LEARN ENGLISH PODCAST: ARE OTHER PEOPLE STOPPING YOU FROM REACHING AN ADVANCED LEVEL OF ENGLISH?

- [Jack] This is Jack from tofluency.com,

and this is episode seven of the To Fluency Podcast.

Today, we are going to talk about mind-frame

and positive thinking when it comes to learning English.

I have a few quotes for you today

and there was a main quote that I want to share,

I will share that soon, but before we get started,

if you are new here, subscribe to this podcast.

If you enjoy it, leave a positive review.

That is the best way to thank me

for these free audio lessons.

And then also, if you're feeling very generous

share this episode with a friend.

You can do that on WhatsApp, on Facebook, on Twitter

or simply by text message.

Okay so today we're going to talk about,

how to make faster progress or how to ensure

that you're making great progress

with your English, in terms of your mindset,

the way that you think about your English

and the way you think about your goals.

Because, in my book, "The Five Step Plan To English Fluency"

which you can download for free,

there is a link in the description,

I talk about how it's not only important to find

the right learning methods, to think about the techniques

that you can use to make fast progress.

It's also important to be consistent with your learning.

Now before we get into our main theme for the lesson

here is a quote from Henry Ford

who started the car company Ford,

and this was the most successful car company

in the world for a number of years.

And he said this, "Whether you think you can,

"or you think you can't you're right."

"Whether you think you can

"or you think you can't you're right."

So if we think about that quote,

what it means is, if you think you can do something,

then you can do it.

If you think you can't do it, then you can't do it

or you won't do it.

So it's all about emphasizing how much attitude

determines success or failure.

Because I'm sure you can think about an example

in your past when you thought, "Oh, I can't do this,

"I just can't do it, it's too hard for me.

"I know I don't have the capability to complete this task."

And in that situation you were right

because you probably didn't try to do the task.

But you can also think of an example when you were excited

about doing a task even though it was hard and you said,

"Okay, I can do this, I can do this if I work hard at it."

And because you had that attitude,

that determined your success with the task.

So a lot of this is based on your attitude.

And I see this with English learners a lot.

So they'll send me things like, or send me an email saying,

"English is hard, it's too difficult.

"I'll never be able to speak fluently.

"I'll never be able to understand English speakers."

And if you say this a lot in your life,

then you're probably not going to achieve

the goals you want to achieve,

because you've already determined in your mind,

you've already decided that you won't be able to do this.

On the other hand, if you have a goal and you say,

"I know I can do it.

"I'm going to do this every day, and by the end of the year,

"I'll have a C1 level of English,"

which is an advanced level.

Then you're going to change your life and create

habits in order to achieve that goal

because you think it's possible.

You think you are able to do this.

So if you have a positive outlook,

then you are more likely to achieve

what you want to achieve.

However, there is another quote here.

And I think this is such an important quote

and I'll go into the different aspects

of this and talk about my life as well as I go through it.

Now, here is the quote.

"You are the average of the five people

"you spend the most time with."

"You are the average of the five people

"you spend the most time with."

This is a quote by Jim Rohn.

Now this is spelled J-I-M-R-O-H-N.

And I'll have his name and the quote in the description

if you want to look up this person

because he's a great speaker, a great motivational speaker,

and he speaks very clearly so he's quite easy to understand.

But what he is saying here is that, it's not just important

about your mind frame with things,

it's also vital that you are surrounded

by people who believe in you too.

People who are going to support you

and motivate you to achieve your goals.

And basically saying that our friends, family and workmates,

influence us more than we think, more than we notice.

And that the famous quote from Jim Rohn states that

we are the average of the five people

we spend most of our time with.

Now I'm gonna give you some examples now

to help you better understand this.

Imagine that you are trying to eat healthy

or you're trying to reduce the amount of sugar that you eat,

because you don't want to eat as much sugar.

But that day, you go to a party.

And at the party, there are a lot of different

items of food, they all have sugar in them,

and then they bring out a cake

and this has sugar in it too.

Now because you're in that environment

and you're surrounded by people,

and those people are eating cake,

you are much more likely to eat that cake

than you would if you were on your own at home.

So you can imagine the different scenarios.

You are at home on your own, it's easy to avoid sugar.

Whereas you're at a party and everyone

is eating food and cake and sugar,

and they say, "Come on, come on, Jack,

"just try a piece of cake.

"Come on we're a party, eat some cake."

If you are at that type of party then it is much harder

to refuse that cake.

This environment is stopping you from achieving your goals

or making it much harder to stick with your plan.

Another example is, you can think about a time when everyone

around you is always complaining about something.

So maybe this is a group of friends at college,

or some people at work, or at any part of your life.

If people around you are always complaining

and they are not enjoying life,

it's much more difficult to be carefree and to have fun.

It's so much more difficult because the energy

in the room just isn't there for you to have fun

and to smile and laugh and be joyful.

But if everyone around you is highly motivated,

and excited and full on life,

which means they have a lot of energy

and they want to live life, you're much more likely

to be happy and motivated too.

An example from my life is that,

when I'm surrounded by people who have successful businesses

and people who are doing well with their jobs,

then it gives me that motivation to want to do better.

