- [Jack] Today, you're going to learn
about learning English in a state of flow.
Now this is sometimes called being in the zone.
You might have heard this before to be in the zone.
So we're gonna talk about what this means
when it comes to improving your English level
and enjoying the journey to fluency,
I'll also have some great resources for you as well,
so that you can start becoming a little less stressed
about learning English and make it more enjoyable.
But before we get into that, welcome to you,
my name is Jack from tofluency.com.
It is 2022, it's January, so happy new year to you
if you're listening to this in the new year
or just happy whatever day it is,
whenever you are listening to this.
We release a new English lesson every Thursday on YouTube
So if you haven't done so already,
just click that subscribe button
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And if there's a notification bell,
like there is on YouTube, click that as well.
And also know that I have a free gift for you,
is called the "Five Step Plan For English Fluency".
It's a book that goes through five steps
so that you can improve your English
and reach the level you want to reach.
So check that out in the description,
and all the resources from this lesson
will be in the description too.
To lead up to the topic today,
I want to talk about a quick story
from somebody called Derek Sivers.
And he wrote an article, which you can listen to as well,
and it's called "Relax for the Same Result".
And it talks about how he used to do this bike path
and ride his bike on this bike path,
and it was for about, I think about seven miles.
And what he did was he went on a weekend when it was empty
and he do this every weekend or sometimes a few times a week
and he will go as fast as he could.
So you know that state you're in where you're really going,
okay, you're going, using all that energy,
and you're thinking, how fast can I go?
and you're trying your hardest to go as fast as you can.
And he says in the article, I'd finish exhausted
and look at the time, 43 minutes every time.
Maybe a minute more on a really windy day,
but basically always 43 minutes.
So he would always have the same time
when he was doing this bike race when he was on his path.
And he says, after a few months,
he wasn't feeling as an enthusiastic
or excited about the bike ride
because every time you're trying your hardest
and you're getting the same time,
you're not seeing any progress.
So he said, one day he decided to do it,
but just chill, to take it easy, not super slow,
but not really forcing yourself
to go as fast as he wanted to go.
And he says that he was relaxed and smiling
and looking around and barely given it any effort,
which means he wasn't really trying his hardest
And he says that he enjoyed this
because he saw some dolphins in the water,
and it was just a much more enjoyable experience for him.
And then he looked at the time at the end of the race
So normally when he goes really fast
and is intensely riding his bike, it takes 43,
when he just felt like he was really relaxed
and wasn't putting in as much effort, it was 45 minutes.
you can relax for basically the same result.
Now, there were certain things in life where this works,
but the idea here is that instead of being really intense
and not enjoying it, he just took his time and relaxed
and more or less got the same result from this.
And I'm sure that in the future, if he relaxes again,
but maybe puts in a little bit more effort,
but just has that state of flow, that feeling of,
okay, I'm doing my best here, but I'm not stressed about it,
then he will get roughly the same time.
because I also think there are certain things in life
that you do, where if you just relaxed and enjoyed it,
you'd actually get better results.
And I think learning English is one of those things
where if you enjoy the experience
where you feel like you're in a state of flow
or in the zone, then you going to internalize more English.
Now in the past, I've talked about flow
when it comes to using the correct grammar.
So when you are speaking and everything just flows
where you're using the right phrases,
you're using the correct grammar,
you're not thinking about the rules of English
instead it's just happened in your talking and it's working
Well today, I wanna focus on how you can implement
and introduce more of that into your daily English learning.
And to give this a go for the start of the new year,
or whenever you are listening to this to try and think about
how can I introduce some of this more into what I do.
And when I was researching this topic
and just getting some more information on it,
I came across an article on the BBC
and it talks about the state of flow
And I'll just read a couple of paragraphs for you,
again, the link will be in the description.
Now, before we talk about how to get into the zone,
it says here that the benefits of being in the zone
stretched beyond the experience itself,
which means there are additional benefits
than just having that experience of being in the zone.
And it says flow is associated with subjective well-being,
satisfaction with life and general happiness.
So when you have this feeling of flow in your life,
then you feel better, you feel more satisfied
and your generally more happy.
It also says, at work, it's linked to productivity
and motivation and company loyalty.
And this is what we're talking about here with languages,
because when you're learning a language,
it will be linked to productivity and motivation.
And these two things are really important
because to be productive with your learning
means that you're learning more at a faster rate,
but if you're motivated, it also means you're going to
continue learning for a longer time.
And this is a big part of learning a language,
you need to be motivated throughout your time
learning the language in order to continue doing it
Now, this next point is really important,
avoid noisy environments and opportunity for interruptions.
