#37- 20 Words for Making and Breaking Habits to Start Strong in 2025!

Welcome to episode #37 of The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast!

In this episode, you'll be learning 20 popular slang words, phrasal verbs, and idioms all about making and breaking new habits! American culture is very goal oriented, which means that we all set many goals at the beginning of the year and throughout the year. It's important to know how to talk about goals in English so that you can interact with Americans. After listening to this episode and using this Study Guide, you’ll be able to speak about your goals and habits with CONFIDENCE and be one step closer to speaking English like a native speaker.

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The Study Guide includes: 

• All words and definitions
• Example sentences
• Practice Activities
• Transcript

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Happy New Year! Do you have a habit that you want to break or a new habit that you want to make in 2025? In this episode, I'll be teaching you words for making and breaking new habits so that you can start off the new year right. You'll be learning words like ring in, gear up for, grind, follow through, and more.
Let's get to it.

Hey there, welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.
Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in.

Hey, hey, hey. Happy New Year, everyone. I know that some of you have different dates to start a new [00:01:00] year, but for many of us around the world, it is now 2025.

By the way, just to review the pronunciation of years with you, there are two ways that you can pronounce this new year. Firstly, you can split the year right down the middle and pronounce it in groups of two: twenty, twenty-five. You can do this with pretty much every year: nineteen ninety-five, seventeen oh eight. Sometimes it gets a little tricky with zeros, like the year two thousand. We say two thousand; we don't say twenty oh oh. But for the most part, this is how we pronounce years, and this is the most common way.

There's also another way that's a little bit more formal, and it's to say two thousand twenty-five. So, if we were talking about math, we would say two thousand, but when we're talking about years, we either say 2025 or the year two thousand twenty-five. So again, the more formal way of saying it is to say 2025, imagining that there's a little comma after the first two. Most people don't say 2025, but it is correct, and you will hear some people say it.

[00:02:00] So, are you excited for the new year? I definitely am, but I can't believe that we're already 25 years into the 21st century. It's already been a quarter of a century. That's crazy. I still remember how scared and anxious everyone was before the year 2000, which we called Y2K here in the USA. All of the Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials listening to this will remember, but all of the younger Gen Z listeners out there, maybe you don't know what I'm talking about. But yeah, it's pretty nuts that it is already the year 2025. Anyways...

Welcome to the first episode of 2025! Before getting into the episode, I just want to say that 2025 is going to be an exciting year for English with Gabby. A lot of cool things are happening that you can look forward to: new ways for you to improve your English and build community with other students around the world. I'm very excited for all of the things that I have in store for you to take your English to the next level.

Firstly, I'm fully back on all of my platforms: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and the podcast. They're all coming back with a bang. On Instagram and TikTok, I'll be producing [00:04:00] weekly content. Of course, the podcast and YouTube as well.

I've taken a really long break from YouTube. It's been over a year since I posted any long-form video. On Instagram, I've been off for the past few months, with TikTok as well. But I will be back with a bang, producing weekly content and weekly lessons, and I'm very excited.

Secondly, my new course, Real Life English, that we soft-launched in October, is coming back in two weeks. It was amazing going through the first run of the course with students in September, October, and November. The students all grew so much in eight weeks, and we built beautiful relationships during the live classes. Thank you to all the students who participated. We're all family now. Keep your emails open, everyone, because you're going to be getting an invitation to [00:05:00] join the course that will revolutionize your English.

Thirdly, as I mentioned in previous episodes, I'll be adding a video component to this podcast. Every episode will have a video component on YouTube as well. I'm also considering putting it on Spotify because so many of you listen on Spotify. So that's something that will be coming up soon.

Also, I'll be getting more active on Spotify. Spotify has a lot of cool features that, unfortunately, Apple Podcasts doesn't have. For example, you can comment, do polls and quizzes, and add video. So more details to come.

All right, now let's get back to this episode, episode number 37.

[00:06:00] You know, the new year is usually the most motivational time of the year. It's the time when people everywhere feel the most motivated to achieve old goals and make new goals. My goal for this episode is to inspire you to improve your English in 2025.

Through this episode, you'll be learning how to talk about your goals, make and break new habits, and express yourself in English. You'll even learn how to talk to yourself about your goals in English, write about them, and discuss them with others.

By the way, you've already heard me say it a few times, but when we're talking about creating new habits and ending old habits, we typically don't say, "I want to create a new habit." We say, "I wanna make a new habit" or "I wanna start a new habit."

And then, if we want to stop doing something, we don't say, "Stop a habit." We typically say, "I want to break a [00:07:00] habit." It's pretty dramatic in English! So again, we say, "Make a new habit" or "Break a new habit."

