The MINDSET that is destroying your ability to learn English | Luke's English Podcast

Sometimes I feel like success comes when you  really dig deep inside yourself and just accept

yourself for who you are. And you decide that  that's the person you're going to be. And you lean

into it that that often is where success comes  from because people sort of see that there's an

inner truth being expressed or a certain kind  of comfort when you've accepted yourself.

Just being true to who you are  I think it's the key to success.

Have you ever felt like learning English  was just too hard? Like you would never

be successful? Well Luke, from Luke’s English  Podcast, joins me in the studio today to share

some tips that can help you to push through  the most difficult times of learning English

and finally gain fluent, confident English  communication. Luke, welcome to the show!

Thank you very much for the invitation,  it's always nice to be on your show.

So Abhishek says that in 2 months  following the tips from our videos,

they have gotten the confidence that  they needed to finally start speaking!

Well if you hit the subscribe button and the  bell down below then we promise to help you

understand fast speech, be understood by anyone,  and connect with the world just like Abhishek has!

I hear a lot of English lerners  saying as well like you know,

"I can't, I'm an adult, I'm too  old, I can't learn it." Whatever...

But it's really one of the big excuses for  kids, I mean they've done studies now that

adults are better language learners because  of the way that we can logically think about

things and piece things together. Kids make like  a lot of mistakes and everything. It takes them

a lot longer but they have like so much time  on their hands as well that, you know, they're

just all day like listening to their parents  and playing around with it and stuff and so...

It's just something that 12 hours a day  they're working on and that most adults

- can't actually spend that time doing it. - Plus kids have got no sort of limiting mental

factors like adults will you know, feel bad if  they haven't made progress in a certain amount

of time. They feel self-conscious, they're proud,  all those sorts of things. Kids don't seem to be

weighed down by all that stuff  and so their language learning

journey is probably a lot more smooth and is...

There are fewer obstacles, whereas adults  will put all sorts of obstacles in their way

though, "Oh, I'm not good enough for this, I've  got an accent blah blah." So yeah, it does take

time you've got to, you know, it takes time  like in the same way that kids do it. But also

you can speed that up by referring to language  learning materials, you know, grammar books,

and practice activities, and teachers and stuff.  As long as you don't get stuck in your head and

start, you start getting stuck focusing on  grammar and self-editing all the time, then

it ruins your fluency. Kids don't get  stuck analyzing grammar as they learn,

you know. We can do it faster than kids  because kids take a long time. We can

do it faster than kids. We just have to try to  prevent ourselves getting discouraged or getting

or having a confidence bruised or  whatever, so it's like a battle

to maintain that motivation and confidence while  also you know, doing the right kinds of practice.

A few years ago I read a book by Ryan Holiday  called The Obstacle is the Way. This book talks

all about how the most successful people are  able to turn the barriers and obstacles that

inevitably show up in life into opportunities.  For example, did you know that Steve Jobs was

actually fired from Apple in its early days?  It’s crazy! It was a company that he created.

Yet he turned this into an opportunity  to get the experience that he needed

to actually be a great leader and to learn how to  build products that could change people’s lives.

He later rejoined Apple as CEO and made it one  of the most valuable companies in the world.

I remember there was this woman, I can't remember  her name but a surfer that was attacked by shark

and like lost a leg and everything. It's like you  think this person's never going to surf again.

And she was actually able to, you know, turn that  into her own sort of advantage and became I think,

having that weakness and everything made her  a much better surfer because she had to kind

of get over it, you know, and and learned to make  it into something that was in fact advantageous.

I watched the documentary about climbing and it  was these two guys who were climbing up El Capitan

in Yosemite National Park. And this, and you  know trying to do it in record-breaking time

or whatever, and this one guy he had an  accident and he lost his uh index finger

on his right hand. And for a rock climber,  I mean you would normally say that is it,

that's game over, you can't climb if you've lost  your index finger, it's absolutely crucial. But he

actually decided that he would sort of like train  his middle finger to do the same job and, you

know, he spent many months training his finger and  working on it, working on it, working on it until

he got it strong enough to be able to continue  climbing and as you said that became like his kind

of unique thing that it turned into a strength.  That he worked on it so much and it meant that

he was a better climber than he was before somehow  because of this uniquely shaped hand that he was

able to form different types of grips with his  middle finger, and so on. So, yeah, I think

- it's another example of what you were saying. - It's really like that strength comes out of

adversity so like when it's easy really,  success never comes out of things being easy

it's always when things are really difficult and  you find a way despite things being difficult,

right? Yeah, necessity or something it's  the mother of invention. Yeah it's true

when you've really fought, it's a bit like  when you were a student at university,

when I was anyway, that I would get say six weeks  to write an essay and I wouldn't do it at all,

I just wouldn't be able to. And then the last  two days I'd suddenly go into overdrive and

stay up all night and write the thing so, when  your back is against the wall sort of thing,

you know, it just shows what you can do  or if you're mountain climbing and you

feel completely exhausted but you put you  keep pushing because you've got no choice,

and your body responds. That if you ask  your body to do something that, you know,

that it has a tremendous amount of potential that  you can get from it, if you just ask it, you know,

when you're really forced to, that's  when you see what you're capable of.

