VIP Audio – Fighting Spirit

Hello VIP and welcome to this month’s training. Now the topic this month is a very nice
topic, one of my favorites, it’s called ‘Fighting Spirit’ aaahhh! And what is fighting spirit?
Well, fighting spirit is a very general emotional attitude towards life and especially
towards problems and difficulties, even tragedies. So we’re continuing with this theme of
how should you think about and approach problems, difficulties and tragedies.

One of the inspirations for this lesson, and a few recent lessons, comes from my
Facebook page, actually. On my Facebook page I sometimes put inspiring quotes. You
know, just little ascends or something basically with the idea of you can do it. You’re the
master of yourself. These kinds of things to help people feel a little more confident,
inspired, something like that and most people respond to that very positively, but
always, always, always there are a few people who put these little comments that I find
really annoying and also sad.

I’ll have people who will kind of contradict these powerful sayings and, basically, the
message they’re writing on their comments is that I’m different. I’m a victim. I can’t do it.
I can’t overcome my problems. I’m special. Unlike everybody else, none of this will work
for me. You know wah, wah, wah, wah. What these people are lacking is a fighting spirit.

Now, in the martial arts, I’ve done martial arts on and off during most of my life and I’d
say every martial art has this idea of a fighting spirit. You see, you can pick any martial
art, anything from boxing to mixed martial arts or jujitsu or Japanese karate or Korean
Tae Kwon Do or whatever, it doesn’t matter, any kind of martial art, you have kind of
different aspects that make someone who’s a martial artist or a fighter good.

Now, in every martial art you’ll find certain kinds of fighters or martial artists who have
really good technique, right? I mean if it’s Tae Kwon Do they can do these kicks and
they’re amazing at the kicks. They’re really good. They’ve got great technique, but they
lack a fighting spirit. Meaning, whenever they go up against a difficult challenge, a
difficult opponent, they just kind of ah, become weak and then they lose. Even though
technically they might be better, they might even be physically bigger and stronger, but
they lack that fighting spirit and therefore they lose. And, of course, when you are
looking at things like boxing or mixed martial arts, which are much more aggressive,
then it becomes even more important.

So I’m not teaching you fighting in this video, but what I am talking about is this inner
strength, this inner fighting spirit, because it will allow you to overcome incredible
problems and obstacles in life which we all have to face and without this fighting spirit, I
don’t care how rich you are, I don’t care how educated you are, I don’t care, all that
other stuff, without the fighting spirit you’re just never gonna achieve those dreams.
With this fighting spirit you can start with no money, no education and seemingly terrible
luck and fight your way to the top. People do it all the time. We have a lot of models, a
lot of examples of this.

So here’s the good news, you can develop this fighting spirit. It’s not something that
you’re just born with. A lot of people have this idea oh, if I don’t have it in me now then
I’ll never have it. Well that’s bullshit and totally wrong. You can develop it. You can train
it into yourself. Now, first let’s start with the basic attitude towards problems and
challenges.

At a very basic level, I mean very basic, I’m not talking about anything spiritual or
anything, I’m just talking about very, very basic, you can look at all your problems in life,
all your difficulties, either as something to be endured, you know bad luck to be endured
and to survive, or you can view them as challenges to be vigorously and relentlessly
defeated and overcome. You can see how that’s a much more powerful approach to it.

Of course you can take even more spiritual approaches, that you’re being guided in
your learning, which I’ve talked about in another lesson, but at a really basic emotional
level, I’m talking about emotion in this lesson, emotionally you can view it as ah. You
know it’s this kind of reaction if you had to do it physically. Oh, this terrible thing
happened, oh, right? It’s just kind of shoulders down and this kind of oh no, I have to
endure this problem, oh no.

Or, aaahhh, you rise up and it’s like oh, okay, I’ve got this big challenge. I’m going to
overcome it. I’m going to attack this problem and I’m going to keep attacking it until I go
around it, find another solution or just overcome it with sheer determination and
persistence. If nothing else works then just persistence will work.

So, here’s the problem with that victim mentality, like I said, that I see in some of the
comments I see on my Facebook page and, you know, just in a lot of aspects in life and,
you know, I think all of us have done this. I’ve done it too in parts of my life. I’ll have a
little period, something bad happens and my first reaction will be this kind of victim
mentality, but I had to get out of it and so do you if you ever want to have a great,
wonderful life and if you really want to overcome major difficulties in your life.

Let me give you an example of this. I used to be a social worker and I worked with
people, mostly teenagers, but adults too, who had suffered abuse, physical abuse,
sexual abuse, domestic violence, meaning a man hitting a woman, different things like
that. So my job as a social worker was to help them heal from that and to develop a
more empowering attitude, because a lot of those clients, those people, had very much
a victim mentality. You know this happened to me when I was 14 years old and now my
life is ruined and it always will be.
That’s the belief and the attitude they had and they had this sort of weakness, this lack
of a fighting spirit about it and it did, it affected their whole lives. It made them weak with
every single problem they faced and they just developed this victim mentality about it
and they used it as an excuse for every other problem or failure in their life. They used it
as an excuse to feel weak.

On the other hand, you may know there’s a popular celebrity in the United States
named Oprah Winfrey who, if not the richest, she’s one of the richest women in the
United States. She’s a billionaire, a multibillionaire I believe and she suffered incredibly
horrible sexual abuse and physical abuse all through her young life, a child through
teenager. I mean it was horrible and, in fact, far worse than what most of my social work
clients endured.

Now, Oprah Winfrey, of course at the time it was horrible and painful and a tragedy of
course, but after she got out of that situation she decided to have a fighting spirit about
it. She’s a woman who has that fighting spirit and she decided that okay, this is not
going to destroy me. I will not let those people and what they did to me destroy my
entire life and so she developed emotionally this anger, a healthy anger and this fighting
sprint and she decided she was going to overcome it. She was going to heal from it and
she was going to use it to grow stronger and she did.

