5 Ways To Keep Practising English (Even When You’re Busy)

Now today I'm here because I want to take some of that pressure off because the truth is you don't need hours and hours of study every day to keep improving your English. Small realistic habits practiced consistently lead to real progress. So today I'm going to share five ways to keep your English moving forward even during those busiest of weeks. Are you ready? Let's get into it. Now the first thing is to think small, not to think big, think small. Because when we imagine... A lot of us still picture that classroom version of learning English, right? A grammar book, a notebook spread out on the kitchen table for two hours trying to finish all those exercises. So when you can't find those two hours, the only option seems to be... I can't get it done. But progress in English doesn't need a big chunk of time. 10 minutes or 15 minutes is enough, especially if it means you actually get it done. You can watch one short English lesson just like this one. You could shadow a two-minute clip or you could read a short article and pick out two or three new expressions and look them up. A quick session that you actually finish is so much better than that big, impressive plan that you keep postponing until next week. And that brings me to the days where even 10 minutes feels like it's too much. Those low energy days. Low energy days still count. You know, I'm always telling you to speak, speak, speak. Speaking really is the fastest way to build fluency. But let's be honest, some days the thought of joining a conversation is just too hard. You're exhausted and the last thing that you feel like doing is sitting down in front of people. Concentrating on the words and the grammar that you need and potentially risk making some mistakes and feeling embarrassed about it. And you know what? That's okay. We are not meant to always be on, always be at 100%. We're human. So on those days, you're not failing. You're not letting yourself down, not at all. You just need to switch. From something that is high-intensity to something that you can manage. Switch from speaking to listening. So put on an English podcast while you're making dinner. Play a YouTube video while you're folding the washing or you're cleaning the kitchen. Or listen to a podcast in the car on your way to work. You don't need to understand every word, okay? You're keeping English in your ears, you're keeping English present, you're getting used to the rhythm, the natural speed, the way that words sound when they're spoken naturally. And you're doing it without asking for a whole lot of energy from yourself, energy that on some days you just don't have. So listening can easily fill some of those gaps in your day, but what if English wasn't something that you had to squeeze in at all? What if it was already part of your day? This one is crucial. Make English part of your life, not a separate subject that you study at a specific time and place. Bring English into your life. So many learners treat English like it's a school subject, something that you sit down and do separately, separate from your life. But the more that English becomes part of the things that you're already doing, the more natural it starts to feel, the easier it is to get that practice done. So when you go for your daily walk, describe what's around you. You could do it silently in your head. Or you could speak it out loud. There's a man walking a very excited little dog. Oh, the cafe on the corner is busy this morning. I must remember I need to pick up some bread on the way home. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? But just with this simple activity, your practicing vocabulary and your recall, your ability to find those words quickly and to think of them or to say them in the moment that you need them without having to translate first. You could also keep a short journal And I really mean short. two or three sentences a day and get into the habit of every day after dinner when you finally sit down with a cup of tea or maybe a glass of wine write two sentences in English about your day. That's it. And thirdly you could use your phone just to record a quick voice note in English. Maybe you could record your plans for the weekend or if you're into it You could use Claude or ChatGPT to speak to and to ask it to correct your mistakes or share some more natural ways of saying the same thing. Now, none of these needed time or extra time. They just borrow a few minutes from things that you're already doing in your everyday life. Now this fourth one might be a little controversial here, but build a speaking routine, right? It doesn't need to be something that happens every single day. Your speaking routine could be one opportunity a week to speak because listening, thinking, writing, all of these things help, but the goal is still speaking, isn't it? The trouble is, if you wait until you feel ready to speak, you're probably going to be waiting much longer than you really need to, right? So instead of waiting for the right moment, the perfect moment, put that speaking practice into your week like it's an appointment, all right? So the same day, same time each week. In the same way that you would book a gym class or maybe organize a coffee with a friend. Once it's in the calendar, you don't need to make the decision every time. You just need to show up. And if you're a woman with an intermediate to advanced level of English, who really wants a speaking routine that's already organized for you, That's exactly why I created HeyLady, for busy women who want to get speaking practice. HeyLady is an online community where women from all over the world come together to practice speaking English. There are daily speaking practice events, guided conversations, and English classes that you can attend. And so whenever you have a free half an hour or 15 minutes. There's somewhere that you can show up to speak with friendly and supportive people and get that practice done. So if you want a speaking routine that's already built for you, that's already organized for you, come and join the Hey Lady community and you can get started with a free seven day guest pass and quite literally. Start speaking today. Okay, last one, and this is the one that I think is most important. It's consistency that beats motivation every time. Motivation is wonderful when it shows up, right? Some days you feel excited and inspired and ready to learn. And on other days, English is the last thing that you want to think about. Don't worry, I know all about it. It's normal. That's life. The problem is that if your English practice depends on how motivated you feel, well, it completely disappears on the days where you feel tired and exhausted and when life is busy, right? And there are a lot of those days. And that's exactly why those small habits matter so much because when English is attached to the things that you're already doing every day, you don't need motivation. Your routine and your daily habits will carry you through your practice. So the walk that you take anyway becomes your English thinking time. The dinner that you cook anyway. Becomes your chance to listen to your favourite English podcast. And that conversation that happens every week on Thursday afternoon inside Hey Lady, that becomes your speaking time. Okay, let's recap because you don't need hours. It's okay to think small. Make sure that on those low energy days you're still doing something. Make English part of your daily life. Make space for speaking in your routine and let that consistency. Carry you through on the hard days, even when you don't feel motivated, that consistency is what will carry you through. Now, would you add anything else to that list? What do you do to make sure that you keep practicing your English even when life gets busy? I'd love to read some of your ideas as well so drop me a comment down below, let me know how you keep yourself going during those tough days. Thanks so much for watching and I will see you in the very next lesson.