WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.340 Welcome to James from engVid. Brought to you by the ducks of Canada. Hi. James 2 00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:16.710 from engVid. Welcome to an outdoor shoot. So, what's today's lesson going 3 00:00:16.710 --> 00:00:22.560 to be on? Are your thoughts holding you back in learning English? A lot of times 4 00:00:22.560 --> 00:00:26.700 people will say, you know: "Studying is hard", yada, yada, yada. Seinfeld 5 00:00:26.700 --> 00:00:30.270 reference. But what the truth is, is it's their thoughts that are holding 6 00:00:30.270 --> 00:00:33.900 them back more than the work that is necessary. So, I'm going to talk about 7 00:00:33.900 --> 00:00:38.070 three things that's probably going through your head, and stopping you from 8 00:00:38.070 --> 00:00:42.270 learning English. Not your teacher, not the work itself, but what you're 9 00:00:42.270 --> 00:00:48.870 thinking. Those three things are going to be: Work, perfectionism, and have to. 10 00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:53.700 I'm going to try and give you some tips on how you can eliminate those thoughts, 11 00:00:53.790 --> 00:00:58.050 so you can learn English better. Okay? So, this is a learning process video, 12 00:00:58.110 --> 00:01:02.280 and I'm teaching this to you because once we get better at processing our 13 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:06.510 learning, we can make learning English more effective, more efficient; and 14 00:01:06.510 --> 00:01:10.680 ultimately, more fun. And what is fun is what we stick with. So, why don't we 15 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:14.040 start with the opposite of "fun", which is "work". Okay? 16 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:16.410 So, the first thing we're going to talk about in that... those three things is 17 00:01:16.410 --> 00:01:22.200 work. A lot of people think learning English is work; and it is, quite 18 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:26.610 frankly. But let's look at the two aspects of why they consider it work. 19 00:01:27.270 --> 00:01:31.740 They think it's going to take a long time, and they think it's hard. So, why 20 00:01:31.740 --> 00:01:37.620 don't we look at those two? They think it's going to take a long time. Well, 21 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:44.219 yeah. Well, most things that we learn, from walking to riding a bicycle, take 22 00:01:44.220 --> 00:01:48.690 time. And thinking long time — well, that's an odd thing, actually. When we 23 00:01:48.690 --> 00:01:53.459 learn something, things seem to take a long time at the beginning, when you're 24 00:01:53.460 --> 00:01:57.150 first learning because there's so many things to learn. Most of you who are 25 00:01:57.150 --> 00:02:01.230 above the age of 16, who drive a car, will know how complicated it was because 26 00:02:01.230 --> 00:02:04.080 you have to learn the brake, to look over your shoulder, check this, check 27 00:02:04.080 --> 00:02:07.920 that, check... it took a long time until you got comfortable. And then you 28 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.150 started being able to do things, like drinking McDonald's while driving with 29 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:16.680 your foot and eating your burger. You learned other skills, because after that 30 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:21.570 initial or first period of learning — which takes a long time — went by, it 31 00:02:21.570 --> 00:02:26.310 was anything else you learned came faster. Right? This is also what happens 32 00:02:26.310 --> 00:02:30.510 with English. You're learning a brand new language — excuse me — but it's not 33 00:02:30.510 --> 00:02:37.139 just the language you're learning. No. You're learning how to avoid trains. GO 34 00:02:37.139 --> 00:02:44.729 Transit. Anyway. So, you're learning a new way of thinking, so your brain has 35 00:02:44.730 --> 00:02:48.660 to adjust to that. That takes time. As your brain adjusts to it, it's like 36 00:02:48.660 --> 00:02:52.050 walking — it will get better. Do you remember as a child? It took a long time 37 00:02:52.050 --> 00:02:56.790 to walk. Ask your parents. You didn't walk in a day; it took