New Year’s resolutions myth.

Dear BEM Readers,
Welcome to 2011!

New Year's resolutions

Be honest! You have a list like that. In your head at least, with some of those or other „to-do” items.
Do you execute any of these in reality? Of course not! (if you do, good for you)

What is the usual response after the next 12 months? Well, I was just so busy at my office and we moved house, my kids changed their school, my fiance left me, my dog died, etc.
and I JUST DID NOT HAVE THE TIME.

Is it about time really??
Lets take a quick example:

What if those people said, they DID NOT HAVE THE TIME? :
Lech Walesa
Martin Luther King
Pope John Paul II

Well, our World would look like quite differently today, right?
But I know, the „New Years resolution myth” is also my problem.

What can help us?
1. The „dog & bone” trick – if I do this, I get that i.e. If I work harder on my business english maybe I get that new client that my competitors are after too.
2. The „what if illusion” – what if I work on business english skills? Maybe I get that promotion that I have been waiting for sooo long?
3. The „what’s in it for me” perspective – what will I get from learning new business english knowledge, expressions and vocabulary?

There are also great online resources:
1. Zen Habits – a blog on how changing our everyday habits can change our results and lives.
2. Fast Company – an online business magazine
„Make Goals Not Resolutions” – When people take the time to visualize exactly when and where they will do something, they meet their goals.
„Make a resolution that matters”
3. CBS on „Making Resolutions Stick”
Make Resolutions Stick
Try one of the techniques from the above and see if it makes a difference for you in 2011.
Until then, visit the BEM blog to learn more and develop your business english skills.

Chris Dargiewicz

Useful vocabulary:

1. To execute – wykonywać, przeprowadzać
2. To-do list – lista zaplanowanych czynności/obowiązków
3. To be after something – poszukiwać czegoś; gonić za czymś
4. Resource – zasób
5. A habit – zwyczaj; przyzwyczajenie
6. To visualize – wyobrazić/uzmysłowić sobie
7. To meet someone’s goals – osiągnąć założone cele