Appreciating The Journey

Welcome to the Effortless English Show with the world's number one English teacher, A.J. Hogue, where A.J. 's more than 40 million students worldwide finally learn English once and for all without the boring textbooks, classrooms and grammar drills. Here's A.J.

with a quick piece to help you learn to speak fluent English effortlessly. Join and commit to my VIP program at EffortlessEnglishClub.com You will speak English fluently.

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Join and commit at EffortlessEnglishClub.com EffortlessEnglishClub.com After a few months with the VIP program, I recommend focus on the VIP program for a few months, only the VIP program.

Then add the pronunciation course. Maybe after about three months doing VIP, add the pronunciation course also so you do both at the same time. Three or four months with VIP, then pronunciation course. Add that also and do both.

Pronunciation course is a great addition. It doesn't take a long time each day. Pronunciation course is maybe 20, 30 minutes a day. It's not bad. but it will teach you to speak very clearly.

And the pronunciation course will help. Of course, it helps your pronunciation, so you are very understandable, very clear pronunciation, a clear accent.

It will also help the speed, your fluency, because you'll be practicing at different speeds with that pronunciation course. It's a great addition. You join the VIP program, that gets that...

You know, the fundamentals, the core, the central aspects of your spoken English, listening and speaking and fluency and thinking in English and all of that.

You do that three months, four months. You can even wait a little longer if you want to. When you start really feeling some improvement happening with the VIP program, that's a good time to then add the pronunciation course and then do them both together for several months.

Of course, they're both available online. Join them both, and my other courses too, at EffortlessEnglishClub.com EffortlessEnglishClub.com One of the great things about Effortless English is our Effortless English family.

It's an international family of independent learners. You know, you're intelligent, you're independent... I see this on the live shows that I do. I see this when I do my VIP-only chats and webinars.

And even when I have met you, VIP members, Effortless English members, when I travel, I often meet Effortless English members, the Effortless English family. And I notice...

It's a special kind of people join Effortless English. Definitely intelligent people, but very self-motivated people too, which makes sense. People who have the motivation and the discipline to be independent learners. Independent learners.

The most powerful kind of learning. In addition, I've noticed some other things about most effortless English members. Our international community, our international family.

Tends to be people who are a bit independent in general. Not just with learning, but in life in general. A little more independent, a little more creative.

A little different than regular people. You know, regular people just follow what everyone else is doing. Regular people mostly do what other people tell them to do.

That's what most people do in life. And that's why they don't get very good results often. But Effortless English members, you know, because they're more independent, not only independent learners, but just independent thinkers...

just tend to be more creative because you're out there looking for things. You're looking to improve your life. You're looking to improve your English, of course, and that's how you find Effortless English and join.

But it's also why you stay with Effortless English because I talk about those topics. I talk about financial freedom and financial independence. I talk about health and fitness and energy sometimes. And I talk about...

meaning and purpose and missions in life. All of those things you are interested in. You are like Santiago in The Alchemist. You're on your own journey, each of you, including myself.

And that's kind of a special kind of person. Most people don't do it. We saw it in kind of a message of The Alchemist that writes, At the very end of The Alchemist, Santiago meets that guy in Egypt, the thief, another thief.

And we find out that the thief got exactly the same dream as Santiago, right? The thief dreamed about a treasure also. Of course, the thief dreamed that it was in Spain, the real location.

of the treasure. But the thief ignored it. The thief ignored the dream, ignored his own intuition, just continued doing what he always had done, continued, uh,

following along with the other thieves, afraid to take a risk, afraid to take the journey, afraid to think independently, to be different. So the thief remained a thief, living a kind of miserable life, really.

And Santiago got the same dream and had the same choice and of course he made a different choice Santiago chose to listen to his intuition to be open to it he didn't immediately decide to leave it wasn't just he had a dream and the next day he left he had to think about it he had to think about it and kind of open his mind to this idea and he went to see the gypsy woman to get some help

Encouragement. What does this mean? Is this real? And then he also got some help from that kind of king guy that he met in Spain. But the key thing is he was open to the dream.

Even though, of course, when it first came, he didn't know what to think about it. But he didn't close his mind. He did not immediately say, oh no, that's stupid. I'm not going to listen to this.

I'm going to ignore it. He did not do that. He kept his mind open. He continued to think about it. To listen to his own thoughts and feelings and heart.

