Happy New Year! Hello! This is Jack from
tofluency.com. Welcome to the first
lesson of 2017. Now, we got back yesterday
after a two-day drive from Florida and as
you can see, it's not quite as sunny here.
It's not quite as warm, but it's not too
cold it's great to be back and I'm
really excited for 2017. Now, while I was
in Florida, I spent quite a lot of time
watching different things on YouTube, so
I make a lot of videos here on YouTube
but i also like to watch videos there
and I do this to learn new things I
follow people - I like to be entertained
as well and one person that I was
following is somebody who is an expert
in health and fitness. This person is
quite polarizing and that just means
that some people love him
some people hate him and one of the
things about him - and I'll leave a link
in the description to his channel - is
that he inherited quite a bit of money.
So, he lives in a huge house and he
drives a very fancy car - he's still very
young but a lot of people hate him for
that. You see the hate in the comments
and a lot of people what they do is they
say things like: well, it's easy for you
because you don't need to work you don't
need to have a job you have this big
house; you we're lucky. people say that the
only reason why he is in great shape -
because it's a fitness professional - the
only reason why he's in great shape is
because he can afford to do this, he can
afford to spend the day training. Now, I
find this fascinating because a lot of
people say similar things when it comes
to learning English.
I've seen some people say things like,
you know, you have to move to a foreign
country - you have to move to an
English-speaking country in order to get
a good level of English. And they'll take
examples of friends, you know, they know
somebody who moved to the UK and they
spent a lot of time there and they
learned English really quickly. And then,
in their head, they'll think, well,
I can't really learn English to a high
level because I'm not there - I'm not in an
English-speaking country and, therefore,
it's impossible for me to do this. And
this especially happens, in your head, if
you start comparing yourself to someone
else and the problem here is that people
want conditions to be perfect -
they want to wait until a perfect moment
before they actually commit to a big
goal. So, going back to the example of the
fitness expert, people were saying: oh,
well, it's easy for you.
The reason why you are in great shape
and the reason why you don't have
any fat on your body is because you have
all this time to dedicate to health and
fitness. And then in their mind they're
thinking: well I can't do this because I
don't have that opportunity. And for you,
as somebody who is learning English, you
can give yourself that excuse as well. You
can say: well, I'm not in an
English-speaking country -
I don't have the opportunity to practice
my English. I'm not in the right
environment to get practice and to get
exposure to English, and then, you don't
make the commitment to it because you
don't feel like you're in the right
situation in order to improve. But the
key is this:
it's making the most out of your
situation - it's having a look at your
daily routine, where you live,
the environment that you're surrounded
by, and then telling yourself to make the
most out of this. Because if you wait for
the perfect time - the perfect situation,
then you'll always be waiting, it will
never come. Those situations never come -
there's always a reason to not do
something. I'll give you an example from
my life now because I have lots of
commitments - I have two young children
and I have to look after them, you know, I
have to spend a lot of time with them
and, obviously, I enjoy doing this but
this affects my business and it could be
easy for me to look at other people who
are teaching English or other
entrepreneurs and say: well, it's okay for
them because they're single, they have
all this free time; they don't have
families to look after and, therefore, that's
why they are improving, that's why
they are where they are. But what I do is
I make the most out the situation. When I
have time to make a video, I'll make a
video - just like now. My son is upstairs,
he is napping,
my wife is watching TV, and it's a
perfect time for me just to come outside
and make this video for you. When it
comes to learning English or learning a
language or doing anything really
it's important to have a look at your
routine and make the most out of your
situation.
Yes, there are other people who have it
easier, other people who are better
conditions - in a better environment so
that they can make faster progress. But
you can only do what's right for your
life you can only do what you can do. And
instead of saying: okay, I'm gonna wait
until the summer when I have more time -
I'm gonna wait until, you know, next year
when I might have a better environment
in which to practice - the key is just to
get started today. To do what you can
today and do what you can
tomorrow. Take it a day at a time and
start making progress today. And one last
thing: when you see successful people -
when you see people who have achieved
something that you want to achieve,
instead of saying: oh, it's easy for them
because of this, try and learn from them.
Ask them how they have achieved what you
want to achieve and learn. This way you
can feel inspired, you can feel motivated
and get energy from their story instead
of feeling, like, helpless. Instead of
feeling like this isn't possible for you.
So, with all that in mind, if you are new
here please subscribe - I'm going to make
lots of new videos this year and if you
are new as well, check out the videos I
made in 2016.
Now, what I want you to do is this: it's
the first day of 2017 - it's January the
first, and I want you to leave a comment
below and tell me what you're going to
do this year in order to achieve your
goals.
This might be learning English, for most
of you it will be, but if it's something
else, you can use that as an example.
Tell me how you are going to achieve
your goals this year. Also be sure to
check out the description, I'll have lots
of different vocabulary for you from
this video so that you can learn the
words and phrases
that I have used. If you've enjoyed this
video give it a thumbs up, thank you for
being here -
see you next time!