The English Success Formula: 25 Proven Ways to Stay Consistent

There are 25 proven ways to stay consistent and you as an English learner, no longer have to start and stop, start and stop anymore. Using these 25 ways, you'll be able to be more consistent. And these 25 ways have been broken down into three specific categories. Category number one, daily study habits, category number two, progress tracking and category number three, staying motivated. In today's lesson, I'm going to teach you each of the categories and give you ways that match them. Are you ready? Well, then I'm teacher Tiffany. Let's jump right in category number one, daily study habits. Now in this category, we have eight specific methods that will help you continue on your journey and be consistent with your English studies. Number one, start small. Begin with manageable English practice sessions that you can maintain daily. Something that you can do on a regular basis, like a 10 to 15 minute lesson. So what does this actually look like? For example, instead of attempting to memorize 50 new vocabulary words at once. Commit to learning five new words each day and reviewing them consistently. Remember this first category is all about daily study habits. So my friend start small. Number two, it's important for you to set up your environment, create a dedicated space that supports focused English learning. This is so important. You want to make sure you have an environment that is conducive to learning English. For example, designate a corner of your room as your English zone with relevant resources, good lighting and minimal distractions. This is key minimal distractions. Turn your phone off, train your brain to associate this space with language learning. I'll tell you something. This really works for everyone in every situation. Even me as your teacher, whenever I'm preparing a lesson, even this lesson I'm preparing for you. I normally go to a Starbucks coffee shop, a specific Starbucks coffee shop. It's about 20 minutes away from my office. Why? Because as soon as I step into that environment, my brain knows, Oh, it is time to organize English lessons for English learners. So it's very important again, number two, to set up your environment. Number three, set specific times, schedule your learning activities at the same time each day. This is quite amazing. You will see how your brain will switch. Once a certain time of day, you're like, Oh, wait a minute. It's it's 10 o'clock. It's my English studying time. So how can you do this? For example, dedicate, let's say seven to 7 30 PM every weekday. For example, to practicing English conversation patterns, creating a predictable pattern will help your brain begin to anticipate learning. Ah, okay. 7 PM my brain knows, Hey, it is English time. So again, the third tip is to set a specific time method. Number four in this category, create a morning routine. Use the first hours of your day to establish English learning momentum. Creating a morning routine is so important. I'm an early bird. I wake up early in the morning. So I have a certain routine that I follow, but even if you're not a morning, I'm leaving this in here. Even if you're not a morning person, you still have a routine that you follow. Now we're incorporating English. For example, listen to a 10 minute English podcast while having breakfast each morning, training your brain to process English before other daily activities. It can be this simple. Remember we're speaking about proven ways to help you be consistent as you're on your English journey. Number five for this category is time block your schedule. Allocate specific time slots for different English learning activities. Now I love to time block as I'm teaching you right now, I'm recording this video. I have right in front of me, the wall of my office with all of my schedules, and I literally have time blocks for certain activities, record this video from this time to this time, teach this class from this time to this time, time blocking is very popular, very powerful as well. Here's an example for you. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for speaking practice, Tuesday and Thursday for reading comprehension and weekends for casual English media consumption. There's something that happens when you tell your brain on this day, at this time, we're going to do this. Your brain is amazing. You are awesome. Use this method to stay consistent. Once again, helping you improve your English method. Number six in this category, prepare the night before remove potential obstacles by planning your English study session ahead. This is also another powerful method. Before you go to bed at night, write down, Hey, what am I going to do tomorrow? I'll show you right here, actually. So this right here, let me see if you can see it. Uh, this is a note, right? A post-it note. If you're watching this video and on this post-it note, I wrote the videos I needed to record for today. Right. And I have them in these boxes. Like, well, check off once I finished them. Why I wanted my brain to be in the recording mode. Hey, these are the videos I need to record and I can check them off as I record them. I did this the night before. So how can you put this into practice? Before bed select tomorrow's English article to read. Prepare vocabulary flashcards and set out your materials. So everything is ready. When you sit down to study, there's something that happens when you prepare. Method number seven, create systems, develop processes that make consistent English practice easier. Remember we're speaking about helping you finally be more consistent. So once again, create systems, I'll say it again, create systems. Why am I emphasizing this? Because I'm your teacher. The reason I'm able to teach you so many lessons here on YouTube, have a podcast and do many other things is because I use systems. So I know the power of systems. So for you as an English learner, create a personal English immersion system where you change your phone language to English, use language learning apps during commutes, when you're going to and from work and listen to English media during exercise. You need to create an English learning system. If your goal is