#1 STRATEGY to become FLUENT in English [and why you DON'T NEED to 'speak like a native speaker’]

2,550,159 views ・ 2018-12-31

Accent's Way English with Hadar


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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If you're fed up with getting stuck in English, of not being able to fully
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express yourself or constantly feeling judged and self-conscious when you speak
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English, this video is for you! Becoming fluent is not something that just
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happens to you. "Okay, I'll just listen to podcasts and watch movies without
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subtitles and read lots of books and speak a little bit at work and then I'll
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be fluent!" No, that doesn't happen that way. It's like planning a project at work
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or deciding to renovate your house, right? You're not just stumbling upon furniture
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or people asking them, "Hey, do you mind breaking this wall in my apartment
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because I need to renovate it." And then you break a wall. Then you're like, "Oh no!
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That was not a good idea! Maybe I need to put back the wall and then break another
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wall." Then you go ahead and break that wall and then you go above your budget
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and the house is a mess right and you have no idea what to do. Well it's
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sort of the same thing but different. If your goal is to become fluent, you
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have to make it a project of yours. You have to plan it. You have to see
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what's working for you and what's not working for you. You have to focus your
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attention and to do only the things that get you results. You've got to stop
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wasting time with the wrong teachers. You got to stop wasting times watching all
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these videos without really doing something about it. You have to stop
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wasting time doing things that don't advance you, but to do that you have to
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know what you need and the only person that can help you with that is you. Today,
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I'm gonna teach you the three steps that will help you develop your fluency
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strategy to understand what to learn and how to learn it, how to practice
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effectively and how to boost your confidence by changing your mindset and
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owning that fluent mindset that will help you kick ass when you speak English.
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The way I see it, fluency has three pillars. The first pillar is 'knowledge' -
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knowledge of words, knowledge of grammar, knowledge of pronunciation,
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right? Knowing how to use certain expressions, and what words to use when,
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and how to structure the a sentence. So this is knowledge. The second pillar
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is 'practice', which is taking all the knowledge that you have and turning it
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into spoken English. This is usually the biggest struggle. Most people are having
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an easier time reading and writing and listening to English, but when they have
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to speak, that's the main challenge. Retrieving the right words, knowing how
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to structure it fast and fluently, and of course, being able to pronounce it and to
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sound clear when speaking so you actually communicate your message.
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The last pillar is 'confidence'. It's great to know all those things you know you
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can learn for hours on end and you can practice with your teachers and with
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your friends, but if you don't have the confidence to speak up when you're
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needed, when you're asked a question, when you have something to say in a
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meeting or in front of people or just in the store. If you avoid conversations
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like you avoid fire then you need to boost your confidence. Now confidence is
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one of the pillars but it's also the result of the first two because when you
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learn more and when you practice more, of course, it improves your confidence and
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these three elements are essential if you want to become fluent in any
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language. Now that we know these three elements we need to understand how to
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improve in each and every element here. When it comes to learning English, I feel
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very lucky. I think that we all are. We live at a time that there is so much
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information out there. There are so many learning resources, high-quality top
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resources. They can just reach your hand and grab them for free. The downside of
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it is that you don't know what to focus on because if you go and try to learn
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everything that is out there because you're passionate and motivated. The
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result is that it can be overwhelming, a waste of time, and sometimes redundant.
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Let me give you an example. If you still struggle with a past simple tense or
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present simple, do not go and learn the perfect tenses. Master the basic and most
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used tenses before you move on to more advanced tenses.
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Phrasal verbs are very important, but if you still don't know when to use 'on', 'in'
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and 'at' when you're talking about time and space, do not go and learn all the phrasal verbs out
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there in the world. Focus first on the things that get you stuck because you
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use them daily, okay? Understand what are your needs and focus
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just on that when it comes to pronunciation. Do not go and learn all
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the different nuances of the American T and all the extra sounds added when
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you're connecting words, if your R's and L's are still getting confused, okay? I'm
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not saying it's not important, it's not important right now. You need to focus on
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the things that will get you the best results and those things are the most
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apparent things, the things that you probably want to deal with the least
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because you're so tired of it or and bored with it. But, these are the most
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important elements that keep getting you stuck. And when it comes to vocabulary,
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don't waste your time learning words that you don't know. Focus on using words
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that you know but never use, that you understand when other people speak, that
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you use in reading and writing but you never use in speaking. That will get you
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results. Learning new words and memorizing them and never using them
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along with the other 1,500 words that you already know and never use, will not
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get you results. When you're planning your learning road map trying to
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understand what are the topics that you need to focus on, you have to laser focus
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on the things, the critical pieces, that are missing when you're speaking English.
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The critical pieces that still hold you back
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when you speak English. Do not go, although it's tempting, do not go and
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learn everything that is out there. That's just procrastinating. That's just
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not dealing with what's important for you and believe me I know. I know it's
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the most boring stuff. It's the stuff that you know but it's just not a part
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of you, so you know that you need to do it but it's just, it's not there yet and
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then you're like pushing it to the corner.
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No. Open that box and drill down and master it and then
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you will see how everything is so much, so much easier. When it comes to
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practicing English. Remember that it's always quality over quantity. You do not
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need to study every day for two hours. You do not need to move to an
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English-speaking country in order to immerse yourself and really improve. No,
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you can do it from a non-English speaking country also and you can become
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fluent and you can master the language and I know it because I've seen it
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happen. Swear to God. I've seen my students and my
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community members take huge leaps in their English and their ability to
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communicate just by practicing effectively. What is to practice
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effectively? First of all, to plan it out, to learn only the things that you need
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to learn. You need to be aware of what you're doing. Maybe you need to record
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yourself. Maybe you need to videotape yourself listening to it giving yourself
