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You probably already know this.
But I have very little tolerance for people who whine (=complain) about their lives.
Something I hear a lot from people who use English at work…
… Is how ‘unfair’ it is.
It takes them ages to write an email in English, they say. But the reply from their native-speaker clients comes back instantly.
Or native speakers have it easy in meetings…
Because English is their first language.
People who use English as a second language, however, have a tough time. It’s hard to understand. People speak too fast. It’s just not fair, blah blah blah.
Boo-hoo.
Quit complaining and get good at English. Learn the language you need. And just do it.
This kid was born with no arms
… but look at him.
He brushes his own teeth and even writes his own school work.
Is he complaining because he’s a bit slower at it than everyone else?
No.
And what about this woman?
She has 50 orgasms a day. Try writing an email quickly when you can’t stop orgasming.
But is she complaining?
No. She’s getting on with her life.
Where there’s a will there’s a way
It’s as simple as that.
Don’t like your English? Think things are ‘unfair’?
Stop trying to change the world, and start changing yourself.
Cheers,
Julian Northbrook
P.S. Reading Chapter 1 of my best selling book for free would be a good start.
In anything, there are people who get good, and people who get REALLY good.
There has been a lot of research into why people get REALLY good at something.
Including English.
Today I’m going to talk about something else.
Not English.
Playing the violin.
In 1993 a group of scientists (Anders Ericsson, Ralf Krampe Clemens Tesch-Römer) decided to try and find out why some violinists become good, but others become REMARKABLE.
They found that people who get good practise a lot.
But people who get REALLY good practise in very focused, very intense sessions.
They know what to do. And how to do it.
This is what having a consistent system, a structure does for you.
It is like a plan, or a map. You know EXACTLY what to do, how and why.
I made a video about this. I compare learning English to this research, and to muscle training.
Watch it here:
That’s the basic idea.
Cheers,
Julian Northbrook
Language Punk.