Take a deep breath and get ready to work hard towards your goals for vocabulary improvement in 2011! The Latin word spirare, meaning “to breathe,” is the root for many English words, including respiration (the act of breathing), inspiration (literally “breathing in,” but also “drawing in new spirit”), and aspiration. The word aspire is a verb; its roots are ad- and spirare, which together mean “breathing upon” or “giving spirit to.” The word initially had the meaning of something coming to a person from the outside, which would assist them or inspire them to achieve a goal. Today, we use the word to mean an internal desire that a person has to attain a goal or a status that will lift them higher in the world. The noun aspiration refers to this internal desire, or to the object or state that is desired.

Some synonyms for aspiration are ambition, objective, and endeavor. It’s important to remember these three facets of meaning when you’re getting organized to identify and plan your strategies for attaining your own goals in the coming year.

Ambition. In general, goals and accomplishments are not achieved just by sitting around doing nothing (lottery winnings excepted). In order to reach your goals, you need to have the ambition – the drive, the desire, the determination – to begin the process, and the energy to see it through. What are your ambitions for vocabulary study in the next year? Do you have a specific list of words you need to learn for an examination or to get a promotion? Define your goal and focus your energy on that goal.

Objective. By defining your goal, you can make sure that all your attention is put towards achieving the goal, and you won’t get distracted by other projects. In addition, choosing one goal gives you a greater chance of success, especially if you’re limited in time and energy because of your other commitments. It’s better to set individual goals and achieve them than try to do to much and not be able to complete several projects at once.

Endeavor. Above all, get ready to work! There are a lot of tools out there that can help you and make your task easier (the Ultimate Vocabulary system being the best, we believe …) but without your endeavors – your efforts, your earnest and sincere attempts to make progress – you might find that your chances of making a lasting improvement in your English vocabulary are about the same as that of buying the winning lottery ticket.

Take control of your vocabulary study program, and reach for the stars in 2011! Ultimate Vocabulary is here to help you succeed.