· You’re going to get all this criticism. That’s really what we’re talking about when you think about it. In most parts of life, including business, when we’re talking about

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Safe is Risky - VIP AudioHello my VIPs and this month I’m going to talk about one of my favorite topics. It’s a theme that you will hear again and again and again in most of our lessons. This theme kind of runs through or is in many of the topics that I talk about, so I’m just going to talk about it directly today and the theme is this. The title of our lesson is ‘Safe is Risky’. That’s a quote from a guy named Seth Godin.

Safe is risky, that’s a paradox. A paradox is a statement that seems to be opposite. It seems to be illogical or impossible. It’s saying two opposite things at the same time. Being safe is actually risky, so let’s talk about what that means and how that practically will affect you and your life.

So, we have a phrase in English ‘playing it safe’ or ‘to play it safe’. ‘To play it safe’ means to be very careful. For example, in sports you might say one team is playing it safe. It means they’re playing very conservatively. They’re trying not to make mistakes. They’re not taking a lot of risks. They’re trying not to lose as opposed to trying to win. We see this a lot in different sports. Some teams always play it safe. Other teams are bolder or stronger.

Then we see this a lot in all different aspects of life, people who like to play it safe. Some people, I’d say many people, especially teachers unfortunately, sometimes parents, will often give the advice play it safe. Play it safe. They may say it directly or more often they will sort of imply it. To ‘imply’ means to indirectly say something. So they indirectly, constantly sending you the message play it safe. Be careful. Play it safe. Be careful. Don’t take risks.

They kind of feed you this idea that the way to succeed, the way to be happy is to play it safe, is to always be careful, but the truth is that playing it safe equals boring and it means that you’re nothing special at all. People who play it safe, they’re not special in any way. They’re just like everybody else. They’re normal.

Also the truth is, and I think if you look deep you’ll agree with this, no one and I mean no one respects people who play it safe. Now we might say oh, it’s good that they play it safe or oh, they’re dependable, they’re reliable. We can say that about people who play it safe, who are very, very careful, but I don’t think that anybody say oh, I respect them so much.

I mean think of your heroes. Think of your role models. Are they people who played it safe, who were always really, really careful and just did what was always normal and acceptable and avoided all risk? Not usually. In fact, I can’t think of a single example of


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that. All of my heroes and when I talk to other people all of their heroes are people who took big risks, who did things differently, who took a lot of chances, who took big risks. So nobody respects anybody who plays it safe. Sorry, they don’t.

The reality is that playing it safe is really an excuse, because when we say oh, I’m just playing it safe. I’m just being careful. I’m just being dependable. What we’re really saying, the real message of that is we’re afraid. Playing it safe equals conformity and fear. That’s the truth and I’m not saying that just about other people, I say it about myself. If I look at parts of my life where I play it safe, where I’m being careful, it’s almost always a situation where I have some fear and doubt. So I’m conforming. I’m doing what everybody else is doing because I’m afraid of failure. I’m afraid of embarrassment. I’m afraid of something like that.

Usually that’s what that means. When we’re playing it safe in our life, some aspect of our life, it’s because we’re afraid of being criticized. We’re afraid of embarrassment. We’re afraid of some kind of failure. Then we use the excuse well, I’m just playing it safe or I’m just being normal and I’m being respectable and dependable, but really we’re just afraid.

Another answer I get a lot when I’m telling people take risks, be risky, be bold, always, always, there’s one person who will say something like yes, that’s true, but we must mitigate our risk. We must hedge our risk. We must always calculate the risk. I just want to slap people who say that. To be quite honest I just want to slap them in the face, because that is such a coward’s answer. I hate that answer. I fucking hate it! The reason I hate it is it’s a lie. It’s an excuse for fear. It’s bullshit. It’s totally wrong.

That’s a good answer if you’re a stockbroker or a banker. Okay, if you’re investing $1 million yes, yes, calculate your risks, but not in life, not in life. I mean when you’re talking about anything else in life about leadership, about learning, about family, about business, about health, about anything else besides investing stocks or money you do not need to mitigate your risk and be careful and calculate everything out. People who say that are just cowards. So don’t use that as an excuse, please.

