Repetition Main Text

Hi this is AJ. Welcome to the seventh lesson. Let’s begin. This one is called 

“Repetition with Intensity.” Intensity means power, concentrated power, really, is what it 

means. Of course, repetition means doing something again and again and again and 

again and again. So maybe this is the bad news or the good news, I don’t know, but the 

truth is to learn English, to learn any language, to learn any skill, to be a master you 

have to have a lot of repetition. And this is something that a lot of people don’t like and 

they go “Oh my god, I’m bored. I don’t want to listen to this again. I don’t want to do 

this again and again and again.” 

I’ll give you a small example. I’ve recently started taking singing lessons and every 

lesson we do the same thing. We do these scales, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, 

nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Every single time. Every day, same scales, same exercises. 

And anyone who wants to get really good at singing, and I do want to get good, has to 

do this. You have to repeat. You can’t just say “Oh, I already know this. I did it 10 

times so I’m finished and let’s do something new.” 

Unfortunately a lot of people have this idea with language learning for some reason. 

Most people understand if you learn a sport you have to repeat the same basic actions 

again and again and again. If you want to be great at basketball, you probably know 

you have to practice dribbling, [which] means bouncing the ball, passing and shooting 

the ball, again and again and again and again. Michael Jordan practiced these same 

basic skills from a child until he finished his career. What, 20 years maybe, every day 

practicing the same skills, again and again. And not just practicing, practicing with 

emotion, practicing with power, practicing with energy, every day for 20 years or more. 

We’ve already mentioned Tiger Woods a lot, same thing with golf. He practices the 

same skills again and again and again and again, every single day, years and years and 

years. 

So why, when we’re learning English or learning a language, do we say “Oh, I don’t 

want to study this any more, I already know it. I already know the present tense. I 

already know these words. I already know this grammar. I already know this lesson.” 

What, maybe you listened to it 7 times, 5 times? It’s not enough. We need a lot of 

repetition, a lot of repetition with power, with intensity. Your whole life, that’s why babies 

learn so quickly and so well, that’s why I’m a master of English and not a master of 

Spanish. Because every day for 40 years I have been listening to English, the same 

basic English. 

When I was 5 years old I didn’t tell my mom “Mom, I already know the past tense so 

stop using it. Let’s learn something more difficult now. I’m bored with the past tense.” 

Of course, that’s ridiculous, right? I’m still hearing the past tense used correctly 

constantly, every single day of my life. And that’s why I can use the past tense without 

thinking, totally effortlessly. Because it’s something I hear again and again and again 

and again and again and I have since I was born until right now and you need to decide 

that you’re going to do this, too. So forget this idea of levels. Forget levels, there is no 

level. You’re not an advanced English speaker and then suddenly “Oh, I don’t need to 

worry about the past tense anymore. Oh, I already know the present tense, I’m an 

advanced speaker.” 

Well bullshit! It’s not true. You never finish. And in fact you have to focus on the basic 

things, the most frequent, core, fundamental, important parts of the language. You have 

to focus on them every day, you never stop. Yes, you’ll start to learn some advanced 

vocabulary. Yes, you’ll learn some of that great advanced grammar that you always 

want to learn. But that stuff is just extra. Always, the core, main focus of your learning 

must be the fundamentals, the high frequency words, the most common grammar 

structures, and the basic pronunciation of the language. You never stop practicing 

those. You never stop improving them. Every day you continue to focus on them.

Okay, you believe me? Alright, we agree? Alright, good. Well, your next question is 

probably how. Because the problem with this is that it gets boring. Right, and you’re 

like “Oh, I don’t want to do it again.” And this is a problem that everybody has. 

Everyone who wants to be a master has this same exact problem. I’m sure Michael 

Jordan at sometime said “I’m sick of shooting free throws.” Free throws are the basic, 

same shot, all basketball players practice them every day for all their life. Probably at 

some time he decided, “Oh man, I’ve already done this 20,000 times, I don’t want to do 

it again.” But then he said, oh, I need to. He realized that he could never stop. 

