At Eat Sleep Dream English we are passionate about learning. So today I'm going to show
you how to make learning a habit and a part of your every day life. Now I want to say
a big thank you to Skillshare today for sponsoring our video. They are a superb online learning
platform that I'm going to tell you more about later on. This is going to be really valuable
guys so let's get going.
I don't know if you can tell guys but I am super passionate about learning. I think it's
the most important thing that we can do in our lives. Whether it's learning a new instrument
or learning how to swim or learning how to be a better person, learning is the most incredible
thing we can do. It's hard but it's exciting and ultimately it's life changing. One of
my favourite quotes in the world is 'what we learn becomes a part of who we are.' And
it's so true. The things that we learn, the things that we absorb change our character,
they give us a new perspective on life. And so that's why I think that learning is the
most important thing that we can do. So today, we're going to look at how to make learning
a part of your every day life. I know how important learning English is to all of you
guys. Some of you are learning English so that you can get a job promotion and a better
job. Some of you are learning English so that you can travel the world and meet new people.
Some of you are studying for your IELTS exam or your FCE or your CAE so that you can get
to university. Some of you are even teaching your children English which is incredible
to me. So learning English is so important to your lives so we need to make learning
a habit so that you can learn quicker and learn better. So let's look at how to make
it a habit right now.
To make anything a habit there are three stages. The cue, the routine and the reward. So, the
cue. The cue is something that tells you it's time to learn. So it could be a time of day.
So nine o'clock in the morning. That's your cue. Ok, it's nine o'clock, it's time to learn.
It could be a location. So, ok I'm in my living room, it's now time to learn or I'm in the
library, it's now time to learn. Or the cue could be that you are with somebody, so I'm
now with my friend and we both study English so now we are together it's time to learn.
So a cue could be anything that starts the learning process. It could be that you jump
on the bus. So let's say that you take the bus to work every day or the bus to school.
Now I'm on the bus, this is my chance, this is my cue to start learning. So you always
need a cue to start the habit. The routine is the thing that you are learning, ok? So
for us in this context, it's learning English. So our routine is to start learning English.
Now that could be ten minutes, it could be thirty minutes, it could be one hour that's
up to you, but the routine is the habit itself. And after the routine you need a reward. Now
a reward is something pleasurable that you get from doing this habit or doing this routine.
So it could be seeing improvement in your English. So that's a reward in itself, is
seeing that you are better than you were before. Now you can do something that you weren't
able to do before you started learning. So that's a reward. It could be a simpler reward.
It could be something like I'll have a bit of chocolate, ok? I mean a bit like when a
dog or something or a child does something good, you might reward them with chocolate
or with a treat of some kind. Do that with yourself. Ok, I studied English for thirty
minutes, now I can have a piece of chocolate. Or now I can have a cup of coffee that I have
been wanting all morning. So reward yourself in whatever way it is. Now I'll give you an
example of how I made something a habit. I started doing yoga in the morning and what
I would do is I would wake up and my cue was that I'd woken up and it was like right I've
woken up the first thing I'm going to do is my yoga. So the cue was waking up. I went
downstairs to my living room and I did ten minutes of yoga. So that was my routine. And
then my reward was breakfast. Now I love breakfast, I'm always very excited about eating breakfast
and that was my reward and I didn't eat breakfast until I'd done my yoga. So that way it forced
me to do it, to make it a habit and after a little while you know it was a habit. It
was what I did every day. So I started to enjoy waking up and then doing the yoga and
then having breakfast and it was actually a really lovely way to start the day. So I
made something a habit and you can do the same thing with your English. So, let's say
your cue is that you get on the bus to go to work. So getting on the bus is your cue,
right I'm on the bus my journey is thirty minutes to work so I have thirty minutes to
learn English. So the cue is getting on the bus. Then the routine is that you learn English.
So it could be through YouTube, it could be through one of my videos, it could be through
an app or whatever it is or with your text book or your course book. That's your routine.
Your reward, well it's up to you. What do you want when you get to work? Just before
you get to work maybe you go and buy yourself a coffee or you make yourself a coffee. or
it could be simply that you see the progress that you have made during that time. It could
be that you then get ten minutes to scroll on Instagram without any guilt, that could
be your reward. Whatever it is, whatever you value make that your reward. Ok, so let's
look at five important things that you need to remember to make learning a habit.
Make your goal achievable and sustainable. So what do I mean by that. Well to make it
sustainable that means you can continue to do it for a long time. So instead of learning
for three hours in one go, don't do that because you won't be able to continue to do that every
day. What I think you should do is give yourself a time limit, so ten minutes. Ten minutes
every day to study English. Therefore you'll make it sustainable, you'll be able to find
ten minutes in your every day. So ten minutes, every single day rather than three hours on
one day. So give yourself a time to learn English, ten minutes start with that. And
then if you can build up to more, to twenty minutes or thirty minutes a day fantastic
but start small and sustainable. Also make it realistic, ok? So for example, don't start
trying to read Shakespeare because it's difficult, that's really hard. Maybe that's your goal
eventually, is to read Shakespeare and to understand but that's not where you should
start, ok? So start with something achievable, so for example let's say you need to give
a presentation at work, that's your aim, that's your goal. So do the things that are going
to take you to that goal, give a presentation. So starting to learn useful phrases, for introducing
yourself, for presenting information stuff like that. Working on your pronunciation so
that you speak clearly. Practising in front of a mirror so that you get confident with
speaking standing up and in front of yourself. So think of something that is achievable so
I need to give a presentation and then do the things that are going to get you to that
goal. Ok, number three is make it fun. Make your learning fun. If you are studying English
and you are reading about something utterly boring that you have no interest in you are
not going to want to learn again, are you? You are not going to want to read it, you
are not going to want to learn the vocabulary, it's going to be boring and you are going
to hate it. So why do it? Ok, there's no point in doing that. So what you need to do is find
your passion, find the thing that you love and learn English through that. So if you
love yoga then learn English through yoga, yoga on YouTube, go to a yoga class that you
know that's in English in your city, read about yoga on blogs and on websites. There
are so many resources online for you to learn about yoga. If you love fashion then that's
perfect for learning English. There are so many fashion vloggers on YouTube with amazing
resources. You can learn about the new fashions around the world, you can listen to the key
vocabulary. I mean they are fantastic, there are some really great examples. So if you
love fashion then learn English through fashion. So find your passion and then learn English
through that.