What are we really talking about when we are talking about risks in 99% of life, in areas of life, except for financial, except for investing your money in the stock market? I’m not giving financial advice. I’m talking about life in general. When we say risk and we’re oh, this is risky. I don’t want to take a big risk. I want to be safe. Usually the risks that we’re afraid of are emotional. If we’re really honest and you really think about it what is it that you’re afraid of? What are the risks involved? What will happen if you fail?

Well, most of the time you’ll get embarrassed. Your pride will be hurt, because you’ll fail or you’ll look foolish and you’ll feel oh my God, I feel stupid. My pride is hurt or you’ll feel inferior. You’ll feel like you’re not as good as somebody else or other people in general.




You’re afraid the risk is that you’ll get criticized, that other people around you in your life are going to say oh, you shouldn’t do that. You should do that. That’s wrong. If you fail they’re going to say oh, I told you. See? You’re going to get all this criticism.

That’s really what we’re talking about when you think about it. In most parts of life, including business, when we’re talking about risks and the risks that we fear and oh, this is risky and oh, I’ve got to be safe and careful. Most of the failures or the problems that are going to happen are not going to kill us, most of the time it’s something emotional that we’re afraid of. Most people are not jumping out of airplanes and that kind of stuff. It’s emotion that we’re afraid of.

You need to really think about that. That’s what’s possibly stopping you in your life and making you fail, making you just be normal and average and preventing you from living the life of your dreams. That’s really what we’re talking about. So with money and financial things yeah, be careful, be conservative, fine. If your life is physically threatened like jumping out of an airplane or something sure, be careful, but in all other parts of life you need to do the opposite.

Safe is risky. It means playing it safe, trying to be safe, trying to be careful is actually more likely to make you fail in the long term. It’s more likely to cause huge problems in your life than taking bold risks and being bold and trying big things and trying new things and having failures and learning from them. Because the way to be ultimately successful and happier and to live the life of your dreams, you’ve got to take big risks and be bold. That’s actually the safest thing to do. It’s the surest way to have a fantastic life.

You see, the problem is right now we live in a world that is changing so fast now, because of the technology, because of all the communication. The world is just changing fast, fast, fast. In the business world, for example, changing so incredibly fast, constantly, you can’t play it safe. If you play it safe and you try to be conservative and just keep doing what everybody else is doing in business and just keep doing the same thing you’ve always done you are going to have a big problem very soon, because all your competitors are changing and taking risks and innovating and doing new things and in a few years your business is going to totally change and if you’re not taking risks and learning and doing new things you’re going to fall behind and possibly lose your business.

It’s the same socially. You know, again, our societies are changing so rapidly. In a lot of countries where, for example, women used to be second-class citizens, they were not equal, they were treated as inferior, well, most women in most countries in the world they’re not going to put up with that anymore. No more. So that is changing the whole dynamic, the whole way that men and women relate. It’s changing the way families come together and how families are led. If you’re a man especially and you’re not taking




risks and learning and trying to become a different new person and experimenting with new behaviors and new attitudes and new beliefs, you’re going to have some big problems with women and with your relationships. Playing it safe, trying to be conservative is not going to work anymore.

This is true and I could talk about any aspect. Health and fitness, you know just doing the old things isn’t going to work. Just eating what everybody else eats and acting like other people act is going to make you unhealthy. You’re going to be normal and normal increasingly is unhealthy. So it doesn’t matter what part of life we’re talking about, playing it safe, being normal, being average is risky because things are changing too fast. You can’t do it. If you want to be successful and happy and alive and live the life of your dreams you’ve got to take risks. You’ve got to be bold. You’ve got to be constantly changing and growing, constantly pushing yourself to do new things, to take risks, to be uncomfortable.

See, the worst thing you can do is play it safe. Companies that play it safe, they get taken over by newer, more active, more risky companies. The same is true in relationships. The same is true in families. The same is true in health, everything, sports, all of these things. So, things are changing too fast. You can’t just play it safe. You can’t just do what’s normal anymore, not if you really want to live a full complete life that sort of achieves the dreams that you’ve always wanted. You gotta take risks.

