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 going to
talk about what this means and why it's important when it comes to improving your English level
and enjoying the journey to fluency to make it enjoyable for you. 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 and on podcast
apps. So if you haven't done so already, just click that subscribe button so that you don't miss a
lesson. 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. It's 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 and
tell you a quick story from somebody called Derek Sivers. And he wrote an article which you
can listen to as well.

I'll leave a link to that 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 7
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 using all that energy and you're thinking,
how fast can I go?

And your body is tense 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 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 giving it any effort,
which means he wasn't really trying his hardest to get the fast time again. And he says that he
enjoyed this because he saw some dolphins in the water. He saw a pelican, and it was just a
much more enjoyable experience for him. And then he looked at the time at the end of the race,
and it was 45 minutes. So normally when he goes really fast and is intensely riding his bike, it
takes 43. But on this occasion, when he just felt like he was really relaxed and wasn't putting in
as much effort, it was 45 minutes. And that's why he says you can relax for basically the same
result. Now, there are certain things in life where this works, where it doesn't work, 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 would get roughly the same time. And I
think this is important because I also think. 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're going to internalize more English. Now, in the past, first
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 and vocabulary items. Instead it's just happening,
you're talking and it's working and it just feels natural.

Well, today I want to 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.
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 this state of flow and getting into the zone. 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 stretch 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 wellbeing 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 you're generally more happy. It also says at work, it's linked to productivity,
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, in order to
stay consistent. Now this next point is really important. But first it does say avoid noisy
environments, an opportunity for interruptions.

So that's just the first thing we need to know, that to create these conditions, to get into this zone,
this flow state where things are just happening naturally for you, you need to avoid noisy
environments and any opportunity for interruptions. Because if you're in the zone 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, that we find challenging 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 Crashon talks about, where we need to focus on getting resources, for example, read
books that are interesting to us, that are meaningful. So we need to do things that are meaningful,
that have meaning, 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, one that you can understand, 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're going to be in the zone when it comes to learning. 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. People have talked about it, 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, oh, I wish I had a higher level, my
English is not good enough, et cetera. All these negative emotions and thoughts that you have.
On the other hand, I'm sure you've had an experience where you had a conversation with
somebody in English and it just works. You understand what they said.

You could speak. They weren't using the type of English that was too challenging for you.
Instead you had this natural conversation. Or another time when you started a movie in English
and people talked about it and you could understand 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, OK, that was good, that felt good. Or maybe this was a podcast, 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 couldn't understand what was happening. And just
like Derek Sivers did with his bike, where he made the experience more enjoyable and he got the
same result. 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 more motivated. You're going
to get more context for your learning too.
So let's now talk about some practical ways that you can find this state of flow and we'll talk
about this in terms of the different skills of learning English. We'll start with listening. Okay,
now I get a lot of comments on my YouTube channel, two types of comments. The first one is,
wow, I really like 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 and talk about topics 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 I can understand your podcast, but when it comes to
a movie, 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 want to know if this is how people speak. And I think this is
important because both of these comments, because when it comes to learning English, again, it's
important to feel that state of flow and to constantly improve your listening skills. And you can
only do this if you understand the general topic of what has been 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 so you can get more time and more experience listening
to things, then that is what we need to aim for. So find podcasts like mine, find other podcasts
that you enjoy and listen as much as possible. Now, when it comes to reading, 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 And I'll leave a
link to a friend of mine called Ollie Richards 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 for intermediate learners, 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, it 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 writing a journal where you document, you
write down your thoughts, what you did yesterday, how you're feeling today, what you're going
to do today and tomorrow. So in this way, you're using the past, the present and the future. And
you're writing down 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 are
feeling today, 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 to in the
description, which is going to correct your writing, not just your spelling, but your grammar. It's
such a great tool. Again, I'll leave a link to that in the description. By doing that, you're going to
get in this flow state every day where you're writing more or less the same thing a lot of the
times because 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, and it's quite interesting 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 it takes energy to do. 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.
Someone who is patient, 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. One where you are confident 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. And one final thing on this 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 going to be easier, some days it's going to just naturally
flow.

Other days you might have to work harder to get there. But the idea with this is where you just
get started with it and then you soon find yourself in this learning state. You can think about this
in in different ways. Like if you're going for a run, the hardest part is getting change, putting
your things on and doing the first five minutes. And then you notice after five minutes that oh,
I'm in a flow state now where you're just running in this way where you're, you don't feel tired,
your muscles aren't hurting, 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 you're 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 find it enjoyable, that
you're not just in your head worried about what you're learning and trying to memorize things
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 going to listen to podcasts I like, I'm going to listen to podcasts I understand. I'm going to
read books I like. I'm going to read books I understand.

I'm going to talk to somebody who's just going to let me speak and correct me in the right way.
I'm going to write down things that I enjoy writing and then also know that when you introduce a
challenge into it, but one that you can win, 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 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 or the podcast or both because
I release a new episode every Thursday in 2022. We're going to 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 again. If you did, please share it with a friend and I will
speak you soon. Okay, bye bye for now.