I just want to take a quick minute to talk about our sponsor today Skillshare. Skillshare
is an online learning platform that has hundreds of videos teaching you anything from photography
to cooking, graphic design so much more. I signed up and the first video that I saw was
how to make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich and if you've seen my London vlog around Maltby
Street Market with my friend Gemma you'll know that I love grilled cheese sandwiches.
So I thought I should learn how to make one of those. So I'm going to tell you the three
secrets that I learned from this Skillshare video. The first thing is, don't tell anyone.
You need to use four different types of cheese. I know! Four different types of cheese. I
was using one type of cheese before in my grilled cheese sandwiches now I'm using four.
Allegedly it gets the kind of perfect meltiness, it's not a proper English word but I like
it meltiness. The second secret, you should use mayonnaise instead of butter on your bread.
It gives it that perfect sort of crispy brown crispiness. And the third secret is that when
you are cooking it you should put a heavy weight on top of the sandwich to squish the
sandwich down and melt the cheese together. So I tried this and these are the results,
that is some cheesy goodness. Excuse me! Skillshare videos are really easy to follow and they
teach you step by step how to do something. What I like, especially for you guys, is that
you can slow the them down to half speed so that you can understand every word they say.
And these videos are really great listening practise for anyone who is trying to learn
English. And this also goes back to what I was saying before about learn English through
a passion of yours. So if you love cooking, then these cooking videos are perfect for
learning English. If you love art, then the art videos are again ideal for you to learn
English. So they are kindly offering Eat Sleep Dreamers two months absolutely free if you
sign up on the link below. A couple of other videos that I'm going to check out. If you
love art, then you'll love 'How to draw cute animals' video. I mean, who doesn't want to
draw a cute animal, I mean come on! If you want to start your own YouTube channel, I
don't know why you'd want to do that, then you can check out their video about how to
start a YouTube channel. Whatever your passion or your interest they've got videos to suit
you. So check it out guys the link is in the description below. So sign up for your two
free months and take it from there. Let's get back to number four.
Number four is consistency. We talked about cues and how that was meant to start your
routine, start your learning habit. So keep it consistent, that means the same every time.
So if the cue is a time then keep it the same time. So nine o'clock every day, nine o'clock
every day that's when learn English. Or it's lunch time, I learn my English in my lunch
break so one o'clock when lunch starts that's when I learn English. Keep it consistent,
keep it the same. And number five, I'm going back to the idea of rewarding yourself. This
is really important guys because it's not easy to study a language. I know that so many
of us love doing it, I love learning but it's not easy and so we do need to reward ourselves
and to give ourselves something to look forward to after doing it. So, yeah whether it is
a piece of chocolate a cup of coffee, ten minutes on Instagram, whatever the reward
is guys make sure that you treat yourself well. The reward is going to help you to form
the habit and make it sustainable and consistent. So yeah make sure you reward yourself guys,
really important. And finally I have one last thought. Forming a habit takes time. It doesn't
just happen after a day or two days. It takes an amount of time to do. Now the exact amount
of time, we are unsure about. Some people say it's you know, ten days, some people say
it's thirty days some people say it's sixty-six days. i don't know exactly how long it takes
but it takes a while to make something a habit. So don't worry if at first you aren't able
to make it a habit. Don't worry, ok? Let's say you miss a day, it's not a big deal. Don't
worry. Just think right, ok, I didn't do it today but tomorrow I will start a fresh I
will begin my habit again. So tomorrow is a new day, I can do it. Now I think you can
do this guys, I believe in you because you have shown me over the time that Eat Sleep
Dream English has been going that you are passionate about learning English, that you
want to learn English and that you have very clear goals about why you are learning English
and this is your motivation. Ok, so in the comments below, I would like you to tell me
how you are going to make learning English a habit. What time are you going to learn
English? How long for each day and where are you going to learn it? Ok, so Tom I'm going
to learn English for ten minutes every day on the train as I'm going to school. Perfect!
Or Tom I'm going to learn for thirty minutes with my colleague in our lunch break every
day at work. That's what I want to hear guys. How are you going to make learning English
a habit? Thanks again to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. Please go check out their website,
have a look at some of their videos. Really cool stuff out there. Guys thank you so much
for hanging out with me. Remember I've got new videos every Tuesday and every Friday
helping you take your English to the next level. If you haven't already make sure you
subscribe make sure you hit that notification bell and until the next time guys, this is
Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.