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Power English

Power English

Power English

Power English Intro Main Text These lessons are sold only on our website, EffortlessEnglishClub.com. If you bought these lessons somewhere else, you have an illegal copy. Please notify us and we will take immediate legal action against the seller. Thank you. Hi, this is AJ Hoge, Director of the Effortless English Club. Welcome to our new set of lessons, these are called the Power English Lessons. The reason they're called Power English is because in these lessons we're going to do two things. Number one, you're going to learn English, of course. As always, we have the mini-stories which are ou

80 - Hi, this is AJ, welcome to our next lesson. This one is called "Excitement." We're going to talk about excitement and I'm going to read a little section from a book called The 4-Hour Work Week, which
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  • 80 - Hi, this is AJ, welcome to our next lesson. This one is called "Excitement." We're going to talk about excitement and I'm going to read a little section from a book called The 4-Hour Work Week, which


    Excitement Main Text

    Hi, this is AJ, welcome to our next lesson. This one is called "Excitement." We're

    going to talk about excitement and I'm going to read a little section from a book called

    The 4-Hour Work Week, which is a fantastic book. I love this book.

    In fact, I'm going to do a few lessons based on sections of this book because I really,

    really love it. I think it's just an incredible book that really has a very creative way of

    looking at life and work and enjoying yourself.

    The theme of the book, really, is enjoying your life. I mean that is really what the book

    is all about and Tim Ferriss is the writer of the book. Again, the book's title is The 4-

    Hour Work Week written by Tim Ferriss. Absolutely excellent book, I highly

    recommend it. Now the section we're going to talk about today is about excitement.

    So let me read what Tim has to say about excitement and then l'll talk more about it.

    So here we go.

    "What do you want? Well, first let's ask a better question. Most people will never

    know what they want. I don't know what I want. If you ask me what I want to do in the

    next five months for language learning, on the other hand, I do know. It's a matter of

    specificity. What do you want is too imprecise to produce a meaningful and actionable

    answer. Forget about it.

    What are your goals is similarly fated for confusion and guesswork. To rephrase the

    question we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Let's assume we

    have 10 goals and we achieve them. What is the desired outcome that makes all the

    effort worthwhile? The most common response is what I also would have suggested

    five years ago, happiness. I no longer believe this is a good answer. I no longer

    believe that happiness is the reason we achieve goals.

    Happiness can be bought with a bottle of wine and the idea of happiness has become

    ambiguous through overuse. There is a more precise alternative that reflects what I

    believe is the actual objective for achieving goals. Bear with me. What is the opposite

    of happiness? Sadness? No. Just as love and hate are two sides of the same coin,

    so are happiness and sadness. Crying out of happiness is a perfect illustration of this

    idea.



    Wed, 20 Oct 2021 - 06min
  • 79 - Hello, this is AJ, welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "Excitement." Let's start. Our first word is specificity, specificity, a little difficult to pronounce, specificity. In fact,


    Excitement Vocabulary Text

    Hello, this is AJ, welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "Excitement." Let's start.

    Our first word is specificity, specificity, a little difficult to pronounce, specificity. In fact,

    many native speakers have trouble pronouncing this word, especially if you say it fast

    in a sentence, specificity, specificity, specificity. Sometimes have trouble

    pronouncing it, too, but I'm doing it correctly now, specificity.

    Specificity is the noun. Specificity means, um...specific-ness is what it really means,

    right? It means being specific, being detailed, being very exact. It's kind of the

    opposite of generality. Generality is the situation of being very general. So, for

    example, you say “I want a lot more money." That statement is a generality, right? It's

    not detailed. But if you say “I want $2,496", well that statement has specificity. It has

    detail. It has specific-ness, so that's specificity.

    Our next word is imprecise. Imprecise is an adjective. And, in fact, it's the opposite of

    specific and it's the opposite of precise. Precise is very similar to specific, it means

    you'd be very exact, very detailed. So, again, “I want $2,496.20." That's precise,

    that's detailed.

    The opposite is imprecise, meaning not detailed, not precise. Imprecise means "I'd

    like some more money," right? That's not detailed. It's very general, it's imprecise.

    So Tim Ferris is saying that the question "what do I want", it's an imprecise question.

    It's not a specific question, it's too general. It's too imprecise.

    Our next word is fated, to be fated. He says the question "what are your goals", that

    question is fated for confusion, it's fated to cause confusion. To be fated for means to

    be destined for. It means something that absolutely will happen in the future or soon.

    So to be fated for confusion, it means it absolutely will create confusion in the near

    future or in the far future. So that question, that general question, what are your goals

    or what are my goals or what do I want, it's fated to cause confusion. It absolutely will

    cause confusion.

    Next is the word worthwhile. So he's saying "What is the purpose of goals? Why are

    goals worthwhile?" Worthwhile means beneficial. So why are goals beneficial? Why

    are goals useful, helpful, good to do, good to have, worthwhile? So worthwhile, again,

    beneficial, helpful, useful, worthwhile, so worthwhile, why are goals useful? Why are

    goals worthwhile? Why are they worthwhile?


    Wed, 20 Oct 2021 - 17min
  • 78 - Hi, this is AJ, welcome to the point of view mini-stories for "Excitement." Let's get started.