To ask questions. And of course he listened to other people too, like the gypsy woman. And step by step, over some time... He began to realize that, oh, this is something meaningful for me.

And then he took the big risk. He took the big risk. He had to leave behind everything he knew, all of his normal life. He had a very comfortable life as a shepherd with the sheep, right?

He was very comfortable. He was not unhappy. But he chose to take that risk anyway and go on that journey. That's what I see in effortless English people.

Effortless English family. And we know that when you do that kind of journey, there are ups and there are downs, right? There are challenges and problems and difficulties. Sometimes during that journey you feel discouraged.

Sometimes you feel frustrated. Sometimes you feel a little upset. Sometimes bad things happen. Santiago lost his money several times during the story.

He was afraid several times during the story. He seemed to have very bad luck several times in the story. He seemed to make some bad decisions several times in the story. But he kept going.

But he kept going. And we see overall, overall, as we get to the end, we can see that there was some kind of purpose or meaning or learning, even with the bad luck, even with the mistakes and the failures and the problems.

those actually seemed actually necessary to help him learn and grow. And of course also on the positive side, the many encouraging people he met who helped him along the way, guided him, introduced him to ideas, important ideas, helped to mentor him.

Of course, you're going to have this, too. I have this, too, where people like us, we go out of our comfort zone, right? We do something that's uncomfortable. We push ourselves a little bit, take some risks to learn, to grow, to explore.

Well, we know it's not always going to be comfortable. That's kind of the point. So sometimes with your English learning, you feel a little frustrated or you feel like you're having a bad day or a bad week or a bad month.

It's okay. It's okay. It's part of the process. And also in life in general, you may feel this way with your financial life, your working life, your career, your health and fitness, all that kind of stuff.

It can all go up and down, up and down. Just keep going like Santiago. I think that's a great message. Now I'm talking to you from Osaka, Japan. I'm next to the canal again, the water.

One of the many canals that crosses, goes across Osaka. Beautiful fall day. Beautiful fall day. A little chilly. A little cool, a little chilly. But it was sunny most of the day.

A bit cloudy now, but still nice clear air. Nice and crisp clear air. It's just a very nice, pretty fall day. Nice time of year. Book club. We've got to do another book.

I have decided the next book will be... The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.

Now again, the title is quite clear about what the subject is, right? It's pretty easy to guess what this is about. How to be effective. How to be effective.

And more specifically, what habits do you need? So this means behaviors, right? Actions, behaviors that you do all the time, right? They're habits, right?

That's what a habit is. Habit is something you do again and again and again and again and again. We have good habits and we have bad habits, right? Well, good habits lead us to be more happy, more effective, more healthy, feel better, all of those things, right?

They lead to good results. And that's what this book is about, then. It's about the seven habits of highly effective people. It's about being more effective.

What does that mean? To be effective means to get results. To get the results you want. If you're ineffective, the opposite. The opposite is ineffective.

That means you don't get the results you want. You don't succeed. So that's why you want to make money. You want to make money. If you're effective, you will make money.

It means you get the result you want. If you're ineffective, it means you don't make money. You don't get the result that you want. You don't achieve your goal.

You don't achieve your mission. You don't achieve your purpose. That's all effective means. Effective is another, it's kind of another way to say successful.

Effective. So the habits of highly effective people, so what Stephen Covey is called, teaching in this book. He's looking at people who are very effective, who get results in their life.

Which results? Well, that's what you have to decide. So he's not going to tell us exactly what results we're supposed to get in life, because that's really what the alchemist was about.

It's about, you've got to find that, that deep purpose, those missions, even the smaller goals. He That's what you have to find and choose for your life. That's what gives your life a feeling of meaning and purpose, significance.

So no one can choose that for you. I can't tell you. Sometimes people ask me questions like, should I start my own business? I can't answer that question for you because I don't know.

The answer to that question for me... was yes. If you are kind of an entrepreneurial person, you really want to be financially independent, and you kind of have the mindset and the values of an entrepreneur, someone who starts a business, grows a business, then I would say yes. But some people don't have that mindset.

Some people just don't. And for those people, the answer would be no. Trying to start your own business would maybe be the wrong choice and maybe you need to find a different way to be financially independent. There are many ways.

We learned that from Robert Kiyosaki. I mean, you can do it through investing. You can do it through living a very, very, very, very simple life. You can do it through real estate, which is a kind of business and a kind of investing.

It's sort of a combination of the two. The point is, though, I can't tell you which goals to have. I can't tell you what your purpose is. I can't tell you what the missions are in your life.