It's more common to talk about things that we want to stop doing. For example, people might say, "I want to break my coffee habit" or "I want to break my coffee addiction." Because oftentimes, when we're talking about making habits, we say, "I want to start doing blah blah blah."

So let me share the words that you'll be learning in this episode: ring in, resolution, a bucket list, kickoff, stick to, out with the old, in with the new, turning over a new leaf, gear up for, look back on, follow through, work on, follow up, crush it, get your act together, grind, cut down on, hit [00:08:00] the ground running, start off on the right foot, old habits die hard, and Rome wasn't built in a day.

Before we continue, I just want to remind you that there's a study guide waiting for you that will help you study and reinforce everything you learn in this episode. Repetition is the key to learning new vocabulary, and the study guide has more ways for you to practice what you learned. It'll help you remember and use the new vocabulary with confidence.

To grab the free study guide, click the link in the episode description. You'll be taken to the vault that has all of the study guides, so you'll never have to ask again. It'll just always be there waiting.

All right, so let's get to the story.

As I read the story, listen to the words being used [00:09:00] in context. Afterward, we'll talk about all of the definitions.

As the clock hit midnight, Maria stood by her window, watching the fireworks light up the sky. She was determined to ring in 2025 with a fresh mindset. 2024 hadn't been her best year. Her progress in learning English was slower than she wanted, and she often felt stuck. But this year, she had a clear resolution to improve her English skills significantly and finally feel confident speaking fluently.

Maria pulled out her journal and wrote down her goals. She decided to create an English-learning bucket list: watch ten movies without subtitles, have a conversation with a native speaker, and write an essay every month [00:10:00]—just three of the things that she added to her bucket list.

"Time to kick this journey off," she said to herself. She knew she had to stick to her plans, even when things got tough. "Out with the old, in with the new," she thought. No more procrastinating. Maria was committed to turning over a new leaf and leaving behind her bad habits of skipping study sessions.

The next morning, she started to gear up for her new routine. Maria decided to look back on the mistakes she made last year, like spending too much time on social media instead of studying.

"I'll cut down on distractions this year," she promised. Determined to hit the ground running, Maria planned her first week carefully. She joined an English conversation club to start off on the right foot.

[00:11:00] She also wrote down small steps she could take every day to reach her bigger goals. Maria knew she had to follow through with her commitments. Each week, she would work on a specific skill, like vocabulary or pronunciation, and then she'd follow up by testing herself. "This year, I'm gonna crush it," she told herself, excited about her new strategy.
Of course, old habits always tried to come back. "Get your act together, Maria," she reminded herself when she felt tempted to skip studying. Learning English takes a lot of grind, but it's worth it. Maria also reminded herself that old habits die hard and progress wouldn't come overnight. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.

By the end of January, Maria was [00:12:00] already seeing improvement. She had spoken English in two group conversations, finished one movie without subtitles, and had written her first essay. She knew there was still a long way to go, but for the first time, she believed in herself and her ability to achieve her goals. 2025 was looking good.

The end.

For this episode, I wanted to create a story that was motivational, which is why I made it about someone who was disappointed with themselves and wanted to do more in 2025. Whatever you did in 2024 to improve your English, congratulate yourself and be proud. Don't be too hard on yourself. Oftentimes, English learners are disappointed, so hard on themselves, and they always think lesser of their abilities. Keep in mind that even a little bit [00:13:00] of progress towards your English journey is amazing. You're on the journey of becoming a fluent English speaker, and that is not an easy task. So keep going in 2025.

I will be here to help you. You know, life is hard. The world is in crazy situations for many of us, so just keep doing what you can. However, I also want to motivate you to push harder. Don't be disappointed in your progress in 2024, but use 2025 as the year that's going to change your life. Real progress takes sacrifice. And if you truly want to see significant change, you have to sacrifice something. Most times, when you want to get to the next level, you have to sacrifice time, fun, or money. You have to learn how to say [00:14:00] yes to the right things and no to the wrong ones. So again, I will be here to push you, to help you bring your English to the next level in 2025. Really make this the year that you're going to change your life.

Okay, now let's review the vocabulary that you heard in the story.

First up in the story, it says, "ringing in the new year." "Ring in" is a phrasal verb that means to celebrate the beginning of something, especially a new year. For example, "We stayed up late to ring in the new year with fireworks."

Even though "ring in" can be used to celebrate beginnings of things, it is very contextual for New Year's—New Year's Eve, New Year's Day. So you won't really hear it outside of that context as much.

Next up, we have the word "resolution." Now, "resolution" is one of those words. It's [00:15:00] not slang, it's not a phrasal verb, it's not an idiom, but it's a very important word that has to do with the new year.