So that's just the first thing we need to know
that to create these conditions to get into this zone,
where things are just happening naturally for you,
you need to avoid noisy environments
and any opportunity for interruptions,
and then there's lots of noise or people interrupt you,
then it's difficult to stay in that zone.
Now I think this next point is so important
and it actually links to the input hypothesis,
which we've talked about in the past.
It says here, the activity makes a difference too.
We need to engage in activities that are meaningful to us,
and for which we feel that we have the skills
required to come out as winners.
Okay.
Meaningful, challenging, but we can win,
which is exactly what the input hypothesis
by Dr. Stephen Krashen talks about
where we need to focus on getting resources,
for example, read books that are interesting to us,
So we need to do things that are meaningful,
but we also need to find them challenging.
At the same time, we need to be able to win.
We need to be able to do these activities
and come out and complete them.
So when you find resources like a book,
it's important to find one that's meaningful,
that you enjoy, that's interesting to you,
but also one that is a little bit challenging
so that you can learn new things.
Because if you just got a book that was far too easy,
then you're not going to be in this state of flow
because you're not engaged with the challenge,
but if you find something that you can understand,
but also where you're learning new words and phrases,
this is where you come to be in the zone
And I'm sure you can think back
to times when you have been in the zone
when learning English and other times when you haven't.
So let's say you put on a movie and you thought,
okay, this movie in English is going to be great.
it's got all these Oscar awards and I'm going to enjoy it.
But then you start watching the movie
and you can't understand what they're saying.
You don't understand the story,
you don't understand what's happening,
you're not following the movie.
In those situations, it doesn't feel good.
You're not in that state of flow
where you're enjoying the experience,
and following along with the movie,
instead, you feel frustrated, annoyed.
You're thinking about, ah, I wish I had a higher level.
My English is not good enough, et cetera.
All these negative emotions and thoughts that you have,
I'm sure you've had an experience where
you had a conversation with somebody in English
You understand what they said,
they weren't using the type of English that
Instead, you had this natural conversation,
started a movie in English and people talked about it
Maybe you had an idea of what the storyline was,
maybe the English they used in this movie
was more understandable and it felt great.
And at the same time you were challenged
because there were new words and phrases that people used,
you didn't understand everything they said,
but you understood enough of it to come out of that movie
and think, okay, that was good, that felt good.
one of my podcasts or a TV show or something like that,
where you'd come out of this experience,
thinking I was in the zone, I was flowing with that.
I could understand what was happening.
And just like Derek Sivers did with his bike
where he made the experience more enjoyable,
when it comes to learning English,
I think if you have more experiences like this,
then you're going to learn more.
You are more open to the language,
you're in a better state of mind,
you're more productive like we talked about before,
You're going to get more context for your learning too.
practical ways that you can find this state of flow.
in terms of the different skills of learning English.
Okay.
Now I get a lot of comments on my YouTube channel,
two types of comments, the first one is,
wow, I really liked your podcast
because I could understand you.
I could understand what I was listening to.
It was great, I had a good feeling.
And I think it's because I use
a type of language that people can understand
that a lot of learners can understand as well.
And people also talk about the way I pronounce words to say,
it's very clear, which is great.
But at the same time, I also get comments saying,
oh, I can understand your podcast,
I can't understand it, it's too difficult for me.
Or are you really speaking like normal people speak
because I can understand you, but I can't,
I want to know if this is how people speak.
And I think this is important because,
because when it comes to learning English, again,
it's important to feel that state of flow
and to constantly improve your listening skills.
if you understand the general topic of what is being said.
And this goes back again to the input hypothesis,
and I'll leave a link to this in the description
where you find resources that are suitable for your level.
So when it comes to listening, find things that you enjoy,
that are suitable for your level,
and also challenge you a little bit,
because if you just started listening to a podcast now
that was not understandable at all,
it brings about those negative emotions, that stress,
you're not in the flow, you're not learning,
but if you find something that you can understand
and that challenges you a little bit here and there,
so there are new words and phrases,
and just gives you that listening practice
and more experience listening to things,
then that is what we need to aim for.
find other podcasts that you enjoy
and listen as much as possible.
I think graded readers are a fantastic way to learn English
because you can read books, classic books, modern classics,
any types of stories that have been written
with the English learner in mind,
so that you can build up your reading skills
in a way where you're in the flow of learning English.
And I'll leave a link to a friend of mind
who has short stories in English for beginners.
And I'll look at some other links as well
for intermediate learners as well,
because he has short stories in English
so that you can expand your vocabulary
in a way that makes sense to you.
And I think these books as well come with the audio format,
which means that you can listen and read at the same time.