I mean, that's a big part of your life journey, is to find that yourself. Just like Santiago had to find it himself. Remember the alchemist said, the alchemist helped to guide him, but At the end, the alchemist said, you have to go the rest of the way yourself.

I can't go with you, the last part. You have to do it yourself. You have to go to the pyramids yourself. He said goodbye to him. He wouldn't go the last little bit.

So Stephen Covey is not going to tell us which goals to choose. He's not going to tell you the purpose of your life. He's not going to tell you the missions that you should have in your life.

He's going to leave that to you and to I to choose that. But then what he is going to tell us is, okay, after you choose a mission or a goal or a really big purpose, after you do that, how do you get it? How do you achieve it? How can you be effective, right?

Successful with that. That's what he's looking at. And because there are certain habits... certain mindsets, certain behaviors that effective people have.

Certain things that are common. So say some people are very effective with their health and fitness. Some people are very successful and effective at making money. Some people are effective at being creative, artistic.

Some people are very effective at relationships, successful relationships, loving relationships, and creating healthy, happy, very close families. Some people are very effective at public speaking. Some people are very effective at other kinds of performance.

Some are effective as coaches, teachers, writers, all of these things. But what's interesting, what Stephen Covey's looking at is, okay, these people all have very different goals, right? They're effective in very different areas of life. All those are very different areas of life.

You know, an artist compared to a banker or investor seems like very different. But what he's saying is, what his... message, the main theme, the main idea here, is that there's actually something common among all of the people who are successful and effective. They have certain mindsets and behaviors that make them effective, and it doesn't matter.

Any area of your life, if you use these habits, you will have more success. You'll have more success with school. You'll have more success with business. You'll have more success with

health and fitness, with relationships, with anything you focus on, any goal or mission in your life, by using these habits, you will become more successful, more effective.

It was a big, big, big bestseller. Still is, I think. I think still sells very well. It was popular for lots of different kinds of people. A lot of business people like this book.

But a lot of just regular people, too, who don't really care about business that much, but have other things in their life they want to learn. I read this book. Oh, wow.

Again, it's been many years since I read the book. But I do remember enjoying it. I hope when I read it again, I'll enjoy it just as much. But it's a very practical book, as you can guess from the title and my description.

This book is very practical. It's a focus on how to get something. It's how to achieve. This is focused on achievement. I'm looking forward to it. Go ahead and get that book if you want to.

Now, another nice thing about this book, because it was a huge bestseller, There are probably a lot of translations. Some of you, I know, some of you like to first read the books in your own language.

And that's fine, because it helps you understand the main ideas. Then when you go and read it in English, or you listen to my book club videos or audios...

it helps you understand, right? You kind of learn it more easily in English. So that's perfectly fine. That's fine if you want to first read it in your own language.

And that's one reason I'm choosing books that are, you know, fairly well-known, that have been popular or bestsellers or classics, because then you can find them quite easily in English and you can also find lots of translations of them.

So go get that book! I'll give you my last thoughts on The Alchemist. Kind of my last comments and thoughts on The Alchemist, and then we'll be moving on.

I think that one of the key messages, you know, there are a lot of messages, we have discussed many, but the one I'd like to finish with is the idea of enjoying the journey. This is an idea that we mentioned again and again and again. We talked about it in many of the different book clubs.

But this one's very central for me when I think about the whole story of the alchemist from beginning to end. I think one of the key messages is exactly that, that the journey is everything, not the goal. I realize that. What's interesting is that's one of the things Coelho actually does not say directly, not so much.

And yet I think it's one of the indirect messages and therefore perhaps the most powerful one in the whole book because it's kind of under everything else through the whole story.

Because it kept making me think about it as I was reading the book again. Each step of the story... one thing kept kind of bothering me a little bit. Not bothering me, but it seemed a little strange to me.

And I've mentioned it before, but the thing that seemed strange was that on one hand, Santiago had this dream of treasure in Egypt. And he made big changes in his life to go on this huge journey to get the treasure.

And so clearly, this is a big motivation. But on the other hand, through the whole story it's very obvious that he just doesn't seem to care about money very much I mean kind of like most of us he he recognizes money's useful but he never really seems motivated by the money just the money because when he gets money he's kind of happy but he doesn't go crazy he doesn't spend it he doesn't try to hold on to it tightly he's like oh this is nice

And then when he loses it, well, the first time he loses it, he's quite upset. But then after that, he seems like he just kind of gets used to losing it, too.