Now she talks freely about what happened to her. She had a TV show and she’s helped
a lot of people who also suffered abuse and helped them change their way of thinking
about it and lead happier, healthier lives. So the same event, right, the same basic
thing, sexual abuse or physical abuse, and yet Oprah had the fighting spirit. She
developed it and that’s what gave her a much higher quality of life than some of the
people I worked with.

So that, of course, is an example of a very severe tragedy and for most of us we haven’t
had quite that horrible level of tragedy or maybe we have, but the point is we can
choose, again, to see it as a challenge to help us grow stronger or as a problem to be
endured and oh, we’re a victim, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.

So to develop a fighting spirit the first thing you have to decide is this. You need a few
beliefs that you have to change or to develop within you. One of those important beliefs
is the belief that challenges are inevitable, problems are inevitable, meaning, cannot be
avoided. They will always come.

There will never be a point where all your problems are done and you never have any
more challenges or problems until maybe after you’re dead. But as long as you’re alive
you’re going to have problems and so the fighting spirit in you, to develop that, you first
have to decide you have to accept that and stop bitching about it all the time. And “to
bitch” when we use it as a verb means to complain. So if you bitch about something it
means you’re complaining about it.

So most people are sitting around complaining, complaining, complaining about their
problems all the time, I do this too, but if you want to overcome them you gotta change
that and you have to eventually decide okay, look, problems are inevitable. They’re
always going to be there, they’re always going to come and when I solve this one a new
one is gonna come. So I’m not going to just focus on that anymore, I’m just going to see
them as challenges and I’m gonna be ready.

It’s kind of that martial artist attitude, right? A martial artist welcomes the opponent. They
know that there’s always gonna be another person to fight against, because that other
person is what tests you. It helps you to get stronger and motivates you to get stronger
and to get better. If you never faced a challenge, if you never faced against another
person, a problem or a difficulty, you just become soft and weak and lazy. Those
challenges kind of motivate you and bring you up and get your energy going and give
you a focus to grow and to get stronger and better.

Here’s another core belief that you need to develop is that bigger challenges equal
bigger growth. See, a lot of us we complain that we overcome a small problem and then
next a bigger problem comes and then a bigger problem comes. Well that’s almost
natural by design. It means after you get used to solving those smaller problems, they
really don’t even become problems anymore they’re so easy for you. Well, guess what?
Bigger ones are going to come and force you to get stronger and grow and get that
fighting spirit and attack them. After you attack those and solve them bigger ones are
gonna come. It’s part of life. Don’t complain about it, accept it.

Here’s a metaphor and what you need to think about. It’s an obvious metaphor. It’s just
like lifting weights, right? Someone who’s lifting weights, a bodybuilder or a power lifter,
they’re always trying to add more weight, right? They don’t just life 100 pounds and then
when they can do that easily they just say okay, I’ll just stay at 100 pounds now. Do-do-
do, this is easy. No. They know to get their muscles stronger, their body stronger, well
now they gotta add some more weight. One hundred-ten pounds, ah, that’s a little
harder again.

They keep working it until that becomes easy. Boom, 120 pounds, boom, 150 pounds,
boom, 200 pounds, it never ends. They just keep adding more and more and they don’t
complain about it. Oh, man, this is more heavy now, aahh. No, they have that fighting
spirit. They’re like yeah, bring it on! Give me more ah! They even add it themselves and
that’s the true fighting spirit when instead of waiting for a problem or a challenge to
come to you, you go looking for a new challenge.
You feel yourself getting a little bored and everything is a little too easy you don’t wait
around waiting for something to happen you start looking. How could I challenge
myself? How can I find something difficult that will force me to grow? You look for it and
you actually go and find it and do it, right?
People who go and climb mountains, well that’s why they’re doing it, right? They know
it’s the process of challenging themselves, making themselves grow and overcome
something that is hard and difficult. It trains us. We’re such a soft society and generation
now and I’m talking about everywhere in the world. We’ve become so soft where we
don’t want to do anything that’s difficult. We want everything to be easy and convenient.
Well that just makes you weak and soft and lazy. And, of course, life is gonna give you
challenges anyway, but it’s more fun when you choose them.

I’ve found this in my own life so that now it’s become such a habit it me that any time I
find myself getting a little bit lazy, a little too comfortable, I go looking for something
difficult, something difficult that inspire me. That’s my fighting spirit and it’s part of who I
am now and, in fact, I am bored without it. If I don’t have some big difficult challenges to
overcome that will force me to grow and learn more and do things that are
uncomfortable I get bored and as you develop this you’ll start getting bored too and
you’ll start enjoying it.

Just like a weightlifter enjoys lifting heavier and heavier weights, you’ll enjoy overcoming
bigger and bigger challenges, dealing with bigger and bigger problems, because they’ll
force you to grow and grow and you’ll feel that sense of confidence and strength. That’s
where confidence really comes from. That deepest level of confidence comes from
overcoming more and more difficult challenges and knowing you can handle it, knowing
that no matter what happens you can handle it.

So fighting spirit, how are you going to develop it? Right now you can start at home.
First of all, practice your physiology. Practice your body, right. It’s the foundation. So
you’re going to practice not just walking around huh. When a problem happens if you
find the shoulders going down and eyes going down, you’re just going to raise up and
do this and you’re going to practice this every day, standing like this with your eyes up
and hum.

Then you can just say something to yourself in a powerful way, whatever you want to
say. I welcome this challenge! I am ready for this challenge! I have a fighting spirit! It
doesn’t matter, just say it a strong powerful way. That starts to develop it and you do it
everyday it becomes a habit. You get used to standing like this, talking like this.

The other thing is to just repeat that belief every day. I’m ready for more challenges! I’m
ready for more challenges! I have a fighting spirit! It’s an emotional thing. It’s not logical,
it’s emotional. It’s developing that powerful emotion again and again and again. And
that’s your job this month to focus on this. Find some things in your life that are
problems and attack them with a fighting spirit.

All right, see you again next month. I look forward to hearing about your experiences
attacking your problems. See you again.
VIP Mini Story – Fighting Spirit
Hello VIP and welcome to the mini story for this month’s lesson. Let’s get started.

