In this episode, we talk about achievements, and why just focusing on your goals is a bad strategy for learning English.
👇 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗔𝗽𝗽!
https://reallifeglobal.com/app/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=vidpod328

LINKS:
► Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

► Lesson with Thiago's Personal Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhAGmJCeljs

► How You Can Understand 100% of What Natives Say
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr2DpHXxY3I

► Leonardo DiCaprio Speech at The Oscars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpyrefzvTpI

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Check out our other channels and website:
► Learn English with TV Series: https://www.youtube.com/c/learnenglishwithtvseries
► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reallife.english/
► Our website: http://reallifeglobal.com

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So I was born in Sao Paulo capital and I grew up there.

I thought you were going for that Fresh Prince line like in West Philadelphia, born and raised on the playground is where I spent...

What does your English learning and Leonardo DiCaprio have in common?

In this episode, we talk about achievements and why just focusing on your goals is a bad strategy when it comes to your English learning.

I'm joined in the global studio today by the most lack of teacher in all South Africa, the 1, the only, Kasei.

So Kansi, today we are talking all about achievements, right?

Could you define to our viewers and listeners here what an achievement is?

Yeah, so an achievement is something that you succeed at, something that you, a goal that you are successful at or something that you manage to be really good at in life.

And I think achievements are so important in our lives, right?

Because if you don't have achievements, what's the purpose of living, right?

You work hard for something, for a goal, and then you achieve it, and then you go like, yes, awesome!

So today we're gonna be talking all about that, and we're gonna be sharing with you guys today some achievements that we have experienced in our personal lives.

And also we're going to explain exactly what Leonardo DiCaprio have to do with all of that.

But before we get started, make sure you subscribe to the channel because every week we put out lessons like this to help you go from feeling lost and insecure as an English learner to becoming a confident natural English speaker.

So hit the subscribe button and down below so you don't miss a single new lesson, alright?

So, Kansai, I would like to ask you first, what is 1 achievement you're proud of in your life?

So 1 thing that I'm really proud of is that like near the end of my high school career, like I was going through some really difficult times like in my family.

And I'll spare you guys like the details.

But yeah, Anyway, so I went through some really difficult times in my family, and I was really struggling to stay inspired or stay motivated or to see, you know, in terms of my self-esteem And, you know, like young kids always think like, oh, what am I going to become when I'm older?

Or you know, is my life going to be mediocre?

Or am I ever going to know what I want to do with the rest of my life?

But I kept working hard, I kept studying hard and I was able to successfully be accepted at the top university in the country And actually it's the top university on the continent.

So I was really, it made me feel, it filled me with like this huge amount of self, not confidence, but I wouldn't say self-confidence, but it gave me that boost, you know, in terms of my self-esteem and just, it was like getting that confirmation or affirmation that I am able to do great things if I set my mind to it.

And you know, once I had achieved that, once I was able to, you know, register and attend this university, I think what also helped me to recognize my potential and my strengths was that I also managed to have really great relationships, or maybe that's not a good word but I had a really great set of teachers and lecturers at this university who enforced or reiterated that those ideas and those and affirmed me you know in terms of the things that I wanted to do.

And I know this sounds like I was just a kid who was lost and needed a self-esteem boost.

But it was bigger than that, because I think it shaped the way that I think about myself now.

And, you know, that might seem like a tiny moment in in my past.

But I think it paid it paved the way to the person that I am today.

It really is something that set the foundation of like who I am today and how I see myself and Where I see myself going so that to me was an achievement.

Yeah So that was when you got into a journalism school, right?

it's a back back story to like who Kassay is.

But yeah, I studied that before I ended up doing journalism.

I imagine you must have enjoyed that course.

I would have enjoyed that course, I think, you know,

the person I am today would appreciate that course a lot more than the person I was back then.

I think I was still, I think I was 17 when I, when I started university.

And I think my mind wasn't quite ready for it.

But I always, there's a quote that I love, oh and I English, English literature was was 1 of my majors as well.

That's why I love poetry, I love English so much.

But There's a quote by George Eliot that says, it is never too late to be what you might have been.

