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The Feel Good English Podcast

Are you tired of all the boring English content out there? Feel Good English is different. Check out these inspiring lessons on life-changing ideas, and watch your English grow naturally!
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Now displaying: 2017
Dec 15, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com/go 

I have a lesson for you today that will be good for speaking practice. I want you to speak today, either out loud so people think you talk to yourself like a crazy person, or in your head, so you can create voices in your head that speak English. So you’ll either be crazy and talk to yourself or you’ll have voices in your English that speak English. Got it?

It’s almost the end of the year, so I wanted to do a bit of a yearly review. Review some of the biggest, most popular, and also what I consider to be the most important lessons I learned with you this year.

But I want you to get involved today, so I am going to bring you in on the conversation. I’m going to ask you some questions about what I talk about, and you should answer them. If you ever hear me say the word, “blank”, that means you need to fill in the “blank” with a word. So if I said, “I really like “blank”, you would say, “Kevin, I really like...clowns” Make sense?

So review with me some great lessons from this year , use you mouth a bit, or use your internal mouth, whatever the hell that is, and feel good!

Dec 1, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com/go

Today I have something special for you. Well, I guess it’s always special, right? But today is extra special. It’s not going to be just me on the show, I brought someone else on the show to talk about life-changing topics. Lindsay McMahon from AllEarsEnglish will be on the show today, talking about the main premise behind her very popular show The AllEarsEnligsh podcast, the importance of connection, not perfection. More specifically, what gets in the way of connection when trying to communicate with others.

Get in the way of means, by the way, to obstruct, become an obstacle, prevent from happening.  So we’re going to talk about three things that prevent us from connecting with others when speaking English.

And I’ll also be stopping the interview periodically to ask you some questions. I’m also going to stop the interview to go deeper into what was talked about, help you understand what we’re saying, and to slow it all a down a bit.

I hope you enjoy it. But more than that, I hope today’s episode helps you focus on connection more than perfection because perfection can be such a terrible enemy!

Nov 15, 2017

Get the premium lesson at www.feelgoodenglish.com/go 

I’m going to talk about a concept today, a pretty complicated one. A concept that’ll stretch your mind, make you think, possibly make your mind stronger.

And speaking of stronger, let’s first talk about muscles. How do we build muscle at the gym? I mean, how do we really build muscle? By going to the gym and lifting a light amount of weight, many many times? Or by pushing your muscles beyond their limit? Beyond what they’re used to, what they’re accustomed to?

Well, if you’re not too knowledgeable about building muscles it works like this...

When you go to the gym and lift really heavy weights, when you feel the burn and get close to your limit, but push on and do just one more rep, one more repetition, that’s when muscle growth happens.

This happens because the fragile parts, the fragile tissue in your muscles, are broken down, are ripped you could say. You give a “shock” to your muscles by surprising them with heavier weight than they’re used to.

That’s how stress and shock can prepare your body for even bigger stress. And it’s the building of this “extra capacity” to avoid future shock that I’m going to talk about today.

What we are going to think about is how shock, stress, and volatility make things stronger. More resilient.  

This concept is based on a book called “Antifragile” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. This book reveals how some systems thrive on shock, volatility, and uncertainty, and when things allow for breakage, like muscles, it’s actually a good thing.

 

Nov 1, 2017

Get the premium lesson at www.feelgoodenglish.com/go 

Today we’re going to talk about a Ted Talk. Well, and a book. We are going to discover the reason why some people and some companies are so influential. We often think that if someone tells you exactly what they can do for you and how they do it then we’ll be convinced. But it’s actually not the case. If you want people to follow you, it’s important to know that they won’t care much about what you do, but why you do what you do. It’s all about the why.

Also in today’s episode, I’m going to talk about how to motivate people, how to motivate yourself when you’re feeling stuck and frustrated and also how to get inspired in life and work.

These ideas come from one of the most popular Ted Talks of all time by a guy named Simon Sinek. It’s all based on a very powerful idea. And I’m going to share his ideas with you, I’ll play some of his talk so you can hear someone else’s English, and I will also talk a little about the “Why” behind Feel Good English.

Oct 15, 2017

Get the Premium lesson at www.feelgoodenglish.com/go 

in today’s episode, I am going to teach you how to deal with
people, well how to deal with people better. I’m going to pull lessons
from the very popular and classic book, “How to Win Friends and
Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

Since “How to Win Friends & Influence People” was published in 1936,
it has sold millions and millions of copies.

The advice contained in the book is deceptively simple, but remains as
effective as ever. Just adhering to simple guidelines like smiling when
meeting someone and remembering their first name can help anyone
become more likable and influential.