Just remember, most of the time when you’re talking about risk, when you’re fearing failure, when you’re afraid of something, afraid of taking a risk, think about it more deeply and really identify what is it you’re really afraid of and I think what you’ll find is that most of the time it’s an emotion. It’s hurt pride. It’s embarrassment. It’s getting criticized. It’s feeling inferior. Those are the common ones.

Like my own example, I used to be afraid before I started Effortless English. I was afraid of starting my own company and I had a lot of excuses about playing it safe, because I could play it safe at a job and get a regular paycheck, even though I wasn’t happy, but it was safe. I thought it was safe. I used excuses like no, I don’t want to take the risk because it’s financially risky you know. What if the company is unsuccessful? I might lose money. All these things, but when I really thought deeply about it I realized you know, I can survive losing some money. What is it I’m really afraid of? When I really thought deeply I realized I was afraid of failing and looking bad, looking bad to my students, looking bad to my friends, looking bad to my family and to myself, just a feeling of embarrassment or inferiority or something.

Also, I was afraid people would criticize me. My way of teaching is very different, as you know. While I was working at a school not many people knew about that, just my students, but with my company I’m putting it out there to whole world. I’ve gotten a lot of




criticism from traditional schools, traditional teachers and even traditional students. You know ah, they don’t like it and they criticize me. So what?

What I discovered is once you identify what you’re really afraid of the power of that kind of goes away and suddenly you feel more bold. You feel stronger. You’re ready to take more risk when you realize it’s just emotions. So what? I feel a little bit embarrassed, big deal. I think my dreams are more important than a little bit of embarrassment or a few little failures or some criticism and so are yours. So here’s what I want you to do. I want you to dream bigger and not just dream, but actually take risks. Do something you’ve been afraid to do. I know you’ve got it. There’s something in you, something in your life you’ve been afraid to do, some risk. You’ve told yourself it’s too risky. It’s too risky. Oh no, it’s too risky. Then look at thing that you’re afraid of, that you’ve been afraid to do and try to find the emotions that you’re afraid of.

You’ve got a bunch of excuses. Oh I might lose money. Oh I might do this. Go deeper and find out well, so what. Even if that happened what am I really afraid of deeper, emotionally and identify the emotions that you’re afraid of. Is it embarrassment, pride, being criticized? Whatever it is, write it down. Identify it. Get clear about it. Think about it deeply. You’ll find that just by doing that that the power of that fear will go down and it will be easier to take that risk and then, finally, take that risk.

Do something that feels risky and then, of course, get on our site and tell us what risk did you take. What did you do that felt risky, something you’ve wanted to do, something that’s part of your dreams or something you want to achieve or experience and you never did it before because you were kind of afraid. You felt it was too risky and you made excuses, well I want you to actually do it and then I want you to get on our site and tell us what you did.

Inspire us, because as we share these stories than other people, other members are going to read it and say wow they did it. I should do it too. I can do it too. By doing it you’ll help yourself because you’ll get a feeling of power and control over your own life and it feels great. You’ll feel much happier I promise, but then by sharing what you did you’re also going to inspire other people. You’re going to help a lot of other members.

Last point, I want you to share it no matter what happens, even if you fail. I don’t care if you fail. So what? Just learn from it. If you try something risky and it doesn’t work how you wanted it to so what. Still tell us about it. Tell us what happened and then just tell us what you learned. Then go take another risk.

That’s the process. If I had to sum up one process for living your dreams, there it is. That’s why most people don’t do it. The reason most people are not living the life of their dreams is not because they can’t because they can. It’s because they’re afraid of all these little emotional things. Oh people might criticize me. Oh I might look stupid. Oh I




might look foolish, oh… You know I did it too. I still do it some areas of my life. But that’s what’s really happening. That’s what really stops us.

I’ll leave you with this famous English saying. It’s really a cliché because it’s a saying we use all the time, but it’s true. ‘Fortune favors the bold.’ It means the Universe, luck, God or the Universal force, I don’t care, whatever you want to call it, helps people who are bold. In other words, people who are bold tend to succeed more. People who are bold tend to live better lives. People who are bold tend to achieve more and better things. People who are bold tend to be happier. It’s just the truth. So be more bold. Take a risk. Share it with us. Tell us all about it. Tell us what happened.

I’ll see you again next month. That’s it. Be bold! Okay, have a great day and see you again soon.




