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Focus equals power. If anyone is successful at anything, and not just once in a while but on a consistent basis, they are not lucky, they are focused. They are crystal clear about what they want. The clearer you are about what it is you want, the easier it is to achieve it, because your brain can figure out how to get there. The fuel behind getting there is having a compelling purpose and a reason that will move you. Your fuel is what will drive you while you navigate your life’s map, and your massive action plan on how to get from where you are to where you want to be. Before you can answer the question, “What am I going to do?” you’ve got to first ask the question, “What do I want?” That shift in focus will change completely how you respond in your life. It will change you from focusing on everyone else’s demands for your attention, or what you’re afraid of, or what might give you pleasure in the moment, to what’s most important to you.
GPS is a way to maximize the results for your English mastery journey and maximize your sense of fulfillment and joy as you improve the language. What’s most important to you as an outcome (a result) and why it is important to you (your purpose) will give you the juice to move forward toward realizing your English dreams. If you’ve got a strong enough reason and a strong enough purpose, you will figure out how to pull it off.
GPS is a system of thinking, not a time management system. The goals with your English is not to manage time, but creating an English journey that is absolutely fulfilling, fun and rewarding. This system may, in the beginning, seem like more work. However, after you train enough, the doing will come faster than before and you’ll get ten times the results.
Today, there are so many things you can focus on. There are so many demands for your attention that if you don’t decide in advance what you’re going to focus on, you’re most likely going to be controlled by the focus of someone or something else, and there will be fewer chances for you to achieve what it is you really want with your English skills. The first step toward taking back your focus and achieving the realization of your English vision is to ask yourself three questions in a specific sequence on a consistent basis, the GPS sequence. The sequence is critical, because if you don’t know what you want, why you want it, and then create a plan for how to get to it, in that order, your actions will not be sustainable through life’s challenges, and you’ll have little possibility of experiencing what it is you truly desire.
For the exercises below, have an extra pad or sheets of paper if necessary
1) What do I really want?
What’s the outcome I’m after? What’s the specific measurable result? The more precise, the stronger it is.
(For example: There’s a difference between “I want to learn vocabulary” and “I want to learn 20 business vocabulary words.”)
2) What’s my purpose?
What are my reasons? Why is this not just a “should,” but a must for me?
The emotional quality of purpose makes what you will do not only sustainable, but powerful.
What kind of trigger words really motivate you to reach your goal? What words make you crazy with excitement? What words really make you want to do something? For example, let’s say you want to learn 20 business vocabulary words not only because you want to learn more and feel better, but you also want to speak even better. Trigger works attached to looking good and speaking sophisticated, powerfully, or intelligently. These are the kinds of words that can give you a high level of energy and enthusiasm. Trigger words change your biochemistry and level of energy and are the “juice” behind the action.
3) What do I need to do?
What’s strategy/action plan? What's the schedule going to look like? Not just one or two things. Brainstorm a bunch of ideas. What are all the possibilities, so I can later decide which one has the most power?
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Example GPS (one for each English skill) of a student:
Speaking Goal
Goal: Order meals at the restaurant for my friend and explain to him different dishes of the menu for at least 1 hour by next Monday
Purpose: Practice new words learned in class connected to food and to the action of ordering food in a restaurant
Strategy: Look at my food vocabulary list before we go for dinner and type a couple of vocab words on my iPhone to remember what words to use.
Listening Goal
Goal: Listen to 20 minutes of my favorite podcast in Spotify by next Monday
Purpose: to improve my listening skills, understanding which information are of primary importance and which are of secondary importance.
Strategy: Listen to the 20 minutes of the podcast while I come back from the gym on the bus to my host family’s house while taking notes of the main information of the two stories and of idioms and new words.
Reading Goal
Goal: Read 20 pages of my book by next Monday
Purpose: To know synonyms to describe more accurately reality
Strategy: Learning 8 new words by writing down their definition (found in online dictionaries)
Writing Goal
Goal: Write an expository text during the week of at least 50 words while incorporating the five type of phrases from the grammar learned in class by next Monday
Purpose: to be more well-rounded as a writer by practicing different types of writing: whether it’s persuasive, expository, narrative or descriptive
Strategy: Brainstorming about the festivity of Thanksgiving, finding articles about it as sources and write the overview of the text
WHAT IF THOUGH....
YOU WRITE YOUR 4 GPS BUT STILL DON'T ACHIEVE ALL YOUR GOALS?
If you're truly honest with yourself, here's why...
If you're truly honest with yourself, here's why...