Watch This if You Feel Like a Failure | How to Find Motivation to Study English?

i used to get upset if a video on my channel  didn't get a lot of views i used to get upset if  

i forgot a word in english and had to use google  translate i used to get upset if my accent in  

spanish sounded a little too russian until one  day i decided to stop feeling sorry for myself  

and turn every obstacle into an opportunity today  i want to talk to you about motivation in general  

and motivation when it comes to learning foreign  languages i want to give you a couple of tips that  

will help you stop feeling like a failure and  start looking at every hurdle in a positive way  

look we've all been there we've all had days  when we felt like our english was absolutely  

horrible like our accent did not sound like it  should and we forgot even the most essential  

words but i think what helped me stay positive  in those days is realizing that taking a step  

back is a part of the journey progress is  usually two steps forward one step back and  

every time you take this one step back i want  you to remember about the next two steps forward  

before i jump into the tips about motivation  and feeling better about yourself i want to  

share a story with you guys when i felt like  a failure and this story is about learning  

chinese i feel like if you're learning a foreign  language you always have this type of story  

for me obviously i had a lot of those stories  because in the past i studied french as well  

and obviously english and then chinese and  believe me guys i felt like a failure in a  

lot of different situations but when i was in  college i had a chinese class and during an exam  

i completely spaced out and forgot the majority of  the words it was a written exam and i didn't write  

almost anything naturally i got a d minus and i  felt so bad about myself because it was my third  

year learning chinese and all i was thinking was  how could i forget this word you know it was so  

easy it's like a basic word in chinese but i  forgot how to write it but in retrospect that  

exam didn't really mean much and it just showed  me that you know i'm not a fan of writing chinese  

characters which is totally fine and i decided  to focus on communication instead when i chatted  

to some of my chinese friends they consoled me by  saying that even native speakers sometimes forget  

how to write certain words in chinese because  their writing system is extremely difficult and  

so even though at that time it felt like the worst  thing that could have happened right now i think  

you know it was a good learning experience  for me because i focused on communication  

i focused on developing my speaking skills  because i just didn't enjoy writing that much  

but to be completely honest because the exam made  me feel like a failure i decided to sign up for  

calligraphy classes and even though the majority  of them were boring as heck i improved my writing  

technique a lot and here you can see some of the  pictures from this calligraphy course honestly our  

professor was absolutely incredible i'm just not  this type of person who enjoys sitting for a long  

time in one spot and trying to you know write  one single character very pretty paying a lot  

of attention to every single stroke so from this  story we can learn the first tip when you feel  

demotivated when you feel like a failure when you  feel like you can't do anything try to remember  

the things that bring you joy in your day-to-day  life for me it was speaking so i decided to focus  

on chatting with my chinese friends more if you  lack the motivation to learn english try to think  

of something you enjoy doing in your regular  life it can be watching a movie reading a book  

listening to music or doing yoga for example  and for me this is something i do i like doing  

yoga and i do it in english it's so easy i guess  it's so easy to implement this one little step in  

your daily routine instead of doing a workout in  your native language you can just google the same  

type of workout in english and even if you don't  understand certain words it's totally fine because  

they're going to be showing you all the movements  and you know you're going to be learning english  

and also exercising which is pretty amazing so  as a recap if you do something that is important  

and interesting to you you will naturally find  more motivation to do it in english my second  

tip will be about understanding the root cause  of your demotivation for example when it comes  

to learning a foreign language a lot of people  lack the motivation because they're experiencing  

fear they're afraid of making mistakes and would  rather slow down and stay in their comfort zone  

to get motivated you need to deal with your fear  i often like to ask myself these questions what's  

the worst thing that could happen if i do this why  am i afraid of that happening and after just these  

two questions most of my fears slip away and this  gives me more motivation to achieve my language  

goals let me give you an example from my life  when i lived in new york i had to make a doctor's  

appointment and for me it was so scary to call  because when you're calling and you're talking to  

someone on the phone you really need to focus the  only way you can understand this person is through  

listening because you're not talking with a video  right so you can't even rely on the body language  

so for me answering the question what was i most  afraid of was probably that i was gonna space  

out i was not gonna understand anything and asking  myself the second question why am i afraid of that  

happening i think it was because i just thought  of myself as a person who could speak english  

right who had a pretty high level and for me it  was very embarrassing to admit to myself that i  