How does Tiger Woods keep going? How does he continue to practice the same things 

every day when he’s already a master? It’s an emotional problem, right? It’s a mental 

problem. It’s not a physical problem. It’s easy to do, the problem is we stop wanting to 

do it. So again, it’s a problem of our mentality. It’s a problem of our psychology. And 

we have to learn how to practice with a lot of repetition but continue to feel strong, 

continue to have energy and intensity. That’s the trick. That’s the secret. 

We’ve already talked about some ways to do this. So one way you do this is to manage 

your emotions. Manage your peak states. You get in that peak state. That’s why I keep 

reminding you…are you smiling? Are you moving? Is your head up? Are your 

shoulders back? Are you breathing deeply? I continue to remind you about this 

because it’s important. It will keep your energy high. It will help you repeat again and 

again and again without boredom. When your body, when your physiology is strong, 

you get bored less easily, you focus more. You concentrate more. You can do more 

repetitions. You can repeat more of the same thing. That’s great. So that’s one of the 

key things, what we’ve already talked about, managing your emotions. 

Managing your beliefs will also help. Thinking constantly about what you want in the 

end. Imagining yourself as a successful English speaker. All of these things are 

building your energy. And that will help you repeat more often with more energy. But 

there’s one more secret to repetition and this is something that all masters do and have 

always done. It’s a key point to using repetition most powerfully. Because if you just 

repeat and do the same thing, if you do it badly, well then you’re teaching yourself to 

perform badly. If you practice English every day with no energy, repeating, repeating, 

well you’ll learn to be bored and tired when speaking English. And you don’t want that. 

So here’s what you’re going to do. 

First, of course, you’re going to get yourself in that peak state again. Always, every time 

before you listen to English, you’re going to manage your body, your physiology. You’re 

going to move. You’re going to smile. You’re going to change your posture. You’re 

going to breathe. You’re going to change your emotions. You’re going to change your 

focus. You’re going to think about that big goal, all those great benefits to speaking 

English. And you’re going to do your incantations. You’re going to say “I’m a great 

English speaker” or “I’m getting better and better with English every day.” And now 

you’re feeling great. And you start to repeat. You say “Okay, now, I’m going to listen to 

that lesson again. Again, 7 times, 12 times, 20 times, 50 times, 100 times.” 

On the 100th time how are you going to keep your energy still? Well, you’re going to 

get in that peak state but you’re also going to change your focus. When you repeat, you 

don’t just do the same exact thing. You find small distinctions each time. A distinction is 

a difference, an important difference, okay? An important difference. So you’re doing 

the same thing, maybe you’re listening to the same lesson, for example. But you, with 

your mind, are doing something a little differently each time, a different distinction each 

time. What do I mean? Let me give you an example. Let’s say you listen to this lesson 

the first time. The first time you probably want to focus on just understanding. 

You need to understand all the words I’m using. You need to understand my 

pronunciation. You need to, most importantly, understand the whole meaning of this 

lesson, of what I’m saying, the meaning, the basic meaning of the English I’m speaking. 

So the first time you probably read and listen at the same time. And you’re focused just 

on the meaning, just on understanding. Maybe you do that 1 time, maybe 4 times, 

maybe 10 times, it depends, everybody’s different. But eventually you start to feel 

bored. Eventually you think “I understand this, I understand the meaning. I know all 

these vocabulary words, no problem.” Most people will then change. They’ll go to a 

new lesson “I’m bored, I already know this vocabulary, time for a new lesson.” That’s 

what most people do. 

But someone who is focused on mastery will not do that. They will stay with the same 

lesson. What they will do is find a new distinction, an important difference, a new way 

to focus. For example, you know now all of the vocabulary. You understand easily. So 

next you change your focus, a new distinction. Next, you don’t focus on just 

understanding. Next, you focus on speed. You decide “I’m going to answer those 

mini‑story questions very fast.” And it becomes a game. 