So I kept having to think about this again and again. Well, this is interesting, and I think... Finally, that's what I started to realize. Well, it's because it's the journey itself that's really motivating him.

It's a deeper purpose that he doesn't even realize when he starts. But he feels it. There's something, you know, call it intuition. We sometimes say like a hunch, a gut feeling, like a feeling in your stomach.

It's not a clear thought in your brain, but it's just some kind of deeper feeling that you can't quite explain, but you just think you know something.

That's called a hunch or a gut feeling. So I think he just kind of has this hunch or gut feeling or something that there is some kind of deeper purpose for this journey.

He can't explain it, he doesn't know what it is really, but... that is clear to me through the whole story that's what's really motivating him and pulling him along that yeah the kind of the gold but not really and so I think that's quite clear that message then that it's not that specific goal it's the whole journey is what's important it's the whole journey that changes him not getting a box of gold

It's good for us to remember this. That you need to be aware of this and enjoy your journey. What is your journey? Your journey is your life. You don't have to leave home and go on a big trip to the pyramids.

Your journey is your life. It's every single day. It's very easy to get focused on the future. It's very easy to get focused on the goal, right? He could have just focused on gold the whole time.

Gold, gold, gold. Oh, I've got to get money. Money, money, money. You know, every day he could have been thinking about that and imagining it and getting more and more excited about it.

But I don't think that's such a great or healthy or happy way to live. Instead... You just focus on enjoying each and every day. Yes, you have your goals and you have your missions and you have your purpose.

And you keep moving towards them all as best you can. But more importantly, each step, each day, you appreciate everything. And enjoy. And you learn everything you can.

And you're grateful and happy for everything you can be. And this means those day-to-day things tend to feel or seem small. We ignore these things too often.

One thing we need to do is to appreciate the challenges we have in life. each day, each week. This is something that's very difficult for many people.

But there is a kind of enjoyment in struggling with something difficult, with trying to solve a problem. You can imagine this like sometimes mathematicians, people who love math, they love playing with the problems and trying to solve a new difficult problem.

We talked about this in the live show where somebody mentioned video games. We talked about how, well, if a video game is too easy, it's no fun. It's no fun if it's too easy. There's no challenge.

The challenge is part of the fun. In fact, it's necessary. You need it. You need some difficulty or else there's no fun. It's not interesting. It becomes boring.

And so we have to try to remember this in life sometimes. Because sometimes in life we get some bad luck or something bad happens and we're... We want to get angry or cry or something. And sometimes, especially with the smaller problems or even the medium-sized ones, sometimes we need to just relax and say, well, hey, you know, this just makes life a little more interesting. This is a challenge.

I can appreciate this. I can actually enjoy solving this problem. I can enjoy figuring this out and finding some interesting solution. You can start to play with your problems instead of just getting upset every time.

Indeed, that is the mindset of many, especially people who love math, right? They will even use that exact word. They're playing with a problem. I'm playing with this math problem.

It's a good word. To play with your problems. What if you did that in life in general? Each day, change your mindset. Instead of suffering from your problems or enduring your problems, what if you played with your problems instead?

It's a nice mindset shift. Change. Change. Another part of enjoying the journey each and every day is to appreciate and enjoy the small and simple pleasures.

Now these are the pleasures, the small and simple pleasures that are all around us every day that we can enjoy in moderation. I mentioned the danger and the evils of addiction earlier.

So many people become miserable and unhappy chasing, chasing, chasing those big pleasures of addiction. Alcohol and drugs are a good example. Sex is another example. Those intense, powerful ones.

The ones that are not moderate. They want more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more. And that's what destroys them. That's what makes them so unhappy because they can never get enough.

Impossible to get enough. Because the more you get, the more you want. That's what addiction is. That's why it destroys you. On the other hand, there are these simple pleasures, these moderate pleasures, that you can enjoy if you quiet your mind.

They're smaller pleasures, but they're wonderful and beautiful when you learn to enjoy them and appreciate them. And the great thing about these is they're not addictive...

They're very healthy. They actually will bring greater happiness, greater peace, greater calm to your life. So it's not that you have to avoid pleasure. It's which ones, okay?

There are healthy ones and there are unhealthy ones. So these are things like, for example, the sun. The sun, the sky, the clouds. They're always there, always available to you.

