This is an All Ears English podcast episode 1915, new me in 2023.

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Are you feeling stuck with your English?

We’ll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing

on connection, not perfection. With your American hosts,

Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer and Michelle Kaplan,

the New York radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City,

U S A.

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Are you ready to take on the challenge?

The secret to success is taking the first step and then taking baby

steps every day. In this episode,

find out how to get set up for success in 2023.

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Hello, Michelle, how are you doing today?

Hi, Lindsay. I’m good. Happy 2023.

I know. It’s just amazing. Oh my God. Are you excited about this new year?

I am. I’m ready. I’m ready for it. I’m ready for a new year.

Yeah, we’ve had an intense couple of years, 2020, 2021, 2022,

very intense years. Now we’re ready to have hopefully a lighter year.

Knock on wood, knock on wood. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you typically do you enjoy this time of year when you have a chance to kind of

set new goals and just, you know, really get yourself on the right track?

It’s a clean slate. I do like it. I also, I have to be honest.

I think it’s a little intimidating for me. Like I’m not,

I’m not like a huge one on like the big resolutions because I mean,

I do think it puts a lot of pressure and also like you can set a resolution at

any time of the year. However, however, like I,

I do think it’s good to kind of feel that freshness and to kind of get in the

right mindset of the new year. But I also don’t like to be like, well,

these are like, this is what has to happen this year. All the time.

It’s just like a little too much, like, especially for a professionally,

it’s one thing, but for personal life,

I think it can be a little bit intimidating and, you know, but,

but good to think about. What do you think?

Yeah. I mean, I think anytime we have a chance to change our habits,

it’s exciting.

Like I just came back from my trip to Argentina that I shared with our

listeners that we were going, it was amazing. And I came back and now I’m like,

wow, I could change the way I do things. Right. I could change my workflow.

I could make changes and to be more efficient, especially at work or even in life.

Right. It’s a, it’s an opportunity. So it’s not pressure in my mind.

It’s more like, if I want to make this change, I could,

usually I kind of just fall back into my old habits, to be honest.

I think that’s very common. But no, I, I, I agree with you.

I do think it’s nice. And I do like to like set new goals and things like that.

Again,

I think personal versus professional is a little bit of a different feel for me.

The personal is a little like, yeah, I can,

I can do it anytime. And I want to have that feeling.

Like I can make changes anytime as work as well.

But I think sometimes the personal, like the typical, you know, resolutions,

like stop doing this, like stop this habit, stop this habit.

It’s nice to think about, but sometimes I feel like, you know, it’s, it can,

it can be a little much sometimes.

Yeah, for sure. So for our listeners, guys, listen up.

If you are the kind of person that needs to build momentum,

if you’re going to make a change,

if you’re going to ramp up your English this year, we have an opportunity

to join our challenge, our five-day challenge.

We’re calling it the new me in 2023 five-day challenge.

You like that title, Michelle?

I love it. And you know, I just realized that I was saying,

don’t put too much pressure on yourself. However, like I said, however,

to be honest, when it comes to learning something new,

I especially think that this is like a new time.

I guess what I was talking about more of the hat, more of the things like stop

biting my nails, you know, how people say like lose weight,

like those kinds of things I feel like are just kind of like the things that

people say every year. However, when it comes to a new skill to finding yourself,

I think that has a different feeling because it’s more,

it’s less about stopping something and more about starting.

That’s what I was just going to say.

That’s what I was just noticing in the examples you use, right?

Stop smoking. I don’t smoke and you don’t smoke, but some people do, right?

Stop smoking, stop biting nails, stop eating too much.

These are all kind of self-discipline restrictive things, right? Exactly.

But what I love is the idea of the endowed progress effect.

So if I see that I’ve made progress towards my goal every day,

that’s incredibly motivating for the human mind.

Yes. So I think that like having that start mindset,

yeah, that’s where,

that’s where you’re going to get motivated and inspired rather than the stop

stop doing this. I’ve done this wrong. I’m beating myself up about this.

Right. Two different kinds of goals. Exactly. Exactly. So guys,

this offer is going on right now, but just right now, right?

It’s not going to be available forever. It doesn’t make sense forever.

It’s available until January 7th. Michelle,

what is the link where they can go to get this before we get into the quotes for

today?

