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  • 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.

Never, ever give up learning English, unless maybe you don't want to - then, don't.

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