Hey everyone - I have a goal of making sure I upload at least one video a week (other than a quick live one), and since I have been keeping the streak but it was looking impossible to finish editing my current pre-recorded videos on time, I decided to make this video instead. Here's some context to what I alluded to in the video: This idea of failure, dealing with a streak of "bad luck" and feeling down, is something that's been on my mind a lot lately - my grandmother recently passed away, and she actually lived on the same street as me growing up, and was over very regularly, so it's not like she was someone I only kind-of knew. I was really upset about this, and I couldn't even make it back home when we knew she had days to live, and I missed my flight for the wake. The surgery I mentioned is one I'm getting in a couple of weeks because I've been losing my hearing (not really a good thing when speaking and listening to languages is a crucial part of your life), and very fortunately I might be able to 100% solve the problem. But somehow I keep messing up blood tests, scheduling, wrong addresses, and have been trying to get this surgery since January as a result. As well as this, I'm also dealing with a backlog of to-dos/emails and had to use up my life savings to devote 2016 to writing the Language Hacking books (they required a LOT more quality-control to fit academic standards than I ever imagined, leading to many 20-hour workdays). Sadly, publishing books is a pretty terrible way to make money - I do it because it gets that encouraging message to more people. I essentially ignored the online business that pays my bills for a very long period... the same year I moved to New York, which isn't exactly a cheap place to be based. Oh yes, and the same year I got married, which was the most fun ever, but not cheap :) Fortunately, I count myself very lucky that I'm in the kind of position that I can bounce back relatively quickly, and this isn't the first time I've faced struggles like this. I ran out of money back in 2005, and had to sleep on rocks outside as a result. But that experience directly led to me discovering Couchsurfing, which completely transformed the next years of my travels. Every challenge can be a positive learning experience, or at least a fun story to share later. It's been stressful, I've been exhausted, and these things kind of compound on one another (usually, if I'm very busy I'd outsource more of my work, but I can't really afford to do that right now), so it has been taking its tole! I have my on-days and my off-days, and since the day I recorded this was on off one, I figured I'd share my thought process in getting myself back on track, since I see many of you face similar bad-luck streaks from your emails, and your comments. Thanks as always for being such a supportive community, and I do genuinely hope someone feels encouragement from the video - I know it's easy to see the successes from someone like myself who shares mostly the bright side of their life online, and genuinely feel discouraged because you face challenges it seems they don't. We can relate to one another a lot more than you might think ;)

Wow!! WHAT TIMING BENNY!!! I have gone through quite a challenging 9 days of consistent errors or failures and this message couldn't be any timelier for me!! I have a nine-to-five type job which is in reality a nine-to-nine type job and despite my efforts to serve the bosses and client it seems a few of my actions/decisions still upset others. Plus, with the amount of interruptions I receive at work, I find more errors are occurring and forgetting to follow through on other tasks. However, the positive is that I do correct the errors and openly admit them as well as I made the decisions and totally take responsibility and I'm LEARNING! The downside is that I'm letting my personal goals go by the way-side and need to put a stop to the massive amount of time being spent in my regular job. CONGRATULATIONS ON CREATING THIS VIDEO ON THE FLY!! AND THANK YOU!! I NEEDED THIS!!! I will not focus on my failures other than to actively learn what it is I should be doing and will keep trying! CHEERS!!

Thanks for posting this, Benny. Last night I was feeling like a failure at learning Japanese, and it got me really depressed about my life in general. I woke up depressed again this morning, but I got myself back to a place where I was able to have fun doing my kanji-writing practice this afternoon, and then after that I checked my e-mail and saw the link to this video there. Perfect timing.

Another Churchill quote: "If you're going through hell, keep going."

Thanks so much Benny for keeping it real. We all tend to forget that we are not the only ones dealing with challenges and failures along the way. Your honesty and "forward facing" attitude really inspire me and motivate me to get back on track. I've been feeling down over how long it's taking me to become truly (whatever that means) conversational in French but I have to stop beating myself up about it and keep going. Never quitting and enjoying the journey are key.

