Podcast
Power English
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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
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
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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 li
Oct 20, 202100:06:46Tap to summarizeExcitement 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.
Transcribe →Hello, this is AJ, welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "Excitement." Let's start. Our first word is specificity, specificity, a little diff
Oct 20, 202100:17:04Tap to summarizeExcitement 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?
Transcribe →Hi, this is AJ, welcome to the point of view mini-stories for "Excitement." Let's get started.
Oct 20, 202100:10:50Tap to summarizeAutomatic 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. EffortlessEnglishClub.com 1
Transcribe →There was a guy named Brad. Brad was a student. Brad was a poor student, he needed money for school.
Oct 20, 202100:15:40Tap to summarizeAutomatic 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?
Transcribe →Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "The Art of Power." Let's get started right away, here we go.
Oct 16, 202100:15:38Tap to summarizeAutomatic 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.
Transcribe →Hello, this is AJ, welcome to our next lesson. This lesson is called "The Art of Power" and it comes from a book. The topic comes from a boo
Oct 16, 202100:15:15Tap to summarizeThe Art of Power Main Text Hello, this is AJ, welcome to our next lesson. This lesson is called "The Art of Power" and it comes from a book. The topic comes from a book with the same name. The book is called The Art of Power by Thich Nhat Hanh. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Buddhist Monk, he is a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk and really one of my favorite writers, one of my favorite people, one of my favorite teachers. And I've been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's books and listening to his audio teachings for many, many years and he's a very special guy. Thich Nhat Hanh, again, he's Vietnamese, a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, and during the Vietnam War he created an organization and he created a movement for peace. So I believe he was in South Vietnam during the War and he did not support either side. He was not supporting the Communist North. He was not supporting the United States-backed South. He was just trying to end the War. He was trying to get peace in Vietnam and the Buddhist Monks that were in his group were doing the same. They were just trying to help people and trying to stop the War, stop the killing. Well, unfortunately, as happens in the world, because he would not join either side both sides didn't like him. So the Americans and the South Vietnamese, they thought he was bad because he was trying to stop the fighting and the North Vietnamese Communists, they didn't like him either because he was trying to stop the killing and the fighting. And, so, Thich Nhat Hanh, he had to leave Vietnam. His life was in danger from both sides. And, eventually, he had to leave Vietnam and he could not return. I think he just recently returned a couple years ago. The Vietnamese Government allowed him to come back because I guess he's still quite popular in Vietnam. But, anyway, he moved to France and he started to teach and write books and tapes. And he created a monastery in France where he teaches people about peace and about making your life better and about helping other people. And while he is a Buddhist, many of his students are Christians or Muslim or Jewish or not religious or Hindus, it doesn't matter. He's not like a strict Buddhist like you must be a Buddhist, he just wants to teach the principles of peace and understanding and love. So he's a wonderful person and he's got many great books, this book is called The Art of Power. And, of course, the power he's talking about is the power to be good, the power to control your own life and to have a good life and to help other people. So it's
Transcribe →Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the POV stories for "The Art of Power." Let's start. Since 2002 Sally has craved chocolate. She has wanted it
Oct 16, 202100:15:38Tap to summarizeHello, this is AJ. Welcome to the POV stories for "The Art of Power." Let's start. Since 2002 Sally has craved chocolate. She has wanted it every day, every hour of her life since 2002. She has become, unfortunately, super fat because she has craved chocolate so much. So Sally, since 2002, has become super fat because she has craved chocolate every day and every hour. Now, of course, during this time she has wanted to lose weight. She has wanted to lose weight all this time. Every day she has thought about it. Every day she has thought, oh, I want to lose weight. In fact, every day she has tried to suppress her craving for chocolate. She has tried to push down the craving. She has tired to pretend that she didn't crave chocolate. But, of course, this suppression has failed. It has always failed. In fact, one day it failed in a huge way, it was a super big failure one day. Because one day she saw a candy bar in the store and the candy bar triggered her craving and she bought 4,000 chocolate candy bars. She ate all of them in one day. So on that day she stopped trying to suppress her craving. Instead she decided to study yoga. And she went to a yoga studio and she studied yoga. By studying yoga she learned discipline and diligence. And because she learned diligence her chocolate cravings lessened. They got weaker and weaker, until one day they became totally dormant, totally asleep, totally quiet. Her chocolate cravings became dormant. And after that she ate only wholesome, healthy food. And because she ate only wholesome food she became thinner and thinner. In fact, she became a thin, gorgeous and sexy cow. And so all the male cows wanted her, they her because she was thin, gorgeous and sexy. Okay, that's the end of our first POV story. Next we go into the future. You already know this, so let's do it! Let's start. In the future there will be a cow and her name will be Sarah. Sarah is going to crave chocolate. She's going to crave chocolate every minute, every hour of every day. Of course, she'll become super fat. Sarah the cow will be a super fat cow because she's going to crave chocolate.
Transcribe →The Art of Power Mini-Story Text Hello, welcome to the mini-story for "The Art of Power." Let's begin.
