Just done with a rather intense workout.

And damn.

I feel good.

It wasn’t always like this though.

Go back a year or so ago and I got pretty fat.

So I hired a PT (lovingly known as Phil the Cunt, ‘cos, well, that’s what he is) and over three months he beat me into shape. Then I kept at it by myself. All was good… until I made the decision to move to Ireland, and we started selling off all our stuff.

Suddenly I had no equipment… and I stopped working out.

Watch this video that talks about the mistake I made, and one simple change to my own mindset that fixed it (you probably do this in English, too).

In This Video

• Why I started Getting Fat and Unhealthy Again.
• The Change I made to my own thinking that solved the problem
• Why you probably do the same thing in English…
• … and how to stop doing it.

How to Get Results – DONE, not Perfect

But here’s the thing… yes, the routine that Phil put together for me used a bench and weights. But actually about half the exercises didn’t need either of those things (like push-ups). And of the ones that did… most could be done without (weighted dips -> just dips).

Now, I’m a perfectionist.

And this is a big problem… because no matter how you look at it, just doing half the routine is much better than doing NONE of it. But because I’m a perfectionist it became all or nothing.

Because I couldn’t do it all… I did nothing.

Stupid, stupid mistake.

Do You Do the Same Thing When Learning English?

The point of all this is that you’re probably the same with English. In fact, I KNOW you are. Because EES members email me quite regularly to say they don’t have time to do every lesson perfectly… and end up missing week’s worth of lessons and don’t know what to do. There is a really, really simple solution.

Don’t try to do every lesson perfectly — be OK with doing a half-assed job.

Something done is better than nothing done perfectly.

Anyway…

Tomorrow I’ll give you an example English-study routine that uses minimal time and resources (you can do it anywhere while doing other things).

That’s tomorrow.

Best,
Julian

P.S. There are 7 Reasons people fail to Improve their English, and I talk about them in Chapter 1 of my book, Master English FAST – which you can read for free here.

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What’s the best method for improving your English?

People are obsessed with methods.

Exercises

Techniques.

Tips tricks and hacks for getting fluent, fast.

Is shadowing good? Is listening then repeating a better way to improve my pronunciation? Should I be listening a lot? Chatting to native speakers? Is reading out loud a good way to improve my English? What about dictation? And should I check a transcript? Should I repeat it? How much time should I spend? Will this work? Should I be doing this? Should I be doing that? And…

Look, stop!

All of these things are details.

Tactics.

Yes, techniques and exercises are important, and yes, I teach them. The exercises we use in, say, Extraordinary English Speakers for lessons, are very effective. And you need to do SOMETHING to improve. But they’re just tactics. Details.

What matters far, far more than that is…

• What are you going to do with the language?
• Are you learning the right things to help you accomplish that?

Because ultimately…

If you’re learning the wrong thing, it doesn’t matter how good the method or exercises or techniques you are using are.

‘cos you’re learning the wrong thing!

Now, if you want to talk about some obscure or highly specialised topic, my lessons won’t teach you all the specialist language you need. But if you want to speak better in day to day business and social conversation, make small talk, understand what people say in group conventions, meeting or any other situation or just live and work comfortably in English…

Then I’m your man.

Just click here and start you EES Membership.

Best,
Julian

P.S. Stop struggling to get English learnt – join us in EES.

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Just putting English in your head isn’t enough.

To speak English fluently, you also need to ‘activate’ that English so that it is automatic and habitual.

Marielis Sifontes asks:

Often, I feel my brain full of information, but when I try to speak, to transfer it from my brain to my mouth and formulate a phrase, it’s not easy, I need to take some time to structure them and I speak like a robot. Any advice to improve? Thanks!!

There are two reasons this might happen…

And I talk about both in this video:

So as you see, it’s not a simple case of whether English is in your brain or not.

To Speak English Fluently Where in Your Head Matters

What matters, is WHERE in your brain it is.

When you first learn something, it goes into short-term memory. But short-term memory is extremely limited. It’s conscious – meaning you try to use language in short-term memory, you actually have to think about it — and it doesn’t last long (meaning you forget, fast). So basically, the simple answer to Marielis’ question is that yes, you’ve learned stuff… but no, you haven’t TRUELY learned it.

You’ve only gone half way.

For something learned to become automatic and UNconcious it needs to be moved from short-term memory to long-term memory where it becomes hard-wired.

Make sense?

Good.

The Two Simple Steps to Mastering English

Mastering a language is a simple two-step process.

1. Learn the language you need.
2. Then automate it with practice.

When we first learn something, it goes into short-term memory. Then, with practise, it becomes hard-wired as an automatic (fluent) action in long-term memory.

Not sure what to learn or how to practise?

I talk about what language to learn, and how to practise in my book, Master English FAST, but both of these steps are necessary. Otherwise, you just end up with passive language stuck in your head that you can’t use.

