hello I'm Julian Northbrook from doing
english.com I was just thinking about
what to talk about in today's video and
I thought I'd tell you a story the story
of sorts how old were you when you're
left home I was 16 I left home just
after my 16th birthday and I went to
sleep on the sofa of the parents of one
of my classmates and I caught a moped
license you know those kind of 50 cc
bikes scooter things that sounds like a
sewing machine when you're driving it
and I went off to look for work in the
nearby town and what I found was in
position as a bacon slicer
in a factory my job was to take big
slaps a frozen bacon cut plastic off of
them put them into a machine press a
button and then watch them emerge from
the other side sliced and I would do
that for nine hours today I come from a
very very lower-class very poor
background hardship was the norm never
having money was just like that was life
and at the time I think that was really
just the limit of what I could do I left
school when I was 16 and I made the
decision not to go on to two a-levels
which is the kind of the typical route
for British people and I think that
really was again I think it was the best
I could do at the time now many people
would say that you know this kind of
work is the lowest of the low working in
a factory it's it's and it's hard work
it's a harsh environment and those slabs
of bacon were heavy they were frozen
meaning you know ten minutes in your
fingers would just be so painfully cold
it was unreal but the worst part of it
or really the best part of it in a sense
is the fact that it's you know it's
menial work there's no brain power
involved meaning you know time ticks by
so so slowly it's so boring doing that
kind of work but honestly I would say
that those months really defined the
rest of my life and although I would
never want to go back and do that again
I would never want to have not had that
experience if that makes sense because
as hard as it was it did give me time to
think it gave me time to reflect upon
myself on my life what I wanted what I
was gonna do and really come up with a
plan a solution to not spending the rest
of my life doing this kind of work it
provided me the motivation that I needed
to actually you know kick myself up the
arse and get on with my life towards I
think I've been working there for about
seven or eight months and I applied for
a scholarship at a nearby art college I
got it that combined with the money that
I'd saved working there was enough for
me to go off do my thing at art college
eventually go to university and then to
Japan and the rest is history what I'm
trying to say here is we all have
times experiences in our lives you
may be in the middle of it now it may
have been something in the past it may
be coming for you but those
experiences shouldn't be avoided there
there is always something to be learned
from them something to be taken from
that for me it was the fact that I had
the time to think reflect and really
doesn't kind of work out in my own
head but it also provided me the
motivation that I needed to get on with
things
to never ever find myself in that
situation again because now when things
are hard I think back to that time and I
think hey you know what they're actually
not so bad right now I don't want to
return to that therefore I'm gonna make
sure that that doesn't happen and I
think that has been a powerful driver in
my life ever since you know there was a
long long time ago 20 years ago now I
hope I did that work but it is still
there in the background influencing
everything I do today now if you are
struggling because of your English and
you are finding it difficult to do the
things that you need to do in day-to-day
life your English is holding you back it
is making you frustrated embarrassed it
is just really getting in the way of
living your life efficiently without
hassle I can help you with that head
over to doing english.com and sign up
for my free daily emails every single
day around
8 a.m. island time depending on what
time I send it each day you are going to
get an email from yours Trudy pact of
all kinds of hints tips and ideas for
mastering the English language fast as
doing English comm I'll see you on the
other side and I'll see you in the next
video bye bye