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

So I think that, you know, if I think about like what I, what I, who I was back then and who I am now, I still think the 2 can connect and somehow that like media and film studies, English literature, it's gonna, it's gonna play a role.

I'm gonna, I'm still gonna do what I was supposed to do when I was there.

That actually reminds me of that famous Steve Jobs commencement speech that he gave, I think, at Stanford in 2005, if I remember correctly.

And in that speech, he talks about connecting the dots, how sometimes you take some courses or you do some things in your life, you don't know exactly how you're going to use that information in the future, but you cannot connect the dots looking forward, only looking backwards, right?

So maybe in the future you look back and then you go like, oh yeah, now it makes sense why I studied that, why I was interested in that because, you know, And then it can connect the dots.

1 point that you mentioned that I thought it was interesting was the fact that Cassie from today would probably enjoy that course, the media course more than Cassie from the past.

And I think there is some truth to that in all of us because we are so young.

When we have to make a decision on what to study, like what course to take at college, for example, like 17, 18.

I think, yeah, I mean, maybe if you took that course older and more mature, you would enjoy it more.

I guess that's why some countries have the gap year.

Could you explain to the listeners and the viewers what a gap year is in that context?

So a gap year is basically 1 year or sometimes people take gap years.

So usually after you finish high school, you know, you go straight to college, but some people prefer to take some time off from studying, do something else, maybe go to work, maybe do an internship or, you know, travel abroad or do something that doesn't require them to study.

And usually it's a period where they find themselves.

Find out what they want to do or maybe save some money for some people.

And you know, it's not a matter of like choice, right?

So some people need to take some time off studying to go and work to save some money or you know just to figure out what they want to do for the rest of their lives.

Yeah I think it's a it's a good idea you know to see some of the world first you know before going back to school again and start studying again.

So yeah I mean I do see the validity in that We don't have that here in Brazil, but I think it's a good practice, you know, for young people.

Before I share with you my achievement, Cassie, I do have some vocabulary questions to ask you.

So you said the word spare at the beginning.

I want to spare you the details or spare you that story.

So if you spare someone from something, it means I'm going to save you.

In other words, I won't bother you by telling you the details.

I won't put you through having to listen to the details.

So if you're doomed to do something, you know, maybe, you know, if you study something you don't like, and now you're doomed to follow that career path, means that you have no choice.

It's your destiny to do it, but in an, it's a more negative, in a more negative sense.

So like, Oh, you're going to be, you're doomed to do it.

You're going to have to suffer through that process.

So something mediocre means, average, something average, mediocre.

But I, I would like to highlight that word because I love the sound of that word, the pronunciation.

And the R is not really pronounced in our case, right?

I love the sound of that word, and mediocre, or mediocre.

And you also said paved the way that experience paved the way for you.

So when something paves the way for something else, it means think of bricks, like when you're laying bricks, if you've ever seen that process, or if you think about it, Maybe the game Tetris, I don't know, I'm thinking of like bricks on top of each other.

So if you, if something paves the way for something else It means that it's preparing the path or it it creates the stepping stones It creates the pathway to something else So you can even say that someone paved the way for me.

In other words someone set the example they went through it first and they created the way for me to do it, the opportunity for me to do it.

Because someone else did it first, I now have the opportunity to do it because they paved the way.

They went through it first and now I know what to do.

So that's my little achievement from when I was younger.

Yeah, in my case, Kassi, I think the obvious 1 for us here is learning English in my home country.

I think I was able to learn English very well, never having traveled abroad.

That's an achievement that I'm proud of and I will be proud of until I die, right?

But I'm not gonna get into this today because, you know, we've already done a video where I share my story.

So, by the way, guys, if you want to see my story on how I learned English here in my home country, Brazil, you can check out this lesson here that we're going to link in the description and then you can watch it later.

But for this episode, I think the achievement I wanted to share was leaving my parents' house when I was 24.

You know, I left my parents' house when I was 24 and I moved not only from their house but also I moved cities.

Yeah so I am originally from Sao Paulo capital and I was born and raised there and then at 24 I came to the city where I live today, Curitiba, which is in the south of the country.

And I'm very proud of that because, you know, I wanted my independence at that time.