Just to look up. Right now I am looking up at a beautiful sky. I am looking out towards a kind of a light blue sky with some slightly purple clouds. And there's a large, almost full moon that's just coming up.

But it's still light. And the moon looks really big. It's beautiful. What a nice, simple, beautiful pleasure that is. to just stop for a moment and notice it, look at it, appreciate the beauty of it.

Right? We get so busy with so many things in life that we don't do this every day. They're everywhere, all these little pleasures. There's trees, wind, rain.

I mean, how many times... Do people complain about the rain? It's a rainy day. This sucks. But rainy days can be wonderful if you appreciate them. They can be a great time to sit and calm your mind and slow down.

put on some warm clothes and just look outside at the rain and watch the rain and kind of enjoy a meditative mindset or feeling. It's a great pleasure. And of course the opposite is also nice. Sunny days are fantastic.

I love them myself. Food can be enjoyed as simple pleasures. I mean, there are unhealthy, addictive foods, right? The super, again, the super pleasurable ones, the super sugary ones.

But you can also, if you just calm your mind and you notice, you notice, you notice, you can just enjoy the usual, everyday simple foods that you eat. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Right? Right?

Simple things too, like a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, even a glass of water. Instead of being distracted, you can focus on the taste and the smell and relax and really learn to enjoy those simple little pleasures that cost nothing or almost nothing that are there every single day.

Hundreds of them every single day all around you. Now, of course, people. People are another simple pleasure that you can enjoy and appreciate. The people you care about.

Your favorite people. The favorite people that your husband or your wife, your children, your extended family, your mom, your dad, your sisters, your brothers, uncles and aunts, grandparents, all of those.

friends. Stop and appreciate them each day. Be happier with them. Be happy you have another day with them to enjoy them. Also, even just strangers or acquaintances who are nice, who are kind, you can just, again, appreciate them as a simple pleasure.

I've got a coffee shop I go to, I've mentioned before, and there's pretty much everyone who works there is very friendly. Every time I go in there, they smile and they chat a little bit. It's very simple. It's nothing huge, nothing big.

But I appreciate it. It's just nice to go in and just have that nice little kind or friendly chat for just a few seconds. each day. Very nice. It's one of the reasons I enjoy coffee, just to sit down with a coffee each day.

Just drink it slowly. Notice the taste. Notice the smell. Notice the temperature. This is called mindfulness. Mindfulness. Mindfulness. Another word is awareness.

Just being aware of now, this present moment, today... Because you might have big goals in life. You might have a big purpose. You might have big missions.

All those are good, but you've got to enjoy each step along the way. You've got to enjoy today. If you don't enjoy today, if you don't enjoy the present moment, then the goal means nothing at all, really. You get the goal, but you'll be unhappy the whole time when you're trying to get it.

Well, that's kind of stupid. That's foolish. That's like Santiago. If he just cared about gold, gold, gold, gold, gold all the time, he would not have learned anything.

He would not have enjoyed and appreciated all the wonderful experiences he had along the way until finally he realized, well, the gold is, yeah, it's nice, but it's actually was not even the true goal at all.

Well, same for you and I. Slow down and appreciate all those things every single day. those little simple pleasures of life. Also the daily activities you do.

You can do them with appreciation and enjoyment or you can just do them like a robot. I'll give you an example. Exercise. Some people just exercise and it's like they hate it.

They do it as some kind of like it's almost like they're punishing themselves with pain and They really, they don't, it's a very unpleasant time. You can kind of look at their face and you can see that they're not enjoying it.

That's crazy in my mindset. I just think it's crazy. If you're going to exercise each day, enjoy it. Do something you enjoy. I mean, if you hate running, don't run every day.

There's so many things you can do. It's crazy to do something that you hate. There's many ways to move your body. You just got to move your body and Work your muscles a little bit.

So if you hate running, try cycling. Try swimming. I don't know. Try climbing, like rock climbing. You could have climbing gyms. Try different gym activities.

Try weightlifting. Calisthenics. There's so many things. Or just try sports. There are lots of sports you can do, too. Moving your body should be enjoyable.

You know, I love it. I love it. In fact, I feel bad if I don't exercise. I feel like, oh, I've got to get out and move. So those things you do every day, just walking.

Instead of just walking and thinking about all your problems and being unhappy, enjoy walking. Just smile as you walk. Notice how your body feels as you walk. Look around you.