Okay. So the link is allearsenglish.com slash new

\2023. So 2 0 2 3. Yeah. So go there. And I’ll explain a little,

we’ll explain Michelle and I will explain a little bit more what exactly it is

later in the episode.

But I want to start off today with some exciting and fulfilling quotes just to

talk about them and see what they mean to us at this time of year. Michelle,

what’s the first quote?

Well, I love this one. The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

And that’s by Mark Twain.

Yeah. And this is exactly what we’re saying, right?

This is exactly what we’re saying. This is not about stopping doing something.

It’s about what do you do with your first week of 2023 and how can you get ahead

more in your mind? It’s a mind game, Michelle.

Right. You want to propel yourself forward. So the feeling of this is, you know,

just if you don’t get started, you can’t get ahead.

Sometimes I think we get like, or I mean for myself,

I’m sure for a lot of people, you know, you kind of get like,

you can kind of get frozen. Yeah. Frozen. Yes.

And just to have this new year,

it’s this opportunity to be like, no, I’m like, whatever it was,

whatever it was, it’s time to get started,

time to get excited instead of being frozen in place.

Yeah. I think part of the problem is when we know we want to do something,

we think we have to do it all that same day. So for example, you know,

if I know that I want to kick back up my Spanish,

because I was actually excited about how I felt so comfortable in

Argentine Spanish, Michelle, oh, it is so hard to understand.

They speak so fast. They use a totally different accent.

But my listening was actually the strongest I’ve seen in all of our trips to

Spanish speaking countries. Yeah. I was ready for it.

I had hired four or five different tutors on italki to practice this Argentine

Spanish leading into it. But now we’ve been back for a few weeks.

Have I taken lessons? Have I was going to continue my lessons? No,

I have not gone back to them. So what I’m trying to say here is,

the secret is just getting started.

I could build that progress effect in my mind by just booking my next lesson.

And that would be all I would have to do today.

And then tomorrow I just show up for the lesson and then I book it again.

So it’s one little step at a time.

It’s not doing the whole lesson that first day. Right, Michelle?

Oh yeah. And I think, you know,

that’s where it’s easy to get into trouble is to have that mindset of like,

you got to do it all. Like, I want to learn a new language. Let’s do it.

All right. The second, like, that’s, you know, it’s not,

it’s not really reasonable and you’re going to get burnt out. Um,

right. So we want to have this, you know, okay, we’re getting the momentum.

I love what you said is just like, just setting the next appointment,

doing that one intentional thing that will give you the next step.

I think that’s huge.

Exactly. Or have you ever had the experience where you’re going to,

you have a blank canvas in front of you.

Let’s say you have to write a paper. You know,

what I do is I’ll go and make an outline and just doing that.

Or I have to do a project which involves a spreadsheet. It’s complicated.

I’ll go and set up the, the columns and the rows.

And then I feel so much, I just feel good.

I feel like I’m building the bones of the project. Right, right, right.

Or even just like making an appointment that you have to make. I mean,

even, I mean, like sometimes I can be like a little paranoid about my health

and I’ll be like, Oh, I have, you know, I have, I have this, I have that.

And my mom’s like, well then just call the doctor.

Like even just sometimes like making the appointment makes you feel better.

Like it’s just another kind of way to think about it. Another example.

I love it. So good. So guys,

that’s our first quote that we hope inspires you at the beginning of the year

is the secret of getting ahead is just getting started.

It’s actually easier than we, than we realize, Michelle. I love that.

Now do we have a second quote for our listeners today?

Yes. And this is by, uh, Theodore Roosevelt.

So he was the president of the U S, uh, from 1901 to 1909. Right, Lindsay?

Yeah. Uh-huh. And he established a lot of our national parks.

So that’s amazing. The older I get,

the more I appreciate the national parks,

having gone to a lot of them and thinking it’s really special to be able to enter

a park and pay some money.

And you know that this land is preserved and you can hike and you can explore.

It’s incredible, Michelle. I need to do more of the national parks.

You really should, you really should.

And there are a lot on the East coast too, right?

You don’t have to drive across the whole country. So what’s the quote?

The quote is keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.

Yes. So what does this strike you at? Like what, what,

what do you think of when you hear this quote?

Um, well, I, I, I, this feeling of, you know,

remaining stable that my headphone is falling out of my ear.

Remaining stable, remaining grounded, but having a lot of ambition, right?