*****

Bill used to be brave. He used to be brave, but now he’s not.

Did Bill used to be timid and meek?

No, no, he did not used to be timid and meek. Not in the past, he wasn’t timid and
meek.

So what did Bill used to be?

Bill used to be brave, courageous, strong.

He used to ski down huge mountains. He used to jump out of airplanes. He used
to swim with killer whales.

Now, of course, “used to be something” means in the past it was true, but probably not
now. So he used to be brave. If we say Bill used to be brave, brave means, again,
strong and courageous. If we say Bill used to be brave, we know in the past he was
brave.

From that sentence we can also guess that maybe now he is not brave. “Used to be”
has the idea of something that was true in the past, but now probably is not. So he used
to be brave. He used to ski down huge mountains. He used to jump out of airplanes. He
used to swim with killer whales.

What did he used to swim with?

Killer whales. That’s right. He used to swim with killer whales.

Who used to swim with killer whales?

Bill. Bill used to swim with killer whales. He didn’t ski with them, he swam with them.

Where did he ski?

Well, he used to ski down huge mountains, very big mountains.

And what did he used to jump out of?

Well, he used to jump out of airplanes. So he used to do three things. He used to ski
down huge mountains, he used to jump out of airplanes and he used to swim with killer
whales.

Does he probably do those things now?

No, probably not, probably not.

Remember, “used to” has the idea of something that was true in the past, it did happen
in the past, but now probably not. So we automatically know that when we hear “used
to” we have the idea that it was probably true in the past, but also probably not true now.

So does Bill probably ski down huge mountains now?

No, probably not.

Does he jump out of airplanes now?

Probably not.

We say he used to jump of airplanes. That means probably now he doesn’t.

Does he probably swim with killer whales now?

Again, probably not. He used to swim with killer whales in the past, but probably not
now.

And how did he used to be?

He used to be brave. He used to be strong and brave and courageous.

And who used to be strong and brave and courageous?

That’s right, Bill, dome, dome, dome, dome, dome…

But now, unfortunately, Bill is timid. Now Bill is very, very timid. In fact, he’s so
timid he’s scared of his own shadow.

Now, “timid” means kind of fearful, always afraid, kind of weak and shy and afraid all the
time, that’s timid.

So did Bill used to be timid?

No, no, no, no, he used to be brave and strong. So he’s timid now. Now Bill is timid.

But what did he used to be?

He used to be brave, but now he’s timid. He’s so timid he’s scared of his own shadow.

Now that’s a common idiom. It’s a little idiom phrase in American English, idiomatic
phrase in American English, scared of his own shadow. It just means someone who is
very, very, very, very, very timid, very, very, very, very, very afraid all the time. You could
even say it about an animal. You could say oh, that dog is scared of its own shadow. It’s
easy to scare the dog. It’s always afraid. It’s afraid of everything.

So who is scared of his own shadow?

Bill. Bill is scared of his own shadow.

Now, is Bill’s girlfriend Beatrix scared of her own shadow?

No, Beatrix is not scared of her own shadow. She’s very, very brave.

So who is scared of his own shadow?

Bill. Bill is scared of his own shadow.

And what kind of man is Bill now?

Timid. He’s a very, very timid man now.

Is Beatrix timid now?

No, Beatrix isn’t timid.

So who’s timid?

Bill. Bill is timid.

How timid is he?

He’s so timid that he’s scared of his own shadow. Bill is scared of his own shadow. He’s
super, super timid. He’s afraid of everything.

So why is Bill so timid now, he used to be brave? Well, I’ll tell you.
Three years ago, Bill had a cooking accident. He was making dinner and he cut
off his pinky. Oh, poor Bill.

Now, the pinky, the pinky is the smallest finger. It’s the name of the smallest finger on
your hand. So you have the thumb, right? Everyone knows what the thumb is and on
the opposite side of your hand we have the pinky, the smallest little finger.

So who cut off his own pinky?

Poor Bill. Bill cut off his own pinky.

What was he doing when he cut off his pinky?

He was cooking. He was preparing his dinner. So while he was preparing his dinner, he
cut off his own pinky.

Did he purposely cut off his own pinky or did he accidentally cut off his own pinky?

Of course it was an accident. He accidentally cut off his own pinky.

And what did he cut off his pinky with, a knife?

Oh, no, actually not, not a knife. No, he cut off his own pinky with a samurai sword.

See, whenever Bill cooks, he always uses a samurai sword to cut his vegetables.
So he was cutting the vegetables, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop,
chop, chop and then he had an accident. Chop, oohhh and he cut off his pinky,
aahh!

So which finger did he cut off?

His pinky, the smallest finger on his hand.

And when did he cut off his pinky, how long ago?

It was three years ago. Three years ago, Bill accidentally cut off his own pinky with a
samurai sword while cooking.

So what was he doing when he cut off his pinky?

He was cooking.
What was he using to cut the vegetables?

A samurai sword. He was using a samurai sword to cut the vegetables.

When was that?

Three years ago.

And while he was cutting the vegetables what happened?

He accidentally cut off his pinky. So while he was cutting the vegetables, chop, chop,
chop, chop! Oh, off came the pinky. Ah, blood coming everywhere, puusssh!

And when was that?

Three years ago. So three years ago, Bill had a cooking accident and since then he has
been timid and meek, ah.

So what caused him to become timid?

The cooking accident. The cooking accident caused him to become timid. Since the
accident, he has been timid and meek. So since three years ago, he has been timid and
meek since the accident.

So since when?

Since the accident.

He has been what?

Timid and meek.

“Meek” also means very shy and really kind of afraid all the time.

Now did he used to be timid and meek before the accident?

No, no. Before the accident, he was brave.

What did he used to do?

Well, he used to ski down huge mountains. He used to jump out of airplanes. He used
to swim with killer whales. He was very, very, very brave.
Is he brave now?

No, now Bill is timid and meek.

And since when has he been timid and meek?

Since the cooking accident, he has been timid and meek.

