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This one is called "Beliefs." Let's get started.
Beliefs are another important part of managing your psychology, of strengthening your psychology so that you will learn English, or anything in fact, much faster. And there are two kinds of beliefs:
Limiting and empowering beliefs.
Let's talk about limiting beliefs first. Now limiting means, limit is something that stops you. It's like a boundary. lt stops you from going ahead. So a limiting belief is a belief that stops you from improving, a belief that stops you from getting better. And l'd say most English students have limiting beliefs and many English students have very strong limiting beliefs. I call these beliefs English trauma. My students have told me "Kale, I can't speak English well because I have English trauma."
What is English trauma? What is that, what are they talking about? W ell, trauma means some kind of injury, some kind of
hurt. Emotional hurt, deep emotional hurt. So what they mean is that they had some very negative, painful experiences with English in the past. In other words, when they were in school in English classes, even as adults going to other English schools, they had very negative experiences. And all these negative experiences have created some very negative beliefs, some very limiting beliefs. For example, they say "I am not good at English." Well, that's a belief. It may be true, it may not be true. But it's an opinion, it's a belief that they have.
Another belief, a very common belief, English is difficult. Or, English is complicated. Well, that's just a belief. For me English is very easy, because I'm a fluent speaker, just like Spanish for you is very easy. You can speak Spanish fluently because you are hispanic, so an american might say "Spanish is difficult," and you would say "No, Spanish is super easy." These are just beliefs that corne from our experiences. The problem is these limiting beliefs limit us. They in fact do limit us. They stop us from getting better. They cause a lot of problems for us as students, as learners.
I've had them, too. As I tried to learn Spanish, for example, I had
a lot of these limiting beliefs. I thought "Oh, Spanish is so difficult. Spanish is complicated, the people speak 1000 times faster than English speakers."
And these beliefs would hurt my motivation. They would lower my energy, and in fact they're wrong. They're not true. Spanish does not have to be difficult, it does not have to be complicated. A small child, even a small American child, could learn Spanish very effortlessly, very easily. And the reason is, the number one reason is, they don't have the limiting beliefs. They can sing songs and play games and enjoy the language, and they'll learn it so quickly, so easily, they'll say "Spanish is easy." Well, it's the same with English for you. You learned in a very painful, difficult way in the past. And so you developed, you created these beliefs in your head. English is difficult. English is boring. English is painful. l'm not good at English. l'll never speak excellent English. These are just beliefs.
So how do you eliminate these beliefs? Okay, you have these beliefs. You know they're negative, you know they're not helping you. But we have to figure out, how can we get rid of the limiting beliefs? That's the first step, you have to weaken them. You have to make them weaker and weaker and weaker. You have to eut them clown. W ell, beliefs get stronger from experiences or memories. Sometimes, it's just something you imagine, actually.
But it's a specific experience or a specific imagination, a specific moment, that makes the belief stronger or weaker.
So, for example, you have this idea "English is painful and boring." And when you think of this belief, where does it corne from? W ell, you think of all these past experiences. You think of the time in middle school where your teacher corrected your mistake and you felt terrible. And you think of maybe the bad grades you got on the test. And you start adding more and more and more memories, more of these negative experiences, these negative references. And if you get enough, you will develop a very, strong, deep, powerful belief that "English is difficult.
English is painful. l'm not good at English." So to weaken these,
you just have to question the experiences.
You have to question the memories. T ake the power away from them. And an easy way to do that is just to ask questions about them. For example, let me ask this question. Your past English schools, were they great? Were they just fantastic English schools with fantastic, amazing, fun, positive English teachers? Did you have a great time every day? W ell, I know for most of you the answer is no. So that's interesting, soif your schools were not excellent, maybe the school was the problem. Maybe it's not you.
Maybe your English is not great because you did not go to great schools, or learned from a great teacher. And did those schools that you went to, or the books you used, did they use proven methods?
Did they use research-based methods? Did they know a lot about the research about English learning, English teaching? Did they only use the best methods? Or did they just use the textbook that everybody else uses? Well, I know from my experience as a coach, most schools just use the same textbooks. They don't know why. Maybe the boss tells them "We must use this book." But they're not choosing the very, very best methods. They're not choosing the very, very best books. And so maybe the reason you believe English is difficult is because you used difficult methods in the past, or your teachers did. Maybe you think English is boring because in the past you used boring methods. You went to boring schools. You had boring teachers. Maybe English isn't the problem. Maybe it was these past experiences. Maybe it was the way you did it or where you did it. Ask yourself these questions.
Think about them in detail. Weaken your limiting beliefs.
