Natalia Tokar | Native-Like Fluency

I put together MANY free resources that I use in my practice. They are free, useful, and they do not distract me from my practice. They help me stay focused. Find the ones that will work for you. If you want to receive such content in your inbox, subscribe ⬆️️️️️️️

I spoke about breaking “world records” without even trying in the previous post just a few days ago⬆️ Yesterday I broke my 10k record…without trying.

What if “giving your best” is actually holding you back? People see one of my exercises and they think “I must do it correctly! I must give it my best” People think that “giving their best” means doing whatever it takes to achieve a perfect result, and most importantly, making no mistakes in the process. This creates tension in their body, and worry in their head. They start worrying. “I need to give it my best. But what if I can’t?” They act out of fear, feeling all tense, afraid to not live up to their own expectations, holding themselves to an unattainable standard. Most athletes who broke world records gave their best in the training, when they weren’t even trying to achieve their best result. They all report that if they tense too many muscles, they can’t do their best. If I worry about doing the exercise correctly (so that I don’t look stupid), all I am focusing on is my worry, and not the exercise. I am not present, I am consumed by my worry. Giving your best actually means to be fully present with a task, with yourself, and with a situation. Next time when you see a new exercise that you want to get better at, start the stopwatch. Then remove distractions and be fully present with the task. The more attentive you are, the more rewarding the exercise will be. Instead of tensing and worrying about the final result, let the process flow freely. Follow the protocol, and when you’ve finished, look at the stopwatch. How long did it take? Did the time fly? If it did, most likely you were present. It the time was dragging, and you couldn’t help looking at your phone, you were worrying. Now, look at your result. The point is not to do each exercise 100% correctly. The point is to learn to do the exercises correctly. Have you improved your understanding of how to do this exercise? Did you learn something about your focus? Did you understand what not do to next time? For example, I learned that my maximum is 7 iterations. When I do the exercise “Reading out loud”, I don’t do more than 7 attempts. That feels liberating. I never feel tired after my practice. I also learned that the optimal duration of my focused practice is 20-40 min. The minimum is 15 min. That feels great because now I start the timer, not the stopwatch. If I am busy, I set my timer for 15 min, and I devote every cell of my body and mind to every minute of my practice. The results are astonishing, because I truly give my best. “Giving your best” means giving your WHOLE self to your practice instead of ignoring yourself and the practice because you’re consumed by the fear of not being able to give your best.

Watch the full interview on Youtube! I'm thrilled to introduce another conversation with my student who runs a VC fund. Kirill wanted to learn to sell the value of the fund and the acceleration program in spontaneous conversations in English. I show you these interviews to introduce you to the people I teach, their beautiful thoughts, and their depth. What people really want is to have long, deep, inspiring conversations in English. Yet, even though they know a lot about the target language, they can't communicate their complex ideas in the target language. It takes practice, dedication, and focus.

In 2020 I said "Enough!" I had been working out for years, but I still didn't know how to stay lean. I was in a perpetual cycle of gaining and losing 5 kilos. I still didn't know how to eat well, and what foods worked for me. I had digestion issues. I still didn't know why my skin would breakout again and again, and how to heal it. I didn't know what to do. I waited for experts to tell me what to eat, how much to lift, and how to take care of myself. I didn't know much about myself because I hadn't taken the time to learn. I followed popular advice: keto, paleo, low-carb, high-carb, vegan, fasting, you name it.... Nothing worked for me. Nothing felt right. I would either hurt myself, or not know how to sustain the results, or not see the wanted results. Once I said "Enough", I started listening to myself and learning about myself. I stopped my keto experiment and started eating carbs. My sleep immediately improved. I started a stretching routine. I doubled down on running. I increased my weights. Since 2020, I've learned to choose and put together 40-60 min workouts that I LOVE. I learned to FEEL what workout I need on a given day. I learned to lift and run without hurting myself. I quit sugar. I learned to TRUST my body. I haven't completed a single fitness course. I have been committed to the daily practice of being attuned to my body. Nobody knows you better than you. If experts say "keto is healthy", but my body hurts on keto, I'm going to trust my body. I don't wear a Garmin, I don't know my pulse when I run, I don't measure my glucose levels... I rely on what I know without the technology. Because I know. Learn to learn about YOU. This will open doors to learning anything.