Well, finally, his girlfriend Beatrix gets upset. She tells Bill, “Bill, I’m tired of you
being timid and meek. You need to get strong again.” Then she gives him a ticket
to a Tony Robbins’ seminar.

So who gives Bill a ticket to a Tony Robbins, seminar?

Beatrix.

And who is Beatrix?

Beatrix is his girlfriend.

And how does Beatrix feel?

She’s upset. She’s very upset.

Why is she upset?

Because her boyfriend Bill is so meek and timid and he used to be brave.

So what does she give him?

A ticket to a Tony Robbins’ seminar.

And so Bill goes to the Tony Robbins’ seminar and at the seminar he learns how
to be strong. He learns how to use his body in a strong way. He learns how to use
his voice in a strong way. He learns how to use his mind in a strong way. And at
the end of the seminar he walks across hot coals and fire and he becomes brave
and strong again.

So what does he become again?

Brave and strong.

Who becomes brave and strong again?

Bill. Bill becomes brave and strong again.

How does he become brave and strong again?

By going to a Tony Robbins’ seminar.

And what does he do at the seminar?

Well, he does a lot of things, but at the end he walks across fire.

What does he walk across?

Fire.

Who walks across fire?

Bill. Bill walks across fire.

Why does he walk across fire?

Well, to get his bravery back, to get his courage back. After he walks across fire, he
feels brave and courageous again. He becomes brave and courageous again and now,
happily, he is strong and brave and courageous and his girlfriend is also very happy.

*****

And that is the end of our mini story. As usual, don’t think about it. There’s a lot of
grammar in this one, actually. It’s mixed in there, but you don’t need to think about it.
You don’t need to find it. All you need to do is listen to the stories again and again and
again every day, at least once a day and answer the questions out loud with a strong
voice when possible.

Okay, I will see you next time, bye-bye. VIP Mini Story – Fighting
Spirit
Hello VIP and welcome to the mini story for this month’s lesson. Let’s get started.

*****

Bill used to be brave. He used to be brave, but now he’s not.

Did Bill used to be timid and meek?

No, no, he did not used to be timid and meek. Not in the past, he wasn’t timid and
meek.

So what did Bill used to be?

Bill used to be brave, courageous, strong.

He used to ski down huge mountains. He used to jump out of airplanes. He used
to swim with killer whales.

Now, of course, “used to be something” means in the past it was true, but probably not
now. So he used to be brave. If we say Bill used to be brave, brave means, again,
strong and courageous. If we say Bill used to be brave, we know in the past he was
brave.

From that sentence we can also guess that maybe now he is not brave. “Used to be”
has the idea of something that was true in the past, but now probably is not. So he used
to be brave. He used to ski down huge mountains. He used to jump out of airplanes. He
used to swim with killer whales.

What did he used to swim with?

Killer whales. That’s right. He used to swim with killer whales.

Who used to swim with killer whales?

Bill. Bill used to swim with killer whales. He didn’t ski with them, he swam with them.

Where did he ski?

Well, he used to ski down huge mountains, very big mountains.

And what did he used to jump out of?

Well, he used to jump out of airplanes. So he used to do three things. He used to ski
down huge mountains, he used to jump out of airplanes and he used to swim with killer
whales.

Does he probably do those things now?

No, probably not, probably not.

Remember, “used to” has the idea of something that was true in the past, it did happen
in the past, but now probably not. So we automatically know that when we hear “used
to” we have the idea that it was probably true in the past, but also probably not true now.

So does Bill probably ski down huge mountains now?

No, probably not.

Does he jump out of airplanes now?

Probably not.

We say he used to jump of airplanes. That means probably now he doesn’t.

Does he probably swim with killer whales now?

Again, probably not. He used to swim with killer whales in the past, but probably not
now.

And how did he used to be?

He used to be brave. He used to be strong and brave and courageous.

And who used to be strong and brave and courageous?

That’s right, Bill, dome, dome, dome, dome, dome…

But now, unfortunately, Bill is timid. Now Bill is very, very timid. In fact, he’s so
timid he’s scared of his own shadow.

Now, “timid” means kind of fearful, always afraid, kind of weak and shy and afraid all the
time, that’s timid.

So did Bill used to be timid?

No, no, no, no, he used to be brave and strong. So he’s timid now. Now Bill is timid.

But what did he used to be?

He used to be brave, but now he’s timid. He’s so timid he’s scared of his own shadow.
Now that’s a common idiom. It’s a little idiom phrase in American English, idiomatic
phrase in American English, scared of his own shadow. It just means someone who is
very, very, very, very, very timid, very, very, very, very, very afraid all the time. You could
even say it about an animal. You could say oh, that dog is scared of its own shadow. It’s
easy to scare the dog. It’s always afraid. It’s afraid of everything.

So who is scared of his own shadow?

Bill. Bill is scared of his own shadow.

Now, is Bill’s girlfriend Beatrix scared of her own shadow?

No, Beatrix is not scared of her own shadow. She’s very, very brave.

So who is scared of his own shadow?

Bill. Bill is scared of his own shadow.

And what kind of man is Bill now?

Timid. He’s a very, very timid man now.

Is Beatrix timid now?

No, Beatrix isn’t timid.

So who’s timid?

Bill. Bill is timid.

How timid is he?

He’s so timid that he’s scared of his own shadow. Bill is scared of his own shadow. He’s
super, super timid. He’s afraid of everything.

So why is Bill so timid now, he used to be brave? Well, I’ll tell you.

Three years ago, Bill had a cooking accident. He was making dinner and he cut
off his pinky. Oh, poor Bill.

Now, the pinky, the pinky is the smallest finger. It’s the name of the smallest finger on
your hand. So you have the thumb, right? Everyone knows what the thumb is and on
the opposite side of your hand we have the pinky, the smallest little finger.
So who cut off his own pinky?

Poor Bill. Bill cut off his own pinky.

What was he doing when he cut off his pinky?

He was cooking. He was preparing his dinner. So while he was preparing his dinner, he
cut off his own pinky.