months. But then 38 00:02:56.790 --> 00:03:00.240 after that, they were like: "Get back here!" because you were running. And 39 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:03.780 that didn't take you so long. The same is going to happen with English. Once 40 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:07.950 you master the basics, you can use those basics to learn other things; instead of 41 00:03:07.950 --> 00:03:10.680 having to learn everything from the beginning, and that's when the speed 42 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:11.130 kicks in. 43 00:03:11.669 --> 00:03:18.449 So, we talked about long. Okay? Let's talk about hard. Well, everything's hard 44 00:03:18.450 --> 00:03:21.690 at the beginning. But you know the funny thing is? When your attitude is 45 00:03:21.690 --> 00:03:30.090 different, everything changes. When we talk about something being hard, we say, 46 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:32.880 you know... "It's difficult", what have you. But think about when you first 47 00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:37.920 learned to play a video game. It was hard. You didn't consider it hard, but 48 00:03:37.920 --> 00:03:41.520 it is. If you're playing, moving this, moving that, looking at the screen, 49 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:44.549 trying to coordinate the two — that's very hard. But your attitude was you 50 00:03:44.550 --> 00:03:49.020 wanted to learn it; it was interesting to you. Right? If you can get that mind 51 00:03:49.020 --> 00:03:53.340 switch in your head, and realize: "It's not hard; it's new". If you're trying to 52 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:55.920 build new muscle... you see people in the gym and they're sweating, and 53 00:03:55.920 --> 00:03:59.340 they're... but they love it. You go: "Why?" It's hard work, but it's 54 00:03:59.370 --> 00:04:03.810 interesting to them, so it cause... causes them to want to do it. The same 55 00:04:03.810 --> 00:04:06.660 thing will happen with your language learning. Once you get to that skill... 56 00:04:06.690 --> 00:04:10.140 Remember we talked about once you get past the basics; the initial? Once you 57 00:04:10.140 --> 00:04:14.370 get past that, you get to a situation or a stage in which you can actually start 58 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:18.120 using your information. It becomes less hard because you're not like: "I don't 59 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:21.240 know anything." You're like: "I can use this word and this word, and that helps 60 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:26.040 me understand that." Cool? So, we've talked about one of three things. 61 00:04:27.029 --> 00:04:30.239 English is work, and I've said: You're correct; it is work because it's long 62 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:34.950 and hard. But when we talked about it being long, know that it's only long at 63 00:04:34.950 --> 00:04:38.130 the beginning and you have to get past that initial stage, and then it will go 64 00:04:38.130 --> 00:04:42.149 faster. You'll be learning more English more rapidly, more every more... more 65 00:04:42.150 --> 00:04:45.779 and more every day. Okay? That will help you get past that; it won't seem as 66 00:04:45.779 --> 00:04:46.139 long. 67 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:52.540 The other thing is this: It's about time. You're going to be alive anyway. 68 00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:56.019 What else are you going to do? Just sit there and go: "It's going to take me two 69 00:04:56.020 --> 00:04:59.800 years"? Well, you're going to be alive for two years. Practice. That's the 70 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:04.029 other thing about: You got to keep that in mind. It's long, but you're going to 71 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:08.259 be alive, so just study. Right? You're gonna... I had a yoga teacher who said 72 00:05:08.260 --> 00:05:12.310 that; most brilliant thing. It took him, like... to do this one pose: "Wah" — it 73 00:05:12.580 --> 00:05:15.130 took him three years. And we're like: "That's just crazy." He's like: "Well, 74 00:05:15.670 --> 00:05:20.110 what else