I am going to mainly talk about the first two parts of the book, how to
deal with people and also how to communicate better with people. Both of these parts, and the lessons contained within

Both of these parts, and the lessons contained within them, can help you become better liked by your peers, or even more liked if your peers already think you’re a superstar, and they can also help you deal with difficult people, difficult people at work, school, maybe at home, wherever.

So listen to the lesson a few times, pay attention to new English words you hear, and also, really think about what is being taught. If you need to pause the audio to think about something and apply what I talk about to your life, do that!

Oct 1, 2017

Get the premium lesson for this at www.feelgoodenglish.com/go

Today I have an episode based on two words. That’s it, two English words. But these two words affect our lives so much. One of these words is responsible for our loneliness, depression, our feelings of never having enough. It causes hate, and fights, and divorce. It makes us want to put our heads in the sand.

 

And the other word is the solution to the first word. The second word makes us feel more connected to others, more fulfilled, more courageous, and you’ll be happy to know this word, or applying this word to your life, will also help you become a badass confident English speaker. It’s kind of the secret to success with learning a foreign language.

Sep 15, 2017

Get the premium lesson at www.feelgoodenglish.com/go

Today I’m going to get a bit personal. I’m going to tell you something that recently happened in my life that could have ended pretty terribly, but instead, the situation turned into a huge life-lesson for me! Thank God.  

I recently had a realization that ended months of conflict that I was dealing with. Yes, I too suffer at times, and there is nothing wrong with that. Suffering can show exactly where we need to change. And what happened to me was definitely life-changing.

I’m going to share with you what was happening in my life that led to this realization, with the hopes of not just giving you something to listen to and to learn new English from, but also to show you how and why you might fall into the same situation that I did, and how to get out of it, or even avoid it.

Sep 1, 2017

Go premium at www.feelgoodenglish.com/go 

We as humans love the stories of incredible successes. Stories of people doing things that seem impossible.

But I got to thinking, “you know when something terrible happens to someone, this person becomes limited to just what’s in front of them. Their options have been taken away from them. And it seems that it’s exactly because their life becomes limited that their life is transformed.

 It’s as if going through something traumatic is the fuel, or you could say the catalyst, that leads to great transformation.

Now I’m not saying we should try to seek out tragedies, don’t do that, please. But what if we could tap into, meaning “utilize”, tap into what these people feel when they are faced with such limitations. These limitations have forced them to be extremely creative, inspired them, and have helped them find a whole new level of motivation.

What can we learn from these stories? And how can we apply what they discovered to our lives without having to go through such a tragic event? Is it even possible?

That’s what I’m going to talk about today, and I found a Ted Talk that I think is very relevant to these questions.

Aug 15, 2017

Get the premium lessons at www.feelgoodenglish.com

In January, with a pen, paper, and a lot of motivation, I plan out my whole year and what I want to see happen.

Well, you know what, my year hasn’t ever really fallen nicely in line with my goals. Can you believe that? Things change. Goals change. Life happens. Opportunities you weren’t expecting come into your life, and often opportunities you were expecting don’t come. It can be frustrating.

But there’s gotta be a better way! And I think I found one. A better way.

I looked for a better approach. One that doesn’t make me feel disappointed in myself when I remember that I haven’t reached my original, yearly goals because I often don’t reach the original goals I set for myself. I’m realizing more and more how hard it is, especially in business, to plan far in the future when not knowing what will come your way.

Today I am going to talk about goals. But not an inspirational lesson on how to reach every goal you set, but why you shouldn’t live a life focused on goals. It’s unhealthy. And possibly even less productive than another approach.

What’s that other approach? I’m not going to tell you. Well, not yet. Keep listening! 

Aug 1, 2017

Get the premium English lesson at www.feelgoodenglish.com 

Today’s lesson might be a little shocking for some of you, especially because it’s coming from me, someone who talks a lot about personal development.

Why shocking? Because today’s episode is on a book that pretty much disrupts a lot of the self-help genre.  The self-help genre covers subjects like motivation, how to be happier, how to be more productive, the importance of goal setting,  basically, self-help books teach us how to be better humans.

I talk about a lot of these topics here on the podcast, and I do think there are valuable lessons to be learned.  

But… like I said, the book I read for today’s episode is different. The name of the book is “The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking” by Oliver Burkeman.

If you’re someone who thinks that all the self-help books on the power of thinking positively, and books like “The Secret” are garbage, well, you’d love this book.

And... if you’re like me, very open to different perspectives, philosophies and different approaches to life, you’ll also find some value in this book.