Did he purposely cut off his own pinky or did he accidentally cut off his own pinky?

Of course it was an accident. He accidentally cut off his own pinky.

And what did he cut off his pinky with, a knife?

Oh, no, actually not, not a knife. No, he cut off his own pinky with a samurai sword.

See, whenever Bill cooks, he always uses a samurai sword to cut his vegetables.
So he was cutting the vegetables, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop,
chop, chop and then he had an accident. Chop, oohhh and he cut off his pinky,
aahh!

So which finger did he cut off?

His pinky, the smallest finger on his hand.

And when did he cut off his pinky, how long ago?

It was three years ago. Three years ago, Bill accidentally cut off his own pinky with a
samurai sword while cooking.

So what was he doing when he cut off his pinky?

He was cooking.

What was he using to cut the vegetables?

A samurai sword. He was using a samurai sword to cut the vegetables.

When was that?

Three years ago.

And while he was cutting the vegetables what happened?

He accidentally cut off his pinky. So while he was cutting the vegetables, chop, chop,
chop, chop! Oh, off came the pinky. Ah, blood coming everywhere, puusssh!

And when was that?

Three years ago. So three years ago, Bill had a cooking accident and since then he has
been timid and meek, ah.

So what caused him to become timid?

The cooking accident. The cooking accident caused him to become timid. Since the
accident, he has been timid and meek. So since three years ago, he has been timid and
meek since the accident.

So since when?

Since the accident.

He has been what?

Timid and meek.

“Meek” also means very shy and really kind of afraid all the time.

Now did he used to be timid and meek before the accident?

No, no. Before the accident, he was brave.

What did he used to do?

Well, he used to ski down huge mountains. He used to jump out of airplanes. He used
to swim with killer whales. He was very, very, very brave.

Is he brave now?

No, now Bill is timid and meek.

And since when has he been timid and meek?

Since the cooking accident, he has been timid and meek.

Well, finally, his girlfriend Beatrix gets upset. She tells Bill, “Bill, I’m tired of you
being timid and meek. You need to get strong again.” Then she gives him a ticket
to a Tony Robbins’ seminar.

So who gives Bill a ticket to a Tony Robbins, seminar?

Beatrix.

And who is Beatrix?

Beatrix is his girlfriend.

And how does Beatrix feel?

She’s upset. She’s very upset.

Why is she upset?

Because her boyfriend Bill is so meek and timid and he used to be brave.

So what does she give him?

A ticket to a Tony Robbins’ seminar.

And so Bill goes to the Tony Robbins’ seminar and at the seminar he learns how
to be strong. He learns how to use his body in a strong way. He learns how to use
his voice in a strong way. He learns how to use his mind in a strong way. And at
the end of the seminar he walks across hot coals and fire and he becomes brave
and strong again.

So what does he become again?

Brave and strong.

Who becomes brave and strong again?

Bill. Bill becomes brave and strong again.

How does he become brave and strong again?

By going to a Tony Robbins’ seminar.

And what does he do at the seminar?

Well, he does a lot of things, but at the end he walks across fire.

What does he walk across?

Fire.

Who walks across fire?

Bill. Bill walks across fire.

Why does he walk across fire?

Well, to get his bravery back, to get his courage back. After he walks across fire, he
feels brave and courageous again. He becomes brave and courageous again and now,
happily, he is strong and brave and courageous and his girlfriend is also very happy.

*****

And that is the end of our mini story. As usual, don’t think about it. There’s a lot of
grammar in this one, actually. It’s mixed in there, but you don’t need to think about it.
You don’t need to find it. All you need to do is listen to the stories again and again and
again every day, at least once a day and answer the questions out loud with a strong
voice when possible.

Okay, I will see you next time, bye-bye.

VIP Point-of-View Stories – Fighting Spirit
Hello, welcome to the point-of-view stories for this month’s lesson. Three different
versions of the story, let’s get started. Version number one…

*****

Bill is a brave, strong, courageous man, da, da, da, da, da… He’s tough. He’s strong.
He skis down huge mountains. He likes to jump out of airplanes. He likes to swim with
killer whales. He’s a tough, tough man, but then one day something happens.

Bill is cooking his dinner. He’s chopping vegetables with a samurai sword, chop, chop,
chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. He’s so tough, he always uses a samurai sword to
cut his vegetables, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. While he’s chopping the
vegetables, he accidentally cuts off his pinky. Chop! Awh!

It’s a traumatic experience for him. He becomes so upset about this accident that he
becomes very, very timid and meek. He becomes so timid that he’s scared of his own
shadow and after that he remains timid for a long time.

Now, his girlfriend Beatrix is very tough, very strong and she is not happy about Bill
being timid. So, finally, she gets very upset and she tells him “Bill, I’m sick of this. I’m
sick of you being to timid and weak. You need to get tough again. You need to get
strong again.” And she gives him a ticket to a Tony Robbins’ seminar.

Bill goes to the seminar. He learns how to be strong again and, finally, he walks across
fire and he does indeed become brave and courageous again.

*****

And that is the end of our first version. The next version of this story begin with…

*****

When he was younger, when he was younger, Bill was brave. When he was younger, he
skied down huge mountains. He jumped out of airplanes. He swam with killer whales.
Bill was a tough, brave, courageous guy when he was younger.

However, at the age of 20, Bill had a cooking accident. He was chopping his vegetables
with a samurai sword and he accidentally cut off his pinky. Chop! Awh! Well, after that
he was always timid and meek. After that accident, he was always timid and weak. He
was scared of his own shadow and he was timid and meek for a long, long time and his
girlfriend Beatix didn’t like that. She became more and more and more upset. Until,
finally, one day she gave him a ticket to a Tony Robbins’ seminar. She said “Go this
seminar. You must go and learn to be strong again.”

And so he went to the Tony Robbins’ seminar and he did indeed learn to be stronger
again. Until, finally, he walked across fire at the end of the seminar and once again he
became brave and courageous. He was happy and so was his girlfriend Beatrix.