Again, see my book for the what and the how of this.

Best,

Julian

P.S. You can read the first chapter of my best-selling book, Master English FAST by going here.

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Wanna know what really pisses me off?

Entitlement attitude.

There are always people (very selfish people) in the world who believe they have a right to whatever they want.

No strings attached.

I got an email today saying, “I’m poor so let me have your course for free”. This is common. More than once people have emailed me to say I should even be HAPPY to teach English for free. They have a right to learn and it’s my DUTY to teach them.

That’s not how the world works.

This is not just about my courses, though.

You hear this shit all the time.

Watch this video:

Yes, I know.

All this is really, really scary.

But when you do this?

Then everything changes.

You start taking full responsibility for everything happening to you (whether it’s actually your fault or not). You become more focused in your work and goals. Your sense of self-worth increases because you can say “I make my OWN way in the world”.

Sadly this attitude is rare.

And it’s becoming rarer and rarer.

After all, it’s far, far easier to cry and get upset and demand someone else fixes your problems for you. So next time your English holds you back, remember this…

It’s your fault.

And only you can do something about it.

I’m willing to help, of course. But only if it’s quid-pro-quo.

Thanks to my business I live a comfortable life, in the way I want to. I’m free to travel, set my own hours and even spend a lazy Monday morning reading a book if I want to (which is exactly what I did this morning).

But I’ve built my life like this.

And if you DO want to work with me to speak fucking amazing English, the place to start is here – Extraordinary English Speakers.

Best,
Julian

P.S. Don’t agree with my opinion?

I don’t give a shit.

Don’t bother emailing me to tell me I’m wrong. This is not an invitation for discussion.

Here’s an interesting question:

I want to ask you: do you think that is enough reading long advanced text and repeat more and more times again, one or two days in succession, for some months? I will improve my pronunciation and reading and comprehension skills and in my opinion even speaking.

Honestly?

I doubt it.

Watch this video where I explain:

You get good at what you practise.

But people don’t speak like this in conversation. Writing is writing. Speaking is speaking. They’re not the same. The style isn’t the same. And the language isn’t the same (well, unless it’s something written in a conversational style — but anything described as an “advanced text” isn’t going to be). There’s a fundamental misunderstanding here… that practising “advanced” stuff will make you better at English.

It won’t. Research proves this.

Because we don’t SPEAK using “advanced” words and patterns of language.

Everyday conversation, whether it’s in business or social situations, uses a surprisingly small number of words and grammar patterns.

What matters is how you COMBINE the words you know and use.

Ninety-nine percent of the time… THAT is the problem. You speak fairly well, but you don’t speak in native-like chunks (and it’s these chunks that make you fluent and natural sounding).

There’s a detailed article on chunking here.

Best,
Julian

P.S. If you don’t know what to do to improve your English, my best-selling book, Master English FAST will show you – Just Click Here.

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People love to get offended, don’t they?

Have a look at the two comments from a YouTube video I posted yesterday:

Now, I guess they’re not that bad.

The title in question was:

How to Eat a Whale – The Power of Incremental English Improvement

You can find it here, but the thing is, neither of these people (1) bothered to check that the title (How to Eat a Whale) wasn’t a proverb with an idiomatic meaning.

The use of whale is because it’s… BIG. It’s not advocating the consumption of sea mammals. It’s (rightly) pointing out that to achieve a large task, you’ve got to break it down.

But regardless…

Neither commenter bothered to consider that (2) just because THEY find the concept of eating whale offensive, not all people do.

I’ve eaten whale.

And honestly?

It tastes like crap!

When I worked in public schools here in Japan, whale meat was on the menu once a year. In the past Japan hunted and harvested a lot of whales for meat. And they still do. Not in large quantities. But they do. And the meat is on the school lunch menu once a year or so in the form of a “heritage food”. My father-in-law also bought it home once.

Think of it what you will.

‘cos it ain’t your business.

I remember one American girl complaining loudly to the school we worked at — to principle, to the teachers and to students. Because it was whale meat and she believed it was wrong.

Frankly, she was out of order.

It was embarrassing for everyone and the school asked our company not to send her to the school again. It wasn’t her place to voice her beliefs.

Which is why on the few occasions when it was whale meat for lunch, I ate it without complaint — regardless of my personal feelings on the matter.

When in Rome, as they say.

And if you think this has nothing to do with you, think again. Because by definition you use English with people who are NOT from your culture and are, at some point, going to come across things you don’t like.

And that’s all this is.

A cultural difference.

Anyway, whatever. That’s not what that video was about anyway.

It was about the power of incremental improvement.

Best,
Julian

P.S. The other point is…

Regardless of what you say or do SOMEONE will piss and moan about it.

Fact.

So no point in worrying about it.