Challenge your limiting beliefs.
Another question, in school did you learn deeply? For example, did you take one chapter in your book and learn it for a long time so that you totally mastered it, so that you knew it completely, 100% and never forgot it - as you did with the Movie Strategy?
Probably not, most schools, courses and academies I have seen, it's quite the opposite. The teachers go very, very, very quickly. You learn one chapter in your book, boom, after one week on to
the next one, and the next one. Each chapter has so many new words, so much new grammar.
For example, my experience with Spanish in high school and university, I studied Spanish, but I forgot it all. Because we never learned deeply. They just tried to make us learn as many words as possible, a lot of words, a lot of words, a lot of grammar, very, very fast. And then, of course, I forgot everything. How about you? Did you learn deeply in your schools? If not, maybe that was one of the problems. Maybe English feels difficult because you never learned deeply. Maybe English is not the problem.
Finally, did you learn with a grammar translation method? Did you study a lot of grammar rules? Did you take a lot of tests? Did you feel good about that? Again, maybe the method was the problem. Maybe the school is the problem, not English.
So think about these questions and think about them every day. Think about them a lot. I want you to think about these questions again and again and again. And really be honest aboutit. And start to destroy these limiting beliefs. Get rid of them. They're wrong. English is not difficult. English is not painful. English is not boring. It's only a belief. lt's only a past experience. You can change that now and in the future.
So let's do that. Let's talk now about empowering beliefs, the positive sicle.
Soto empower, the verb, to empower means to make stronger. It means to give power to another person. Or in this case, it means that the beliefs give you power. An empowering belief is a belief that makes you feel powerful, that gives you power. That's the kind ofbeliefs you want and you need to choose them.
You must decide which beliefs will make you stronger. For example, here's an empowering belief:
You can replace your old limiting belief and add this one instead:
"My brain is a language learning machine."
Because that's what all of the scientific research shows, our brain naturally learns languages. It is designed to learn language. It should be easy. It should be effortless. It should feel good. You learned your native language that way. It wasn't difficult was it? Swedish, English and Spanish was easy for me to learn at last, because I found out how to doit in a totally natural way. And the more naturally I tried to improve my Spanish, the easier it feels. So this is a new belief and you should write it clown, think about it. W rite clown this idea, this belief "My brain is a language
learning machine." Think aboutit every day. Decide to choose that belief.
Here's another belief you might decide to choose:
"English can be fun and effortless."
English can be fun and effortless. That's an empowering belief and it's also true. You can think of a lot of examples for this.
Sorne of these mini-staries you're listening to, right? They're fun. They're stupid, sometimes. They're crazy, sometimes. But they're not serious. English can be fun and effortless. That's an empowering belief you want to choose and you want to remember it every day.
And to make these beliefs stronger, you need experiences.
Remember, you need references, you need examples that prove the belief. So l' m going to give you some examples and you can find more. Go find people who speak English very well. Or maybe even that have learned another language very well.
l'll give you one of my favorite examples, Steve Kaufman of The Linguist speaks, I believe he speaks twelve languages now. I want you to study these people and look at their beliefs. l'll tell you some of his beliefs right now. Steve believes, for example, that language learning is easy and effortless. That's his belief.
He's a native English speaker, he speaks Cantonese, he speaks Mandarin, he speaks Japanese, he speaks Russian. These are all, supposedly, difficult languages. For him, they're not difficult.
They're easy and effortless. That's a very strong belief he has. Another belief he has is that you must learn language naturally and you must focus on meaning. Soin other words, he doesn't focus on the grammar. He's not focusing on boring textbooks. He's consuming interesting things that he enjoys. He's listening to interesting things that he enjoys. So, for him, language learning is interesting.
What's really interesting for me is that these are the same beliefs that all of my best students have. They all have these same ideas. The best students, the ones who learn the fastest, the ones who have the best test scores, the ones with the best speaking, they all believe these things. They all believe that English is fun, interesting and effortless. They all believe that language learning is natural. They all believe that they should focus on the meaning, not on the grammar and the little pieces of the language. Soif you want to be like these successful people, you need to think like them. You need to have the same beliefs as them.
So here's what I want you to do. Here's your homework. This is the last thing, the last part of this explanation. What I want you
to dois write clown two, three, four empowering beliefs, beliefs that give you power about English. Maybe "My brain is a language learning machine." Maybe "English can be fun and effortless." Maybe "I love English." I don't know, write clown, two, three, four empowering beliefs about English. And every day you're going to do an incantation.