*****

All right, our next version, our final version of this story begins with the phrase…

*****

In the year 2020, two-thousand twenty, in the year 2020, there will be a guy named Bill.
Now, in the year 2020, he’s gonna be a very timid guy.

“Gonna”, of course, means going to, for the future. It’s casual. You never use it when
you write something formal, but in casual speech it’s very normal.

So, anyway, in the year 2020, he’s going to be, he’s gonna be a very timid man at that
time, in the future. However, he’ll be a timid guy in the year 2020, but he won’t have
been a timid guy always.

See, before that he used to be brave. Before the year 2020, he was brave. Before the
year 2020, he liked to ski down huge mountains. Before the year 2020, he liked to jump
out of airplanes. He liked to swim with killer whales. But in the year 2020, in the future,
he’s gonna be, he’s going to be a very timid and meek person. In fact, he’ll be scared of
his own shadow.

Now see, actually, what’s gonna happen, what will have happened, is that when he was
younger he will have had an accident. He will have had a cooking accident. Bill will have
had a cooking accident. He will have cut off his pinky while cooking and because of that
he will become timid and meek and he’ll remain timid and meek, of course, right up until
the year 2020.

Now, in the year 2020, his girlfriend will finally get tired of him being week and timid.
She’s gonna buy a Tony Robbins’ seminar ticket for him. She’s gonna give it to him and
she’s going to say “Bill, you must go to this seminar.” And he will go. He’ll go to the
seminar. He’ll learn to be strong again and, finally, he will walk across fire and he’s
gonna become a brave and courageous man once again.

*****
And that is the end of our point-of-view stories.
Now, one note, that final version of this story where I was telling it in the future is quite
advanced and quite difficult and quite unnatural really. It’s not common for us to speak
in that way, to tell a story like that in the future. So, even as I was telling that story, I was
having to think a lot. I was really having to concentrate about how to tell the story
correctly.

So, don’t worry about the third version if you feel oh, my God, this is difficult. This is
complicated. Don’t worry because you will almost never need to use this kind of
grammar or tell a story in this way. I’m doing it just to give you some more variety and
different kinds of grammar and points of view, but don’t worry too much about that third
one.

Usually when we talk about the future we’re using just the simple future 95-98% of the
time, so just relax. As usual, just listen to the stories that’s all you need to do. Don’t
analyze them. Don’t think about them too much. Just listen to them again and again, at
least once a day.

All right, I will see you next time, bye-bye.

VIP Commentary – Fighting Spirit
Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the commentary for ‘Fighting Spirit.’ Fighting spirit, rah!
Sounds like a tough topic. In the video I talk about martial arts and I get really excited. I
love martial arts. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. You know, I think I’m very strong in the
video. I just watched the video again and I’m like rah! You know all this really strong,
powerful, physical stuff. Fighting spirit, fighting spirit, rah!

So I want to talk about this topic in a little different way in this audio, just so you
understand that it’s not about being physically tough, not at all. It’s all about our deep
emotional resiliency. There’s a good word, resiliency. Resiliency is the ability to
overcome difficulties, is what is really is. It’s the ability to just have something bad
happen, but then you come back again strong and then something else bad happens,
but you come back again strong. You can just keep taking that punishment and coming
back and coming back.

When I was a social worker, it’s a term that’s used in social work to describe clients.
That certain kids, certain people, are very resilient. That’s the adjective, resilient. We
don’t know why the same thing can happen to two different people, right, like horrible
terrible abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, all kinds of horrible stuff
and one person is just somehow they’re resilient and they can take all that stuff and
somehow they just keep coming back, they don’t give up, whereas another person
might totally give up, even if something much less happens to them.

And so developing resiliency, because it’s something that you can develop, it’s kind of
like building a muscle, right, a physical muscle. It’s something you can develop and it
such a powerful trait to have. It’s so important, especially now. You know in the global
economy, in the world, there are a lot of problems right now. A lot of people losing their
jobs, a lot of people under a lot of stress, a lot of difficulty in a lot of different places and
so this ability to be resilient, to have a fighting spirit, to react to problems in a powerful
way rather than a passive weak way is, so, so, so important.

I’d like to talk about an example of this, what I think is maybe one of the very best
examples of fighting spirit that I have seen. In it’s in a movie, but it’s based on a true
story and I highly recommend you rent this movie and watch it. I just recently watched it
again. So the name of the movie is ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ with Will Smith. I think
I’ve talked about it in other lessons in the past.

It’s such a powerful movie. It’s actually set in San Francisco where I am right now and
it’s about this man who really loses everything. This man has a small boy and he’s
married and they’re really struggling. He’s a salesman, but he’s not making sales and
they have all these bills and debts. They’re just barely paying the rent. The rent is late
every month and then it becomes late for two months and three months and he’s
struggling, struggling, but he’s really trying hard. He’s not lazy. This guy is really, really
work hard.

Then his wife just gets really just sick of it all and his wife leaves him alone with the boy
and then he starts losing sales, so he’s not getting any money and then he gets kicked
out of his apartment and he becomes homeless with his young boy on the streets of
San Francisco. He didn’t have a college degree. He just went to high school I think. So
they have nothing, but somehow he goes and he applies for a job. For an internship, not
a job, an internship at a big company to be a stockbroker, you know to trade stocks. He
suffers all these difficult problems and challenges, I mean again and again and again.

You watch this movie and you’re just like oh, my God, how can this guy keep going? But
he finally gets the internship, but then he finds out the internship it’s not paid, right?
They accept 20 people and they have to work full time, but they don’t get paid any
money. It’s kind of like a competition, because then at the end of, I can’t remember, the
end of six months or something or a year, I think it’s six months maybe, they choose
one person from the 20. The best one gets a real job and actually gets a paycheck. So
for six months he has to work full time, but he gets no money so he’s still homeless. He
has no income.

So, anyway, I won’t tell you the rest of the story, but what I just want to emphasize about
this is that you watch this story and this man endures and overcomes and keeps fighting
through so many problems. I mean every time you think it can’t get worse and it does. It
becomes even worse for him. I mean you watch the movie you think this guy has the
worst luck in the world. And it’s based on a true story. This is about a real man.

