like to think of these as the pre-work to becoming or reinforcement of the kind of language learner we want to become, or the actual actions that reinforce who we are as learner.
And back in 2021-2022 or so, there was an entire Atomic Habit movement of shifting from setting goals to building habits (if you know, you know).
Personally, I tell all of my students and clients to set both. The way I see it is, goals help keep us on track, and the habits hold us accountable.
And while we don’t have to set goals, habits are absolutely required for improving our language skills and using what we’re learning
Goals To Set Right Now
If you’re struggling to set and actually stick to your goals, here is one that I recommend for all learners, especially if you struggle with making consistent progress in the languages you’re learning:
Goal #1: Expand Your Vocabulary Recall and Recognition Skills
When it comes to using the languages we’re learning, recall and recognition are skills we NEED to strengthen. But what does this even mean?
Language Learning RECALL
Recall is your ability to remember things when you need them.
Think of yourself being in a conversation with a friend. You want to talk about a book you read recently in your target language…
…only you can’t really remember the word for novel or short story.
And you are trying your best to pull these words from your mind to tell your friend, but instead, your mind is completely blank.
This is when recall matters most.
Language Learning RECOGNITION
On the other side, we have recognition.
Recognition is your ability to understand when you see or hear something.
So in this same scenario, imagine your friend then tells you the word for novel or short story, and you have an ‘ah-ha’ moment.
That’s the thing I was thinking of!
Or even:
Wait, I know that word!
This is when recognition comes into play.
So ultimately with this goal, being able to recognize and remember words so you can USE them in your day-to-day life will be one of the best goals you can set for yourself, no matter what skills you are prioritizing.
Habits To Establish Right Now
Now, here’s where I want to show you how goals and habits can lean into each other, support each other, and therefore YOU, on your journey.
Because you might be looking at the goal shared above and be asking yourself, “Okay that’s great, but how will I do that?”
So here’s the habit I recommend you establish:
Habit #1: Study Your Target Language for at Least 10 Minutes Each Weekday
Notice how this focuses on studying every week day and for 10 minutes.
If you see that number and you’re feeling skeptical, hear me out!
One of the things I teach all of my students and clients is to set small goals and build tiny habits.
Why Set A 10 Minute Task?
This is all about the 3 Levels of Expectations I teach, which is always a complete game changer for learners who either struggle to meet their expectations, or often binge study and burnout.
So while 10 minutes might not feel like a lot of time, we want to set a “bare minimum” expectations for our students, which I like to call our level of “Good”.
At this level, even if you are busy or feeling tired, this is a simple task you can guarantee you can get done. AND this is something you know that, once completed, will help you to make even 1% of progress in your target language.
So I recommend creating a toolkit of 10 minute activities you can complete at any given time. These need to be aligned with your current study plan and schedule, and can even be the first part of a larger task. Especially if you’re like me and often struggle to start, but can stick to it once you’re “in the zone”.
Ready to establish these goals and habits into your own language learning journey?
I give even more recommendations, plus 2 more goals and habits I believe all learners should have, all in my free guide: Achieve More With Less.
And when you’re ready to create your plan on HOW you will actually achieve them, you’ll definitely want to sign up for my course, B.E.T.A. Study Blueprint.
Remember, it’s not about doing more, it’s about doing more of what works. And with the right goals and habits in place, you’ll be unstoppable in your language learning journey!
Until next time, happy learning!