    Automatic English For The People

    Excitement POV Text

    Hi, this is AJ, welcome to the point of view mini-stories for "Excitement." Let's get

    started.

    Since last year Brad has needed money for school. He has been very poor since last

    year. He lost all his money last year, so since last year he has needed money for

    school. Of course, he has had a worthwhile purpose for needing money. He's had a

    worthwhile reason for needing money, during this whole time from last year up until

    recently.

    So Brad has needed money for school since last year and since last year he has had a

    worthwhile purpose. And during this time he has thought about money every day. He

    has tried to find a way to get more money, but he has failed. Since last year, up until

    recently, he has failed to get more money, so he has not been able to go to school.

    Well one day he got a great idea, he got a gun and he went to a convenience store.

    He went into the store, he pointed the gun at the clerk and he said "Give me some

    money!" And the clerk said “Now that's a very imprecise request, how about some

    specificity? Don't be ambiguous. Tell me exactly how much you want."

    Well Brad was surprised and he was silent for a while. And then finally he said "I don't

    know. Ah, bear with me while I think." Well then Brad was silent again. He stood with

    the gun, thinking for a long, long time, thinking about the clerk's question, the clerk's

    request.

    He thought for seventeen and a half hours and then, finally, after seventeen and a half

    hours Brad asked for $7,298, precisely. And because Brad's request was precise the

    clerk gave it to him. The clerk gave him exactly $7,298. Brad ran home. Then he ran

    to school with the money. He paid for school and he started to study again. Of

    course, Brad was very, very happy. What a happy story.

    Okay, next, same story, this time from a future point of view. This time using a future

    timeframe, let's go to the future, shall we?

    In the future there will be a student named Brad and Brad is going to need money for

    school. He'll be a poor student and he won't have money for school. Brad's going to

    think about this problem a lot. Now, of course, he'll have a worthwhile purpose. It's a

    worthwhile purpose to need money for school.

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    Wed, 20 Oct 2021 - 10min
  • 77 - There was a guy named Brad. Brad was a student. Brad was a poor student, he needed money for school.

    Automatic English For The People

    Excitement Mini-Story Text

    Hi, this is AJ, welcome to the mini-story for "Excitement."

    * * * **

    There was a guy named Brad. Brad was a student. Brad was a poor student, he

    needed money for school.

    What was Brad?

    A student, Brad was a student.

    What did he need?

    He needed money, Brad needed money.

    What did he need money for?

    For school, Brad needed money for school.

    What kind of student was Brad?

    Well, he was a poor student. Brad was a poor student and he needed money for

    school.

    Was he a rich student?

    No, of course not, he was not a rich student. He was a poor student. Brad was a poor

    student who needed money for school.

    So he needed money and he had a worthwhile purpose.

    Was his purpose worthwhile? Was it good, beneficial, useful?

    Well, yes, it was, it was worthwhile. It was a good, beneficial, purpose.

    What was his purpose? Why did he need money?


    Wed, 20 Oct 2021 - 15min
  • 76 - Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "The Art of Power." Let's get started right away, here we go.


    Automatic English For The People

    The Art of Power Vocabulary Text

    Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "The Art of Power." Let's get

    started right away, here we go.

    Our first word is subconscious. We've talked about this word already several times, so

    I'll review it quickly. Subconscious means the deep part of your mind. It's the deep

    emotions, the deep thoughts. They're not at the top of your mind, you're not thinking

    about them. You don't realize that they are there, they're deep down.

    And then, of course, the other kind of mind or consciousness is your conscious mind.

    Your conscious mind is what you are thinking about right now. You know what you're

    thinking about. You can kind of see it or hear it in your brain. But the subconscious is

    deeper. You don't see it or hear it immediately, it's not obvious. So that's

    subconscious.

    Our next word is dormant, dormant. So Thich Nhat Hanh said that often these seeds

    of anger or the seeds of violence or the seeds of sadness and depression, often they

    are dormant. Dormant means sleeping. Quite simply it means sleeping, so, again,

    dormant. If the seeds are dormant it means they're sleeping. They're not growing,

    they're not active. They're not awake they are sleeping, so dormant means sleeping.

    You hear this word with volcanoes sometimes. They'll say it's a dormant volcano.

    Volcano is a big mountain, right? It explodes sometimes. Well if it's a dormant

    volcano it's a sleeping volcano. It's not exploding, there's nothing happening, it's

    asleep. Okay, so dormant, again, dormant means sleeping or asleep.

    Our next word is formation, formation. He says that when these negative emotions,

    these negative seeds are fed or watered, when you give them energy they become

    mental formations. So a formation is just a thing, an organized thing. So, in other

    words, they become real things. They become alive, they become awake, they

    become real things.

    So before you had this seed of anger, but you weren't angry. It's down there, it's

    asleep, nothing is happening. But then maybe you watched the news or you're around

    a lot of angry people and then suddenly that seed starts growing. And now anger

    becomes real, it becomes a mental formation, it becomes a real idea. It becomes a

    real feeling in your brain, in your mind. So, again, formation is something that is real

    and organized, something that exists in reality.


    Sat, 16 Oct 2021 - 15min
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