to be consistent, to stop starting, stopping, starting, stopping your English journey, you have to follow this system. All right, here we go. Number eight for this category is create a backup plan. Having alternative English learning activities ready when your usual routine isn't possible. I like this one, creating a backup plan because I just said a few moments ago, Hey, follow a system. This was the one that I said I use all the time, but sometimes life happens. Maybe you lose your job. Maybe you get in an argument with your spouse. Maybe you have a game to go to for your child. Maybe insert some life event that throws your routine off in an event of a schedule change. You have to have a backup plan. For example, when you can't attend your conversation group, have a backup plan to watch an English YouTube video on the same topic and practice speaking responses aloud. You can do it, my friend, you are in control of your English journey. Have a backup plan. So again, first category, what was it? Yes. You remember. Excellent. Our first category was daily study habits. Now it's time for us to move on to our second category. Our second category is progress tracking progress tracking. So we have our daily study habits. Now it's time for us to understand how to track your progress over time. Here's the first method for this category. Use habit stacking. You need to attach English learning habits to existing daily routines. What does this look like? For example, after brushing your teeth each morning and existing habit, you have right, you brush your teeth, right? Practice speaking English aloud in the mirror for two minutes, creating a natural trigger for language practice. You'll be amazed by how effective this is. You're brushing your teeth. And as soon as you put your toothbrush down, set a two minute timer and start speaking, looking at yourself in the mirror, speaking English for two minutes. Now, every time you go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, your brain is going to say, Hey, we have a trigger. You're brushing your teeth, which means you need to speak for two minutes. All right. This is the first method. First method, tongue twister method. Number two for this category set reminders. Use phone alerts or calendar notifications for English practice sessions. This is very powerful. So how do you actually do this? For example, you can set a daily notification that reminds you, Hey, it's time to practice your English fluency drills at a designated study time. We all have phones. We all have some method of contacting other people use it, set a daily timer to practice your English method. Number three for this category, use visual reminders, place sticky notes with English phrases or fluency tips where you'll see them regularly. This is a powerful tip. I showed you a few moments ago that I have right in front of me, a sticky note. I use sticky notes as well as I'm going throughout my day. So use the sticky notes. So what is an example of using this method for you? Here we go. Put sticky notes with natural English expressions on household items, your bathroom mirror or computer screen or other item that you use on a regular basis. Why? Because it will reinforce learning throughout the day. Remember we're speaking about helping you improve your English fluency and consistency. Category number two, progress tracking. You saw me put three right there. Category number two, progress tracking. Here's the next method. Method number four for this category is track your progress. Keep a daily log of your English learning activities and achievements. Keep a daily log. Now I've mentioned this before, right behind me. If you're watching the YouTube video, you'll see that I have tons of notebooks and this is not even a fraction, not even half of the number of notebooks I have. Why? I usually track everything that I'm doing as well. So just like your teacher, I want you to track your progress. So how can you do this? For example, maintain a language journal where you record new vocabulary, fluency tips you've mastered like the ones in this video and other videos and speaking practice time, seeing your progress over weeks will build motivation. Wow. Two weeks ago, I studied for five minutes every single day, single day. Then a week ago, I did 10 minutes every single day. This week I can do 15 minutes a day. Tracking your progress is powerful. Method number five for this category. Implement the two day rule. Never skip your English practice two days in a row. Remember we're speaking about category number two progress tracking, and now we're looking at how you can implement the two day rule. So for example, if you miss your regular vocabulary review on Tuesday, for example, make it an absolute priority on Wednesday, even if it's just for five minutes, set a timer to maintain the learning momentum, make a promise to yourself and keep the promise we're talking about remaining consistent here's method number six in our second category, measure progress weekly, review your English learning consistency and adjust as needed. My friend don't always depend on a teacher to be right next to you. You have more control, more power over your English journey. Then you realize you can track your progress. So how can you do this? Every Sunday evening, review your week's learning activities, test yourself on new material and identify areas for improvement in the coming week. You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll improve as you start tracking your progress, seeing what you did throughout the week, seeing what you need to improve upon and recognizing what you need to study the following week. Method number seven for this category, find an accountability partner, share your English learning goals with someone who will check in on you. It's so important to have someone else who cares about you. Someone else who's also trying to improve their English. Now you can find that online. Maybe you have a friend next to you. I have students that are in my family, my academy, and they have other partners. So you want to join our family, please do go to speakenglishwithtiffani.com forward slash S E L N and you can join our family. But again, you want to find