Now, one form of the word "resolution" comes from the word "to resolve"—to fix a problem. "Resolve" is the verb, "resolution" is the noun. However, in this context, a resolution is when you make a firm decision to do something or not do something. So we have something in English called a "New Year's resolution." And this is how everybody makes promises; they decide to start doing things and stop doing things in the new year. Like I mentioned before, the new year is one of the most motivational times, especially here in the United States. We are a very goal-oriented culture. We have lists, we have five-year plans, so most Americans will make New Year's resolutions.

We have a joke that all [00:16:00] of the gyms around the USA are always crowded in January, and then by February, they kind of die off.

A resolution is a very common thing here. Everybody talks about your New Year's resolution. "Oh, what's your resolution for the new year?" Now, whether you keep them, that's a different story.

But most people make New Year's resolutions. For example, "Her resolution for 2025 is to practice English every day."

Next up, we have a "bucket list." Okay, I want to spend a little bit of time on a bucket list. So a bucket list is a list of things that someone wants to do or achieve in their lifetime.

It comes from the older idiom, "kick the bucket," which means to die. So basically, it's a list of things that you want to do before you kick the bucket. And, as I just mentioned with resolutions, [00:17:00] bucket lists are very, very common in American culture. Everyone has a bucket list. Every year, I do a New Year's resolution activity with my students. And some of my students are like, "Gabby, I don't know what I'm doing next week. How am I supposed to know what I'm doing for the whole year?" And I understand that. But in American culture, a lot of people have bucket lists.

The most popular things to put on bucket lists include travel. For example, "Traveling to London is at the top of his bucket list." You can also have financial goals. You can have educational goals, health goals—you can do all of that and write it down on a bucket list. For example, one of the most common things for people to have on their bucket list in the United States, and I think also most of the Americas—because a lot of my South American students, a lot of my Mexican students—so I think this is like a full American thing for North and South [00:18:00] America, is that people want to see the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. That is a very common bucket list item for people that live in the Americas, for example. So what's something that you have on your bucket list?

Next up, we have "kick off." This is a phrasal verb that means to begin something, especially an event or an activity. "Let's kick off the year with a new English challenge."

"Kick off" we've talked about in past episodes, but it is very, very relevant for New Year's conversations.

Next up, we have the phrasal verb "stick to." This is to continue doing something despite difficulties. This means that you don't give up, no matter how difficult something may be. "He managed to stick to his goal of [00:19:00] studying English for an hour every day."

Next up, we have the expression "out with the old, in with the new." This is a very popular expression that we use to welcome change and let go of the past. We actually use this for a lot of different things. So we do use it at the beginning of a new year. We use it maybe when we change our style, like we get a new, drastic, very big, new hairstyle.

Maybe we get a new car. We start a new journey in life. Maybe you study in another country, or when you end an old relationship. This is a very empowering statement that people say to help them let go and move forward.

For example, "I finally quit my job to start my own [00:20:00] business. Out with the old and in with the new."

This means to make a fresh start or to change your behavior for the better. "She's turning over a new leaf by being more consistent with working out."

Next up, we have a three-word phrasal verb, "to gear up for." This means to prepare. "They're gearing up for the English proficiency exam next month."

"Gear up for" is a pretty high-level phrasal verb, so most of you have probably never heard it. It's very common in American culture, but it's not something that you would typically learn unless you're in maybe C1 or C2 classrooms. But now that you've heard it, now that you've learned it, I'm sure you're going to hear it everywhere, especially if you watch American TV shows.

Next up, [00:21:00] we have another three-word phrasal verb, "look back on." Let's talk about the difference between "look back" and "look back on," okay? So, "look back" could just mean turning 180 degrees and looking behind you.
"Oh, look back. You dropped your wallet."
It's very similar to "look behind you."

"Look back on" is to reflect on or think about past events. So, you know, every app that we have seems to do like a 2024 rewind or recap. Spotify does this. Instagram does this. A lot of different apps do this, where they give you a review of your whole year. This is when we would use "look back on."
For example, "When you look back on this year, you'll be proud of how much you've improved."

So again, "look back on" is [00:22:00] when you look at the past, look at past events, but really because you want to reflect on them and think about them.
They typically say, before you set new goals or try new things, you should look back on the past to see what worked and what didn't work.

Next up, we have another phrasal verb. This time, it's just a regular two-word phrasal verb: "follow through." This is a really important phrasal verb in American English because we use it very, very often. To "follow through" is to complete something that you promised or planned to do.
The example sentence is, "It's important to follow through on your commitment to learning."

Now let me give you some practical examples here. You probably know people who make a lot of promises, but they never actually keep those promises. We would say they [00:23:00] never follow through. And there are also those friends who always do things that they say they're going to do—they are good at following through.

So again, "following through" is not making the promise or making the plan, but it's actually completing it, actually doing it. We use this phrasal verb often in personal relationships and professional relationships. There are many aspects of life where we use this.