Jul 2, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feegoodenglish.com 

When you have an idea about doing something, something you know would be valuable to your life, do you often stop and think about it, then end up not doing that “something”? This happens a lot! It happens to me, a lot! There’s a voice inside my head that keeps me from doing what’s important.

Does this happen to you?

According to the author of a book called “The 5 Second Rule”, the author’s name is Mel Robbins, the secret to being more confident and successful comes down to making the right decision in the 5 seconds after you have an idea.

You can’t let those 5 seconds kill your dreams!

Jun 25, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com/hardwire

Today we are going to talk about happiness.

We all like feeling happy, right? Well, if you don't like feeling happy, well then you either need some professional help, which I hope you get, or you're a freak!

But why do we always focus on the negative? Well, our brains evolved this way. It's an ancient survival mechanism, actually. We needed to learn quickly from bad experiences.

This obsession with the negative continues even until today, though we don't need this as a survival mechanism anymore.

In the book, "Hardwiring Happiness" by Rick Hanson, we learn why we are prone to, (have the tendency to, inclined to) worry about the past, focus on fears, and past hurts, and quite often, ignore positive experiences.

Jun 13, 2017

www.feelgoodenglish.com 

Let me help you correct some of the most common advanced grammar mistakes. 

There are two different phrases that often get mixed up. One is easy, and one is complex. But even the easy one needs to be explained, and the complex one, well, that one too.

The first is about past habits, or something that existed or was true in the past, but doesn’t exist or isn’t true anymore.

The second is about a feeling you have about something. 

A – past habit or truth

B – a feeling (present, past, future)

 

Jun 5, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com

Does it ever feel like you give up pretty quickly after deciding to do something positive for your life? You want to make a big change or add a big skill to start strong but only a few days or sometimes a few weeks later you give up, and we feel bad when this happens. Or do you constantly notice yourself doing things that you know aren't good for you, aren't healthy, aren't positive, aren't helping you get closer to the life that you ideally would like to live? Well, I'm going to talk about a book today called “The Compound Effect” by Deron Hardy and it's going to tackle these issues. Most of us struggle at times with reaching our goals, and according to the book “The Compound Effect” this comes down to, this is all based on our daily habits, the choices we make from moment to moment. If this sounds stressful, like “

Well, I'm going to talk about a book today called “The Compound Effect” by Deron Hardy and it's going to tackle these issues. Most of us struggle at times with reaching our goals, and according to the book “The Compound Effect” this comes down to, this is all based on our daily habits, the choices we make from moment to moment. If this sounds stressful, like “

If this sounds stressful, like “Uh oh, Kevin I don't want to think about my choices every moment!” it shouldn't. There are tactics and strategies from the book that we can start applying to our life to help us create daily routines based on our goals. Getting clarity on what we should be doing and what we should not be doing, and also some tips on how to start adding positive habits into our life. So I'm going to talk about some key principles from this book, I hope it's helpful.

May 29, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com 

Learn some behind-the-scenes info about the podcast after 100 episodes.

I'll share some listener numbers, how the podcast has changed, and what's coming in the future.

May 22, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com

Today we are going to talk about a video, a TED Talk called The power of passion and perseverance, by professor and author Angela Lee Duckworth. And in this talk, she talks about a characteristic, a very important, a vital characteristic that successful people have.

It’s not how smart you are, it’s not how good you look, it’s something else and I’m going to talk about that in this TED Talk today.

We can't let our feelings of failure stop us and keep us from improving, grit

will get you through this. Long term thinking, power through these feelings of inferiority and know that you are improving, your brain is growing through these challenges. And if you continue to work on it, get through the struggle, you will see improvements.

May 15, 2017

Check out Spoken at www.spoken.io 

Want business English lessons in your pocket, all day long? 

Well, that might sound like trouble, but it's not! Spoken.io is a very innovative and effective way to improve your business English. 

Use your messaging app, like Whatsapp or WeChat, to learn the necessary business jargon and impressive sounding vocabulary, and get your own native English speaking Business English coach. 

What more do you need? 

May 8, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com

Today's episode I think will help you become much more fluent in life. One of my favorite books, at least one of my top ten books that I've read in my, not so short life, but not so long life either.

I'm going to talk about a book today called "The 4 Agreements". This book was written by the author Donna Miguel Ruiz, who is Mexican, and it was published in 1997. This book is about our self-limiting beliefs. Beliefs that rob us of joy and also that create a lot of suffering, a lot of needless suffering.

So I'm going to give you an introduction to this book and talk about each agreement, and share with you what I think are the most important ideas and the ones that can help you get the most benefit from this book in a short fifteen-minute podcast episode.