You know, I want to, I wanted to, you know, get out of my, get, get, get, get, What's the expression?

You can say I want you to get out from under my parents wing.

You know the hen that walks and her chicks are under here.

So the correct way to say this is I wanted to get out from under my parents' wings.

So I wanted to have my life and my place and, you know, not having to explain myself to everybody.

I came here with a couple more friends at that time.

We had kind of a similar goal of making it right in this new city, in this new state.

Unfortunately they didn't adapt very well to the city, so they left a few months later.

I loved the city and I got a job at that time rather quickly, you know, and I stayed.

And I think it was a great decision for me, you know, because then I met my, my wife, she is from here and then, you know, now we have kids together.

So, yeah, it was a, it was a great decision.

Because I know you have to do everything by yourself.

And I did how I did have some people along the way who helped me, especially at the beginning, right.

With some key things, but overall I'm proud of that, of leaving early.

I think like the level of independence that and like self-reliance, I think that's it, Because you cannot turn to mom and dad and go like, oh, you know, I'm struggling right now.

I'm sure your parents would never turn you away, but I think you want to show them that, you know, I made this decision.

So I think that's really, really awesome.

I love that word that you use, by the way, self-reliance, what's that?

So when you rely, think of the word relies.

I'm relying on you, I need you to help me with this.

When you self-rely, you only need yourself.

You're depending on yourself, your own strengths, your own abilities.

It's similar to being independent, I guess.

But yeah, think of it more like I don't depend.

I want to ask you, you said your friends didn't make it.

What does it mean when someone doesn't make it?

When you have a goal and you don't achieve that, you know, you can say that you didn't make it.

So when you are not successful at executing a plan or achieving a goal that you have, you can say that you don't make it.

If you achieve the goal that you set for yourself, or if you were able to carry out the plan, yeah, that you created, you made it.

We usually say that to refer to success, right?

When a person becomes very successful at something, we say that the person has made it.

You also, like you said, you were born and raised.

So my first 24 years of life were spent there.

Your parents raised you, for example, or any close family member, maybe a grandparent.

They help you grow up well with education and clothing and food and health.

If you have kids, you have to raise them.

I thought you were going for that Fresh Prince line, like, in West Philadelphia, born and raised on the playground is where I spent.

Anyway, it's great that you mentioned that.

So we can also link that episode in the description below for the viewers and the listeners to listen or watch later.

It's episode 325 where we practice listening skills with the fresh Prince of Bel Air.

So now that we have both shared a couple of achievements here that we have experienced, I thought it would be cool for us to share, briefly share, a story about someone who has achieved huge success only later in their lives.

Because many people have this misconception that past a certain age, you are too old, right?

I'm too old, I can't do anything else, or I can't accomplish anything else.

But these stories that we're gonna briefly share with you guys actually prove the opposite.

And you do have a couple of nice examples to give, right?

I want to add to what you're saying, because I think that for women, I'm not saying it's only for women, but I think a lot of the time, you know, women have a different biological clock.

So I think women are always thinking by the time they get to 30, they need to have certain things in order.

So like, usually it's the family life needs to be, at least by your early 30s, you need to have that family life, husband, kids, or whatever you're starting to think about the future.

But when it comes to the career, like they always feel like there has to be a choice.

I'm gonna be a career woman or I'm gonna be a family woman.

And this is usually that decision that falls on women.

But I think 1 amazing example of someone who really hit her stride like after 30 is JK Rowling.

I think she's like the best example that I can think of of someone who really truly found success later in life, right?

When I say later, I'm saying relative because she found it at

And that's not late at all, for those of you listening.

If you're older than 32, you're not late.

But I think in terms of what society thinks of as older, tends to, you know, by the time you're 32, you should have your life on track.

So, like, What she did was she was going through a really tough time, you know, like she was I believe she was Struggling with depression.

She was you know dealing with financial issues and going through a really bad divorce and You know, she she was also a mom, you know at the time And while going through all of that, she started to write Harry Potter.

And this book, obviously, then blew, took the world by storm.

And I think she was, yeah, she was 32 at the time.