So the first time maybe you answer somewhat slowly. The next time you listen you try 

to get faster. Maybe you still need to pause, but you’re getting faster. The next time 

you try to go faster, answer those questions more quickly. Then you try to not use the 

pause button. Answer before I answer. And it becomes this game, a challenge. It’s 

repetition, it’s the same thing again but now you have a new distinction, a new focus, a 

little bit different way of repeating. First, you were focused on just meaning and 

understanding. Now, you’re focused on speed, the speed of your response, faster and 

faster and faster. And that’s kind of a game, it keeps your brain awake. It keeps your 

brain alive. It keeps you learning with this same repetition. 

Now eventually that will become boring. You’ll get really fast. You’ll become faster than 

me. At that point you have two choices. You can stop and go to a new lesson, what 

most people will do. But you are a master, you want to master English. So you will not 

do that. You will continue repeating the same lesson but, what do you need now? A 

new distinction, a slightly new way to focus on the same lesson. 

So next, for example, you might focus on listening deeply and carefully to pronunciation, 

to my pronunciation. What do I mean by that? I mean you listen carefully, how do I 

pronounce each word? You especially listen to my intonation. Intonation is kind of the 

music of a language, it’s when I go up and when I go down. It’s when I stretch a word or 

say a word very quickly. All of those things are important. If you want to improve your 

pronunciation you’ve got to first listen very carefully. Not like a normal person, just 

listening and hearing it. 

You have to really focus on the sounds. You want to hear the emotion in my voice. You 

want to focus, when do I get loud and when do I get quiet. What do I stress, what do I 

not stress. So that’s your next distinction, you’re going to focus on listening very 

carefully. Not so much for meaning, you already know that, you’re going to focus this 

time on the sound, the music. Pretend you are a musician and you want to hear the 

notes, the rhythm, the small important sounds of my pronunciation. Hear everything. 

So you do that again and again and again, 5 times, 10 times, 15 times, 20 times or 

more, focused on pronunciation, each lesson, the main lesson, the vocabulary lesson, 

the mini-story lesson. This time you’re focused on pronunciation, listening, listening, 

listening super carefully. Very detailed listening. 

What’s going to happen eventually? Boredom, you’re eventually going to get bored. 

Not in the beginning, in the beginning it’s a new challenge. Your brain is awake and 

alive but this will become easier and easier and finally you’ll think “Oh, I finished 

listening to his pronunciation, I can hear it.” Now you have another choice. Is it time to 

go to the new lesson or do you find a new distinction? Well, of course, you’re a master 

so you’re going to find a new distinction, yet again, a new focus, a small difference, 

something a little bit different to focus on using still the same lesson. You’ve been 

listening deeply for my pronunciation, well your next step is to imitate my pronunciation, 

to imitate me. And to imitate means to copy perfectly. 

So now what you’re going to do, you’re going to listen to me, after every sentence 

you’re going to pause. And you’re going to say the same sentence. Now here’s what 

you do not do. You do not do listen and repeat. So I say “Hi, how are you?” You pause 

“Hi, how are you?” I mean that’s the normal school way of doing it, listen and repeat. 

You’re not repeating, repeating has no power, repeating does nothing. You’re imitating. 

Think like an actor or an actress. Your job is to be me, be AJ. So when I say imitate, I 

mean copy everything. Copy my speech exactly, perfectly, the sounds of the words, the 

exact pronunciation. That’s just the beginning. The whole sentence, the words in the 

sentence, that’s easy, that’s just the beginning. I’m talking about my intonation, the 

exact music. You were listening to it before, now you’re going to do it. 

So when I go up, you’re going to go up. And when I go down, you’re going to go down. 

When I’m loud, you will speak loudly. When I’m quiet, you will speak quietly. You want 

to sound like me, just like an actor. You want to copy my emotion. So when you speak 

it has the same emotion and power as my speaking. Copy my accent. If you’re really 

serious, copy how I move. You can’t see me but you can imagine how am I moving. 

Am I standing stiff, not moving? Not usually. I usually move around a lot when I’m 

speaking. My hands are moving. My face is moving. You should do that, too. That’s 

the final distinction, imitation. 