Notice the people that you pass. Notice the buildings. Notice the trees. Whatever. Wherever you are. Mindfulness. Be aware of now. Be aware. And appreciate.

Appreciate. Do it with gratitude. You can even do this with Activities such as washing the dishes, cooking, brushing your teeth. Right? Those little activities that you do every day, that you have to do every day.

Well, you can do them again like a mindless robot with your mind focused on something else, kind of not even aware of what you're doing. Or you can slow down and notice. Notice how you feel.

Notice what you're doing. Be aware of it. And then it can become, again, another very positive, simple pleasure. Cooking, for example. I'm not much...

I don't really cook much. My wife does most of the cooking in our family. But if you're going to cook, you might as well enjoy it. A lot of people love the process of cooking.

So learn to love it. Some people love it as a creative exercise, like a It's like an art. Others, it's just more like a meditation, right? They love this kind of slow process of cutting up the food and cooking it and the smells.

They notice all of that and appreciate all of that. There's pleasure and beauty in that. Tha Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk, In several of his books, he has whole big long sections about washing dishes and talks about how when you wash the dishes, you should focus your mind in the present moment.

You should be aware of washing the dishes. You should notice the temperature of the water. You should notice how the dishes feel as you're kind of wiping them and rubbing them. You should notice the smell of the soap.

You should notice all of this and appreciate it and make the process of washing the dishes kind of like a meditation. His message is basically, and this is a message of many people, is that, hey, if you're going to do something, then just focus your mind on it and appreciate it. But all these little things can be actually little moments of small pleasure and beauty, each step on the journey.

This is more important than your goal. It really is. The goal is like a compass. It tells you a direction, which of course you choose. But it gives you a direction to move in life.

Because in life we have to move forward. We have to move, right? Right? This is the nature of being alive, of having a body. We have to do things. We have to take action.

We have to move. We're designed for this. But the danger is if you get too focused on the end point, the goal, where you're trying to get to, and you forget to enjoy each step along the way.

Like I mentioned before, another example of this is the Camino de Santiago. one of my favorite journeys that I've done, which was over a month of walking.

And I mentioned, the whole point of that pilgrimage, that walk, was not just to get to Santiago, the city of Santiago. The point was each step along the way, the whole journey, that's the point, that's what was beautiful, that's where the powerful experiences came from.

If I just got a plane ticket and flew directly to Santiago, then I'd just be a tourist. I would have been a tourist. Just, okay, I just arrive in Santiago immediately, look around, oh, nice church, and then left.

There would have been no meaning, really. It might have been a nice vacation, but certainly not a meaningful journey. This is life in general. We all know the end of life.

We're all going to die. It's crazy to focus on one goal or one thing. Oh, if I make a lot of money, then I'll be happy. If I get the box of gold, then I'll be happy.

If I get that girl or that guy, then I'll be happy. No, you won't. No, you won't. Not unless you learn how to be happy each and every day with what you have already right now.

With whatever you have right now. When you learn to be happy with what you have right now, even if it's just a little, when you learn to appreciate that, when you learn to appreciate those small pleasures...

when you're grateful for what you have right now, then, later in life, when you do achieve goals, when you do get more, well, then it's all extra. Then you really appreciate, you're really grateful for all those extra things you get because it's just abundance.

This is a great word, abundance. It's just like more and more and more than you even need and you just say, wow, this is fantastic. If you can live, like let's say money, just an easy example.

If you can appreciate and really live well and have a happy life with just, let's say, $500 per month, which in America, that's not much if you're living in America.

But if you can really cut, cut, cut your expenses and live a super simple life, and appreciate all the small pleasures in your life. Be grateful and truly be happy each day of your life with that amount of money.

Well, guess what? Let's say several years later you do start a business or you get a great job and then you're making $5,000 a month, ten times more. You're really going to appreciate all of that extra money You're not going to go crazy chasing addictions.

You're already going to have a huge amount of self-discipline, but more importantly, you're going to have a great amount of appreciation. You're going to realize and know, because you lived it, that you don't need a lot more things to be happy. That it's nice to have this extra money.

but you won't feel fear or stress because of it, because you know you don't need it, because you know that you already know how to be happy, even with just $500 a month.

And if you become even richer, a millionaire, a billionaire, again, it's all just extra, like an extra gift that you don't need, but you really, really, really appreciate it then.

And you'll know how to use it. You'll know how to use it without becoming unhappy. It's strange, but the people who think they need money to be happy, when they get the money, they become less happy.

