324\. How to Set Goals for 2025? (English Vocabulary Lesson)
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Hello, I'm Tom Wilkinson and welcome to the Thinking in English podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced level English learners. This episode is a little different to the typical Thinking in English episode. Last year, I publicly revealed six New Year's resolutions or goals for 2024.

Today, I'm going to review these goals, consider whether I achieved them or failed them, talk about how to set good goals, and then end with some examples of goals to set in 2025. Hopefully, this episode will motivate or inspire you to set your own personal and professional goals for 2025.

You can find a full transcript for this episode for free on Spotify, Apple and also on my website. Here is today's vocabulary list. Resolution. Resolution. A firm decision to do or not do something. As in, her New Year's resolution was to exercise three times a week. Goal. Goal.

The object of a person's ambition or effort. An aim or a desired result. For instance, his main goal this year is to improve his English-speaking skills. Inspire. Inspire. To motivate or encourage someone to take action. As in, the teacher's story inspired her students to work harder. Achievable. Achievable. Possible to accomplish or attain.

as in setting small achievable goals can help you stay motivated throughout the year. Launch, launch. To start or introduce something new such as a product or service. For instance, the company plans to launch a new app designed for language learners next month. Sponsor, sponsor.

an individual or organisation that provides financial or other support. For example, the event's sponsor covered all the costs for the venue and refreshments. 2025 is just around the corner and this means it is time for New Year's resolutions. A New Year's resolution is a goal, a target, to achieve in the new year.

I've released episodes about this in the past, including the episode "The Best New Year's Resolutions for English Learners". Most people don't stick to their New Year's resolutions or their goals. In fact, some people don't even remember the goals that they set for themselves last year. But I do. Last year, I made a series of public New Year's resolutions.

I mentioned two personal resolutions for my personal life in a Patreon bonus episode titled The Worst New Year's Resolutions Possible. And I posted four professional goals for thinking in English on my LinkedIn page. The page is Thomas Wilkinson. Search me on LinkedIn. Today, I want to recap my 2024 resolutions and see whether I achieved my goals.

I also want to set myself some goals for 2025. Hopefully, my resolutions will inspire and motivate some of you to set yourself targets for the new year and stay accountable. First, I want to briefly mention how to make a good resolution.

If you want a detailed explanation of how to set good New Year's resolutions and goals, I'd recommend listening to some of my past episodes. I've mentioned a few already or they're linked in the transcript. While there are many different theories and perspectives on goal setting, I personally like smart goal setting.

SMART goal setting is a widely used framework for creating clear, actionable and achievable goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. First, any goal you set should be specific. Your goal should be clear.

A good way to think of this is by answering questions like who, what, where, when and why. Who is doing the goal? What is the goal? When do you want to achieve it by? Why do you want to achieve it? How are you going to achieve it?

For example, instead of a goal like "I want to lose weight", make a more specific goal like "I want to lose 5kg in 3 months by exercising 4 times a week and eating a balanced diet". Second, your goal should be measurable. The goal should have criteria to measure progress and success.

Instead of a goal like get better at English, a measurable goal could be study English for 30 minutes daily and pass the TOEFL exam with a score of 90. Third, your goal should be achievable. Any resolution you make needs to be realistic and attainable, given your resources, your time and your skills. For instance, a goal like run a marathon next week

might not be achievable if you have never run before. But run 5km in 2 months could be achievable. Fourth, your goal should be relevant. It should align with your broader objectives and values. For example, if your long-term aim is career advancement, then learning Excel or improving your presentation skills might be relevant goals. And finally, the goal needs to be time-bound.

the goal should have a deadline or a set time frame. This makes it so much easier to focus on that specific goal. In this case, a goal like save money becomes save $1,000 by the end of the year. As I mentioned earlier, I publicly set personal and professional goals last year.

I have kept track of these goals, tried to achieve them, and now I'm going to report to you guys how I did. Let's start with the two personal goals I set. My two personal life goals were pass the Japanese language proficiency test N2 level in July and stop visiting bakeries and convenience stores when I go on my daily walks. So how did I do?

If you are a regular listener, you will know that I successfully passed the JLPT, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, N2 level last July. I released an episode on my study plan and methods a few months ago if you're interested. Starting in January 2024, I started to regularly use my Japanese textbooks.

As we got into spring, I began taking Japanese classes every Friday and using vocabulary learning applications. In June, I focused intensively on my biggest weaknesses, reading, which became my strongest skill actually. And then I managed to pass my exam in July. This is exactly how I planned to achieve the goal. And I was so happy when I found out the results.

My second goal was less successful. To be honest, I probably failed. While my diet has improved and I'm eating out less often, I still have a problem with snacking and buying things from supermarkets or bakeries while I'm out walking. The main focus behind this goal was to become healthier. While I failed my specific goal to stop snacking, I believe I am healthier this year.

Especially since August, I have made big changes to my life that have made me much healthier. I'm now sleeping seven to eight hours a night, rather than five or six last year. I started going to the gym in September. I've been averaging four days a week.