I know when I was watching this movie I was thinking could I do it. If all of that
happened to me, I’m asking myself, you know, would I keep fighting or would I finally
give up, because it’s so much. I was questioning myself and maybe you can ask
yourself the same question when you watch that movie. Would I have his strength?
Would I have his fighting spirit? Do I have it in me?

Now, let me just answer that in one very positive way, which is yes, we all have it in us.
The problem is that many of us cannot access it anymore. I believe very firmly that deep
inside us there is this incredible deep fighting spirit, this power, this incredible spirit that
cannot be dominated, that cannot be defeated, but it’s been covered over through so
many years and different painful things that happen in our life and different fears that
most of us cannot access that, cannot get to it 100% And, sadly, some people it’s so
covered that they forget that they have it. They have forgotten that they have this
fighting spirit at all.

Now, the good news is we can rediscover it. We can develop that fighting spirit. We
develop it by facing challenges directly and overcoming them and doing it with a spirit,
with an attitude of strength, of being proactive, of being even a little aggressive about
this problem.

Now, if you feel like oh, my fighting spirit is weak. You know, I’m always giving up. It’s
easy for me to quit. Then you want to start with smaller problems. Don’t start with the
biggest, hugest problem in your life and try to do it because it may be too much, but you
can start with something very, very small and like just attack that problem rah! I will
solve this problem and overcome it err and then you do it. Then, next, you do the same
thing with a slightly bigger challenge or problem or difficulty and then again with a
slightly bigger one and in this way, step by step, you build your ability to face
challenges. You build your ability to face bigger and bigger problems with strength and
power.

I mean it’s really just like building your physical strength. I mean it’s the same idea, right.
I mean you lift weights and then you add a little more and you life some more weights.
In the beginning if you’re very, very, very weak, maybe you start by lifting very small
weights, but still you will get stronger and then you add a little more weight and you lift
again. You add a little more weight and you lift again. I mean why do people lift weights?
It seems like a strange activity really. It’s because by facing that challenge on purpose,
by choosing to face the challenge of lifting heavy weights, you create a stronger body
and that gives you a better quality of life. I mean that’s the core issue here.

When you’re strong physically you have a better quality of life. You can do more things.
You can enjoy your life more physically. You’re less likely to get injured or hurt or to have
problems physically. You’re more likely to live longer and to be strong and energized
through your whole life. I could go on and on, but lots and lots and lots of benefits of
being strong physically.

Well, it’s the same mentally. In fact, I’d say mentally is even more important. You see,
much of the problem is that in modern life now we really have become very soft and
addicted to comfort, right? We’ve become addicted to being comfortable and so when
we try to make our lives easy all the time and comfortable all the time we become
weaker.

It’s kind of like if we just want to lay around on the couch physically, right? If all you do is
lay on the couch and watch TV physically, well that seems very comfortable in the
beginning, right? Oh, this is great. I’m relaxed all the time. Ah, very nice. You’re just
watching TV, you know, no strain on your body, no stress on your body at all. It seems
like that should be good for your body, but it’s not. We all know that. We all know that
just sitting around, never pushing ourselves physically, never challenging our bodies is a
way to be unhealthy and that’s terrible. We all know that will create weakness and,
eventually, it could even create diseases and things. We realize that that is horrible, but
a lot of times we don’t realize that that is also true mentally and emotionally.
You see if your life is always wonderful and easy mentally, if it’s always wonderfully easy
and comfortable emotionally then you can also become emotionally weak, mentally
weak. If you never face problems, if you’re always avoiding them or other people deal
with the problems for you or you create a life where you can avoid most challenges and
problems and difficulties, well in the beginning that will seem nice. Oh, I’ve got no stress
in my life. This is wonderful. I’m just going to lay on a beach all the time and do nothing.

The problem is you will become emotionally weaker and weaker. You’ll become mentally
weaker and weaker and weaker and if you watch television you’ll become even weaker
and even more of a victim and adopt more and more victim mentality because television
programs that into people and so you become weaker, weaker, weaker and then when a
problem comes into your life, an emotional problem, a mental problem, a challenge in
your life, it will seem so overwhelming because you will have become so weak you can’t
handle it anymore.

Believe me, we all know that in life, eventually, problems come to us. It’s impossible to
avoid them forever. You know, maybe you can avoid them for five years, maybe you can
avoid them for 10 years, but eventually big emotional difficulties, mental difficulties, life
difficulties will happen. And if we’re always trying to be comfortable we can become very
soft and unresilient and, therefore, we can really be just crushed and destroyed when
the big problems come. So that’s why it’s vital.

I have talked about this kind of idea many times in the VIP lessons because it is so
important. So I’m going to stress it again and this is sort of the reason why. It is very
important that you seek out challenges, that you actually go find challenges. It is very,
very important in your life that you do things that are difficult, that feel difficult to you,
things that you feel are positive and good or exciting or interesting, but that maybe
you’re scared of doing them. You need to do them.

You can start small and then do bigger ones, bigger ones, bigger ones, but it’s very
important because it builds this resiliency. It builds the fighting spirit so then when
something from the outside world happens to your life, when something terrible
happens, you lose your job or whatever you already have that mental strength. You
already have the emotional strength. You don’t get destroyed by it. You don’t sink into
terrible depression. You don’t feel helpless. You feel strong. You’re like okay. I’m going
to handle this problem, because you’re already emotionally and mentally strong. You
have to build that strength, just as you have to with your body. It’s no different, the
process is the same.

Of course, it’s nice if we all have really nice lives. If you have a great relationship and
you have a wonderful job or income or whatever and basically in your life if you’re happy
and everything is going well, that’s fantastic. Don’t destroy that. I’m not saying sabotage
that, certainly not. All I’m saying is don’t get too comfortable. Don’t just sit there and
become soft and enjoy it. You need to also, in addition, seek out some challenges.