You can do this with anybody, not just me. You can watch a movie and copy the actor 

or actress. And this is great because you have a picture to look at, so you can 

definitely, you can copy how they’re moving their body, how they’re moving as they 

speak. And then you’re going to copy exactly how they speak. When they pause, you 

pause. When they’re loud, you are loud. When they stretch a word, you stretch it. You 

copy everything. And that’s an even deeper distinction, a deeper level of repetition. 

So this is very important. This is how the masters do it. This is how Michael Jordan 

gets better and better and better, or got better and better and better as a basketball 

player. He didn’t just shoot, shoot, shoot, same thing every day. No, every week or 

every month he changed his distinctions. He reached a certain level, he decided “I want 

to go higher.” So he focused on something a little different. Same action, same skill, 

but now he’s focusing on something even higher or something even deeper. 

And when that became easy, he found something else, something else that was new 

and he went higher still. And he kept doing that endlessly. Same with Tiger Woods, 

same with anyone who is really great at what they do. It’s what you did naturally as a 

native speaker of your language. You didn’t know it, it was happening unconsciously, 

intuitively, effortlessly. But it’s what you did as a child as you grew up. You were at a 

certain level but then every day or every week or every month you focused on 

something new, you got something new. 

So that’s what I want you to do. This is your homework. This is your homework for life, 

for the rest of your life, every day. You’re going to learn more deeply than other people. 

You’re going to repeat more with more intensity. And the way you’re going to do it is by 

always finding new distinctions. You can start with these lessons now. You’re going to 

go more slowly. And you can follow my plan. You can add more to this. There’s always 

a new distinction. If imitating me becomes easy, think of something else. Keep getting 

better and better. But for now, try my plan. So in the beginning you’re going to listen for 

what? 

Basically for understanding, that’s the first level of repetition. Listen for understanding. 

Focus on the meaning, the general and specific meaning of what I’m saying. And do 

that for as long as you can, until you can hear it and instantly know the meaning, no 

problem, no effort. When that becomes super easy, then you go to the next level, the 

next distinction which is you’re going to focus on speed. You’re going to focus on 

answering the mini-story questions faster and faster and faster and faster, until you can 

beat me. What’s next? What’s the next distinction? 

That becomes easy, then what do you do? Well then maybe after 50 or 100 repetitions 

with the mini-stories going fast, then maybe you decide “Well, now I’m going to listen 

very, very carefully and deeply to AJ’s pronunciation.” Every tiny detail of pronunciation, 

the intonation, the individual sounds, the loudness, the pauses, the emotion. 

Everything, carefully, carefully listening to the music of English, the music of my speech. 

And you’ll do that as many times as possible. And then finally you’ll go to the deepest 

distinction, the deepest for us right now, which is imitation. When that has become 

easy, you will go on to imitate me perfectly. You will try to copy exactly my 

pronunciation. Be me when you speak. 

By following this system for every single lesson you will get a lot more repetitions for 

each lesson. Therefore, you’ll learn it much more deeply. Not just a couple times then 

on to the next one and forget it. You won’t forget this. You will never forget this. If you 

follow this system, every lesson will be stuck in your brain 10 years from now. You’ll still 

remember it. I promise you but you have to follow this system.

Okay, then. Good luck. Keep finding those new distinctions, always, again and again 

and again. Increase your repetition. Increase the intensity. And always go deeper, 

deeper, deeper to a deeper level.

Repetition Mini-Story Text

Hello, this is AJ Hoge, Director of the Effortless English Club, here again with another 

lesson, the mini‑story for “Repetition with Intensity.” Are you ready? Are you standing 

strong, shoulders back, good posture? Deep breathing? Big smile, moving your body? 

If not, do it right now. Because if you don’t, I will kick you out of the Effortless English 

Club, onto the street to cry and have a terrible life for the rest of your life. You don’t 

want that, so you better do it. So stand up, smile, peak state. Let’s go! It’s time for 

English again. Let’s Rock!

Alright our mini‑story today is about Asher.