Good video, Benny. We all need to be reminded that most people hit a patch in their lives where lots of stuff falls apart. It's no fun in the middle of it but life's winners (however one defines that term ) are the people who keep trying and don't give up. Appreciate your honesty!

I have too many thoughts on this for a KZfaq comment, but thanks for sharing this, Benny. I've always loved your ability to reframe negative situations in more positive ways.

I appreciate you being so honest in this video Benny. When I face discouragement, I like to think that mistakes make the best stories. No one wants to hear how perfect your journey was. You get inspired by people who go through challenges but use that to improve themselves as a person. And you've done that for me Benny! Lots of Love from your most loyal language learner 😂 (at least I can aspire to be)

Thanks for sharing your story Benny! Sorry to hear you've been going through tough times - it's part of life, sometimes things work out the way we want them to and sometimes they don't. I hope there's a period of good things waiting for you around the corner. Talking about your struggles can actually be more motivating than always talking about success. Constant success is not only impossible but would actually be harmful for your development. We grow and learn precisely because things don't work out sometimes - otherwise we'd never evolve (both as language learners and human beings!). Take care!

And for you Benny - I've always liked your videos over the years and admired all you do. i love how real you are and how much you sincerely want to help people. I know life gets in the way, even for you - but now at least you have a wonderful wife to share things with ... and all of us too! :)

Thanks for your video today, Benny. I was thinking the same thing...and you put it into words. Helped me quite a bit....since I've been stumbling around a lot lately!

Your attitude to failure is great! What I always think is that when things go well, that's lovely. But when I cock up in a major way, I usually get a funny story out of it.

It is true that Language Learning brings out parts of your personality and deep seated emotions that you would have never discovered otherwise. Thanks for being real Benny. Keep at it man. I have appreciated your help and hints for 4 years now.

Thanks Benny! ! This is such an important message to hear - especially from some one I consider to be a huge success! Thanks for keen it so damn real. x

Thanks for being brave enough to be authentic. We CAN all relate to "those" times. And I appreciate that you mention appreciation, because that is the key to regaining joy and joy attracts more joy and what we might consider "success." Best to you, young man.

Thanks for you for knowing me that failure is a part of our live . There is no specific way to failure,we are who choose to be or not to be

Thanks for the video, Benny. All the best to you!

Failure is success in finding what does not work or what needs to be worked on. I tell myself this often because for the longest time I have had a fear of failure.

Thanks very much for the great, encouraging words!

Thanks Benny. You still found a way to be an inspiration. I was quite shocked to hear about your financial situation since you're being so active and everywhere... You have at least one success. Undoubtedly through your inspiration, or even more, your wife, even if only through efforts of her own, seems to be getting to be quite the polyglot herself. My best to both of you. I'm a lot bigger failure that you could imagine. My interest in languages dates from at least 40 years. I acquired books, cassettes, vinyls, CDs, DVDs, dictionaries, methods, software, applications, etc. And even though I invested a lot of money, I only used everything as a pleasurable, if expensive, leisure. I have lots of other interests besides languages and I dealt with them pretty much the same way. Except maybe cooking. Even though I have more than a hundred books including dictionaries and a few encyclopedias, I practically cook the same meals more than often. I do make sushis for my wife and I practically every week: mostly Saturdays. I blame my fondness for studying for those results, being more naturally inclined to theory than practice. I'm sure I pretty much know what to do were I to transform acquiring knowledge to acquiring a skill: set reasonable objectives, learn and apply a minimum and, mainly regularly so. Thinking has been so fulfilling so far that the need for doing has been delayed for way too long. Which is obviously ridiculously since by doing I would be learning quite a lot more. Maybe I should buy myself a trophy as "Olympic gold medalist of procrastination ". Nah! I don't want to give my Ego that pleasure! I should be ashamed. The problem is that I not concerned enough with people's opinions about me for that to be a source of motivation for me. Doesn't work on prodding or taunting my Ego ;-( Being lenient can sometimes be a good thing, particularly with hopefuls wanting to learn a new language, but I am really overdoing it with myself. Had I used even only a part of what I have I could probably be fluent in more than 10 languages now. My only consolation is that English provided and provides me with a way lot more opportunities than if I stayed a monolinguist. I've even been considering for quite a while learning simultaneously 10 languages. Since I have a tendency to disperse myself , limiting myself that way and the experience itself could be both a challenge and a motivation. I could try it for a year. I can try it. I will try it. Even if it's contrary to a lot of good recommendations, I'l have to adapt and develop my own method, if need be. And, if I #fail , next year I can try something different. At worst, I'll have learned a few things. At best, part of my experiment will be transferable as experience to others. And it can't get worse than not being able to hold the most basic kind of conversation. "Start speaking from day one": good advice. There will be obstacles, hurdles, etc. And, thanks again for the inspiration.