So, I am friends with other English teachers,

people like Vanessa, Speak English With Vanessa,

Gabby Wallace from Go Natural English

and Shayna from Espresso English.

And when I speak to those people,

I just feel so much more motivated to create lessons,

to engage with students, and to push my business forward.

Now, as James Clear puts it, again I'll leave a link

and some description below,

if you want to read about this.

James Clear, he says, "Most of our behaviors

"are driven by two things, our environment and our beliefs.

"And environment is perhaps the most powerful

"of those two, because in many cases,

"your environment can shape your beliefs.

"This is especially true when you consider your environment

"to include the people who surround you."

So it's saying that, our behavior, the way we act,

the way we do things everyday, are based on two things,

our environment, and also what we believe.

But, the environment can shape our beliefs.

Which means, the environment can change the way we think

about things and what we actually believe.

So in life, what this quote is saying,

and what Jim Rohn is saying is,

it's important to be surrounded by people

who are going to give you that energy and motivation

and drive, to complete the tasks you want to complete.

To achieve the goals you want to complete too.

Now how does this relate to learning English?

And how does this relate to having a high level of English?

Now, I think it relates in a big way because when it comes

to achieving a high level of English,

it's hard to do this on your own for a long time

especially when you can't always notice

that you're making progress.

Because any long-term goal, any skill that needs

to be mastered over a long term,

which learning a language is an example of this,

or learning to play the guitar, another one,

getting in fantastic shape and being physically fit,

these are long journeys.

And a journey full of different types of challenges.

And it's even more difficult to do over the long term,

if others aren't supporting you,

or if you are surrounded by people

who aren't giving you that energy and motivation

to keep going, to keep striving towards your goals.

And I'm sure you can think about a time

when you said something like,

"Okay this year I'm going to learn English."

And then somebody in the group says,

"Why would you want to do that?

Or "Oh I tried that once, but it's too difficult.

"The only way to learn English is if you go

"to an English speaking country."

And that type of comment can sometimes make you feel down.

It doesn't give you motivation to do it.

Whereas, if you're surrounded by somebody who says,

"Oh, I learned English last year, I did this, this and this.

"I did these techniques, I did it every day for two hours

"and now I have a high level, I'm sure you can do it too.

"I recommend you do this, and I recommend you do that."

That type of energy, is going to keep you going

and keep you motivated.

So think about who you talk to

when you're talking about learning English.

Are they driven and motivated?

Are they supportive of your goals,

your goals to learn a high level of English?

And are they the type of people who can achieve a goal

such as learning English and have they done it before?

If not, they could be slowing down your progress

without you knowing it.

And they could be effecting you subconsciously

and stopping you from doing the things you need to do

to reach English fluency.

Now that might sound quite depressing

but there is some good news.

The good news is, if you start hanging around with people

and others in person or online,

who have similar and goals and ambitions than you have,

or people who have achieved this,

then it can really just give you that boost

to learn English quickly.

And that's why I want to create with To Fluency,

especially on the Facebook page, Instagram page,

YouTube channel, where people talk about

how they have achieved their goals

when it comes to learning English.

And you can be surrounded by people

who are doing the same thing.

And this is going to give you the motivation

and the desire to keep going.

Now I'm not saying you have to ditch your family,

which means leave your family and leave your friends

and only spend time with super successful people,

but just be aware of this,

as you talk about your English learning journey.

Be careful about what people say

and how this might affect you.

And find people online and in real life

who have done this before,

and people who are on this journey

and excited about this journey.

So here are some practical ways you can do this.

You can follow inspiring people on social media.

Teachers and language learners,

and communicate with these people in meaningful ways.

So you can follow them on Instagram,

follow on YouTube and send them messages,

find other language learners who are doing this too

like in forums, for example.

You can also join study groups

of other English language learners and discuss your goals

and what you're doing to achieve them.

I love this type of group.

It can also be called a mastermind group,

where you meet maybe once a week or once a month,

and you say, "All right in the last month,

"I have achieved this, this is what I'm struggling with,

"this is what I find difficult."

And then you can get feedback and discuss

these issues with the group and then they can share

their success and you can feel motivated by their success.

And then another practical way to do this

is to change the subject, when somebody talks about

your goals in a negative way.

So if somebody starts talking about your English learning

and saying, "Oh, you're never gonna do that,"

just change the subject and move on.

And then think about when you get home

how to stay positive with your mindset.

Okay so, what i want you to do now is go to the description

and read the quotes again.

And also I'll send a link to an article

where James Clear talks about this in more depth.

And then, get my book,

"The Five Step Plan For English Fluency"

because it talks about your goals,

why you want to achieve them,

what things you need to do in order to achieve them,

how to make this part of your daily life,

and the best way to get started as soon as possible.

That is free to download, if you go to tofluency.com.

Again the link will be in the description.

And then what I recommend you do is listen to episode three,

One Simple Trick For English Fluency Success

because this is also going to help you just get started

on doing the hard things that you need to do,

in order to achieve your goals.

So, definitely listen to that podcast.

And again, if you're new here, subscribe, share this podcast

and leave a review that will really help me

and I really appreciate it in advance.

Okay, thank you so much for listening today,

I hope you have enjoyed it, bye bye for now.

(upbeat music)