This idea is obvious but powerful:
If you struggle to make time for what really matters to you like getting ready for your CELPIP exam or practicing your English because you have too much going on in your life, then I hope this simple but powerful idea will help:
Take ownership of your CELPIP prep. Don't give it away.
I know you know this, but boy it's easy to do!
It's easy to give the responsibility to make progress towards our goals and objectives to other things and people in our lives.
Not in the sense that you expect them to do it for you.
But in the sense that it's easy to blame those things or people for our LACK of progress.
It's easy to blame your significant other, your children, your boss, not having access to classes or an English teacher, for not being able to move towards your CELPIP or English goals.
“Oh my boss is the worst. I’ve always got so much to do that I end up working late. Because I work late, I get home too tired to practice for my CELPIP exam. It’s my work’s fault that I never have time to study."
Sound familiar?
If that’s kind of how you find yourself these days, ask this question: Who is running my priorities? Me or someone or something else?
Then ask another more difficult question: are we going in the right direction?
Don’t get me wrong. Family and work are important. They are priorities in my life too, and I also often find myself trying to sort out how I invest my time effectively in each one.
But we - you and I I need to be reminding myself of this too) need to be doing our best to direct our focus towards the things that are important to us.
That might mean saying no to something good so you can say yes in another area of your life - like your CELPIP prep.
It might also mean negotiating time with family or friends so that you also get time to focus on practicing for your exam or building your English skills. This is a big issue for many of the students I've worked with. It's also an issue for me with my podcast.
I've had to negotiate time every Saturday to plan, write, record, edit and publish each episode - usually between 2 or 4 hours!
I'm not saying that to prop myself up. Nope. Just sharing how I'm trying to put this concept to work in my own life as I try to juggle my own priorities to make sure I'm doing what is important for me to be doing.
And, by the way, that podcast recording time is flexible. If events come up or the needs of my family change, I can change too. I can do it later in the day or on a different day all together if need be. But we've set up a system together. I give them my time, but when I need it, they kindly give me time to do what I need to do too.
Do you need to negotiate something like that with your loved ones? Or maybe wiith yourself and say Netflix?
I hope this helps you to take and keep ownership of your goals to get ready for the CELPIP exam.
