Never, ever give up learning English, unless maybe you don't want to - then, don't.
I'm not here to tell you what to do, but I mean...
Blah.
But my name is Ronnie, and I'm going to tell you what not to do.
I'm going to give you some guidelines and I'm going to give you some help, because you
probably need it.
I know I do.
I need help.
Geez, do I ever.
That's another topic we're not getting into right now, though.
But what I want you to understand is that: Don't give up.
Okay?
Keep on learning, keep on trying, and I know it's difficult.
I know English is crazy.
I don't know how I speak it so well; maybe I don't.
But if you have a goal-not only learning English-and you're not motivated, guess what?
You're not going to achieve your goal.
So, I'm teaching you English, but you can use this for anything.
This lesson is: "Don't Give Up" and achieve your goal.
Why? Why do we give up? What...? What happens? We...
At first, we're very determined.
We have an expression "gung-ho".
"I'm gung-ho to do this", which means you're excited to do it and you're determined to
do something, like learn English, but then something happens and you give up.
So, all of the time that you spent, all of the money you spent, all of the hours of watching
all of the wonderful videos on www.engvid.com - done; gone.
Why?
What happened?
I don't know, but there's some research that's been done, and it's that: Why do we give up?
The reason is because we make mistakes, and then we...
We feel bad or we feel stupid, and then we give up because our emotions take over.
Instead of our brain being smart, our heart takes over, our emotions take over and we
give up.
So, maybe this should be called: "How to Train Your Brain to Overpower Your Emotions", but
I didn't choose that title.
"Never Give Up".
Maybe you've done this - you've written down or you write down your goals.
Okay?
So: "I'm going to be a fluent English speaker within three minutes."
Sorry, that's not going to happen, but writing down your goals will give you something, like
a guideline, to follow.
So, make a list.
Now, I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking: "Ronnie, I've made the list.
I've...
I've written down my goals, and I just can't follow them."
Me too.
But, again, we're going to think of how you can actually follow this list.
You have the list, you've written the list - now we have to follow it.
So, what you should do is make whatever you're going to do fun.
Learning English - make it fun.
Watch videos.
Do you like comic books?
Read English comic books.
Do you like music like I do?
Listen to music in English.
Do you like reading?
Reading English books are difficult-they're long-but if you like doing it, do it.
Who cares what anyone else says?
If you don't like reading books, like I don't like reading books - don't read a book.
That's boring.
If you love movies, watch a movie.
Make sure that what you're doing is fun, because if it's not fun, you're going to lose interest
and your brain is going to go: "This is boring", and then you're on your phone.
Okay?
So, make it fun and also make short tasks.
If you have too much work, you're going to get overwhelmed.
"Overwhelmed" means you think or you know there's too much to do.
So, you break it down or you divide it into short tasks or jobs.
So, maybe you're going to learn the verbs in English.
There's so many of them.
There's 42; maybe more.
What you're going to do is: Don't try to learn all of the verbs; try to learn patterns of
the verbs.
Try to break them down, and every day, little by little, do some work.
If you look at it like doing it all at once, it'll never happen.
Let's take this out of the context of learning English.
Let's say that you have a lot of things to do in one day - maybe you have to do your
laundry, and then you have to clean your apartment-uh-oh, this is my list-and then you've got to take
your dog for a walk, and then you've got to eat something-oh my god-and then you've got
to have a shower, and wash your hair, and then...
Oh, and then you have to go out, and then you've got to get dressed, and then you've
got to...
Oh my.
So, if you think about things all together, it's overwhelming and you're not going to
do anything, like Ronnie does.
Break it down into small patterns; small groups of activities.
First of all, I'm going to do this.
Woo-hoo, I did it.
And you have to think: "I can do this.
Yes!
This is easy" if you achieve your goals in small steps.
If it's too much of a task, it's not easy; you're not going to do it.
But you have to change your thinking.
You have to change the way that you make your brain work.
If you look at the emotional side, you're never going to get the task done because you
fail; but if you let your brain think positively, you think you can do it...
"I think I can do it", you can do it; I promise you.
You just got to try.
Don't give up.
Okay, this is one of my favourite ones: Celebrate.
Let's say that you had a test and you passed - woo-hoo!
Go have a beer or a glass of milk, whatever you drink.
Don't let your achievements go without getting noticed by yourself.
So, maybe you did well on a test.
If you like to go shopping, go shopping; buy yourself a new pair of shoes.
Buy something that you like.
Whatever your reward is, whatever you like, reward yourself for doing a good job.
So then your brain thinks: "Oh, hey, I passed this test and I got an ice cream.