Safe is Risky - VIP Mini StoryHello this is AJ, welcome to the mini story for this month. Let’s get started. Just answer the questions. Use your body. Use your voice. Have some energy. Stand up. Walk around. Do whatever you need to do. Stay active and alive and awake. Here we go.

* * * * *

There was a woman named Mary and Mary had a spoiled dog. Mary had a spoiled dog who never obeyed.

What the dog’s name? Hum, you need to guess.

The dog’s name was Rufus.

What kind of dog was Rufus?

Rufus was a spoiled dog who never obeyed.

Was Mary spoiled?

No, Mary wasn’t spoiled.

Who was spoiled?

Rufus, the dog. Rufus was a spoiled dog who never obeyed.

Did he obey sometimes?

No, he never obeyed. Rufus was a spoiled dog and he never, never, never obeyed.

When Mary said “Rufus, sit!” he ignored her. Rufus just ignored her.

Did Rufus listen to her or did he ignore her?

He ignored her.

Who ignored Mary?

Rufus the dog ignored Mary.

Did Mary ignore Rufus or did Rufus ignore Mary?




Rufus ignored Mary.

Did he sit when she asked him to sit?

No, he didn’t He never sat. She would say sit and he ignored her every time.

Then she would get upset. She said “Rufus, you had better sit or else no food for you.”

What did Rufus do?

Rufus walked away. He just walked away and ignored her.

So what did she say exactly?

She said “You had better sit down or else no food for you.”

‘Had better’, had better, this is an interesting little phrase and we use this when we say it somebody. You had better do something. It’s a little bit like ‘should’. You should sit, but ‘had better’ is stronger. ‘Had better’ has the idea that if you don’t do it something bad will happen. You had better sit! We use that kind of tone usually. You had better sit!

So already if you just hear that part ‘you had better sit’, by using had better in the command, it gives a feeling, an idea that if you don’t do it something bad will happen. Now, here we actually say what the bad thing is. She says “You had better sit or else no food for you.” That’s the bad thing. “Rufus, you had better sit or else no food for you.”

Who said “Rufus, you had better sit!”

Well, Mary did. Mary said “Rufus, you had better sit or else no food for you.”

‘Or else’ means if you don’t do it then you get no food.

So did Mary say this to her dog Fifi?

No, not to Fifi. Mary said this to Rufus. She said “You had better sit or else no food for you.”

So after she said “You had better sit” did Rufus sit?

No, Rufus totally ignored her. He just walked away. She said “You had better sit or else no food for you” and Rufus just walked away.




Well, she was frustrated. The next day Rufus got into the garbage. That’s right, he opened the garbage and he got into the garbage and he pigged out on food scraps. Oh, no, bad Rufus!

What did he do?

He pigged out.

Hum, what does ‘pigged out’ mean, ‘to pig out’? This is a kind of casual phrase that we use commonly. ‘To pig out’ means to eat a lot, to eat too much. So you can imagine like a pig eating a bunch of food or a bunch of garbage. They’re eating quickly. They’re eating in a sloppy way. They’re not controlled, just arh-arh-arh, eat a lot, eat a lot, eat a lot, to ‘pig out’.

So Rufus pigged out on what? He ate a lot of what? He ate in an uncontrolled way what?

Food scraps. He pigged out on food scraps.

‘Scraps’ means small little pieces. It’s the idea of leftover pieces, small little pieces, scraps. It’s kind of what’s left afterwards. That’s the idea of scraps. So ‘food scraps’ means, you eat most of the food and there’s a little bit left. We call those scraps or food scraps and we usually put them in the garbage. Maybe you can put them in a garden or something.

Okay, so what did Rufus pig out on?

He pigged out on food scraps.

Did he eat food scraps or did he eat dog food?

He ate food scraps.

Did he eat them slowly or did he pig out?

He pigged out. He pigged out on food scraps.

Did Mary pig out on food scraps?

No, not Mary. She didn’t pig out on food scraps.

Who pigged out on food scraps?




Rufus, her dog. Rufus, her dog, pigged out on food scraps.

After he pigged out on food scraps was Mary happy?