was I gonna do? I was alive, so I did it. Now I can do it." Same for 75 00:05:20.110 --> 00:05:27.160 your English. When we talk about being hard, understand that everything's hard 76 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:31.060 at the beginning, but your mindset changes how it is to you. I don't really 77 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:34.900 play video games, so they're just hard for me. But I watch other guys play, and 78 00:05:34.900 --> 00:05:37.300 they make it seem like they're in their sleep; they're just playing and they're 79 00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:41.530 laughing the whole time. I don't know how they do it. That's a mind... that's 80 00:05:41.620 --> 00:05:45.160 just switching your mind to going: "It's going to be hard now; it will be easier 81 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:49.089 later." And you can go to the reference of walking, playing video games driving 82 00:05:49.089 --> 00:05:53.199 a car — and you'll quickly realize that's with everything. Anything worth 83 00:05:53.200 --> 00:05:57.430 doing will be hard at the beginning, but much easier later. I wish my accountant 84 00:05:57.430 --> 00:06:03.790 told me this about saving money, and I'd be in a better position. Anyway. Let's 85 00:06:03.790 --> 00:06:04.810 go to the next branch. Okay? 86 00:06:04.810 --> 00:06:08.140 So, we worked on hard. What was the other one I told you? We had: 87 00:06:08.140 --> 00:06:13.900 Perfectionism and have to. Well, along with being work is the idea of "have 88 00:06:13.900 --> 00:06:18.339 to". "I have to study. I have to do it from my job. I have to do it for my 89 00:06:18.339 --> 00:06:22.389 school. I have to do it because I met that cute girl and I want to speak..." I 90 00:06:22.390 --> 00:06:29.110 mean, let's go back to job and let's go back to school. "I have to". That 91 00:06:29.110 --> 00:06:32.890 attitude of saying: "I have to do something" makes it difficult. "I have 92 00:06:32.890 --> 00:06:36.790 to clean my house. I have to go to work." Have you ever... ever seen anyone 93 00:06:36.790 --> 00:06:41.589 smile who has to go to work, or has to clean their house? If we just switch 94 00:06:41.589 --> 00:06:46.989 that from: "have to" to: "I get to" — everything changes. And I'll tell you 95 00:06:46.990 --> 00:06:53.350 why you should think you get to. Quite frankly, you feel you have to do it. And 96 00:06:53.350 --> 00:06:56.080 I'm going to let you know a little secret: Learning is a privilege, my 97 00:06:56.080 --> 00:06:59.890 friend. You may not like me saying it, and you might think: Oh, I'm an elitist 98 00:06:59.890 --> 00:07:04.990 — that's a person who thinks: "Oh, yes. Harvard and Stanford." No. It's a 99 00:07:04.990 --> 00:07:09.549 privilege. There are people out there... when I was a little kid, my parents 100 00:07:09.550 --> 00:07:12.370 would say: "There are starving children in Africa." And I'd go: "Mom, there's 101 00:07:12.370 --> 00:07:17.080 starving kids down the street. Ah, look, those guys have no food." But my point 102 00:07:17.080 --> 00:07:22.599 is this: Not everyone gets to learn, and a lot of people want to. So, the fact 103 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:26.200 that... forget me on this video helping, but the fact that you get the 104 00:07:26.200 --> 00:07:30.850 opportunity to learn something to better yourself — that's a privilege. There are 105 00:07:30.850 --> 00:07:33.670 people — and I can tell you right now, if you go into some factories — where 106 00:07:33.670 --> 00:07:38.050 they do the same job for 30 years. The exact same thing. Press button number 107 00:07:38.050 --> 00:07:42.040 one for the rest of their lives. They would love the opportunity to be able to 108 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:45.610 sit down and learn something new. Okay? And there are people out there who know 109 00:07:45.610 --> 00:07:50.350 they can change their lives, but they don't have access. You get to learn. 110 00:07:50.770 --> 00:07:55.990 Remember that. Now, what's the second part of "have to" and "get to"? Well, we 111 00:07:55.990 --> 00:08:00.400 talk about you get the privilege of it. And I want to also say that's the 112 00:08:00.400 --> 00:08:03.490 privilege of learning, but you get to... you get the opportunity to better 113 00:08:03.490 --> 00:08:09.610 yourself. Right? You get to expand your mind and your horizons; you get to learn 114 00:08:09.610 --> 00:08:14.169 something that's going to help you get a better job, travel, meet new people. 