There was like an example we had Leo, I don't know  if you've heard of the Speak Your English Podcast,

that adversity he worked it, kind of  challenged him to work much harder and to

reach that goal despite what  other people might believe.

I would say that in the beginning there was a lot  of prejudice, I think. I remember applying for

positions where I would go for an interview  and people would really like my resume but the

moment they saw me or the moment they talked to  me they're like, "Oh, so you're not from Canada?

You weren't born here?" I said, "No, I wasn't  born here." But I would show them, I would try

to show them the other skills that would bring  to the table and of course in the beginning

I had to prove myself. But to be honest with you  Ethan and everyone watching this, I think the

biggest impediment to becoming the kind of person  that I wanted to become or to to reach higher

levels in my professional life, I think it  was within me. I think to a certain extent

I am my worst critic. And I think for a very  long period of time I had a really hard time

accepting the fact that I was different.  But I couldn't see that difference as being

a differential, I couldn't see that as, "Hey, you  know what? I'm different, that's actually better."

Because I'm different I can use that as leverage to get to where I want to be.

So, what problems and barriers are getting  in the way of your success learning English?

I’d invite you to reflect on how you  could turn them into opportunities

or advantages. You can even have a  conversation with a friend about this,

or comment about it down below and  discuss it with other RealLifers.

You know the way that Batman um is  scared of bats but then he uses his

fear and turns it into his own superpower?  Like his weakness becomes his strength,

that he becomes fear itself, you know ,and  then he starts speaking like this which is

kind of strange and scary. So like Batman  I decided that rambling would be my

super hero power and I thought actually this  is kind of the thing that I do. So I kind of

decided that yeah okay, I'm gonna be the rambling  guy, but then, but also I am working on it too,

you know, accept yourself for who you are.  But, you know, it doesn't mean you can't

still continue to work on yourself, but you know  it's about balance, finding the right balance

between accepting yourself for who you are and  trying to just be that and still trying to make

little improvements and adjustments too. So I  think there's just so much energy required to

when you're trying to be something that you're  not, you know, and and really once you accept

who you really are it's just like all this,  you're happier right? Because in general you're

not trying to waste all this energy trying to be  this person that you're not, you're trying to hide

something, or trying to be like other people.  So when you do kind of own up to who you are,

you accept that, I think not only will you be more  successful but you'll be happier. You won't be

so hating of yourself and these things that  maybe are imperfect. Well, If you ever feel

lost when natives speak too fast, you are not  alone. When I first started learning Catalan,

there was a series that I really wanted to watch,  but I just could not understand it on my own.

A friend of mine agreed to watch it with me and  explain the parts that left me confused. Now, you

may not have a friend to help you do this, so why  not let us be that friend? With our RealLife App,

you will get an interactive transcript for full  interviews with experts and teachers like Luke.

Plus, we explain all of the difficult vocabulary  so that you can confidently understand

the real English speech. You can practice your  speaking, too! Just press a button and instantly

be connected to a learner like you in another part  of the world for a fun and dynamic conversation

in English! And, it’s all free! I bet this sounds  like a dream, right? Well now with the RealLife

English app, it’s a dream come true. So download  it now by searching for RealLife English in the

Apple App or Google Play Store. Or just click  here or in the description below.

You also have  to switch off your editor which is a thing that people say that means that if you're trying

to come up with funny ideas, you've got to kind  of cancel out that voice that tells you to stop.

There's a voice that says no you can't say that,  no that's unacceptable, no you'll look like a fool,

you're going to make a fool of yourself. You just  switch that part off and that liberates you to

just kind of come up with anything and similarly  if you're practicing your English I think you

should switch your editor off a bit as well, you  know, sometimes on if you're trying to analyze

you know, the grammar and correct what you're  saying but if you're trying to work on fluency

then switch off your editor and just sort of  let it all flow, go with the flow. And then

the other thing is about nerves and just if you do  if you have nerves in a public speaking situation

and just the ways that you prepare for it, just the  way you have to breathe, you have to prepare for

the the Stand Up, you know, I've got to get  my material ready and get it all prepared and

practiced, similarly you've got to prepare for a  presentation or job interview, but yeah breathe, try

to enjoy it, even if that sounds crazy just try and  enjoy it. And you know, body posture is important

having holding yourself open, trying not to let  yourself go into a defensive body posture which

can encourage those nervous feelings control your  breathing, open out your body and try to enjoy it

and I apply those things to Stand Up and I  think you could probably apply the same things

to speaking English either in a high  pressure situation or just generally

practicing and communicating.

You know, Anna from English Fluency Journey is a learner who has faced

a lot of adversity herself on her journey to  gain native like English. Let's watch a clip of

my interview with her. - People who criticize usually don't do anything. They don't know anything about

your work, about your experience, about what  you've been through, they are just talking.

That's their job. To just speak like around  you, so just don't mind that. If this is someone

who you look up to and whose advice you would  love to get, then of course you better

listen to that person. But if this is someone who  you don't even know, who doesn't know you, you know,

it's just pointless. It's just pointless to waste  your time on those people's opinion because

because you're just gonna waste your time. So you  better do what you feel is best for you, for your

family, and if you enjoy learning English, and  if you enjoy working on your pronunciation, and

speaking with an American or British or whatever  accent just go for it just do it. You do you.