No, she was not happy. He made a big mess and he ate the food scarps and she said “Rufus, you’d better stop eating that right now.”

So, we can say ‘you had better’ or we can just make it short and say ‘you’d’. You’d better, you had better, you’d better. You better stop eating that right now. So this time she doesn’t say or else, but still the idea is there. When you say you’d better or you had better it has the idea that if you don’t something bad might happen. We don’t have to say what the bad thing is all the time, but it still gives that idea, that feeling. So she says ‘You’d better stop eating that right now.” It’s kind of a command or a threat.

So what did she say to Rufus while he was pigging out?

Mary said “Rufus, you’d better stop eating that right now!”

Was Mary commanding him?

Yes, she was.

Was she threatening him a little bit?

Yes, she was.

Was she angry?

Yes, she was.

What did she say again?

She said “You’d better stop eating that right now.”

What did she want him to stop eating?

The food scraps. She wanted him to stop eating the food scraps, stop pigging out on the food scraps, so she said “You’d better stop eating that. You’d better stop eating the food scraps right now.”

Did she want him to stop immediately or to wait a while?

Immediately. She said “Right now. You’d better stop eating that right now.”




Did Rufus stop?

No, he kept eating the scraps. Rufus kept eating the food scraps.

Now, in this situation ‘kept’, kept doing something, that means to continue doing something. He kept eating means he continued eating. He kept sleeping means he continued sleeping. So we can use ‘kept’ or ‘to keep’ with a verb and it means to continue doing that. So Rufus kept eating the scraps. He continued eating the scraps.

Did he keep eating or did he keep drinking?

He kept eating. He continued eating.

Who kept eating the food scraps, Mary?

No, not Mary. Mary didn’t keep eating the food scraps. Rufus kept eating the food scraps.

Why did Rufus keep eating the food scraps?

Because he was spoiled. He just ignored Mary. He kept eating the food scraps. He continued eating them. He ignored her.

Well, Mary was very frustrated. Finally Mary called Cesar, the dog trainer. You might know him, he has a TV show. She said “Cesar, help me! My dog is spoiled.” Cesar said “Mary, you had better stop spoiling your dog. Be his leader.”

What did Cesar say to Mary?

He said “Mary, you had better stop spoiling your dog.”

You should stop spoiling your dog. You must stop spoiling your dog. It’s a command. ‘You had better’ do something is really a command to do that and it means that if you don’t do it something bad will happen.

So Mary had better do what?

Stop spoiling her dog.

And who told her to spot spoiling her dog?

Cesar. Cesar said “Mary, you had better stop spoiling your dog.”




You’d better stop spoiling your dog.

He said you’d better stop spoiling your cat?

No, he didn’t say that.

What did he say?

He said “You’d better stop spoiling your dog.” He did not say you’d better stop spoiling your cat. He said “You’d better stop spoiling your dog. Be his leader.”

Well, finally, Cesar taught her how to be a calm and assertive leader and teacher for Rufus the dog.

What kind of teacher did she learn to be for Rufus?

Calm and assertive.

Of course, ‘calm’ means relaxed and ‘assertive’ means strong and direct; both ideas, strong and direct. Not aggressive. Assertive does not mean aggressive. It does not mean angry. It just means strong and direct.

So she needed to be two things, what were they?

Calm and assertive. She needed to be calm and assertive with Rufus.

Who taught her how to be calm and assertive with Rufus?

Cesar, the dog trainer. Cesar, the dog trainer, taught Mary how to be calm and assertive with Rufus.

Who did Cesar teach? Did Cesar teach Rufus?

No, Cesar didn’t teach Rufus. Cesar taught Mary how to be calm and assertive with Rufus and finally Rufus became an appreciative, well-behaved dog.

‘Appreciative’ means kind of grateful, similar idea. ‘Well-behaved’, of course it means to behave in a good way, to act in a good way.

So what kind of dog did he become?

He became an appreciative, well-behaved dog.




* * * * *

And that is the end of our mini story. Every day for seven to 10 days or more listen to this story. Pause and answer the questions. Shout them if you can. Move your body as you answer. Both are great. Go for a walk while you listen to this, also great. I’ll see you next time, bye-bye.