An incantation is a phrase or sentence that you say again and again. It has almost a magic idea, it cornes from magic. An incantation is a magical sentence. It's a sentence, if you say the sentence something will happen. That's where it cornes from. But for us, an incantation is just a belief you are going to repeat again and again and again every day. So here's what you're going to do.
For example "English can be fun and effortless." You're going to say that out loud every day while you're walking along and you're doing your posture. And you're breathing and you're smiling.
Well, you're going to add one more thing. As you walk, as you're getting ready to learn, you're going to repeat this out loud. You're going to say "English can be fun and effortless." You' re going to say it with some emotion. Say it with feeling so you're smiling, you're breathing deep, you're moving your body, you have good posture and now you're also saying these strong beliefs. English can be fun and effortless. You repeat it again. English can be fun and effortless. And then you say it again. English can be fun and effortless.
You can do this in your room and it's fine. You can doit outside and make everyone look at you and think you're crazy. Why not?
It's better than feeling powerless, right? It's better than being bored. I promise you will learn so much faster if you do this. So do these incantations every day just before you study English with one of my methods. Get your body into a strong, emotional state, and then say these incantations:
English can be fun and effortless. English can be fun and effortless.
Now your body, your mind, your beliefs, they're all together, very strong. Then you're ready to learn.
Okay, that is the end of the main explanation for "Beliefs."
OO·OO 0 0 :0 0 lllil))-
Hello there! This is the mini-story for "Beliefs."
Are you feeling good? Good posture? Deep breathing? Big smile?
Moving? I hope
so. l'm not going to start this story until you are. Alright, let's do it.
*****
There was a guy.
There was a guy and his name was George. And George, of course, had a problem.
W ell in fact, George had two problems.
His first problem was that girls always laughed at him.
Every time he talked to them, they always laughed at him.
His second problem was that he loved, loved Angela. And, of course, Angela was a girl.
He wanted to impress Angela.
But, of course, girls always laughed at him. Oh no, big problem for George. ln fact, George had dating trauma.
With beautiful girls he had super dating trauma. So George had some very big problems. But one day he decided "I will develop new empowering beliefs."
He was going to heal his dating trauma. He was going to heal his dating trauma with new empowering beliefs. So every day he said an incantation.
His incantation was "l'm handsome and l'm cool."
Every day George looked in the mirror and he said "l'm handsome and l'm cool." It was his incantation. He said it all the time. When he was eating breakfast, he said "l' m handsome and l'm cool." When he was walking to work he said "l'm handsome and l'm cool." During lunch he said "l'm handsome and l'm cool." Going home from work he said "l' m handsome and l' m
cool." Eating dinner, watching TV, all the time, every day, he said the same incantation "l'm handsome and l'm cool."
He repeated it again and again and again and again. It was an incantation. He started to believe it. So he started to go to the gym. He went to the gym every day. At the gym he worked out.
He lifted weights. He exercised.
He got stronger. Then he went to a public speaking class. He learned how to speak to people.
He said "Hi, l'm George and l'm handsome and l'm cool" and then he gave his speech. And when he finished he said "Thank you, l' m George and l' m handsome and l' m cool." He became stronger. His speaking got better and better and better. And one day, amazingly, he was handsome. And one day, amazingly, he was cool. He walked over to Angela's apartment. He knocked on the door. She answered. He said "Hi, l'm George. l'm handsome and l'm cool and I want you." Of course, she scream "You bet!
You're hot, I love you!"
George was very happy. And of course, he was handsome and cool.
OO·OO 0 0 :0 D lllil))-
Hello there! This is the mini-story for "Beliefs."
Are you feeling good? Good posture? Deep breathing? Big smile?
Moving? I hope
so. l'm not going to start this story until you are. Alright, let's do it.
*****
There was a guy.
W as there a girl or was there a guy?
A guy, I just said it. There was a guy.
And what was his name? Was his name Bill?
No, no, no, no, no.
His name was George.
There was a guy and his name was George. And George, of course, had a problem.
What was his problem?
W ell in fact, George had two problems.
Oh no. Not just one problem, George had two problems.
How many problems did he have?
Two, George had two problems.
His first problem was that girls always laughed at him.
Oh, that's nota good problem.
Who always laughed at George?
Girls, all girls, all women, they all laughed at George.
Every time he talked to them, they always laughed at him.
How often did girls laugh at George?
W ell, always.
What did they always do?
They laughed at him, they always laughed at him.
They always laughed at...?
...George, that's right. Girls always laughed at George. So that was his first problem.
His second problem was that he loved, loved Angela. And, of course, Angela was a girl.
So girls always laughed at George and George loved Angela. So that was a problem.
Who did George love?
Angela, he loved Angela.
He wanted to impress Angela.