Next up, we have the phrasal verb "work on." This is a very popular phrasal verb. I'm sure that many of you have heard this before. To "work on" something means to make an effort to improve something or to develop a skill.
So, if you are not good at something, someone might say, "Okay, work on it. Make an effort. Try to improve. Try to develop that skill."

For example, [00:24:00] "He's working on improving his listening skills by watching English TV shows."

Next up, we have the phrasal verb "follow up." To "follow up" is to check on something or continue something that was started earlier.
For example, "The teacher will follow up on the assignment in next week's class."

So, "following up" is when you check on something that was supposed to happen.

"Follow through" and "follow up" are different. "Follow through" is completing a task. "Follow up" is checking to see the progress of something or checking to see if it was done.
So I could say, "I need to follow up with my employees to make sure that they followed through with their tasks."

Next up, we have a slang expression: "to crush it" or "crush [00:25:00] something." "Crush" has a lot of different meanings in English, but one of the slang meanings that we have here is to perform something exceptionally well or to succeed.

"Crushed it. You're gonna crush it on your English test tomorrow."

"Crush it" is like a way to encourage ourselves because we did well.
So, woohoo! Crushed it!

That's typically what we say. We can also be sarcastic, and you may have seen this on social media. This is similar to "nailed it." So if someone fails at something, we might joke with ourselves and say, "Crushed it. Nailed it," even though we did not. It's just a way of making fun of ourselves.

Next up, we have "get your act together." "Get your act together" means to organize yourself, improve your behavior, and get better. Raise your [00:26:00] standards a little bit.

If you want to achieve your goals, you need to get your act together. Usually, this is said to someone who's failing or they're not living up to their potential.
So, if someone's already working hard, they're already trying, we're not going to say "get your act together."

"Get your act together" is for someone who is totally failing, they're disorganized, things are chaotic, they're not improving. And we would say, "Look, get your act together. Come on, get organized, improve, do better."

Next up, we have "grind." You can say "to grind," or you can also use it as a noun. We also say "the grind," like hard work. "Grind" here is hard work or continuous effort to meet our goal. You do not quit.

"I love the way she grinds."

For example, "The grind of daily practice is paying off in her speaking skills."

Next up, we have another three-word phrasal verb: [00:27:00] "cut down on." This is actually similar to "cut back on." "Cut down on" is to reduce the amount of something.

"I'm trying to cut down on distractions while I study."

"Cut down on" means you're doing something too much, and you want to significantly reduce the amount that you do it. Usually, with "cut down on," we assign numbers.

So, "cut back on" is just in general to decrease something. But "cut down on" usually means we give a number.

"I want to cut down on TV and only watch one hour of TV per day."

Or maybe someone is trying to drink less alcohol: "I'm gonna cut it down to one glass of wine per night," for example.

So, "cut down on," we usually give a specific number, amount of time, et cetera.

"I'm going to cut down on my spending, and I'm not going to use any more credit cards," for example.

[00:28:00] Next up, we have the idiom "to hit the ground running." This is to start something with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. You start something, and you have a lot of passion.

This often happens when you start a new job or start a new class. You have a lot of energy and passion, and then sometimes it slowly goes away.

"She hit the ground running on her school project right after holiday break."

Next up, we have the idiom "to start off on the right foot." This means to start something right. To have a good start, a good beginning.

"Let's start off on the right foot by setting clear goals."

Maybe you have a wrong first impression of someone, or your first interaction with someone doesn't go so well. You would say, "Ooh, we didn't start off on the right foot."

Next up, we have another idiom: "Old habits die hard." This is [00:29:00] used to say that it is difficult to change old habits. Long-established behaviors—things that you've done for a long time—are very difficult to change.

Like if you want to cut down on coffee, but you've been drinking three cups of coffee every day for 20 years, it's a very difficult habit to break.

"It took her five years to stop smoking because old habits die hard."

And lastly, we have the idiom "Rome wasn't built in a day." This is an idiom that means great achievements, great things, take time and patience.

If you really want to do something great, you cannot do it quickly. There's no shortcut. This is a historical idiom, meaning that it took many, many centuries to build ancient Rome, and it wasn't done in a day.

It took a long time. It took [00:30:00] patience.

For example, "Learning a language takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day."

And let that be something that you hold on to as you go through this English journey so that you don't get disappointed in yourself. Learning English, becoming fluent, takes time, dedication, sacrifice, and patience.

You should be proud of yourself because you just learned 20 new popular vocabulary words that you can carry into 2025.

So, once again, happy 2025. Thanks so much for listening.

Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently.

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning. Also, I'd [00:31:00] love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.

Thanks so much for tuning in.