hi there I'm Drew Badger the world's number one English Fluency Guide and it
is a pleasure to welcome you to 2019
this is our first video of the new year
so hello and welcome I hope you are
excited to begin a new year just
learning continuing to improve and
hopefully this year becomes the year for
you if you decide to make it it can be
the year you become a confident speaker
and a fluent speaker as well today I
want to talk about an interesting idea
just kind of to remind people always to
think in a different way about how you
learn because most people if you just do
the same thing again and again if you
keep learning the traditional way
watching more videos about learning
English especially if you're watching
them in your native language you're not
going to become a better speaker you're
going to learn more but are you going to
become fluent and if you want to become
fluent you need to learn more in English
and you need to speak more so today I
wanted to talk about what I call like
angles of approach so how you how you
approach something whatever your
particular target happens to be humans
we have an interesting way of trying to
get something as quickly as possible we
think we think we can go directly to a
particular target in a direct way that
we think we can go in now I know that
sounds kind of like a confusing idea but
as an example like people want to do
something like I want to go to a
particular college or I want to achieve
fluency or I want to do something we all
have ideas about how we think this is
going to happen so I'm going to get
fluent by you know reading text books or
practicing or doing this other thing so
you have an idea about how you're going
to do these things but often and this is
the point of this video we don't get to
where we want to go directly there's
always like some kind of different way
or something unexpected we still get
where we want to go but it's thinking
about it more in an indirect way now as
an example let's say you are I'll draw
like this is a pretty girl at a bar
over here and she's like talking with
her friends and some guy walks up to her
and he you know he's interested he says
wow that's a that's a good-looking girl
over there I want to ask her out I want
to try to get her phone number or
something now let's say he walks up to
her now he's thinking in his mind wow it
would be great to have sex with that
girl you know or maybe not maybe he's
not thinking that specifically but you
know like most men are do you know was
thinking about that anyway if he were to
ask her about that directly imagine if
he walks up like his his kind of main
goal is to walk up and say you know you
look very attractive would you like to
have sex with me this evening now she
might you know slap him or throw some
water in his face or something like that
that you've probably seen in the movies
or even in real life but when he's
looking at you know someone like that
and he walks up and directly tries to go
after what he's interested in
he's not going to get it and this is the
same thing even for just regular men
you're not even trying to get sex or
whatever right from the very beginning
but men too try too hard
to get a girl and that makes the girl
not interested so it's a really weird
thing that like I remember I did that
like there was you know a girl that I
would be chasing or something like that
for a really long time working really
hard trying to you know like send her
flowers and do all these other things
but what I didn't realize when I was
younger is that that usually doesn't
work I mean unless the girl is already
interested in you and you know often
that's not really happening but the
point is that trying to go directly to
that thing it often pushes that thing
away from you further so like another
example again like I just talked about
this because hopefully people understand
that but just to connect that with the
idea of fluency and the goal people have
is to become a fluent speaker and so
they're trying to get to that however
they think that is possible to do so
they may want to maybe again learn
through textbooks or I'm going to learn
a bunch of phrases I'm going to watch
some videos on YouTube right now about
how to improve but what really people
should be doing the kind of different
angle well even before I do this just
an example with the men keep you in
suspense for a moment but for men like
actually just kind of focusing on
yourself
yourself
yourself in the sense that like you know what I'm
gonna stop trying to chase women I'm
going to go to the gym I'm going to work
on myself I'm going to improve myself
and something magical happens the women
become interested and end up like coming
after you instead
now this isn't for everyone but again
working on yourself and doing things
like that without trying to chase
someone you begin attracting people to
you because you become more attractive
yourself so this is just one example of
how this instead of trying to go at
something directly you're thinking about
it in a different way but you actually
get the result you want faster so this
doesn't mean like it takes longer this
way it's more about doing something
that's actually getting you to the goal
what you need to be doing for that goal
hopefully I'm explaining this well and
not being too confusing anyway so this
is what we have for simple relationships
between men and women and this is not
like all men and all women but just as
an example now in the case of fluency
people are thinking everyday and they're
like how can I get fluent how can I get
fluent and I talked with learners about
fluency because it's such an important
idea for them but what I really want
them to focus on here it is it's an
amazing idea let me see let me write it
right here it might be kind of hard to
see co and ve our conversations now
trying to focus on conversations instead
the reason you do this and it naturally
brings you up to fluency is because you
only get fluent by speaking so even if
you only begin having conversations just