* * * * *

Asher had a dream. He wanted to be the best guitarist in the world. He wanted to 

be a rock’n’roll god.

Hm, interesting. Who wanted to be a rock’n’roll god?

Asher did, Asher wanted to be a rock’n’roll god.

What did he want to play? The drums?

No, not the drums, he wanted to play the guitar.

Did he want to be a good guitarist?

Hell, no, he didn’t want to be a good guitarist. He wanted to be the best guitarist in the 

world, a rock god.

What did he want?

He wanted to be the best guitarist in the world. He wanted to be a rock god.

Who wanted that?

Asher, Asher wanted that. Asher wanted to be the best guitarist in the world. Asher 

wanted to be a rock god.

You know there’s a problem. What’s the problem?

The problem is he doesn’t play the guitar. He didn’t play the guitar. He never has 

played the guitar. No guitar for Asher.

That’s a small problem.

So, of course, he decided to find the best guitar teacher in the world.

Who did he find?

He found the best guitar teacher in the world.

Where?

In the world.

Did he find the best guitar teacher in Mexico?

No, not in Mexico, not just Mexico, in the world…he found the best guitar teacher in the 

world.

Who was the best guitar teacher in the world?

Well, AJ Hoge, of course.

AJ Hoge was the best guitar teacher in the world. Asher went to AJ and he said 

“Teach me to be a rock god.”

What did Asher say?

He said “Teach me to be a rock god.”

Who did he say that to?

He said that to AJ. He said to AJ “Teach me to be a rock god.”

Why did he say that to AJ?

Obviously, because AJ is the best guitar teacher in the world. Everybody knows that. 

AJ said “My student, you must look good to be good.”

Hm. What did AJ say?

He said “You must look good to be good.” Hm.

AJ said “Imitate me. Dress like me. Jump and yell and look cool like me. Then 

you’ll be the best guitarist in the world and a rock god.”

What?

AJ said “Imitate me. Dress like me. Look cool like me. Then you’ll be the best guitarist 

in the world.”

What did AJ want Asher to do?

He wanted Asher to imitate him, imitate him.

Who did he want Asher to imitate?

Him, AJ, AJ wanted Asher to imitate him.

Did he want him to imitate Jimi Hendrix?

No, not Jimi Hendrix, he wanted Asher to imitate him, AJ.

Did he want him to copy him a little bit?

No, not a little bit, he wanted him to imitate him, perfectly copy him. 

Did he want him to imitate his dress, how he dressed?

Yes, he said imitate how I dress.

Did he want him to imitate how he moved?

Yes, he said imitate how I move. Look cool like me.

Asher said “But don’t I have to practice the guitar?”

What did Asher ask?

He asked “Don’t I have to practice the guitar?” Don’t I have to practice the guitar? 

Did Asher think he needed to practice the guitar?

Yes, Asher thought that he needed to practice the guitar. He said “Don’t I have to 

practice the guitar?”

AJ said “No, just look good.”

Did AJ want Asher to practice the guitar?

No, no, he didn’t want Asher to practice the guitar.

Why not?

Because AJ said “You must look good to be good.” Looking good is the only important 

distinction.

So, for one year every day Asher imitated AJ. He walked like AJ. He moved like 

AJ. He dressed like AJ. He tried to be cool like AJ, although that’s very difficult. 

How long, for how long did Asher imitate AJ?

One year, for one year Asher imitated AJ perfectly, almost perfectly.

How often did he imitate AJ?

Well, every day, every day he imitated AJ for one full year. 

Who did he imitate for one year?

AJ, he imitated AJ for one year. 

Who imitated AJ for one year, every day?

Asher, Asher imitated AJ every day for one year.

But unfortunately, after one year Asher still could not play the guitar. In fact, he 

was terrible. 

After one year, could Asher play the guitar?

No, he couldn’t. After one year he could not play the guitar, still could not play the 

guitar. 

How good was he after one year?

Well, he was terrible. After one year he was still terrible at the guitar.

Did AJ help Asher?

No, no, no. No, he didn’t, he did not help Asher. Asher was still terrible at the guitar. 