115 00:08:14.590 --> 00:08:18.310 That's kind of cool. Keep that in mind when you're like: "English hard; 116 00:08:18.310 --> 00:08:21.910 difficult". And, once again, this is the thought process. Just switch it from: 117 00:08:21.940 --> 00:08:25.450 "have to" to: "I get to" and then you stock down... you think of all the 118 00:08:25.450 --> 00:08:27.640 things you want to do, and you're gonna be quite surprised. 119 00:08:28.230 --> 00:08:33.630 Now, I had a funny intro with the ducks. So, I forgot to do my test retest. And 120 00:08:33.630 --> 00:08:36.090 what... my test retest was supposed to be this — I'm going to tell you right 121 00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:41.370 now. So, stop for a second. Close your eyes. Yeah. Stay there. Close your eyes 122 00:08:41.370 --> 00:08:46.410 and listen to me. What you need to do is you need to think of the top ten things 123 00:08:46.410 --> 00:08:54.840 you'd like to do. You got that? Is English in the top ten? No. If it's not, 124 00:08:55.559 --> 00:08:58.379 let's go back to what I just talked about, and we're gonna try and get that 125 00:08:58.410 --> 00:09:01.740 in that list. And we might have to do this a couple of times, but eventually 126 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:04.800 we want to get in that list because if it's in the top ten things you like to 127 00:09:04.800 --> 00:09:09.690 do — pretty soon, my friend, you're gonna be a master at this language. So, 128 00:09:09.690 --> 00:09:13.980 remember what we talked about. It's work. Right? We talked about the 129 00:09:13.980 --> 00:09:16.739 thoughts about work. What did we say about work? It's long and it's hard, and 130 00:09:16.740 --> 00:09:20.220 we talked about how to change those thoughts. Yes? Now, we talked about 131 00:09:20.910 --> 00:09:24.059 "have to", instead of getting... you got the privilege and you "get to" do 132 00:09:24.059 --> 00:09:27.869 something. Let's talk about the third one. All right? So, I hope you did a 133 00:09:27.870 --> 00:09:30.179 little, quick review because if you've taken a second... and I'll give it to 134 00:09:30.179 --> 00:09:37.979 you. Maybe it's moving up that list right now in your head because you're 135 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:40.739 thinking: "Yeah, I get lucky. It's a privilege. I should like to be able to 136 00:09:40.830 --> 00:09:42.180 do this." Anyway. 137 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:49.470 Number three is the perfectionist in you and me. Perfectionist — 100%; being 138 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:56.640 perfect. It is the killer of all hopes and dreams. I have a good friend. 139 00:09:57.330 --> 00:10:01.679 Actually, yeah. A guy I actually did this website with. And for a long time, 140 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:04.409 he wanted to do it. And I remember him turning to me one day and said: "I want 141 00:10:04.410 --> 00:10:07.410 to do it. I want to do it." And one day he said: "I don't care if I put out the 142 00:10:07.410 --> 00:10:11.580 worst quality; I just got to do it. Like, I got to get started, and then I 143 00:10:11.580 --> 00:10:15.870 can improve. Because if I get my perfect dream, it'll never happen." Well, thanks 144 00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:20.070 to that man, I'm standing in front of you right now. Right? And the same thing 145 00:10:20.070 --> 00:10:24.000 happened to me. I thought I could never teach on camera. And it's like: Please 146 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:29.070 do... please don't go back to the first videos. You might go: "Oh, my god. He's 147 00:10:29.070 --> 00:10:33.120 got hair? What is that thing on the board behind him?" And it's like: Well, 148 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:39.030 we've decided it doesn't... today's the day; not next year. When you go into the 149 00:10:39.030 --> 00:10:42.059 perfectionist mode, it stops a lot of people of studying because