Oct 16, 202100:10:07Tap to summarizeThe Art of Power Mini-Story Text Hello, welcome to the mini-story for "The Art of Power." Let's begin. * * * * * Sally was a cow. And Sally the cow craved chocolate. She desired chocolate. She had to have chocolate all the time. She always wanted chocolate. She craved it. Who craved chocolate? Sally, Sally the cow craved chocolate. What was Sally? She was a cow. Sally was a cow. How did she feel about chocolate? She craved it. Sally craved chocolate. She wanted it so much. She thought about chocolate all the time. I must have chocolate! So she craved vanilla, right? No, wrong, she did not crave vanilla she craved chocolate. She thought about chocolate all the time. So do you think Sally was thin or fat? Well exactly, of course, she was fat. She was obese, very, very fat. Sally was an obese cow. Why was she an obese cow? Because she craved chocolate every day and she ate chocolate every day. Why was she fat? Because she craved chocolate and ate chocolate every single day, all the time.
Transcribe →Hi, this is AJ, welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "Healthy Heart." Let's get started. Our first word is fibers, fibers. So in the story t
Oct 16, 202100:08:27Tap to summarizeHealthy Heart Vocabulary Text Hi, this is AJ, welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "Healthy Heart." Let's get started. Our first word is fibers, fibers. So in the story there was quote from Herman Melville, he said, “A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men." Fibers are really like strings, basically, it's just strings. It's just long strings. Usually we talk about fibers, for example, in clothing. So if you have, you know...your clothes are made of lots of little fibers that are woven together, that are put together. Each individual string is a fiber, so fiber. So he's saying we're connected by a thousand strings. So, obviously not really, but if you think about it kind of poetically it's a metaphor. So you can imagine that we're connected in a thousand different ways to other people. We cannot be separate. That's what the quote means. Alright and then next we have the phrase moved by. The sentence says "Perhaps this explains why we are often moved by people caring deeply for one another." Now you know the normal meaning of move, to move, but to be moved by something. I was moved by the movie, for example. It has a different meaning. When you say was moved by something, it means that you felt strong emotion, it made you feel emotional. Usually, kind of...kind of positive emotions, not negative emotions. So you could say, for example, you go to see Titanic, the movie Titanic, a romantic movie. And you say "Oh, I was moved by that story." All right, it means it made you feel very emotional. Maybe you cried and it was so, you know, powerful, it was a very emotional story. So you say "I was moved by the story. The story made me feel emotional," strong emotions. So in this quote it says "We are moved by people caring for one another." So when we see two people who care a lot for each other, they love each other a lot, we are moved. It means we feel strong emotion also, just seeing them. Just seeing two people who are very kind to each other, who love each other a lot, if we just see them we also feel some kind of strong emotion, right? We are moved by them, they make us feel strong emotion also. Alright, our next word is implication, implication. And the sentence said "There are also medical implications to whether we think of others or only of ourselves." There are medical implications. And implication is a consequence or a result, a result of
Transcribe →Hello, welcome to the point of view stories for "Healthy Heart." Same stories, different points of view, different timeframes, let's start.
Oct 16, 202100:20:37Tap to summarizeHello, welcome to the point of view stories for "Healthy Heart." Same stories, different points of view, different timeframes, let's start. Since he was a teenager Zach has loved bright, expensive clothes. In fact, since he was a teenager he has always worn conspicuous clothes when he was on the street. He has always been very conspicuous every time he walked on the street, since he was a teenager and continuing until he was an adult, until very recently. And since he was a teenager Zach has been totally self-absorbed. Zach has been completely self-absorbed, he has only thought about himself and his clothes. So, since he was a teenager he has loved bright, expensive clothes. Since he was a teenager he has always been conspicuous, noticeable. And since he was a teenager he has always been self-absorbed, he has only thought about himself and his clothing. But one day he bought a coat made from gold fibers and he bought the coat at Saks Fifth Avenue. This coat was worth $72 million, a super expensive coat! Zach loved the coat. He looked in the mirror and he talked to himself and he said "I'm so handsome. I'm so wonderful. I'm great!" However, a few weeks later, he woke up one day and looked in the mirror and he felt sad. He realized that he had lost touch with his happiness. He had lost touch with his happiness, he had lost touch with other people and so he felt very sad. He realized that he was totally alone. He went outside for a walk and while walking he saw a poor homeless man, a poor, suffering, hungry, homeless man. Oh, so sad. And Zach was moved by his suffering, he felt emotional because of the man's suffering. And so Zach said "Here, take my gold coat and buy a big house." And the man took his gold coat, he was so happy. He ran to the bank, he sold the gold coat, he bought a big, big mansion and he ate a lot of food. And Zach also felt very happy because he helped this man. He connected again with a person, so Zach was very happy and the homeless man was also very happy. Okay, that is the end of our first point of view story. As always, in these first stories, you'll hear a change, usually, and the change is between something that has been happening a while. It started in the past and it has continued happening for some time and then we change because something just happened suddenly.
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