an accountability partner. How can you do this? Partner with another English learner for weekly video calls, where you both share what you've learned, practice conversation and set goals for the following week, this will help you remain consistent method. Number eight for category. Join a community, connect with others, working toward similar English proficiency goals. Now, before I give you an exact example of how to do this, I want to explain the power of being a part of a community. It can be a community as small as three people. That's totally okay. Find people who are also learning English and stick together. These individuals that are studying English, can it help you improve, can encourage you, can motivate you, and you can do the same for them. It can be an online community. It can be an in-person community, just find a community. It really makes a difference. So how can you do this? Participate, participate, participate in an online English learning forum or local language exchange group where you can practice regularly and stay motivated through shared challenges. It's so powerful to be a part of a community. So category number two, progress tracking, tracking alone, and also tracking with a partner. Category number three, staying motivated. This is the third category. And also in my opinion, the most important category, because as an English learner, you have ups and downs. And it's when you're in the down points that sometimes you stop, but if you're motivated, you'll continue going. So here's method number one for this category, document or write down your, why keep your motivation for learning English visible and revisit it regularly. Why are you studying English? You are intelligent. You're amazing. You already speak another language, the language of your mother country, your mother tongue. You know it perfectly. Why are you learning English? Keep that reason in front of you. How can you do this? Write down specific reasons you want to learn English. Why do you want to learn English? Is it for a job opportunity, travel plans, connecting with people, write them down and post them near your study area to review when your motivation wanes, when it starts to dissipate, when it starts to decrease, read those notes. Method number two for staying motivated, focus on identity. Think of yourself as someone who naturally engages with English on a regular basis. Again, how can you do this? Instead of saying, I'm trying to learn English, adopt the mindset of, I am an English speaker. Again, I am an English speaker who is improving every day. This subtle shift, this subtle change builds consistency. My goal is to help you speak English fluently, but my goal is also to help you be confident. This subtle shift, I am an English speaker who is improving every day. It's going to help you be more consistent. Method number three for this category. Make it enjoyable. Find ways to make the English learning process more pleasant and engaging. As you can tell, I absolutely love what I do. I love helping you speak English. I love recording these lessons. I love it. I am passionate about what I do. You need to enjoy studying English. How can you do this? Here's an example. Learn English through your favorite hobbies, follow English cooking tutorials, if you love cooking or read sports news in English. If you're a sports fan, find something in English that matches your interests. When I was learning Korean, I watched Korean programs about cooking. I enjoy cooking. I love food. So I watched Korean cooking programs do the same. So you can enjoy the process as you're learning English method. Number four, remove distractions. You need to identify and eliminate things that derail your English study consistency. You have to remove them. How can you do this during your 30 minute English reading practice? Put your phone in another room. I'm not going to throw my phone. If you're watching, I was going to toss it. And I was like, nope. I need this. So I act like, wow, imagine it flew off. Okay. Put your phone in another room and use browser extensions, like internet browser extensions that block social media so that you can maintain focus, no more notifications, no calls, just focus for that 30 minute period or 15 minute period. You can do this method. Number five, set boundaries. Learn to say no to activities that conflict with your scheduled English learning time. You have to set boundaries. If your plan is to study every day at 6. And someone says, Hey, you want to go to this game? If you're going to go, then you need to move your English time to five 30. Set boundaries. How can you do this? For example, when friends invite you to activities during your designated study time, politely explain that you have a commitment, your English practice and suggest an alternative time. It's not that you don't want to go, but it's very easy to say, Hey, can we move this back about 30 minutes? I want to be there, but I have something that I have to do. That's normal. You need to set boundaries. You can do it. Method number six, reward small wins. Celebrate maintaining English learning streaks and reaching milestones. You did it. If you've been tracking, you have your notebook, your journal, and you're looking at it, you're tracking. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I was consistent celebrated. Maybe you can get some ice cream, baby, or maybe you want to get something else, but reward the small wins. Here's an example. After completing 10 consecutive days of English practice, treat yourself to an English movie. You've been wanting to watch or a special meal. You can reward yourself method. Number seven in this category, practice self compassion. Don't let occasional missed English practice sessions derail your entire learning journey. This is something practicing self-compassion that I really try to emphasize when I'm speaking to my students. Let me say this again. You are intelligent. You are amazing. You can do anything you put your mind to. So you need to stop putting yourself down. Stop saying I'm not smart enough. Stop, stop saying I'm not good enough. Stop saying anything negative about yourself. You need to practice self compassion. How can you do this? If