I'm much better at dividing my work and private life. I try not to work past 6pm other than my conversation clubs and I try to limit my work at weekends. I also wrote four professional goals on LinkedIn at the end of last year or the beginning of this year maybe. These goals or targets were: reach 500 Patreon subscribers, find three major sponsors,

launch one new product, launch another podcast under the Thinking in English umbrella. How did I do with these goals? Let's start with the goals that I didn't achieve. As I'm writing this episode at the end of November, I currently have about 450 members on my Patreon subscription. This is amazing, but it didn't quite reach my target of 500 for the year.

If you are listening to this episode and you are interested in becoming a patron, I really would encourage you to do so.

In fact, let me give you a secret discount code. I'll only mention this code during this episode. Use the code GOAL, G-O-A-L, and I'll give you 25% off your first month of membership or 25% off an entire year if you subscribe annually. This code should work on all of the available Thinking in English Patreon tiers.

I love my Patreon members. I have some amazing conversations with people. I really enjoy the conversation clubs and I like the freedom of creating unique bonus episodes that I can create. I get amazing feedback from members and I just wish more of you would join and participate in events and conversation clubs.

In 2025, actually, I'm planning to run some more conversation clubs at times better suited to people in Asia and the Americas. Already, I have been trialling sessions at 8am Japanese time, which would be 11pm in the UK and 8pm in Brazil, for example.

I believe that all of the Patreon tiers are great value, so I want you to consider joining and help me reach 500 subscribers next year. In fact, if 50 of you listening right now, so just 50 of you listening, join today, maybe I'll hit 500 this year. Without Patreon, Thinking in English would not exist, so please use that code GOAL for a discount.

The other goal I didn't really achieve was getting three major regular sponsors. I have worked with Lingoda and Elsa this year. I think Lingoda has had five sponsored episodes and Elsa three sponsored episodes. And also the wonderful Send7 podcast has sponsored a few episodes as well.

However, I was hoping to get to the stage where every single episode was sponsored by a large company with a big advertising budget. This hasn't happened, and it's why I'm so reliant on Patreon to keep running Thinking in English. While I get approached by companies quite often, it's been hard to find companies that I want to work with.

There will be some changes in 2025. I can't say anything right now, but hopefully I will be able to tell you all some good news in the future. How about the goals that I did achieve? I launched a downloadable product that you can all buy or access for free through Patreon. In fact, I have three products available. Study packs for two different grammar points and a listening comprehension companion thing that I made.

If you're interested, you can find them all on my Patreon store. One of my goals was to create a product and I did it. I also launched a new podcast series, Thinking in English Grammar. Originally, I wanted to launch it as a completely new podcast on a different channel, but I made the decision to launch it as a different series on my main channel.

You all seem to be really enjoying the grammar episodes, so I will keep making these episodes. I think this means that I kept 50% of the resolutions I made for 2024. How about 2025? What are my personal and professional goals for next year? Well, I'll state my goals trying to use the SMART framework I mentioned earlier.

On the personal side, my first goal is to pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test N1 level. This is the highest level of the exam. This is measurable as I either pass or fail the exam. I believe it is achievable if I spend 8 to 10 hours per week studying through a variety of different methods.

It is relevant to my goal of mastering Japanese and the time limit I'm giving myself is December 2025. Although I won't know the results until January 2026 as that's when the December test results are released. My second personal goal is to maintain a consistent gym schedule throughout 2025. I want to attend the gym at least twice a week.

stick to a consistent workout plan and regularly review my progress and fitness. I also have a bonus personal goal for 2025 that might not actually be possible. I have been told that there may be a chance, it's not confirmed yet, for me to enrol in a certified tour guiding course.

If I'm given this chance, my goal would be to become a certified tour guide here in Japan next year. On the professional side, I want to hit 20 million total podcast downloads and 650,000 Spotify subscribers by December next year.

I recently reached 14 million podcast downloads and 500,000 Spotify subscribers and I believe that if I keep releasing weekly episodes with good content, I can continue to grow. I also want to expand in video content on YouTube. More specifically, I want to create a YouTube exclusive series for advanced English learners.

This would either be a completely new series or something maybe based off my current grammar podcast episodes. I would like to launch this new series by June 2025. So if you have any ideas for YouTube series, send me a message. And finally, I would like to create and launch a physical product next year that you guys would be able to buy from Amazon.

Perhaps it would be a book or a collection of my study guides or something more unique. Message me with any ideas you have and I want this product to be purchasable by December next year. So here is today's final thought. Now you all know some of my goals for 2025. I have tried to keep them all specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

I have also revealed them publicly, so in December 2025 we can again review my progress, successes and potential failures. Although I didn't achieve all of my goals or stick to my resolutions in 2024, I have had a really great year. For the first time in nearly a decade, I have felt stable in my life.

I have a place to live that I can afford, a wonderful wife and a peaceful, quiet life recording podcasts for you guys to listen to. Without my listeners, none of this would have been possible. So thank you. Thank you to everyone who has listened to episodes this year. Press subscribe on Spotify, like something on Instagram, join my Patreon or whatever. Thank you to every single person.

But how about you? Did you achieve your goals in 2024? And what are your goals for 2025? Leave a comment and let me know. Comment on Spotify, comment on my website, or reach out to me on Patreon or Discord if you are a Patreon subscriber. Thank you all so much for listening and I'll see you next year.