Shadowing Practice: KEEP GRINDING | Eric Thomas Motivation - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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You like to talk about the grind, but you don't really know what the grind is like.
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I know what the grind is like.
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I was homeless.
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I ain't out of trash can.
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Now, I'm one of the number one speakers in the world.
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Some of you are soft.
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You're soft.
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You want to be a champion, but you don't want to work like a champion.
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I dare you to give 120% and stop choking.
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I dare you to take a little pain.
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You ain't gonna die at the end of pain and success.
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You're not gonna die because you're feeling a little pain.
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You gotta wake up every day and you gotta go get it.
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Execution is not something that we do.
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It's something that we are.
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And most of us aren't disciplined.
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Because if you don't have personal discipline, you'll never get to the next level.
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If another human can tell you to get up and go to work and do what you want to do, you'll be that human.
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Your mind is the most important thing you have.
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And you gotta control it.
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You gotta move you.
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I'm human just like everybody else but let me tell you why I won't fall.
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I will not give up 20 years of grind.
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I will not put all this in for 20 years and give it up overnight.
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I work too hard.
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And if you wake up at 4 o'clock for 30 minutes of sleep, you might be pushing your goals back a week,
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a month, an entire year by sleeping for 2 hours because you missed an opportunity.
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What is your bottom when you've been worshipped since middle school?
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You've been tall your whole life, big your whole life.
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They worship you so much now that you think it's about you.
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You don't even know what the grind looks like.
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I'm from Detroit, homeless.
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Mama got pregnant with me at 17 years old.
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High school dropout.
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Took me 12 years to get a four-year degree.
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I'm coming now.
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It's in view.
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You finally made it to the big leagues.
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And now you want to chill?
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Now you got the big hair?
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Now you can't grind?
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You here now!
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You thought for one minute that you broke me!
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You got me twisted!
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And to get to the next level of success, you can't just have energy when you got energy.
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You're gonna have to learn to be disciplined.
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It's gonna be a fight.
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At some point, you gotta go take the life out of it.
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Go get it!
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Don't run from it no more.
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Go get it!
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You go in there and go get that grade.
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You go in there and get that information so you can pass that class.
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You gotta go get it.
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If you don't punish yourself, it's never gonna happen.
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If you don't punish yourself, somebody say, you're losing weight.
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I punish myself.
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I don't eat meat no more.
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That's a punishment.
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I had to give something up to go up.
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What do you give up?
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Do you not watch TV?
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That's your problem.
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You get to watch TV and not make money and still survive.
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The reason why you broke is because you're getting a reward and you ain't working.
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The good part of you know you can go to school and get a 4.0.
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The lazy part saying we ain't getting up today.
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Stop calling other people haters and look at yourself in the mirror and say I'm hating on me.
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Someone you can quit because you ain't paid for nothing.
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You gonna wake up most days and not be pumped up.
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You gonna wake up most days and not feel like doing it.
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But when you can get to a point that you do it anyway, then there's no way you won't reach any of your ghosts.
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If you're ready to quit, you ready to give up, you ready to give in.
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You ready to give in?
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You ready to tell me what's not working, who doing this, what's wrong?
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If you're not ready to get up every day and start all over again like nothing happened yesterday.
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If you're soft, you want to get out now.
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And you don't get here by quitting when you're tired.
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You get here by quitting when you're finished, when you're done.
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You don't stop when you're tired, you stop when you're done.
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You stop when you complete it, when you execute it.
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Execution is worship.
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Ask any mother that's had a child.
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It's probably feel like they're gonna die.
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But guess what?
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They get through it on the other side when
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that child comes out they forget all about the pain your dream come on you push
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and I'm like you know cookies
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and ice cream push it's a lie it's inside how do
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you know you feel it you dream about it you eat
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and sleep every day when people talk to you tell them this is what I'm gonna do
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so push just push past the play push don't quit don't
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get push you push your way to success you push yourself to the next level This is where you start chilling.
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This is where you get comfortable.
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You made it now.
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You made it now.
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You're in the big leagues now.
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They watching you now.
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This is where you make it permanent.
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You are where you are because of who you are and if you're going to get somewhere else, you're gonna have to change something.
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I don't care what happens in your life.
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I don't care what it looks like.
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I don't care where you are.
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Every single day you wake up.
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If you're gonna have energy, if you're gonna have passion, If you're gonna have drive every day you wake up you got to start with that vision
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And so I'm looking at the clock
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and I'm saying technically you can go back to sleep technically
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But if you go back to sleep you might not wake up to 3 30.
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You might not wake up to 4 o'clock He had a meltdown in class.
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You might have a couple more before success.
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It's a part of the game
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You can't be successful without some meltdowns Stop struggling for another year
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and a half and be free for the rest of your life.