you skip a day because you're exhausted after working or taking care of the kids, acknowledge that rest is important rather than abandoning your studies altogether out of guilt, simply resume your routine the next day. Don't beat yourself up. Yeah, I'm tired. Don't abandon your studies completely. Just start back the next day. Method number eight for this category. Review and adjust. Regularly evaluate what's working in your English learning approach and what isn't. It's basically editing yourself. And this is so important. What's working and what's not working. How can you do this? After a month of study, notice that your evening vocabulary sessions are less effective than your morning sessions. So adjust your schedule to practice vocabulary before work instead of after work, simple adjustment, but you have to look at what you're doing and make the adjustment. Method number nine for this category. Stay patient. Remember that English learning consistency compounds over time. Compounds over time. That means what you're doing right now. If you're consistent, it'll compound over time, over time, getting better and better. How can you do this? When frustrated by slow progress with English pronunciation or natural flow, remind yourself that every native speaker developed fluency gradually. Consistent small efforts will eventually lead to natural speech. I also learned gradually. I didn't pop out the womb saying, Hey, the five W's who, what, when, where, and why? No, my English also developed gradually. Be patient with yourself and realize that you are doing well. I believe in you. I hope you enjoyed this lesson. And if you want to continue studying with me and you want to follow a plan that will help you be consistent, you can go to speakenglishwithtiffany.com forward slash three, six, five plan. Again, speakenglishwithtiffany.com forward slash three, six, five plan. This plan will give you a daily lesson for the entire year. You heard me every day of the year, 365 lessons to help you stay consistent and not have to worry about what you need to study, speakenglishwithtiffany.com forward slash three, six, five plan. And the link is in the description. I'll talk to you next time. Hi, you still there, you know what time it is. It's story time. I said, it's story time. All right. This story, you know, we just ended our lesson today about motivation at the end. Right. Talking about staying motivated for category three. And I just wanted to quickly remind you that I know as your teacher, what it feels like to lose motivation, what it feels like to struggle, to stay consistent. Let me tell you, and I've mentioned this before. I can speak Korean. I got my master's degree in South Korea. Now Korean was very hard, very hard to learn. And I had to study for a long time now to get my master's degree. I had to take an exam and that exam, the hardest exam I have ever taken in my life. Now I have always been an individual who loves learning. I was good in school, always got straight A's. I was always a good student, but this test. It was not easy. So I failed the first time I failed. When I failed the first time I was okay. Because there were other students who failed and told me, Tiff, it's not about being an American. The test is just hard because I was thinking, Oh, I'm an American. That's why I couldn't pass it because the Korean, they were like, no, Tiff, the test is just very hard. And teachers also told me, no, the test is very difficult. I said, okay. I didn't want to fail, but it was a bit more comforting that, okay. The test itself was just very, very difficult. I said, all right. Now there was a six month period in between taking the tests. So I had to spend six months preparing for the next test. I said, okay. So I spent six months while I was teaching, studying. I said, Hey, we're gonna knock this baby out the park. The second time, second time rolled around. I failed. Now this time I'm not going to lie to you. I'm a very optimistic person. I'm always smiling. I'm always happy. But after this test, it, it really broke me. It really broke me. And it was hard to smile. I had studied so hard. I didn't understand why I wasn't able to pass. I mean, it was a difficult situation. I'm telling you about this because I want you to understand that I know what you go through. Those moments when English is challenging, those moments when you want to give up those moments when motivation is not there. I understand I've been there. So I had to make a decision. Was I going to study another six months or was I going to quit? Prayed about it. Talk to family, friends. And I decided, Hey, I'm going to push through and I'm going to study another six months for this one test. I actually left Korea for six months. Went back, came back home to America, live with my parents. And I studied morning and night for six months. Was it hard? Yes. It's hard to stay consistent when you have a track record of failure. Listen to me, I had failed twice already. So I was studying hard, but in my mind, if you fail the first time, you failed the second time. Are you going to really pass it this time? Is this six months of effort really going to be worth it? These were the thoughts going through my mind as I was trying to study every day. Sometimes being consistent is not easy, but you have to stay motivated. You have to push through. What was my motivation? God's going to help me. I'm going to get my diploma. God's going to help me. I'm going to get my diploma. And later on in life, when I have kids, I'll be able to inspire them. Don't give up when things get difficult. So when I say I understand the challenge of being consistent, the challenge of staying motivated, I'm not lying, studied for another six months, took the exam the third time. Did I pass? Praise God I passed. I did pass the third time, but I will never forget how I had to push myself, how I had to lean on God, how I had to stay motivated and consistent. When I had a track record of failure, I hope this lesson today and this story helped you. I hope you continue moving forward, staying motivated, staying consistent. Even if you have a track record of failure, look forward to your success. I'll talk to you. In the next lesson.