{"id":4849,"date":"2016-01-14T14:27:25","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T14:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/?p=4849"},"modified":"2026-08-20T20:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:29:12","slug":"how-to-keep-new-years-resolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/en\/news\/how-to-keep-new-years-resolutions","title":{"rendered":"How to keep New Year&#8217;s resolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">We\u2019re well settled into the new year and we\u2019re all full of hopes and dreams for the next 12 months \u2013 learning a new language, getting fit, changing our job, travelling more. Most likely in the first week of the year you were super pumped, ready to drop anything to stick to your main goal(s). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">By the time the second week came however, you kind of settled in, relaxed the rules a bit and got back to some of your old habits. When January&#8217;s over, your goal will be completely forgotten like it was never there and you\u2019re going to be thinking \u2018how silly of me to think that I could learn Spanish\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">That can be one of the ways the future looks. Let&#8217;s take a different turn. Lets push through the phase when we want to give up and see what happens. The other road is familiar but wouldn\u2019t it be nice to see what else can happen? What if you <strong>did<\/strong> learn Spanish this year? You could read books in Spanish, and you could talk to other Spanish speakers, and on your next holiday in Spain you could strike up a conversation with a stranger and end up making new friends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Studies have shown that the human brain tends to value immediate rewards more than future rewards. When you set a goal or a resolution you are in fact making plans for your future self and it \u2018s easy to imagine how your life can look. But, when the time comes that you actively pursue that goal most people choose immediate gratification and opt to do what they feel like in the moment.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Now that we understand how our mind works, it&#8217;s time to find ways to stop this from happening.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Start slowly and build a ritual. Set yourself to practice for half an hour a day \u2013 that\u2019s not too much to ask right? Offer yourself a reward after \u2013 if you\u2019re learning a language with <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/app\" target=\"_blank\">uTalk<\/a>, the reward comes in the form of earning points and we all like to build up to a nice score, right?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Put aside some of your other tasks. Obviously not work or eating but if you usually browse the Internet while commuting why not replace that with your main goal?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Keep your eyes on the prize \u2013 never lose sight of your motivation. Look at pictures of beautiful Spanish landscapes and imagine yourself having a chat with the locals, or listen to Spanish songs and try to understand the lyrics.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/ThinkstockPhotos-465667602.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4853\" style=\"margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px;\" src=\"https:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/ThinkstockPhotos-465667602.jpg\" alt=\"Serious afro-american woman with painted muscular arms on chalkboard\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" data-wp-pid=\"4853\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">I hope this helps you push through the temptation of giving up and will ultimately get you to your goal. And don\u2019t worry about making mistakes; the only person who loses is the one that gives up, so no matter how slow you are going, it\u2019s still better than if you weren\u2019t doing anything.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And if your goal is to learn a language (or twelve&#8230;), there&#8217;s still time to join the <a href=\"https:\/\/eurotalk.com\/utalkchallenge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">uTalk Challenge<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Ioana<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re well settled into the new year and we\u2019re all full of hopes and dreams for the next 12 months&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606,43,1326,456,150,751,49,244,35,991,231,103,3,80,54,1279,421,972,312,979,9,58,890,97,293,647,794,1305],"tags":[1397,750,1398,220,379,2,4,420,482,1399,1400,223,1401,265,1381],"class_list":["post-4849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learn-arabic","category-challenges","category-croatian","category-dutch","category-learn-english","category-finnish","category-learn-french","category-learn-german","category-learn-greek","category-icelandic","category-learn-italian","category-learn-japanese","category-languagelearning","category-learn-mandarin","category-norwegian","category-polish","category-learn-portuguese","category-romanian","category-learn-russian","category-slovak","category-learn-spanish","category-swedish","category-thai","category-tips","category-learn-turkish","category-ukrainian","category-utalk","category-welsh","tag-ambition","tag-challenge","tag-future","tag-goals","tag-inspiration","tag-language","tag-learning","tag-mistakes","tag-motivation","tag-psychology","tag-push","tag-resolutions","tag-temptation","tag-utalk","tag-value"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":4849},"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":606,"label":"Arabic"},{"value":43,"label":"Challenges"},{"value":1326,"label":"Croatian"},{"value":456,"label":"Dutch"},{"value":150,"label":"English"},{"value":751,"label":"Finnish"},{"value":49,"label":"French"},{"value":244,"label":"German"},{"value":35,"label":"Greek"},{"value":991,"label":"Icelandic"},{"value":231,"label":"Italian"},{"value":103,"label":"Japanese"},{"value":3,"label":"Language 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