When you want to improve a skill, the first thing you do is say to yourself, "I am starting on Monday". Then you never start. This is how it works.
Instead of promising to start some time in future, what you might want to do is to link learning or practicing the skill to an already existing habit or to a daily routine, like drinking coffee, jogging, having breakfast, driving to work.
And here podcasts come as a super simple accompaniment to your routines. Whatever you do, listening to podcasts is something you could do as a parallel activity, and... improve your listening skills in a foreign language! Just go to wherever you listen to your podcasts, choose a topic that you are interested in (and that you know about, so that your background knowledge helps not to get lost) and start listening. Do not worry if little is clear or if you cannot figure out where one word ends and another one starts. Practice makes perfect! Be consistent, and when you look back at your experience some time from now, you are sure to notice how much progress you will have done.
We are discussing this topic more in detail in a podcast "Live and Learn" that I co-host with Yuliya, my friend and colleague. Come and give it a try!
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