Did he want Angela to like him?
Yes, he wanted to impress her.
He wanted Angela to like him. He wanted Angela to think good things about him. He wanted to impress her.
Who wanted to impress Angela?
George, George wanted to impress Angela.
What did he want to do?
Well, he wanted to impress her, make her think good things about him.
But, of course, girls always laughed at him. Oh no, big problem for George. ln fact, George had dating trauma.
What did he have?
Dating trauma.
Dating what?
Trauma, George had dating trauma, dating pain, dating injury.
Why did George have dating trauma?
W ell, because girls always laughed at him when he asked them for a date.
They always laughed at him when?
When he asked them for a date.
When he asked them for what?
For a date, when he asked them for a date they always laughed at him.
So what did he have?
Dating trauma, George had dating trauma, dating pain, deep dating pain.
Yes, she was, she was a girl.
What kind of girl?
A beautiful girl, a gorgeous girl.
Now was this good or bad?
Of course, it was terrible.
Beautiful girls laughed even more at George.
Did beautiful girls laugh more or less at George?
More, they laughed more. Poor George, beautiful girls laughed even more at him.
With beautiful girls he had super dating trauma. So George had some very big problems. But one day he decided "I will develop new empowering beliefs."
What did he say?
W ell, he said "I will develop new empowering beliefs."
What kind of beliefs was he going to get?
Empowering beliefs, he was going to get empowering beliefs. He was going to develop empowering beliefs.
Was he going to develop old empowering beliefs?
No, not old, his old beliefs were negative. His old beliefs were limiting. He was going to develop new empowering beliefs.
New empowering what?
Beliefs.
What was he going to heal with his empowering beliefs?
He was going to heal his dating trauma. He was going to heal his dating trauma with new empowering beliefs. So every day he said an incantation.
Who said an incantation every day?
George, George said a new incantation every day.
When did he do it? How often?
Every day, every day he said a new incantation.
His incantation was "I'm handsome and I'm cool."
Every day George looked in the mirror and he said "I'm handsome and I'm cool." It was his incantation. He said it all the time. When he was eating breakfast, he said "I'm handsome and I'm cool." When he was walking to work he said "I'm handsome and I'm cool." During lunch he said ''l'm handsome and I'm cool." Going home from work he said "I'm handsome and I'm
cool." Eating dinner, watching TV, all the time, every day, he said the same incantation "I'm handsome and I'm cool."
What was his incantation?
His incantation was "I'm handsome and I'm cool."
He repeated it again and again and again and again. It was an incantation. He started to believe it. So he started to go to the gym. He went to the gym every day. At the gym he worked out.
He lifted weights. He exercised.
What did he say when he was exercising?
He said his incantation, of course. He said "l'rn handsome and l' m cool" and he exercised "l' m handsome and l' m cool."
He got stronger. Then he went to a public speaking class. He learned how to speak to people.
And before every speech, what did he say?
You know, he said his incantation.
He said "Hi, l'm George and l'm handsome and l'm cool" and then he gave his speech. And when he finished he said "Thank you, l'm George and l'm handsome and l'm cool." He became stronger. His speaking got better and better and better. And one day, amazingly, he was handsome. And one day, amazingly, he was cool. He walked over to Angela's apartment. He knocked on the door. She answered. He said "Hi, l'm George. l'm handsome and l'm cool and I want you." Of course, she scream "You bet!
You're hot, I love you!"
What did she say?
She said "You bet." You bet means of course, definitely, I agree. If you say you bet it means you're awesome, I agree with you. So she said "I agree, definitely." She said "You bet." And she said "You're
hot." She said to George you're hot, hot means sexy. Hot means handsome and sexy, or for a woman, beautiful and sexy. So she said I agree, you're sexy, she said "You bet, you're hot."
George was very happy. And of course, he was handsome and cool.
*****
Alright, that is the end of the mini-story for "Beliefs." As always, listen toit many times. When you listen, strong posture, big smile. Deep breaths and move, and if you want to, you can be like George. You can say "I'm a great English speaker" in the morn1ng.
During lunch you can say "I'm a great English speaker." At work you can say "Hi, how you doing? I'm a great English speaker."
When you answer the phone you can say "Hello? I'm a great English speaker."
When you go home on the train, tell everybody on the train "Hi, I'm a great English speaker, how are you?"
And when you get home, jump around your house, tell your girlfriend, tell your wife, tell your husband, tell your kids "I'm a great English speaker."
And before you go to bed, look in the mirror and say "Hi, I'm a great English speaker."
You might actually believe it. lt might corne true.
Alright. I'll see you next time.