It was like the spark that just like ignited her career, like it's in a positive way.

I think maybe I think I heard that she wrote the first Harry Potter book in a coffee shop, right?

Because I don't know if it was because of the heating system they had or the Wi-Fi.

I don't know if it was the whole book or the first chapters.

And just think about like, you know, how, not only how successful the, the books are, the films are, but like, if we think about our own, like English with TV lessons, like Think about how many fans absolutely adore those lessons because it's become such a staple for English learners as well.

By the way, what does that mean when something becomes a staple for a

So when something is a staple, it's like an essential, it's like a go-to thing.

So if you think of like staple foods of countries, we might say that, I don't know, rice and beans is a staple in Brazil.

You know, corn tends to be a staple here in South Africa, things like that.

That's a, it's a great piece of vocabulary.

And 1 example that I have of someone who achieved huge success only later in life is actually, Steve Correll.

Because you know, I ha I even have here, a paragraph that I got from an article and let me read it to you guys.

Beloved comedian, Steve Carell is known for his many blockbuster hits, including the 4 year old Virgin and the Big Short, but he didn't land his hit role as Michael Scott in The Office until he was 42.

So you know, I think that show really made his career.

And it's crazy to think that when he got that role, he was 42 years old already.

So, you know, it's a good example of maybe he was, I think he, maybe he had made movies before already.

He was already working on it, in the industry, but the big break, let's say, yeah.

Or the, that road that made his career, yeah.

Or that really put it on the, put him on the map.

So that's another example that I can think of, yeah, about that.

I like what you said, putting him on the map.

When in this case a person becomes more evident or more famous.

Yeah, maybe he was making small movies or small productions before he was maybe somewhat well known, but after the office he became worldwide famous.

So that show put him on the map, but, still talking about achievements, right?

Another point that I think is important to mention here is that it's important to enjoy the journey, right?

Because sometimes we might feel obsessed with the goal, maybe, oh, like learning English or being fluent, but if you don't enjoy the journey, it's going to be very hard for you to actually get to your destination.

And these are examples that we are sharing here, for example, like Steve Correll or even a JK Rowling, for example, yeah, they were doing the work for a while.

Before getting that goal or achieving that level of success.

And another example that I can think of is Leonardo DiCaprio now bringing DiCaprio into the discussion because, I remember watching his first movie.

In the nineties, he, he, I don't know if it was his first movie or 1 of his first movies called, basketball diaries or something like that, the basketball diaries.

And he plays a teenager who is addicted to drugs.

And, I could see back then that he was such a good actor already, but He didn't stop there.

I think 2 years later he did Titanic, which was huge, you know, and ever since, you know, he has been making lots of good movies, but he only won the Oscars recently.

I think with the Revenant And it was a few years ago.

And that there was even talk already of, oh, when is Leo DiCaprio going to win the Oscar for best actor?

When, you know, people were kind of expecting it, but it wasn't happening until it finally happened, happened like, you know, years later.

Did you see that, by the way, his acceptance speech?

And something that I think as well, just to touch on what you mentioned before, like it's like People could be telling you, oh, you're you're so good at this or you should keep going and you're feeling you're thinking to yourself.

I would have been recognized by the film industry long, a long time ago.

And I think with Leonardo DiCaprio in this example, I keep thinking that I don't think he was phased by the idea of like, I need to win the award in order to feel good about myself, or I need to win this award in order for me to recognize myself as a good actor.

He was just living his life, enjoying the process, as you mentioned before.

And I think this is so this is so important for all of us to think about, like where we are at in our careers or in our learning journeys.

And yeah, I think it's just a really great point that you you raise.

But yes, on his acceptance speech, really, I felt moved.

I thought it was really, really, I think there was so many memes about like him before, like him not winning, like, Leo, just always waiting for his turn.

Yeah, I think he's known for being concerned about the environment.

And I think he actually used that opportunity when he accepted the Oscars to talk about that, right?

Trying to raise people's awareness of the environmental issues we have nowadays.

So also we could say that that was an example of someone who was standing up for what they believe in.

See all RealLife English transcripts on Youtube

Why Most People Don't Have SUCCESS — Podcast for English Learners