Hi Benny! Sorry to hear about your Grandmother. Hope your surgery goes well for you.

Benny, acompanho seu trabalho faz muito tempo e você tem me ajudado a aprender Inglês e Espanhol! Sem dúvida, esse foi o melhor vídeo que você já fez! Muito inspirador, principalmente para mim que estou numa fase que tenho tido falhas muito grandes em meu caminho de Tentar.

If you aren't failing, ever, you aren't growing. You can play it too safe and be 'afraid' of failing ... or you can take some calculated risks and learn something! :)

Thank you for being so genuine

Thank you, Benny. Your videos are inspiring. I’m also a successful failure! Tomorrow is another day.

Good luck, Benny!

Excellent video, thank you for being so frank. I think of you as being a very successful polyglot. I would like to be one, but am struggling just to learn Spanish as a 2nd language. I look to your website and video for inspiration, and have found much help there. To hear that you have the same struggles we all face, that even you get discouraged, is somehow very reassuring. Makes me realize that we all have to deal with obstacles, make mistakes, and getting discouraged at times just makes us human. It's natural and ok, as long as we don't get stuck there. One book that helped me a lot was "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman. It was about how peoples attitudes toward their failures, what they told themselves about failures and setbacks in their lives, shaped their lives and the outcomes they experienced. People who tend to success in life tend to interpret their failures, setbacks and attendant causes as temporary and specific (instead of permanent and universal), thus enabling them to persevere and continue, instead of quitting and surrendering, or settling for a safe but boring and unchallenging life. The good news is that, regardless whether your tendency is optimism or pessimism, optimism is a skill that can be deliberately learned and cultivated by anyone who wishes to do so. Seligman gives some cognitive therapy techniques to help the reader cultivate those skills. It can be life-changing. Though even he points out that pessimism also serves a purpose, that a little bit of healthy pessimism makes a good counter-weight, to keep you out of trouble and keep it all in balance ;-) As Karol said, you have a good ability to reframe negative situations. That's an excellent technique we can all learn to use and benefit from. Keep up the good work, many of us appreciate it.

hang in there Benny! You have a great and unique personality, just make more vids and promote the hell out of yourself, you WILL succeed...peace from China.

Cool. Keep at it, man.

nice job. good vid. thanks

I am a native Turkish speaker and I really would like to speak with you as a English learner at the same time. Thanks

Hi Benny, what is the problem with your hearing? I also have some issues and hope they dont get worse. Good luck!

Benny sou inscrita no seu canal por causa desse vídeo. Eu não falo inglês, por isso fico muito contente quando você fala português ou o vídeo tem legenda. A Irlanda é um país lindíssimo e muito interessante. Poderia por favor fazer mais vídeos assim? Muito obrigada e parabéns pelo canal.

A'bullet journal' might work instead of all those apps. That's what I'm trying anyway.

#notificationsquad

Just found out my listening comprehension in Russian is shit (I thought it was at least okay.) I kind of see life like Sysiphus, the bolder is going to crush you, but you have to keep pushing that son of a bitch.

that interesting i mean to be positive but plz next time try to slow dowm some of yor followers are novice english speakers