And then while you're looking at that,
be sure to look at other things online too,
so that you can find different books, graded readers,
anything that works for you, your interests and your level,
because it's not just about your level,
it's all about what you find interesting.
Now you can also get in a state of flow with writing too.
And one of the activities that I think
that you should definitely try for this year,
or for whenever you're listening to this is writing,
and specifically write in a journal where you document,
you write down your thoughts, what you did yesterday,
what you're going to do today and tomorrow.
So in this way, you're using the past,
just things about what you're thinking about,
what you have learned, what you did yesterday that was good,
what you did yesterday that you didn't enjoy,
what you're excited about, what you need to get done.
And just doing this on a daily basis,
on a consistent basis and using a grammar app,
again, I'll leave a link too in the description,
which is going to correct your writing,
not just your spelling, but your grammar.
again, I'll leave a link to that in the description.
you're going to get in this flow state every day,
where you're writing more or less the same thing
'Cause we have this life where we are on schedules
and routines, so we go to work, let's say Monday to Friday,
we do our activities in the evening.
So you're writing similar things,
but then you're also adding in different things as well.
So you're in that state of flow when you're writing.
Now with something like writing and also speaking,
which we'll talk about in a second,
it might take you some time to get there.
It might take some work to get there where at first,
you're not quite in that state of flow,
you're working hard, you're practicing,
but you will get there in the end.
Now for speaking, I think there are two things you can do,
because we're talking about flow today,
but you're not always going to be in that state,
and sometimes you need to work hard
in order to get to that state.
And I talked about this in one of my most popular podcasts
where I said, sometimes we need to do the hard things,
the things where we're really focused
And one of those things is working on the way we speak,
the sounds of English, intonation
and your pronunciation in general.
And this is where we can mimic native speakers
or English speakers, mimic the way they produce sounds.
And I won't talk about this too much
and I'll just leave a link again
to the episode where I talked about this,
but then the other way we can do this
to get more in a state of flow with speaking
is to speak with somebody on a one-to-one basis,
like a teacher or a language exchange partner,
so that you can really just take your time
and speak in a way where you're not feeling stressed about
using the right words all the time,
what other people think, et cetera,
that you're able to express yourself in a way
where somebody is going to help you
and somebody is going to be patient with you.
that I think is really important before I summarize
is that sometimes you just need to get started
in order to find a flow state, or some type of flow state.
And some days it's gonna be easier,
some days it's gonna just naturally flow,
other days, you might have to work harder to get there.
is where you just get started with that,
and then you soon find yourself in this learning state.
You can think about this in different ways, like,
the hardest part is getting changed,
putting your things on and doing the first five minutes.
And then you know, yes, after five minutes that,
oh, I'm in a flow state now where you just running
in this way where you don't feel tired,
you're not in your head thinking,
oh God, I've got to do this run,
instead, it's just naturally happening.
And we can do this with English learning too
where you start doing the mimic method
or your imitating English speakers,
and at first you're having to listen
and really think about the way you speak.
And then after a while, you're just mimicking and imitating
the audio you're listening to in this flow state.
So with certain tasks and just most things in life,
at the start, it's difficult to get into this flow state,
or it just doesn't occur naturally in the beginning.
Instead, you've got to get started
in order to find this flow state.
And there's one more thing, I forgot about this
is that a lot of this is just making sure
that you're not just in your head
worried about what you're learning
and force yourself to memorize things.
Instead, you're just doing it,
you're flown with it, you're finding it enjoyable.
And you can take that mind frame into learning English
by thinking about I'm gonna listen to podcasts I like,
I'm gonna listen to podcasts I understand
I'm gonna read books I understand.
I'm gonna talk to somebody who's just going to let me speak
and correct me in the right way.
I'm gonna write down things that I enjoy writing.
when you introduce a challenge into it,
this is when you start really improving.
So I would love to know your thoughts on this.
So if there is a comment section
on the platform you're listening on then,
then leave a comment below and tell me
what you're going to do in order to find this flow state,
and if you found this podcast interesting, let me know too.
And then if you haven't done so already,
please subscribe to the YouTube channel
because I release a new episode every Thursday.
In 2022, we're gonna have different types of episodes
and bring different people onto the podcast.
And if you really enjoyed it then,
what you can do to help me is firstly,
like it, if there's a like button there,
but then on every platform, there is a share button
where you can copy the link and send it to a friend,
or copy the link and put it on a social media site,
and tell people to join me on this podcast.
Because I would love to reach more people
and help more people with their English learning.
And before you go, why not listen
or watch another one of my episodes
or videos on the YouTube platform
and continue learning English with me for some time.
Okay, so I hope you found this useful.