it's not the 150 00:10:42.059 --> 00:10:44.789 right time, it's not the right atmosphere, it's not the right books — 151 00:10:44.790 --> 00:10:48.210 they don't have the right teacher; it's got to be perfect. It's never going to 152 00:10:48.210 --> 00:10:53.250 be perfect. And that thought is going to stop you from starting. Okay? You want 153 00:10:53.250 --> 00:10:53.970 to avoid that. 154 00:10:54.510 --> 00:10:59.790 Another thing you want to avoid is... and I say this because I... I had many 155 00:10:59.790 --> 00:11:03.120 students and they would... they would: "Oh, teacher I want to... I want to have 156 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.330 a perfect English accent; I don't want to sound like that." I'm like: "Are you 157 00:11:06.330 --> 00:11:11.370 crazy?" The sexiest thing in the world is someone who speaks another language, 158 00:11:12.030 --> 00:11:17.460 but they speak our language perfectly with an accent. And you might go: "Oh, 159 00:11:17.490 --> 00:11:20.340 hey. What about, you know... people from India or people from China?" Like: Are 160 00:11:20.340 --> 00:11:24.450 you...? They sound amazing. They sound incredibly educated. Because it's just 161 00:11:24.450 --> 00:11:27.390 this little something... masala, you might say, that... that gives a little 162 00:11:27.390 --> 00:11:31.350 bit of a taste to it. But it's perfect pronunciation and it's like a unique 163 00:11:31.380 --> 00:11:35.580 voice. And I don't care if you speak Spanish, I don't care if you speak 164 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:38.760 Hindi, I don't care if you speak Mandarin, I don't care if you speak 165 00:11:38.790 --> 00:11:42.450 Romanian — it's the same. When you have that little... that little tick on the 166 00:11:42.450 --> 00:11:45.960 end, it's beautiful to hear because it makes me want to get to know you better. 167 00:11:45.990 --> 00:11:49.380 It's your unique voice. When you go for this perfectionism, that: "I want to 168 00:11:49.380 --> 00:11:53.160 sound like a New York reporter from the 1950s. You know what I'm saying? Jeez." 169 00:11:53.429 --> 00:11:58.799 I mean, they put that on; that doesn't exist. They've even got proper English. 170 00:11:58.830 --> 00:12:01.740 I don't know what it's called — something English and it's like that... 171 00:12:02.040 --> 00:12:05.820 the BBC speaks when they speak to you. This is the English that has gone across 172 00:12:05.850 --> 00:12:08.370 all of England, even though nobody sounds like that. They sound more like 173 00:12:08.370 --> 00:12:13.559 this, what I'm saying. They all sound like this. Unique voices. Get over this 174 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:18.779 perfectionist crap. Sorry, bad language. YouTube, don't punish me — YouTube gods. 175 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:24.240 Your unique voice is important. And once you get past this idea of being a 176 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:29.400 perfectionist, you can actually have your unique voice and bring something to 177 00:12:29.400 --> 00:12:32.580 us. Everything you see in the world was created from a unique voice from some 178 00:12:32.580 --> 00:12:38.160 individual; from a computer to the car — there is no thing that we all went from. 179 00:12:38.190 --> 00:12:41.160 Everyone created their own thing, and we get to enjoy the world we have because 180 00:12:41.160 --> 00:12:46.230 of it. So, if you take the idea of "perfectionism", if you take the idea: 181 00:12:46.260 --> 00:12:49.860 "it's work", if you take the idea: "I have to", and you just switch these 182 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:53.879 things around — I promise you, you are going to have a different experience 183 00:12:53.880 --> 00:12:55.380 learning English. You're going to actually... 