It's a strange lesson of life. But this is why. They're always thinking, ah, if I'm rich, if I'm rich, then I'll be happy. If I'm rich, then I'll be happy.

So each day they're miserable. So what are they really doing? They're making a habit of being miserable. They're making a habit of not appreciating small pleasures.

They're making a habit of ignoring all that they have already. They're making a habit of ignoring and not appreciating what they have, of not being grateful, of always wanting more, more, more.

And so when they do get more, guess what? They still have those same bad habits. So they get more. They become a millionaire. Guess what? Maybe they're happy a few days and then they're back to being unhappy again because they don't appreciate it.

They never created the habit of appreciation. So they have a million dollars and they buy a bunch of stuff and then they're like, eh, then they get bored with it very quickly. And then they think, oh, I need more. I need more.

I thought a million dollars would be enough, but it's not enough. I need more. And this is the addiction trap. And in the rest of their life, they're chasing more and more and more.

And they destroy themselves, many of them. Even if they don't destroy themselves, they're just not happy. I've met a lot of rich people who are very unhappy.

And this is why. I've also met poor people who are very unhappy. Same problem. They also don't appreciate. They also have the same mindset. It's interesting.

The unhappy rich people and the unhappy poor people share the same belief, the same mindset. I need more to be happy. I need more. If I get more, then I'll be happy.

If I get more, then I'll be happy. Now is not enough. I don't appreciate now. I don't appreciate what I have now. I don't appreciate the small pleasures I have now.

Interesting. But you can. I'm going to end with a saying, a quote from Tony Robbins. One of my favorite things that Tony Robbins says. He says, All you need is within you now.

All you need is within you now. He uses this as an incantation. Something he repeats every day. If you do that, you would just change it to I. All I need is within me now.

All I need is within me now. That's a good thing to repeat to yourself every day. That's a good belief to have. That's a good belief to develop and make stronger in yourself.

That... It's nice to have goals and try to achieve more. But ultimately, finally, all you need is within you now already. Because inside you, you already have the ability to appreciate.

You already have the ability to enjoy all the simple beauties and pleasures in your life right now. You already have the ability to inside of you, to be self-disciplined, to practice emotional discipline, to calm your mind, to meditate, to be aware, to be mindful.

All of that's already within you. You don't need to buy anything or achieve anything to get it. All you need is within you now. All I need is within me now.

All right. As always, join my VIP program. Commit and join my VIP program. And you know what? There's a good message for that too, VIP members. Enjoy your journey with the VIP program.

You know, I made these lessons to be enjoyable, to be interesting. Enjoy listening to them each day. You'll notice, VIP members, once a month I often will send you an email to remind you to go download your new lessons.

and many times when I sign the email I say enjoy your lessons enjoy I use this word enjoy a lot very important I do that for the same reason I'm talking about today I don't want you to listen to the VIP lessons like it's some kind of painful thing you must do you need to enjoy them enjoy them that's why I say enjoy the topics

Enjoy the topics I'm teaching you. Enjoy the stupid, funny, silly stories. Enjoy the ideas. Enjoy just listening to English. Enjoy the repetition. Enjoy my voice, I hope.

Enjoy each step of the way. Don't get too crazy about, I must achieve mastery of, total mastery of English. I know you want that and you'll do it, but you've got to enjoy each step of the way. Those are the people who do the best, by the way.

Those are the people who succeed the best with English. The ones who love it and enjoy it all the time. Mehdi is a good example of that. He's from Iran.

One of the Effortless English family. He follows me on Twitter. And those of you who know Mehdi, a lot of you know Mehdi. You all know, it's very obvious, just looking at his tweets, his social media messages, that he just seems to love English.

He just enjoys it. He really, really just loves it. Max... From Italy, same thing. Do they work hard? Yes. Are they disciplined? Yes. Do they get all the repetition?

Do they follow the effortless English system? Yes, yes, yes. But most importantly, it's how they do it. They do it with enjoyment. They do it with appreciation.

Just loving it. Just enjoying the whole process of it. Each day, it's fun. It's enjoyable for them. They make it fun and enjoyable. They appreciate it.

And that's why it's so easy for them to keep going each day, and that's why they are very, very effective. All right, well, join and commit to my VIP program. Join today at EffortlessEnglishClub.com And, of course, later you can add my pronunciation course too.

Also, at EffortlessEnglishClub.com Join and commit