So enjoy the great relationships you have and the great friendships and enjoy the job
that you love, if that’s case, and enjoy your great physical health, if that’s the case, but
at the same time don’t just get used to all of that and avoid challenges. No. Enjoy all of
that and then also think okay, I don’t want to become too soft so I need a new
challenge. What am I going to do that seems a little scary? What am I going to do that
seems difficult? What will I do that will develop my fighting spirit? What’s some bigger
dream or goal that I’ve had that I’ve been a little scared of? Well, try it. It doesn’t matter
what it is.

I’ll give you an example from my past. Way back when I was younger like in my 20s, I
have always been scared of heights. In the past when I was younger, I was terrified of
heights. Really afraid of high places and so when I was in college, in university, I just
decided that I needed to face this somewhat and so I went rock climbing. I went rock
climbing and repelling. Rock climbing is when you climb up the mountain and repelling
is when you come back down the mountain with a rope.

So I did that a few times and it changed my fear of heights. I still don’t like being up in
high places. I don’t enjoy it. I find it stressful, but I’m less terrified of it now than I was
then because I faced that. So the point of doing that was not about heights, the point
was to build my fighting spirit. The point was to face a challenge and a difficulty and I
have a lot of examples in my life of this kind of thing.

The strength I get from doing those things has helped me then when I’ve had problems
come into my life. Like I’ve just recently, this last several months have had a very tough
time in my life. There’s been some physical problems I’ve had, mental, just lots of
challenges. It was a really hard year, in fact. Maybe six to eight-nine months, very, very,
very tough for me in many different ways, but I didn’t give up. I didn’t quit, because I had
already developed that fighting spirit by seeking out these challenges, by constantly
facing challenges in the past.

Even when my life was easy, in fact especially when my life was easy in the past, I
didn’t just get lazy. I kept looking for challenges and because of that this year when I
had so many difficulties I was able to fight through them and now I’m doing quite well,
feeling great. You might be able to hear it in my voice. I don’t know, in the last several
VIP lessons compared to now I feel like I’m much more alive again now, but it’s because
of that fighting spirit that I could fight through the problems this year and get through it,
keep going, not quit, not just sink into depression, not get a victim mentality.

I just kept attacking my problems and I would sometimes, you know, oh. Another
problem would come and I’d be like oh, my God, the stress. I would feel like oh, no, not
more, oh no. And maybe for a few days that was my reaction, but then ah, I would come
back and get that fighting spirit. No, I’m going to fight it. I’m not giving up. Boom and I
would fight back and then something else would come and then I would fight back and
then something else would come.

I just kept that fighting spirit, kept calling it up and I became exhausted because there
was so much stress in my life the last several months that it physically exhausted me
until finally I got really sick physically and for about a month, four to six weeks, I was just
laying around in bed almost unable to do anything, but I still didn’t quit. While I was sick
I was thinking okay, how can I overcome this? Maybe I need to get help. Maybe I need
to go out and talk to other people, start reading more, find other resources.

I remained resilient. I kept calling on the fighting spirit. It was still alive in me and then
eventually I did find answers and I did overcome problems and then I overcame another
one and then another one and then I started getting stronger, stronger, stronger,
stronger and now feeling fantastic!

So, in conclusion, we all have this fighting spirit inside us. Every human being, I believe,
has it. It’s just hidden and covered up in some people. It’s stronger in some people and
weaker in others. Just like we all have physical muscles, right? If you have a body you
have muscles. We all have muscles, but in some people the muscles are really, really
weak and in other people the muscles are super strong.

Now, the people who are weak we all know could become stronger if they wanted to. If
they trained their bodies, if they worked hard, if they step by step by step developed
their physical strength by facing first small challenges then bigger ones, then bigger
ones, then bigger ones, then seeking it out and overcoming bigger, bigger, bigger, we
know that physically any person can become stronger and stronger and stronger and
stronger and eventually very, very, very strong. Anyone can do that.

Well, it’s exactly the same emotionally, spiritually and mentally. It’s the same thing. We
all have this inside us. We all have a spirit inside us. We all have that fighting spirit
inside us. Some people are super strong because they’ve worked it. They’ve developed
it. In other people it’s very weak, but even in the people where it’s weak they can
develop it. They can build it.

How do they do it? By facing first small challenges then little bigger challenges, then
bigger, by actually seeking out these challenges, facing them, overcoming them and
then, again, a little bit more, a little more and then more and more until it gets stronger,
stronger, strong, until you have such strong powerful fighting spirit that nothing can
defeat you, nothing. Anything that comes to you, you can handle it. You might not like it,
you might not enjoy it, it might be sad and terrible, but you can handle it. You can face it.
You can get through it.
More than anything, more than any other lesson we’ve talked about, I hope that you will
develop that fighting spirit. If there’s one thing I could give you to make your life better it
would be this, this inner power and strength, so develop it.

This month your homework is to go out and find a slightly bigger challenge than you’re
used to. Find something that seems a little difficult, a little challenging, a little scary and
face it, try it, do it and if you overcome it, if you mange to do it then go find another one
that’s a little bit bigger and do it again. Develop your fighting spirit, watch ‘The Pursuit of
Happiness’ with Will Smith, go rent that movie and watch it, it’s a great movie and talk
about your ideas on our social site.

All right, I wish you the very best. I hope you develop that inner strength and power
because you do have it. You have it inside you. You can overcome anything. Nothing
can defeat you. See you again, bye-bye.
 “You will speak ENGLISH powerfully
and fluently using my EFFORTLESS
ENGLISH system”
-AJ Hoge

..the author of “Effortless English: Learn To Speak Like A Native”

..host of “The Effortless English Show” with over 40 million downloads worldwide.
..trainer of corporate leaders, government officials, and most importantly people like you to speak English successfully.
..creator of the Effortless English teaching system and the highly successful Power English course.

Imagine the best new ideas and research from experts all
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lesson. Wouldn’t that be exciting? You have never used
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Learn Naturally and Playfully Like a Child

Never Study Grammar Rules
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