184 00:12:55.530 --> 00:12:59.280 And here's where I'm going to do my test retest. I'm gonna step out for a second 185 00:12:59.280 --> 00:13:02.970 and I want you to take a second to two now once again, and I want you to go 186 00:13:02.970 --> 00:13:07.110 through that list we talked about, and see if English has made that top ten. 187 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:22.890 All right? Take a second. Okay. Has it moved up? Maybe yes; maybe no? Okay, so 188 00:13:22.890 --> 00:13:28.679 I got something for you. I'm gonna give you two tips to help you. Two tips. If 189 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:33.749 it didn't move up, by now it should have because this is like your homework. Tip 190 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:37.830 number one — I'm gonna say it and you're gonna have to do it — you need to write 191 00:13:37.830 --> 00:13:45.059 out 100 reasons to learn English. 100. One. I have a friend who hates when I do 192 00:13:45.059 --> 00:13:49.079 that. They hate it. But 100 reasons. You know why? Because that's gonna make you 193 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:53.070 think about it. You're gonna think. After 25, you're gonna have it down. 30 194 00:13:53.070 --> 00:13:57.150 — pretty good. 40 — not bad. 50 — you're going to start calling me names. 60 — 195 00:13:57.150 --> 00:14:00.540 don't talk about my mother like that. Okay? We're gonna have problems. By the 196 00:14:00.540 --> 00:14:03.360 time you get to 100, you're gonna start convincing that little brain of yours: 197 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:10.230 There's many reasons why you want to do this. Okay? Tip number two. I'm a comic 198 00:14:10.230 --> 00:14:12.600 book reader, and most of you guys who stuck with me for years would know this. 199 00:14:12.660 --> 00:14:16.890 And Marvel has now put it on Disney channel, so I'm not stealing it. I knew 200 00:14:16.890 --> 00:14:20.370 this from, like, the 19-... You don't need to know how old I am. "He said 201 00:14:20.370 --> 00:14:29.130 1900s. How old is that guy?" That's right. Before time; me and Jesus. I want 202 00:14:29.130 --> 00:14:35.760 you to do: What if? What if you got good at English? What if your English got you 203 00:14:35.760 --> 00:14:40.260 a new job? What if English got you some new friends? What if you got a new life 204 00:14:40.260 --> 00:14:44.340 partner? What if...? What if it all worked out? And go to the furthest 205 00:14:44.340 --> 00:14:48.150 region you can. Like, what if I got that job, and that job got me to meet, like, 206 00:14:48.450 --> 00:14:52.050 the presidents of the world and I was able to stop global... global warming 207 00:14:52.050 --> 00:14:55.200 and get rid of... What if? Just... just go with it; have fun with it. And you're 208 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:58.950 going to think: It all starts from this simple, little thing of: "I just got to 209 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:02.280 practice English a little bit. Just gotta practice a little bit." 210 00:15:02.880 --> 00:15:06.540 Changing your thoughts changes your world. And by the way, the same thing 211 00:15:06.540 --> 00:15:11.400 with language. When you learn to speak another language, you change your world. 212 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:14.640 Now, I want to end this particular lesson with a quote from Woody Allen. 213 00:15:14.820 --> 00:15:23.700 He's a producer, and a director, and an actor. And he said: "What if nothing is 214 00:15:23.700 --> 00:15:27.840 real, and we're all in somebody's dream?" Well, my friend, this is your 215 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:33.600 dream. Make it reality. And that's... before I go... I already gave your 216 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:39.210 homework, but I want you to make sure you go to www.eng as an English, vid as 217 00:15:39.210 --> 00:15:43.290 in video.com. And go check out the other lessons we have there. We have other 218 00:15:43.290 --> 00:15:48.360 learning process videos, like this one; we also have grammar, conversation, 219 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:52.260 listening, you know it. You name it. And some really great teachers. Emma, 220 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:56.670 Adam... Am I forgetting anyone? Because I know one of yous will go: "Why didn't 221 00:15:56.670 --> 00:16:01.260 you say me, James?" Alex. I just remembered you. Listen, have a great 222 00:16:01.260 --> 00:16:04.260 day; and I look forward to seeing you guys again. Go see if there's some more 223 00:16:04.260 --> 00:16:04.710 ducks. 224 00:16:07.800 --> 00:16:10.530 I teach English as a profession.