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feedback, looking in the mirror to make sure that you're opening your mouth or
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rounding your lips as you're speaking. All of these things turn your practice
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into a conscious active exercise from which you can learn and improve. Remember
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that. The small changes make all the difference, and of course speak as much
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as possible. Speak to yourself in the car. Speak to a friend. You don't have to have
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native speakers around you to be able to speak and to practice. You don't need
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that constant feedback. Understand that just speaking, looking for the words
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trying to understand how to say it, even if it's when speaking to non-native
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speakers, it's a great way to improve. In fact, I find that non-native speakers
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have a much easier time to practice with fellow non-native speakers. They feel
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less judged. They feel a lot more freedom because they know they're both in the
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same boat and this is why I started our online community and if you're not a
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member, please click the link below and join us because it's a safe space for
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people to discuss meaningful things in English, because you don't have to
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constantly practice English to practice English. You just need to
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speak. And when you speak about meaningful things and when you really
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connect with other people from around the world, it makes everything so much
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better, and to be honest, is the most empowering and safest space I've ever
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seen online. So click on the link and join us! Lastly, let's talk about
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confidence. You know that voice in your head that tells you, 'Oh, you made a
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mistake. Oh, you're not gonna be able to say it. Oh, you're not gonna know how to
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finish the sentence why even bother starting? You sound funny. They're gonna
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think you're stupid!' Do you know that? Do you know that voice? You know these
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voices. It's not just in your head. I just want you to know that it's in everyone's
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heads and even in my head because, what do you think when I'm speaking to you
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right now in front of the camera, there isn't this Vicious Hadar sitting up here
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and they're like, 'You didn't sound good here. You made a grammar mistake.
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That's the best you can do??' It's here all the time. The question is
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how much space I'm willing to give this person sitting right here. Usually I tell
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her to take the back seat because I'm right here making videos for you guys
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and that's more important than making a pronunciation mistake or grammar mistake.
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When you're communicating with other people, you give others the opportunity
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to get to know you, to learn from you, to understand something about themselves or
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about you or about the world, even if it's simple things. When you're holding
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yourself back because of mean voices, you are denying yourself the opportunity to
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be you, even if it's in the second language. You have to remember that and
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there are a few things that you need to keep reminding yourself that will
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completely change your mindset and those things are: being perfect is overrated.
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I hate nothing more than hearing the term 'speak like a native speaker'
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because when you set the bar so high, the gap is so wide that you'll feel that
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you'll never be able to reach there. If this is your goal then this becomes
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impossible. You don't need to sound like a native speaker, sound like
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yourself, but your most fluent, expressive and confident self. That's your goal.
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Don't try to achieve something that will hold you back, try to achieve something
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that will empower you. Really trust me on that. I know. I know that it's hard to
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change that mindset because you've been told for years that the only way to
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become fluent is to sound like a native speaker, but understand that being a
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native speaker is something that happens if you're born into the language
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and if you're not born into the language, you can become very fluent in the
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language and you can master it and you can master the accent. I know that and
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again I've done it myself but I know the the journey is long and it takes a lot
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of hard work and sometimes the goals should be expressing yourself, being
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fluent, finding the words, sounding clear even if it's not like a native speaker,
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even if people still ask you where you're from, okay? The thing is that you
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need to be okay with that. You need to understand that what you bring to the
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table as a non-native speaker is your gift, is your advantage, okay? Don't try to
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hide it. Don't try to wash out your identity.
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Become clear, have a powerful voice, say what you have to say. Doesn't matter if
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it's with an accent and it doesn't matter if it's with mistakes. Which leads
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me to the second thing and that is - mistakes are okay. Mistakes are the only
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way to learn. Don't beat yourself up every time you make a mistake. Don't be
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afraid of making mistakes because that will only result in not speaking. Don't
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wait till it's perfect to speak - your pronunciation, your knowledge of English,
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your thought, okay? Don't wait for you to know exactly what you need to say before
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you speak. Start speaking, get stuck, make a mistake, ask for help, but speak. Once
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you're okay with making mistakes, and again I'm telling you this because I
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have come terms with my mistakes, with my grammar
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mistakes, with my pronunciation mistakes, with my stupid typos in my videos that I
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don't see because I've been writing words phonetically for years now that
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I've forgotten how to spell correctly, okay, but I have to become okay with it
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to be able to make those videos for you. And if you feel that you're benefiting
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from my videos, then I know that I've done my work. Then I know that I did my
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job in this world because at the end of the day it's not about being perfect but
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it's about communicating with the world and expressing yourself, and it doesn't
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matter in what language you do that. The most important thing is that you show up.
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Now you know that in order for you to make things happen you have to take
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action and this is why I want you to take a few minutes right now and share
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with us in the comments below two things. One - where do you struggle the most? Is it
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with knowing what to learn and how to pursue your knowledge? Is it sitting down
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and actually doing the work practicing, or is it confidence? What are the voices
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that you hear in your head? And then the second thing I want you to do is to
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write down your game plan. What are you planning to focus on? What are the things
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that you are going to learn in order to improve? Be as specific as possible.
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Really, the most specific you could be and then I want you to let us know how
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much time out of your day you're willing to invest practicing effectively in
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order to become the most fluent you've ever been and if you haven't yet I
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highly encourage you to join our amazing online community. So I'll post a link to
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it right here below. I know I'm not objective but I'm not the only one
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saying it it's really the most safest, most empowering place where you
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can share and learn from and create activities. So really, I'm
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telling you don't waste your time. Click that link and get your butt in there.
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Thank you for letting me share this with you and I truly believe that if you put
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your mind into it and you do the work, English will come to you. Thank you so
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much for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye.
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