He was not a rock god. He could not play.

Asher said “You’re fired.”

Did Asher fire AJ?

Yes, he did. He fired AJ. He cut AJ, stopped paying AJ. Oh no.

Next, he went to his friend, Inka. He said “Inka, how can I become the best 

guitarist in the world? I tried to study with AJ but he sucked.”

And remember, to suck means to be very bad at something. So was AJ a great guitar 

teacher or a terrible guitar teacher?

AJ was a terrible guitar teacher. He sucked at teaching guitar. 

Well Inka said “It’s vital to find a great player to model. Seek out Jimmy Page. 

He’s the best.”

What? 

Inka said “It’s vital to find a great player.”

Is it a little bit important to find a great player?

No, it’s not a little bit important. It’s vital, very important, necessary.

What’s vital?

Finding a great guitar player is vital. 

Vital for who?

Vital for Asher, important for Asher.

Why is it vital for Asher to find a great guitar player?

Well, it’s vital, it’s important because he needs to learn from the best.

What’s vital for Asher to do?

Well, it’s vital for him to find a great guitar player.

Who should Asher seek out?

He should seek out Jimmy Page. He should find Jimmy Page. To seek out means to 

find, to look for and find. It really means to look for.

Should he look for Jimmy Page or should he look for AJ?

He should look for Jimmy Page. He should seek out Jimmy Page.

Who is Jimmy Page?

Jimmy Page is the best guitar player in the world.

What does Asher need to do?

He needs to seek out Jimmy Page. It’s vital, in fact. It’s vital that he seek out Jimmy 

Page.

So he did. He went looking for Jimmy Page. And finally he found him in England.

Where was Jimmy Page?

In England, Jimmy Page was in England.

Why was Jimmy Page in England?

Well, it’s obvious, because he’s English. Jimmy Page is English so he was in England.

Who found Jimmy Page?

Asher, Asher found Jimmy Page. 

He asked Jimmy “Jimmy will you please teach me to be a great guitarist? I want 

to be a rock god.” Jimmy said “Okay.” So every day Jimmy Page showed Asher 

new key distinctions on the guitar. He showed him key differences, key new 

things to learn. 

Who showed Asher key distinctions on the guitar?

Jimmy Page, of course. Jimmy Page showed him a new key distinction on the guitar 

every day, a new thing to focus on, an important difference to learn. 

He told him how to hold the guitar, how to play the guitar, how to move his fingers 

quickly. 

Did he learn new distinctions?

Yes, he did, Asher learned a lot of new distinctions.

Who did he learn new distinctions from?

He learned new distinctions from Jimmy Page, of course.

Did he learn new distinctions about the piano?

No, not about the piano.

About what?

About the guitar, he learned new distinctions about playing the guitar, about the guitar.

And every day he practiced. Every day a lot of repetition but repetition with new 

distinctions.

Who practiced every day with new distinctions and repetition?

Asher did, of course. Asher practiced the guitar every day, a lot of repetitions, a lot of 

new distinctions. 

Finally, three years later Asher became a great guitar player. He became a rock 

god. Everywhere he went women loved him. When he was in Israel, the women 

loved him. When he was in Europe, the women loved him. When he was in North 

America, the women went crazy and they loved him. The South American women 

loved him. African women loved him. Asian women loved him. He was a 

rock’n’roll god.

The end.

* * * * *

That is the end of the mini-story for “Repetition with Intensity.” Be sure to repeat this 

mini-story with intensity.

Repetition Vocabulary Text

Hello, this is AJ Hoge again. And this is the vocabulary lesson for “Repetition.” Again, 

pretty easy today. Let’s talk about the vocabulary.

First, let’s use that word distinction. I talked about it a lot in the main story so let’s just 

repeat it again, review it again, one more time. And again a distinction is an important 

difference. It often has the idea of a small difference, not always but often. But it’s a 

difference, a distinction, something that makes two things different, so a small 

difference, an important difference, a distinction. 

Right, next is the word vital. Vital means very, very important. Repetition is vital. 