So like you have big dreams, you have big dreams,

but in order to do them,

you have to actually do them rather than like thinking about them.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. It makes me think of the expression.

This is a bonus for our listeners down to earth, right?

In your mind, is that a good thing or not a good thing to be down to earth?

I, to me, it’s a very good thing. What do you think?

I think it’s a good thing. Yeah, for sure. But you’re right.

In order to kind of build a successful life, we need both.

We need to be grounded, as you said,

and we need to kind of be reaching for the stars.

So it’s somewhere in between that we’re going to hang out. Right, right, right,

right, right, right. Because if you’re not, if you don’t have those,

like your eyes like set on this big goal,

then you might not be motivated to do the actual work. Yeah. Vice versa.

If you’re, uh, if you’re wait, now I’m getting,

now I’m getting myself confused. Well, yeah,

or, or if you like, uh, don’t have, wait, if you have,

okay, let’s start over. Yeah, no. Well, actually, Michelle,

I was just going to say just to kind of like compliment,

I think we know what you’re trying to say, right?

We have to be somewhere in the middle. We have to be somewhere in the middle.

But, uh, last month, Aubrey and I did an episode on quiet quitting.

This idea of that, you know,

Gen Z is doing a lot of kind of just doing the bare minimum and maybe stepping

back from work and not investing quite as much.

And we talked about how in some ways that’s good because you’re going to remain

in touch with family, build your relationships,

build your life outside of work.

But in another way,

it’s going to leave a huge gap because we need meaning in our lives as human

beings. Right. Right. I mean, right. Yes, exactly.

Exactly. So that is that reaching part, right?

We need to be reaching for something.

Thank you, Lindsay. Yes. I love it. I love it. My goodness.

What happened to my mind?

Okay. We’re just getting started here on the year, right?

So Michelle tell our listeners a little bit more about this five day challenge.

Let’s talk about it.

Okay. So guys, this is amazing.

So five days and you’re going to learn something new in

English every day. So that’s what Lindsay was talking about.

It’s like kind of this getting the ball rolling. Yes.

That’s another good expression for our listeners, by the way.

Get that momentum going, the ball rolling. Right.

And it’s one day at a time for five days, but every day, you know,

you’re growing so you can see this actual improvement and you’re going to

use all four skills in English. Right, Lindsay?

Yeah. I love the idea. A lot of our listeners,

you guys are always asking us, you know, what about reading?

What about writing? You know, there are, there’s more than just speaking,

but you’re going to get all four skills.

This is going to help you to get that headstart, right?

Feel like you’re making progress.

You’re taking that one simple action each day so that at the end of the five

days, you’re really going to be on a really different path. Okay.

I love it. And how much time does it take each day to complete the challenge?

Really? Just 30 minutes or less for each challenge. So,

I mean, if you want to spend more time on these daily challenges and projects,

you can. So it’s really flexible, like whatever you can or want to put into it.

Um, you know,

so if you feel like you want to really go for it and do more, that’s great.

But don’t think, Oh, well, I really, I don’t know if I have the time.

It’s really just 30 minutes or less for five days.

Yeah. We’ve talked to you guys a lot.

And we know that most of you really just have 30 minutes a day to work on your

English, right? And maybe you add on the podcast in the morning on your way to

work. We’ve got 30, 15 to 30 minutes a day.

So we’re going to help you maximize that time, Michelle. So good.

Absolutely. So guys, you will learn something new.

You’re going to make a positive change in your life every day for five days.

So Lindsay, can you talk a little bit more about how they get in on this

excitement?

Yes, of course, guys, you need to go straight to this link right now.

Go to allearsenglish.com slash

N-E-W 2023. Okay.

So you go there and remember this offer ends January 7th.

The price is going up, so you don’t want to miss it. All right, guys.

So that is your next action. As soon as you finish this episode,

go there and join this challenge. Get in on this.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I’m excited for you guys.

I just, I think it’s the perfect way to get that.

Like I think of like, like, right.

You’re just like ramping up the engine.

Yeah. I think, I think it’s going to be huge.

Get yourself in the right mindset for the start of 2023 with your English.

I love it so good. Michelle, thanks for hanging out on the podcast.

As always, we have a blast together on the show.

So we are lucky to be here.

Absolutely. Love it, guys. And happy New Year to everyone.

All right. Good stuff. Talk to you soon.

Bye.

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