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Your New Year’s Resolutions Solution: JapanesePod101 Inner Circle

Peter here, and welcome to another year of JapanesePod101!

It’s halfway into January and everyone’s focused on their New Year’s resolutions. This used to happen to me year after year, and now I see it year after year. The start of a new year gives everyone renewed hope that THIS is finally going to be the year they master their goal!

The hard truth? 90% of these people will fail. 70% will have given up by February. Resolutions have become a kind of societal joke that we all pretend to play along with. That is, until we actually have to do something about it.

Do these numbers surprise you? I know from personal experience that it’s easy to let your goal go. For many, many years I had the same goal year after year! Then one year, that all changed. I’ll get to that a bit later.

I saw a post on Facebook that reminded me of the predictable New Year’s resolution cycle:

Damn, people with New Year’s resolutions crowding my gym. Can’t we pretend it’s February already?

Hilarious and also true.

Everyone knows that New Year’s resolutions are a joke.

But they don’t have to be.

So how do you break the cycle? How do you stay motivated and productive enough that you’re still improving yourself come March, June and December?

Questions like these have been flooding my inbox this month, so today, as a sneak peek to what we’re offering with our new Premium Inner Circle, here are a few tips on how to avoid failure in 2013.

Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail:

  • They’re unspecific. “I want to learn Japanese this year!” OK great. Well, check out our Word of the Day and I bet you’ll learn 1 new Japanese word. Is that what you meant? Your goals need to be specific, like: “I want to be able to be able to give a presentation in Japanese for work.” or “I want to have a 5-minute conversation without using any English” or “I want to pass the JLPT N5 exam.”
  • They’re unrealistic. “I want to be fluent by September.” Really? And you just started Japanese today? Hmmm…seems like you might be setting yourself up to fail from the get-go. It’s NOT impossible but are you ready to commit yourself to nothing but Japanese? Start with more manageable goals and reassess on a monthly basis. People forget that while New Year’s resolutions can be broken in a bad way, they can also be amended to challenge yourself even further as you progress!
  • They’re based on wishes not action items. Now you have a specific and realistic goal, but you’re still not on the path to success. Why? It’s not a secret. You need to put your wishes into action. You say, “I want to learn more vocabulary” instead of “I will study the Word of the Day EVERYDAY.” You declare, “I want to speak more Japanese!” instead of vowing “I will get a Japanese tutor to practice conversation with.”
  • Those are the 3 biggest reasons people fail with their New Year’s resolutions. Last January, I made these 3 simple changes with my Chinese studies and it kept me on track throughout the entire year.  

    So what’s next? Where do you start?

    For more on that, you’ll have to wait for Part II with the Premium Inner Circle newsletter in February. We’ve put together a cheat sheet on how to get started with your new Premium account, including a February Learning Calendar that will keep you on track and give you a template on how to organize your year!

    So What’s The Inner Circle? Learn how successful students stay motivated and knock their Japanese goals out of the park. Starting February, get exclusive access to tools, tips, and strategies to turn you in a consistent, goal-smashing, high-performing Japanese learner. Inner Circle Membership is an exclusive benefit for Premium users.

    Upgrade to Premium today and save 45%
    during our 12-Month Challenge Sale!

    Click here to get 1-Year Premium for just $99!