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Or you can say, I'm tired of struggling and stop struggling and struggle for the next 20-30 years.
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Press fast it.
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Come on.
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Stop whining and crying and giving up.
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Press fast it.
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It's going to hurt.
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Yes!
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You got to stop playing.
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Most of you, what happens is when everything is favorable, you're a beast.
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But when the conditions ain't white, you get smacked in the face.
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You got to grow up.
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You gotta be a morning person, afternoon person, night person.
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You gotta be when you feel good person, when you sick person, when you tired person.
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There's a sense of urgency.
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You don't have as much time as you think you do.
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And so you gotta pick up the pace.
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You walking too slow, pick up the pace.
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You moving too slow, pick up the pace.
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You don't have a lot of time.
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You only got 24 hours.
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So all of your energy needs to go into your goals.
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Why?
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Because I love myself too much to get distracted.
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I love myself too much not to execute.
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Discipline is doing what you said you were going to do
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when you don't feel like doing it when you felt like doing it in the first place.
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You've got to discipline yourself and you've got to learn that when you don't feel like it, you must still do it or actually go harder when you don't feel like it.
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Because out of 365 days, there are going to be days you don't feel like getting up.
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There are going to be days you don't want to work out.
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There's going to be days that you don't want to practice.
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There might be days you don't even feel like getting in the game.
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I don't need you thinking about it no more.
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You're doing too much thinking.
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You're analyzing too much.
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You're talking yourself out of it.
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I just need you to keep moving.
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I need you to make up in your mind that the only way you can lose is if you quit.
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I just need you to keep going.
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Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, ain't no such thing as tomorrow.
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We only got today.
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What I've learned about the greats is that they understand it's a sense of urgency that once the clock goes out, it's a W or a L.
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You either win or you lose.
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Practice don't make perfect, practice make permanent.
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This permanent y'all this is permanent you can go wherever you want to go from here It does not take talent.
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You don't have to be talented Right, you don't have to be gifted.
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You don't have to be the quickest the strongest You don't
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have to be the most intelligent to get to where I am.
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That's what you gotta do You just gotta grind though your grind you gotta out grind Greatness is in you,
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but the problem is somebody's got to push you the problem is somebody's got to give you a reward
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Work while you wait.
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You don't know how long it's gonna take But
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if you stop now
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if you quit now the one thing I can tell you
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is for certain is never gonna happen Delay don't mean denied
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Delay just mean you're gonna have to wait a minute when the unsuccessful are in delay they get nervous They get worried.
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They give up.
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They quit.
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They stop.
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They surrender because they don't see what they think they should see But when the successful are in delay, we work while we wait.
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We grind in between time.
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We don't give up.
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We don't surrender.
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We don't quit.
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We see differently.
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Our perspective is different.
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And because our perspective is different, our outcomes are different.
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Our rewards are different.
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If you will be a champion, if you will be a beast, you're going to have to go through something.
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Stop looking for affirmation.
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Stop looking for somebody to pat you on the back.
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And you just get up on Monday and grind.
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And get up on Tuesday and grind.
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And get up on Wednesday and grind.
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And get up on Thursday and grind.
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And get up on Friday and grind.
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And if you grind, no days off.
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No holidays.
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No snow days.
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No weekends off.
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No birthdays.
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You heard me.
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You keep grinding.
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And you stay persistent.
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And you locked in.
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One day you gonna wake up.
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And you gonna be exactly where you dream to be.
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The problem is you're not self-motivated.
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You have to stay in beast mode.
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Listen to me, you better grow up and get to the point as a man that if you ever get beat, you better get beat by somebody that's just purely more talented than you are.
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You better not ever get beat by somebody because you beat yourself.
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You have to take advantage of an opportunity of a lifetime in the lifetime of the opportunity.
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I am not phenomenally skilled, but phenomenally will.
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I will not give up.
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I will not surrender.
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I will not quit.
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And your problem is you giving up too easy.
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Let me tell you something.
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You sitting in this room, you think you're going to be 18 for the rest of your life.
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You think you're going to be 19 for the rest of your life.
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You got an opportunity right now that you won't have five years from now.
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And so I'm looking at the clock and I'm saying technically you can go back to sleep, technically.
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Technically, but Eric Thomas
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if you go back to sleep you might not wake up
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to 3 30 You might not wake up to 4 o'clock and
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if you wake up at 4 o'clock Eric for 30 minutes of sleep You might be pushing your goals back a week.
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You might be pushing your goals back a month You might
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be pushing your goals back an entire year by sleeping for two hours because you missed an opportunity
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You have an opportunity right now that you never have people say why you rhyme
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so hard I might not be the number one motivational speaker in the world five years from now.
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I've got to get everything I can get right now.
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Every book I can write.
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Listen to me.