Repetition is vital for mastery. It’s very, very important for mastery. So again, vital, vital 

means very important, even necessary. Vital is something that is very important and 

necessary, so vital. 

Next is the word intensity. I used it a lot, intensity. Intensity again means power. It 

really has the idea of concentrated power, so doing something with a lot of focus, 

concentration, a lot in a small time. So repetition with intensity means a lot of energy, 

concentrated energy is what we’re talking about in this lesson. When I say you need to 

have repetition with intensity, you need to have repetition with concentrated energy, 

concentrated power, emotional power. That’s what we’re talking about with intensity. 

It’s kind of the opposite of laziness. 

The next word is imitate. I told you to imitate me, imitate my speaking. And as I said in 

the main story, imitate means copy. It’s a verb, to imitate, to copy. But really imitate is a 

bit stronger. To imitate means to copy very closely, exactly. And we usually use it when 

we’re talking about people. So, for example, you can copy a piece of paper, you can 

copy a paper. But you can’t imitate a paper. We usually imitate people, something 

that’s alive. Something that’s moving, we imitate it. So if you imitate a person, it means 

you try to speak like them. You try to look like them. You dress like them, everything. 

You try to be exactly like them. That’s called imitating and the noun is imitation. That 

process, that action is called imitation. And the verb is to imitate. 

Next we have one of my favorite words, bullshit. Bullshit is a great word and we say this 

word, bullshit, we say it when we totally disagree with something. When we think 

something is foolish or crazy or wrong, it really shows that you think something is 

wrong, totally wrong. So if somebody tells me, a student tells me “AJ, I already know 

the past tense. I don’t need to learn it anymore. I want to learn the future perfect 

progressive.” And I say “Bullshit, you’re totally wrong. You don’t already know the past 

tense. Because you just made a mistake with it. You just said yesterday I go to the 

store and then you say I already know the past tense. There’s a problem here.” And a 

lot of students do this. They say “I know this, I know this.” They don’t know it because 

they constantly make the same mistakes with it. When I talk about knowing, I mean 

deep acquisition. 

Remember acquisition? It means you have something and you keep it and you never, 

ever lose it. That’s real knowing. So when students say “I already know it,” I usually 

say “Bullshit.” It means you’re totally wrong or I think you’re totally wrong. So you can 

use that word, that phrase, anytime you totally disagree with someone, with what they’re 

saying. When you think they’re saying something that’s totally foolish or wrong, you say 

“Bullshit.” Or you can say “That is bullshit.” That’s another way to use it. It’s a very 

common word.

Okay, and then in this talk I talked a little bit about scales. I was talking about my own 

singing practice and how I have to practice scales every day. So we’re talking about a 

musical scale. Scale has other meanings but in this case, in this situation we’re talking 

about a musical scale. And a musical scale is just notes that go up and down. It’s a 

series of notes. You probably know, do re mi fa so…nah nah nah nah nah…right? 

Usually 8 maybe in a scale. So it’s just a series of notes and there are lots of different 

scales in music. We don’t need to talk about the details of that. But basically a series 

of notes in music, we call that a scale, a set series. 

Okay, that is all, that is all of our vocabulary lesson today for “Repetition.” Now, as 

always, it’s very important to listen to these many times. That’s the whole point of this 

lesson today, right? Or I should say this week because you’re going to be listening 

deeply for the entire week, maybe even longer than that. So none of this is going to 

help you if you don’t use it correctly. If you just listen to each lesson one time, or a few 

times, one or two days, you will not get the same benefit. You’ll be entertained, maybe. 

You might enjoy it. You might learn a couple words, but you’re not going to learn 

extremely deeply. You’re not going to learn how to speak English effortlessly and 

automatically like a native speaker. To do that you’ve got to really have this deep level 

of repetition with intensity. You have to follow this system to succeed at that level and I 

hope you’ll do it. I’m sure you will. I know you’re serious about it so you’re going to do 

it.

Good luck. I look forward to hearing about your success on our forums on our member 

site. See you next time, bye bye.