If I pass the next test, maybe I'll get an ice cream again."
It's kind of like conditioning a dog - if there's a reaction-something positive happens-you're
going to want to do it again.
So, you're going to celebrate your success.
If you do something well, tell the world.
Reward yourself.
Okay?
Do something that you like; buy something, eat something, have a piece of cake, eat the
whole cake - it doesn't matter.
You've done something.
You've rewarded yourself.
Oh, this is fun.
Do you have a friend?
Why don't you challenge that friend?
Some people are very competitive.
Now, "competitive" means that you like to challenge people and you like to win.
So, if you're a competitive person, challenge your friend and say to your friend: "Hey,
guess what?
I'm going to beat you on this test", or: "I'm going to get a better mark than you are in
this assignment", or: "I'm going to save more money than you will."
Anything that you have to do.
And if you challenge your friend, you've got some competition, so you think: "Damn, I better
win this."
Check this out: How about you give your friend $100?
Make sure it's your friend that you trust.
Okay?
Not some random person on the street.
Give me $100; you trust me.
Everyone, give me $100 and then you will achieve your goals.
No, that doesn't...
No.
Okay.
So, give your friend $100 or $10, $20, $1 - as much as you want.
If you achieve your goal, your friend has to give you the money back.
"Thanks, friend."
But if you fail or you don't achieve your goal - bye-bye, money.
Your friend loves you and will keep your money.
So, this is motivation with money.
You can do this with anything; maybe beer, or cake, or a new t-shirt.
Maybe you give your friend a t-shirt and say: "Guess what?
You keep my t-shirt.
If I get it, if I win, if I achieve my goal, you give me the t-shirt back; if not, you
get my beautiful t-shirt."
I pretty much think that you're going to do what you have to do to get that t-shirt back,
because it's a really cool t-shirt, or you want that cake or that beer.
Damn, best beer in the world.
Motivate yourself with another person - that'll help you.
And one other thing that is really, really, really important for everything you do in
life, not just achieving your goal, but: Surround yourself in positivity.
This is kind of an easy concept to understand, but less of a thing to actually achieve.
We have an expression or a fun term called: "Someone who is a negative Nancy".
So, "Nancy" is a girl's name, and if someone's a negative Nancy, they always think about
the bad things or they're always very, very negative.
They say: "Oh, God.
This test is so hard.
I'm never going to pass.
Oh, I can't do this.
I can't get to the top of the mountain.
It's difficult."
Guess what, Nancy?
Shut up, and you...
You, Nancy, go away.
Me, I'm going to go my own way.
So, if you have negative people in your life, get them out of here.
I don't care if it's your mom, your dad, your dog.
Yeah.
Okay, if it's your dog, that's fine.
If it's anyone that is bringing you down or saying: "You can't do that.
Why are you doing that?
You'll never amount to anything."
Guess what?
Get those people out of your life.
They don't know you.
You can do that, and those people - bye-bye.
What about friends?
Do you have friends?
I hope so.
I do.
Hi, friends.
If you have friends, make sure that they're positive, too.
Maybe you have a friend or you know someone who's doing the same task you are.
Maybe you have a friend that's learning English - do it together.
This works for the gym.
It's a really good motivation...
Motivator for people who are trying to workout, or lose weight, or go to the gym.
If you say to your friend: "Hey, let's go to the gym Monday, Wednesday, Friday."
So, on Monday, you don't want to go to the gym.
You're like: "I don't want to go to the gym.
I want to go home and eat cupcakes, and...
And...
And just eat cupcakes."
But your friend's like: -"Hey, let's go to the gym.
You said you wanted..."
-"Oh, god.
We got to go to the gym now."
So, if you have another person to help motivate you or a buddy, a workout buddy or a study
buddy...
That rhymes.
If you have a study buddy, this will motivate you because they are going to depend on you
and you're going to depend on them.
So, if you can just think positively, get rid of the negative emotions.
Making mistakes is normal and natural.
I make mistakes in English all the time; you guys point it out in the comments.
You say: "Oh my god, Ronnie said this instead of this."
Guess what?
Ronnie makes mistakes - oo, Ronnie's a human.
But I don't give up and stop doing videos.
I don't say: "I'm never going to do that again because I said 'pronunciation' instead of
'pronounciation'."
Guess what?
I don't care.
I travel on and I do it.
So, you are going to do the same thing.
Never give up.
Try.
But if you just don't like it, then don't do it.
Don't listen to other people; you do what you do.
Sail your own ship, fly your own boat.
You can fly a boat.
You can do it. Don't give up. Bye.