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My school is being paid for by the athletic department.
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I'm hot right now.
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Every day when I wake up, people say, why are you so excited?
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Because I have a mental picture of where I want to be.
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I have a mental picture of what I want to do.
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And even when I was in an abandoned building, I saw that I would not be in an abandoned building forever
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and I was homeless once now I own two homes
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because although my circumstance was homeless my vision was it The
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worst thing in the world is not growing up in poverty
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The worst thing in the world is growing up in poverty
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and coming here and getting worship and not taking advantage of this And you gotta go back to the hood.
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That's that's the worst thing that could ever happen to a bro Traveling
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and being in hotels and seeing the world and eating like you eat
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and not taking advantage of this and getting kicked out
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and going back home to the hood Being somebody that they talk about because you were sweet for four years.
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You better not lose this
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The first level to success in life the very first level is you seeing it Like it's clear to you.
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You know exactly what you want.
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You know exactly when you want it You know exactly what it tastes like.
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You know what it look like
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Before you really blow up blow up and you get success
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You literally have it in the palm of your hand without having it What does your dream look like?
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What does it smell like?
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What does it taste like?
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The problem with some of y'all is you want somebody else to support your dream.
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It's yours.
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This is an opportunity of a lifetime.
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Your grandma are counting on you to do the right thing.
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Your mama counting on you.
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Your cousins.
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Your brothers and sisters are counting on you to cash in on this opportunity.
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The first level to success in life, the very first level, is you seeing it like it's clear to you clear to you.
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You know exactly what you want.
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You know exactly when you want it.
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You know exactly what it tastes like.
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You know what it look like.
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Before you really blow up, blow up, and you get success, you literally have it in the palm of your hand without having it.
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What does your dream look like?
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What does it smell like?
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What does it taste like?
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What do you want in your health?
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What do you want financially?
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Like how much money do you want to make a year?
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How do you want to live?
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Stop just waking up like an accident.
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What do you want?
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And then once you find out what you want, spend the rest of your natural life waking up and going after it.
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Look at your belief system every single day and stick with it.
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Don't rush the process, trust the process.
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Don't rush the process, trust the process.
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Don't rush the process, trust the process.
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Everybody want to be a beast.
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And it's time to do what beasts do.
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I don't owe you a dime.
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It's your dream.
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If you want it to happen, get your butt up and make it happen.
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If you want it to happen, rise and grind.
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It's about hearts.
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You gotta have hearts.
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Cause real lions like your heart.
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They love the process just as much as they love the prize.
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And some of y'all just want to score.
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You don't like the process.
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You're not in love with the process.
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A real man in the dark, when nobody's watching, he put me in work.
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because he loves the process.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “KEEP GRINDING”. This video has 291 sentences and 2724 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:42. The speaker talks fast, about 199 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 90% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| grind verb | /ˈɡɹaɪnd/ | To reduce to smaller pieces by crushing with lateral motion. |
| technically adverb | /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/ | Based on precise facts, which, however, may be contrary to common belief or casual terminology. |
| punish verb | /ˈpʌnɪʃ/ | To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action… |
| surrender verb | /səˈɹɛndə(ɹ)/ | To give up into the power, control, or possession of another. |
| phenomenally adverb | In a manner that is extraordinary or amazing. | |
| urgency noun | /ˈɜː.d͡ʒən.si/ | The quality or condition of being urgent. |
| meltdown noun | /ˈmɛltˌdaʊn/ | An act or process of melting. |
| execute verb | /ˈɛksɪˌkjuːt/ | To kill, especially as punishment for a capital crime. |
| abandon verb | /əˈbæn.dən/ | To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions. |
| chill verb | /tʃɪl/ | To lower the temperature of something; to cool. |
| affirmation noun | /æfɝˈmeɪʃn/ | That which is affirmed; a declaration that something is true. |
| dropout noun | Someone who has left an educational institution without completing the course | |
| motivational adjective | Tending or intended to motivate. | |
| favourable adjective | /ˈfeɪv(ə)ɹəbəl/ | Apt to win favour; pleasing. |
| rhyme noun | /ɹaɪm/ | Rhyming verse (poetic form). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| blow up verb | To explode or be destroyed by explosion. | |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. | |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. | |
| butt up verb | To touch closely, to scrape (against); to press firmly (against). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What is your bottom when you've been worshipped since middle school?
- What do you give up?
- You ready to give in?
- What does your dream look like?
- What do you want in your health?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you don't have personal discipline, you'll never |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | aren't disciplined · you've been worshipped · be disciplined |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've been worshipped · You've been · I've learned |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 139 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/, affirmation /æfɝˈmeɪʃn/
- Long words — get the stress right: technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/, favourable /ˈfeɪv(ə)ɹəbəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like grind, technically, punish.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.