As I go along I will also explain some of the English that I use that you might not know.

May 1, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com 

I’m going to talk about some fascinating concepts from a book and we're going to go more into the evolution of human sexual behavior in an attempt to understand why we deal with sex the way that we do.

Some questions that will be answered are things like are we naturally monogamous? Monogamy, monogamous, is an important word in this episode. Monogamous means having one partner only. The book answers the question, are monogamous relationships natural, the way they should be, or are they impossible to keep based on our instincts?

Also going to talk about how casual sex was crucial to our ancestors’ survival, casual sex meaning not committed relationships.

And lastly, I will also talk about how agriculture ruined our health and happiness.

Apr 24, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com 

Today we're going to talk about history, something I don't do very often here on the Feel Good English podcast, but this book that I’ve recently read is very interesting and I wanted to share something different with you, very interesting ideas on the history of humans, going all the way back three hundred thousand years, three hundred thousand years.

I'm going to talk about five main changes, transitions that happened during our evolution that has led us to common times. 

If this is interesting to you I would highly recommend searching out the book we're going to talk about today which is called "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind." The author of this book is Yuval Noah Harari.

I'm going to talk about some of the key concepts from the book to give you an idea of what it's about and also, of course, to help you build your English knowledge, teaching you some new vocabulary, phrasal verbs, expressions and whatever may come about. 

Apr 17, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com

If you are listening to this, it’s very likely you have learned a foreign language which is English; good for you, great job by the way.

And maybe you have tried or you are considering learning another foreign language. This book has some very valuable advice and strategies on how to do that. And don't forget, and I talk about this a lot, I believe everyone learns a foreign language differently and at least they have their own preference on how to learn, you have to make the process fun and interesting.

So even though this book has great tips, it’s not like it has the answer for everybody. We have to experiment, try out different things, see what works for us, see what we enjoy doing and keep applying those methods.

However, there are universal methods of learning a foreign language, methods that I believe most people can benefit from. And through research and experimentation, we can learn these methods and apply them and see quicker results in our language learning journey, our language learning process. And the book "Fluent Forever" has great tips.

Apr 10, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com 

Today I'm going to give you a few ideas on a book called "Give and Take. Why helping others drives our success." This book is by Adam Grant, who is a professor at a very prestigious business school.

And in this book, the author argues that success depends on how we approach our interactions with others. So how we approach others, how we deal with other people is very, very important.

Apr 3, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com 

Today I have an episode based on a book called "Ego is the enemy" by Ryan Holiday.

And if you've never heard the word ego, ego, E G O just to give you a brief definition. The ego is a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance. Basically, the ego makes you think of how important you are, how valuable you are. So if the ego gets out of control you might think you're too valuable.

This book is all about maintaining the ego in check. Keeping something in check means keeping it at a reasonable level. And Ryan Holiday goes very deep on the subject of how to keep an ego in check but he also talks a lot about why the ego can really damage our chances of success. And what does success do? Well, it could bring us a fulfilling happier life.

 

Mar 27, 2017

Get the transcript at www.feelgoodenglish.com 

Today’s book I am going to talk about is kind of a special one for me. Why? Because it’s one of the first books that I can remember that really got me thinking a lot more about how to deal with the everyday stresses and struggles of life. I first read this book in college, I was probably around twenty years old, and it was very impactful. And when I first read it, it brought completely new ideas to me, I tried them out, I experimented with these ideas a little bit. So what is the book I am talking about? Well, the book is called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. And in general, this book is all about accepting the present moment. How often during your day are you regretting things that have happened in the past? Thinking about the decisions you shouldn't have made, or things you shouldn't have said. And also how much of your day do you spend thinking about the future, worrying about the future? What’s going to happen, what’s going to happen in your life that you might not want to happen? And lastly, do you find yourself always thinking, “In the future when this happens, or once I am able to do this, everything will be better. If I get this job, if I pass this test, if I become fluent in English, if all of these things happen, then my life will be great". Well, this all causes stress, and in The Power of Now, there are some very very useful tools for dealing with these thoughts that can cause you to be anxious

 

Mar 21, 2017

Go deeper at www.feelgoodenglish.com 

There are four core human drives (motivations) that form how people think and behave.

Understanding these core drives helps us to understand what people want, as well as provides us with information on how to help others with services that meet these wants through business.

Satisfy all these wants = a great business idea! 

Learn about these four basic drives and how they affect our behavior, and apply these lessons to your English learning in this episode of the Feel Good English podcast. 

Personal development for English learners. 

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