Your goals for 2024

Either way you might be interested how to set goals so that you can meet them. In everyday life it happens to me that I set far too high goals and then I am frustrated

With myself when I can‘t meet them. Sounds familiar?

Let’s have a closer look at 5 tips that help you set the right goals with the example of strengthening your Business English.

Have you ever heard of SMART goals? The word SMART stands for s- specific, m- measurable, a- achievable, r- relevant and t- time-bound. This is the formula you might want to use for setting goals.

Let’s say your aim is to become more confident in speaking English in business.

If you have a look at this goal then you might notice that it isn’t specific. So you could say for example: “I would like to become confident when I speak in English with clients in business meetings.”

The next question is how do you know that your confidence in business meetings has increased? In other words how do you measure confidence?
In case you are a person who doesn’t participate in discussions in business meetings you could set the goal: “I want to share at least one idea in discussions with clients in English during every business meeting.”

How does that sound to you?

Already a little more concrete? Then let’s continue with a for achievable. It means whether you can achieve the goal or not. In our example can you really share at least one idea in a discussion? Do you have enough ideas to share or do you sometimes lack ideas? How can you make sure you are able to share at least one idea in a discussion? How about taking 5 minutes before every meeting and think about ideas you could share?

Next is r for relevant. Is the goal really something you need and does it fit into your long-term plans? Do you really need to speak English confidently in meetings or are you planning to change jobs anyway because you have other career plans where you don’t need English?

Finally, t for time-bound. Your goal should have a time limit. It means for our example: “I want to share at least one idea in discussions with clients in English during every business meeting this month's.” A time limit helps you take the first step towards your goal because there is now some urgency attached to it.

These 5 tiny tips will help you reach your language goals for Business English.
Nevertheless, I can also recommend the Smart Language Planner. It is a planner for language learners that helps them set goals and to break big tasks into smaller tasks. They become more concrete and enjoyable. You can order a copy here:

https://www.lehmanns.de/shop/wirtschaft/55373597-9783753116679-smart-language-planner

In case you need any further assistance while learning Business English I am happy to help you with my language coaching. Please get in touch.