Safe is Risky - VIP POVHi this is AJ, welcome to the point-of-view (POV) stories for this month’s lesson. Let’s do the same stories, but different versions. So let’s stick with the standard versions. Let’s go with the present first.

* * * * *

Mary has a spoiled dog. Her spoiled dog is named Rufus and Rufus never obeys. He never obeys her. When she tells him to sit he ignores her. She says “Sit Rufus!” and he just totally ignores her. And then she says “Rufus, you had better sit or else no food for you” and Rufus just walks away and ignores her. He doesn’t care.

Later, Rufus gets into the garbage and he pigs out on food scraps and she says to him “You’d better stop eating that right now.” Of course, Rufus keeps eating the scraps anyway. Rufus totally ignores her again.

Well, finally Mary is just frustrated. She is frustrated and she calls Cesar, the dog trainer. Cesar says “Mary, you had better stop spoiling your dog. You need to be his leader.” And Cesar teachers her how to be a calm and assertive leader and teacher for Rufus and because of this Rufus becomes an appreciative, well-behaved dog.

* * * * *

All right, the next version will be in the future, the point of view of the future. We’re imagining it’s going to happen in the future. Here we go.

* * * * *

In the future there will be a woman named Mary and she’s gonna have a dog named Rufus. (‘Gonna’ means going to, we use it in common speech.) Mary is gonna have a dog named Rufus and he’s gonna be a spoiled dog. He’s never gonna obey her. When ever she says “Sit Rufus!” he’s just going to ignore her and, you know, every day in the future she’ll say to him “Rufus, you had better sit or else no food for you” and Rufus, he’s just gonna walk away. Every time he’ll walk away.

Well, later, one day in the future, Rufus will get into the garbage and he’ll pig out on food scraps and Mary will say “You’d better stop eating that right now.” But, of course, Rufus will keep eating the scraps.

Did you hear that Rufus’ll? That’s how we say it when we’re speaking normally, casually, quickly, instead of saying Rufus will keep eating the scraps. That’s the textbook way, but




in a common conversation we’ll just add the ‘ll’ sound for the future. We frequently do that Rufus’ll. Rufus’ll keep eating the scraps. He will keep eating the scraps.

Well, finally, Mary’ll call Cesar, the dog trainer and Cesar will say “Mary, you had better stop spoiling your dog. Be his leader.” And she will. Cesar will teach her how to be a calm and assertive leader and teacher for Rufus and Rufus will finally become an appreciative, well-behaved dog.

* * * * *

And that’s the end of version two. Let’s go to version three. We’ll begin that again with since.

* * * * *

Since he was a puppy, hum, since he was a puppy Rufus has always been spoiled. Rufus has always been a spoiled dog, since he was a puppy, since he was a baby and continuing for quite a long time and Mary has always been frustrated with Rufus.

So Rufus has been a spoiled dog for a long time and he has never obeyed Mary. He has been a spoiled dog. Many times, in fact, he has ignored her. Many times she has said to him “Rufus sit!” and every time he has ignored her. Almost every time she has said “Rufus, you had better sit or else no food for you” and almost every time Rufus has just walked away and has ignored her.

And, you know, quite often Rufus has gotten into the garbage. He has often gotten into the garbage. He has often pigged out on food scraps and most of the time she has said to him “You’d better stop eating that right now’ and, of course, most of the time he has kept eating the scraps anyway.

Well, finally one day she decides to call Cesar, the dog trainer. She calls him and he says to her “Mary, you had better stop spoiling your dog. Be his leader.” And he teacher her how to be a calm and assertive leader and teacher for Rufus and because of this Rufus becomes an appreciative, well-behaved dog.\

* * * * *

And that is the end of our third version. Now, you notice in this third version it’s slightly different than what I’ve done in the past. Sometimes in the past I’ll start with ‘since’ and then I’ll say ‘have been’, ‘have gone’. Something will happen and then I’ll switch to just the normal past. Well, this time I switched to the present. It doesn’t matter. It’s okay.




There’s not one correct way to do this. It just means that I decided that when she called Cesar that it happened basically in the present or very recently and I wanted to tell that part of the story from the point of view of the present. I could have done it in the past. I could have said one day Mary called Cesar, the dog trainer, and he said Mary, you’d better stop spoiling your dog and he taught her how to be calm. That would also be correct.