sometimes did not understand english but after  talking to myself in this way for a couple of  

minutes i just realized that it was so unimportant  you know again for me the most important thing was  

to get this doctor's appointment and it doesn't  matter if i understood something or if i  

miss something you know it's not the end of the  world my tip number three is try to commit to  

learning english publicly no one likes to look bad  in front of others and we will go the extra mile  

to do something we've said publicly for example on  youtube you can find a lot of videos where people  

challenge themselves to wake up at 5am every  single morning for a week or where people  

try to learn a new language in a month and all of  these youtubers couldn't back down and even though  

their motivation came and went they stuck with  their challenge and completed it now of course  

you don't have to commit to anything on youtube  if you don't have a youtube channel there is no  

reason for you to do that or even on instagram  but you can do it with your friends or with  

your family for example and the most important  part here is to hold yourself accountable don't  

just come to your friend and tell them you  know so i challenge myself to learn english  

in a month and then you know the next time you  talk to your friend is going to be in a month  

no it's not a very good idea i think a  better idea would be to give progress  

updates every single week for example this way  you're more likely to stick to the challenge  

but if you want to go this extra mile you could  always do it on social media because this way  

even more people are going to be involved in this  challenge you know even more people are going to  

know that right now you're learning english or  you know if you challenge yourself to wake up  

like at a specific time every single morning even  more people are going to hold you accountable  

and to be completely honest guys this is actually  something that i've been thinking of doing i  

actually want to make a video on my vlog channel  where i challenge myself to wake up at 5 00 am  

every single morning for a week i know that  i would probably have to go to bed at like  

eight or something but i am ready for it so  if you would like to see a vlog from me where  

i try to wake up at 5am every single morning  let me know in the comments my tip number four  

is start small if you're having trouble getting  started it may be because you're thinking too  

big if you want to learn english for example you  might be thinking that you need to commit to two  

hours of english every single day you know to be  completely honest not every single one of us has  

two hours every single day to learn english  instead you could do small tiny baby steps  

for example just spend 10 minutes memorizing new  words on quizlet just 10 minutes a day i know for  

some people it might sound wimpy but believe me it  works commit to 10 minutes of english every single  

day for a week you might want to do more but don't  only do 10 minutes this is the most important part  

and once you've done 10 minutes a day for a week  you can increase it to 20 you can add additional  

exercises maybe you can read something or watch  a video and then later on you could increase it  

to 30 or even 40 or even an hour a day the most  important thing here guys is to stay consistent  

if you think you can do 20 minutes a day for  a week and be consistent go for it and my last  

tip is for those who suffer from procrastination  try the pomodoro technique the pomodoro technique  

involves setting a 25-minute timer for each task  the time will go by so quickly and you will end  

up with a feeling of accomplishment once these  25 minutes are up you can take a 5 minute break  

and then do another 25 minute session but if you  feel like 25 minutes seems too short it's totally  

fine you can change your pomodoro technique you  can do 30 minutes and then like a 10 minute break  

or some people even do 50 minutes and then a 10  minute break the most important part here is that  

you alternate studying or working with resting and  before i wrap this video up i wanted to share some  

book recommendations with you that could help you  get motivated and stop feeling like a failure the  

first book is atomic habits by james clear a very  famous book that will help you form healthy habits  

the author gives actionable advice for making  small changes that will later on help you achieve  

any big goals in life the next book is the seven  habits of highly effective people by stephen covey  

this book was written a long time ago but it's a  classic in the self-help space i think the thing  

that i like about this book the most is that it's  written in this very inspirational style and it  

uses a lot of real world examples and anecdotes to  help you get started on your motivational journey  

the next book that i really like is you're a  badass by jensen cerro this book is incredibly  

easy to read and the most important message is  doing anything with love and self-care and the  

last book that i'm a huge fan of is the subtle art  of not giving an [ __ ] by mark manson mark manson  

is one of my favorite authors and i absolutely  adore his writing style basically the most  

important message of the book is that you need to  become comfortable with being uncomfortable so as  

usual you'll find all the links to the books to  the resources in the description under this video  

and i think i can wrap this video up on this note  i hope right now you feel a lot more motivated you  

feel like you can do it you feel like you can  learn english or even if it's not about english  

you can do anything in this world thank you guys  so much for watching this video make sure to  

subscribe to my channel and follow me on instagram  and i'll see you guys in my next video bye you