like little children and I tell the
story often about how I learned to speak
Japanese and what changed me from
learning the traditional way to learning
in the native way that I teach now or
the natural way that I teach now is just
watching children and even right now
having a young daughter who's learning
to speak and just seeing what she does
she begins with very simple simple
words and phrases like hello and what's
this and what's that and it's just
speaking that actually delivers her to
fluency now the problem with most
learners is they think that they need to
kind of like study and study and study
and study oh I can't speak yet because I
don't know enough or I need to keep on
learning because I don't quite
understand people so I need to know
everything before I can speak so they're
waiting and it's mostly because people
are nervous so if you out there you're
watching this video and you know a lot
of English and you should know if you're
watching this video because I you know
most of the English I'm explaining here
is it's pretty pretty easy English it's
not beginner or basic English but it
should be really easy to understand but
if you are the kind of person who is
waiting for a magical moment where you
get fluent and then you finally speak
it's not going to come and I remember I
had these the same experience happen to
me when I was learning Japanese I would
be kind of studying and studying and
studying more flashcards more this every
day but because I just didn't speak
again I'm not going try to get directly
to that thing how I think I'm gonna do
it I just do the one thing I need to do
to become a good speaker and that's just
speak so even if you only begin
something with a hello or how are you or
as the example that I've used when
talking with students I went to a
grocery store in Japan near my home and
I just said where's the milk where's the
ice cream where is this and I just
practiced that because that's what's
giving me a good conversation
so conversations even if they are simple
they give you confidence which
automatically brings you up here to
fluency so I'm drawing this in a way it
looks like it's moving away from that
but it's the fastest way to get here
does that make sense so when you're
thinking about the angle of approach at
something how you think you're gonna do
it if you're not already making progress
a little bit now that way is probably
not going to work but the interesting
thing is you know you're going to make
progress and I'll make another video
about this soon but it's pretty easy to
tell what works because it works a
little bit so I'll explain more about
that later in another video coming up
but again this idea instead of trying to
like study and study and study and think
you need to know more and more and more
you're going to learn more and hopefully
you become able to speak it's much
better even if you make mistakes to just
start speaking with people now you can
begin with just commenting online or
speaking to the people around you just
say hello even if you just say hello
that's going to help build your
confidence so you start speaking more
and that's how you actually get fluent
so when you think about the things you
want in life if you're not getting what
you want and you keep making that same
effort then be willing to try something
different don't worry about making a
mistake when you open your mouth because
each time you open your mouth you are
guaranteed to improve either you say
something well and you feel good or you
make a mistake but you learn how to say
something good in the same way and in
either way it still makes you feel great
so these are things to remember as
you're learning so remember this as
you're beginning your 2019 I hope this
is a powerful video for you let me know
in the comments below if this made sense
again trying to think about going after
something directly the way you think
it's going to happen usually it's not
happening especially if it's not working
like I said the girl flowers and she
didn't like so should I send her more
flowers probably not no I should
probably try to do something different
or not send her anything at all and just
focus on myself and improve myself and
watch what happens later when I improve
and she starts coming to me naturally
again this is just one example but it
works exactly the same way for fluency
and the other things we want to do in
life if this video helped you do give
this video a like comment down below
what let me know what specific you uh
specifically about the video you enjoyed
and let me know if there are other
questions you have so I can help you
with those if you'd like to learn more
you can click on the link in the upper
right of this video where I can give you
specific personalized advice for your
situation whatever it is you struggle
with it could be reading writing
listening speaking all of these things
are connected and if you can improve
your weakest fluency habit the thing
that you're struggling with the most
your biggest most painful communication
problem
problem
problem that's going to help you become a fluent
speaker much faster so click on the link
in the upper right where you can get
your free personalized guide for
ever problem you have how to look
forward to seeing you in the next video
bye bye if you'd like to learn hundreds
more useful words and phrases subscribe
to the English anyone com YouTube
channel and be sure to click the bell
icon to be notified when we release new
videos and if you'd like to know exactly
what to do to become a successful
English speaker click on the link in
this video or on the link in the
description below this video to tell me
what your biggest communication problem
is answer five quick questions and I'll
send you a free personalized guide that
will help you start speaking more like a
native today it takes less than a minute
and you can download your FREE guide
instantly so click on the link in this
video or on the link in the description
below this video and start getting
fluent now see you in the next video