So don’t get focused on this idea that there’s just one correct answer, there’s not. Just listen to these different versions and enjoy them. You’ll start to get more of a feeling for correct English grammar and then, eventually, after several months you’ll start using it more correctly and step by step you’ll get better and better.

All right, I will see you again. Have a great day, bye-bye.




Safe is Risky - VIP CommentaryHi, this is AJ. Welcome to this month’s VIP lesson and welcome to the commentary. So this topic ‘Safe is Risky’, I’ve talked about this topic several times. I did a lesson about this in the Power English Pack. I’ve talked about this before in a previous VIP lesson and I’m going to talk about it again. Clearly, it’s one of my favorite topics. In this commentary I’m going to talk about why I think it’s an important topic and why it’s one of my favorite topics and why I feel the need to remind you about it again and why I feel the need to talk about it several times not just one time.

So, again, the phrase ‘safe is risky’ comes from a guy named Seth Godin who’s an Internet Marketing guy. He writes about Internet Marketing and Internet business in general and in one of his books he talks about this idea safe is risky. Now, in his book he’s talking about business, especially Internet business, but just business in general and especially smaller businesses and he constantly talks about this idea of playing it safe.

‘Playing it safe’ means to try to be safe. It means to be conservative. It means to do what’s usual, to do what’s normal. Don’t take chances. Do what’s normal. Do what everyone else is doing. That’s to be safe. That’s to play it safe. Of course, the conventional idea, the normal idea is that that’s the best way to be safe. That the more you are normal, the fewer risks you take, the less you are different the better. That’s the safe way to go. That’s the conservative way to go. That’s the safest thing to do and if you’re in business it’s safest to do your business like other people, like everybody else, because then that will mean you won’t fail.

Now, in his business books Seth Godin spends a lot of time showing that this, in fact, is not true at all. That trying to be safe in your business, trying to be normal in your business is actually more likely to make your business fail. That’s where the phrase comes from ‘safe is risky’. It seems like it’s a phrase that is contradictory. ‘Safe is risky’ seems like these are opposite words. So what he’s saying though is that being conservative is risky. That you’re more likely to fail if you’re trying to be normal and conservative and average and like everybody else and he shows this with a lot of examples in businesses.

So, for example, he lives in New York City and he uses pizza restaurants as an example. He talks about how in his neighborhood new pizza restaurants will open frequently and he says that almost every time a new pizza restaurant opens they’re exactly the same as all of the other pizza restaurants. They have the same basic kind of pizza. The decoration inside of the restaurant is basically the same. Even the tablecloths are the same, the same color. It’s kind of a red and white check color. I know exactly what he’s talking about because lots of pizza places in all of America use the




same tablecloths, the same covering for their tables. I don’t know why, but they do. It’s interesting.

So he says that these pizza places do this, these new businesses do this, because they’re afraid of failing and it’s already a big risk for them to open the business. They have to borrow money from a bank, a lot of money sometimes. They have to rent a big space, a commercial space. They have to buy all of the equipment and the ovens and the furniture and so they’re already taking all of these risks. They’re borrowing all this money and they’re already feeling very nervous about failing and because of that they don’t really want to take more risk.

They feel like they’re already being risky. They’re afraid to take more, so when they actually design the food and the decoration they play it safe. They do the normal thing. They do it the same way as all the other pizza places in New York City and because of that most of them fail. That’s what Seth Godin says. He says it’s because they decide to be safe with the menu, with the food, with the decoration, that’s why they fail. They think they’re helping themselves be more successful when, in fact, they’re causing themselves to fail.

Maybe it’s not obvious why this is the case, but if you think about it more deeply you’ll realize why this is the case. There are already a lot of pizza places in New York City, there are many. In his neighborhood there are already a lot of pizza places. So if you open another one and it’s the same then why will new customers come to you? There’s no reason for them to come to your restaurant because you’re just the same as another restaurant they already go to. They already have a favorite pizza place. You’re place is just the same so there’s no reason for them to change and because of that the new restaurant does not get many new customers and eventually it fails.

