Excitement Main Text

Hi, this is AJ, welcome to our next lesson. This one is called "Excitement." We're

going to talk about excitement and I'm going to read a little section from a book called

The 4-Hour Work Week, which is a fantastic book. I love this book.

In fact, I'm going to do a few lessons based on sections of this book because I really,

really love it. I think it's just an incredible book that really has a very creative way of

looking at life and work and enjoying yourself.

The theme of the book, really, is enjoying your life. I mean that is really what the book

is all about and Tim Ferriss is the writer of the book. Again, the book's title is The 4-

Hour Work Week written by Tim Ferriss. Absolutely excellent book, I highly

recommend it. Now the section we're going to talk about today is about excitement.

So let me read what Tim has to say about excitement and then l'll talk more about it.

So here we go.

"What do you want? Well, first let's ask a better question. Most people will never

know what they want. I don't know what I want. If you ask me what I want to do in the

next five months for language learning, on the other hand, I do know. It's a matter of

specificity. What do you want is too imprecise to produce a meaningful and actionable

answer. Forget about it.

What are your goals is similarly fated for confusion and guesswork. To rephrase the

question we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Let's assume we

have 10 goals and we achieve them. What is the desired outcome that makes all the

effort worthwhile? The most common response is what I also would have suggested

five years ago, happiness. I no longer believe this is a good answer. I no longer

believe that happiness is the reason we achieve goals.

Happiness can be bought with a bottle of wine and the idea of happiness has become

ambiguous through overuse. There is a more precise alternative that reflects what I

believe is the actual objective for achieving goals. Bear with me. What is the opposite

of happiness? Sadness? No. Just as love and hate are two sides of the same coin,

so are happiness and sadness. Crying out of happiness is a perfect illustration of this

idea.

Excitement Vocabulary Text

Hello, this is AJ, welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "Excitement." Let's start.

Our first word is specificity, specificity, a little difficult to pronounce, specificity. In fact,

many native speakers have trouble pronouncing this word, especially if you say it fast

in a sentence, specificity, specificity, specificity. Sometimes have trouble

pronouncing it, too, but I'm doing it correctly now, specificity.

Specificity is the noun. Specificity means, um...specific-ness is what it really means,

right? It means being specific, being detailed, being very exact. It's kind of the

opposite of generality. Generality is the situation of being very general. So, for

example, you say “I want a lot more money." That statement is a generality, right? It's

not detailed. But if you say “I want $2,496", well that statement has specificity. It has

detail. It has specific-ness, so that's specificity.

Our next word is imprecise. Imprecise is an adjective. And, in fact, it's the opposite of

specific and it's the opposite of precise. Precise is very similar to specific, it means

you'd be very exact, very detailed. So, again, “I want $2,496.20." That's precise,

that's detailed.

The opposite is imprecise, meaning not detailed, not precise. Imprecise means "I'd

like some more money," right? That's not detailed. It's very general, it's imprecise.

So Tim Ferris is saying that the question "what do I want", it's an imprecise question.

It's not a specific question, it's too general. It's too imprecise.

Our next word is fated, to be fated. He says the question "what are your goals", that

question is fated for confusion, it's fated to cause confusion. To be fated for means to

be destined for. It means something that absolutely will happen in the future or soon.

So to be fated for confusion, it means it absolutely will create confusion in the near

future or in the far future. So that question, that general question, what are your goals

or what are my goals or what do I want, it's fated to cause confusion. It absolutely will

cause confusion.

Next is the word worthwhile. So he's saying "What is the purpose of goals? Why are

goals worthwhile?" Worthwhile means beneficial. So why are goals beneficial? Why

are goals useful, helpful, good to do, good to have, worthwhile? So worthwhile, again,

beneficial, helpful, useful, worthwhile, so worthwhile, why are goals useful? Why are

goals worthwhile? Why are they worthwhile?

Automatic English For The People

Excitement POV Text

Hi, this is AJ, welcome to the point of view mini-stories for "Excitement." Let's get

started.

Since last year Brad has needed money for school. He has been very poor since last

year. He lost all his money last year, so since last year he has needed money for

school. Of course, he has had a worthwhile purpose for needing money. He's had a

worthwhile reason for needing money, during this whole time from last year up until

recently.

So Brad has needed money for school since last year and since last year he has had a

worthwhile purpose. And during this time he has thought about money every day. He

has tried to find a way to get more money, but he has failed. Since last year, up until

recently, he has failed to get more money, so he has not been able to go to school.

Well one day he got a great idea, he got a gun and he went to a convenience store.

He went into the store, he pointed the gun at the clerk and he said "Give me some

money!" And the clerk said “Now that's a very imprecise request, how about some

specificity? Don't be ambiguous. Tell me exactly how much you want."

Well Brad was surprised and he was silent for a while. And then finally he said "I don't

know. Ah, bear with me while I think." Well then Brad was silent again. He stood with

the gun, thinking for a long, long time, thinking about the clerk's question, the clerk's

request.

He thought for seventeen and a half hours and then, finally, after seventeen and a half

hours Brad asked for $7,298, precisely. And because Brad's request was precise the

clerk gave it to him. The clerk gave him exactly $7,298. Brad ran home. Then he ran

to school with the money. He paid for school and he started to study again. Of

course, Brad was very, very happy. What a happy story.

Okay, next, same story, this time from a future point of view. This time using a future

timeframe, let's go to the future, shall we?

In the future there will be a student named Brad and Brad is going to need money for

school. He'll be a poor student and he won't have money for school. Brad's going to

think about this problem a lot. Now, of course, he'll have a worthwhile purpose. It's a

worthwhile purpose to need money for school.

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