Try the NEW Episode of the synchronization exercise. We create FREE and useful exercises to help you improve your listening skills and hear 100% of what people say in English. This time, we're challenging you to work with a British accent. Watch Episode #13 Practice Line by Line to deepen your understanding

Have you watched the new Episode of The Synchronization Exercise? Try it! It’s so worth it❤️

MYTH: Never say "I don't know" to a client or to a boss. You risk losing your competence and your job. TRUTH: When you say "I don't know" and admit that you're useless in some situations, you practice honesty. When you say you know when you actually don't, you lie. Liars tend to lose their competence and their jobs faster than those who admit their mistakes and fix them. There's a way to say "I don't know" in such a way that you keep your job and increase your competence. Watch the video 😉

Exercise #148 from the Community of Practice. 1. Read each sentence out loud. Can you HEAR the mistake? All these sentences sound OFF 2. Swipe and check yourself. If you're a member, see the step-by-step protocol and a video tutorial where I demonstrate the process of questioning each sentence. Join the community of practice and start doing the right exercises correctly.

❌ Common mistake: 1) I was waiting for an hour! ✅ Correct: 1) I waited for an hour ❌ Common mistake: I was travelING 1st class, transatlantic on BA last month and was awarded 240 points. ✅ Correct: I TRAVELED 1st class, transatlantic on BA last month and was awarded 240 points. ❌ Common mistake: The reservation agent with whom I was speakING on Tuesday advised me to book by Friday ✅ Correct: The reservation agent with whom I SPOKE on Tuesday advised me to book by Friday ✅ When it's OK to use the Past Continuous form: 1) He WAS speakING on the final day of the International Energy Forum held in Rome. (it's important to show that he was on the stage, giving a speech) 2)Sue, who WAS travelING alone, was removed from her car by Holley firefighters. (a process was interrupted by another action) 3) No one WAS waitING for me to come home, no phone WAS ringING to ask where I was. (it's important to show a process that could have been interrupted by another, desirable event) *The examples above are not my own. They're from fraze.it. Go and see for yourself. Learn directly from the source. Don't believe what you're told, challenge the beliefs you formed a long time ago, and question everything. To check your understanding of grammar, click on the "Grammar" collection in the community of practice. You will unlock the exercises that will help you find your blind spots and finally fix what needs to be fixed. Join the community of practice and dive into practice. You will always receive individual human feedback.

Watch the full video in the community of practice. ** Presence is where you begin practicing clarity. Most people are distracted by their own thoughts and their own expectations of themselves while speaking with other people. What you're seeing is the result of my own practice and the exercises that I've been sharing in the community of practice. The most important exercises are "physical presence" and "self-correction". Find them in the "Speaking" collection in the community of practice. Apply today and start practicing clarity in English on Sep 5.

Watch the full episode on Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts. "Authentic as F*ck", Episode 59. What's the point of doing this exercise? I hear this a lot too. The point is that you can change something only if you change your practice, not if you watch others talk about their practice on youtube. "Practice" is a big concept, that's why you want to start with simple exercises that you can complete. These exercises become a "practice" when you do them regularly. You will have a moment of "Oh, it finally clicked!" only if you practice regularly. Self-reflection and self-evaluation are two important meta-skills that must be practiced too. The reward is massive. My advice: if self-reflection is hard for you, find people to learn from. Find someone who can guide you and who can openly share their process with you. We can't see what we have never seen before. Often it takes as little as seeing someone else do it to know that you can do it too.

👩‍💻 Here is a story of Maria. Maria wants to lose weight. She says she has tried everything, but nothing seems to work. She keeps a strict diet for a few weeks, and then a friend invites her to a birthday party. She eats a piece of cake ...and ends up having a binge day, which turns into a week-long downward spiral of overeating and blaming herself for every bite. She's been repeating this cycle for years, not knowing how to break free. Finally, she decides to go on a fasting retreat. She loves it! She eats the right foods every day, feels light, sleeps well, does a week of cleansing, and ... finally loses 5 kilos in just 3 weeks! She is determined to continue eating healthy. But...the retreat is over, she flies back home only to find out that she has learned nothing about eating heathy. She has learned to follow directions but she still has ZERO skills to regular her emotional hunger, cook healthy for herself, choose healthy foods, and stop eating when she's full. The retreat was amazing.... but she returns to her daily practice of giving in to her eating habits, and puts on 5 kilos again. It doesn't natter how badly you want to change something if you refuse to change your daily practice. Stop looking for online programs that take you far away from the real world. Fasting in Costa Rica is easy. Try choosing heathy meals every day in the streets of New York. Try saying NO to pasta & wine when you're meeting with friends. I have done meditation retreats, fasting retreats, intensive English and German courses, 2-day cooking classes, and many other short-term, promising programs. Nothing worked long term. As soon as I got back home, I would go back to my old habits. Nothing worked until I made the decision to practice daily instead of practicing once a year at some fancy retreat. It turned out to be not only less expensive, bit also 1000 times more effective. I stopped craving and eating sugar. I became leaner and stronger. I learned to self-regulate my energy and take care of my inner state. I significantly improved my English. I create practice routines for English learners who choose to improve now rather than wait for later...