By trying to be safe they cause themselves to fail. That’s the point and that’s the idea of this month’s lesson. So I want you to take that general idea that by trying to be safe, by trying to be normal, by trying to be usual that in many areas of life you can actually cause yourself to fail. That you think you’re helping yourself, but you’re actually hurting yourself. So that’s the general idea to contemplate, to think deeply about this month.

I’ll give another example of this that might be more personal to you. Maybe you don’t own a pizza restaurant, but you probably have a job or a career or a business or some way of making money or your partner, husband or wife does. This is another area where we tend to try to be safe all the time, because we can be quite nervous. If the economy is bad then we can really try to be safe.

So, I’ll give you an example from my own life when I was a teacher. I would say that most English teachers play it safe. Most of them are basically the same teaching English as a foreign language. They have different personalities; of course, different




levels of energy, but most of them do the safe thing. They use the required textbooks. They follow the required curriculum. They use the same standard methods. I saw this in Japan, in Thailand, in Europe and in the United States, it doesn’t matter. Everywhere I’ve been the teachers are mostly the same, they’re all playing it safe.

They do this why? They think that it will give them more security, more job security. They think that by being normal, by not causing problems, by not being strange or different that they kind of will hide, that nobody will notice them and, therefore, they won’t lose their job.

In Japan this is a cultural idea. They have this idea that a nail, imagine a piece of wood with a nail in it. That if the nail sticks up that someone will want to hit it and knock it down into the wood. So in Japan there’s a whole culture about being normal and not being different, that if you’re different it’s bad. Maybe that was true 50 years ago in Japan when everything was very stable and there was a lot of job security with these huge companies. It’s not true anymore, I guarantee you. The Japanese economy has totally changed and if you’re still trying to be normal and usual in Japan you have a disadvantage not an advantage. If it’s true in Japan it’s true everywhere else as well, because Japan is one of the most conservative societies in the world and it’s still true there.

Anyway, back to my example of English teachers. So we have all these English teachers and they’re using the same methods and they’re using basically the same textbooks, they’re mostly the same and the same kind of activities. They think they’re helping their career, but here’s the problem. If they’re the same as everyone else it means they’re not special. That means if their school has economic problems and the school therefore needs to cut some teachers. Well, if you’re just the same as everyone else it means they don’t care who they cut. They can cut you because they can easily replace you in the future, because you’re just normal. You’re the same as everyone else. You’re easier to cut, easier to fire.

Before I was a teacher in other jobs I’ve had I did play it safe more and it was easier for me to get cut when necessary or to lose a job or it was harder for me to get a new job. I struggled with that sometimes, but as a teacher, I don’t know why, but just because I liked it and just because I decided to be very different I was much more risky, seemingly risky. I was very, very different so I broke the rules all the time. Not just to cause problems, but because I wanted to get better results so I was always trying new and different things.

My style was very different. I was always jumping around, high energy and I was making my students do the same, jump around, very high energy. I tried a lot of different methods like the storytelling method and I used movies in a different way. I was doing all of these things, which is not to say I was a super perfect teacher, but the point is I was




very different. Not the same. I was not playing it safe. I was really taking risk, trying new things.

Sometimes the things I tried weren’t so great. They didn’t work very well. They weren’t effective and the students didn’t like them, but sometimes they were great and I learned. That’s how I learned and I got better, but here’s the point that’s important to you. Because I was different I stood out. I was the nail that was sticking up, right? Well, nowadays in our modern economy that is a good thing. That means I could not be easily replaced.

So let’s say there were 10 teachers, nine of them were the same and I was different. I was different not just to be crazy, but I was different because I was trying to be more interesting, more creative, more effective, more innovative, more helpful to my students and my students could feel that and because of that my students really had a strong connection to me, most of them did. They were more emotional about me and my classes became very popular.

So if my school had economic problems and they needed to cut three teachers they didn’t want to cut me because they could not replace me easily. They could not easily find another teacher like me, but they could find other teachers like the other nine. So who got cut? Well, three of the other nine teachers got cut because, ah, they’re all the same. So they just picked three of them, maybe the three newest ones and they cut them.

That’s the advantage of being unique and different. Yeah, sometimes it’s a risk. Sometimes maybe you’ll have a problem with a boss, for example, and they won’t like your style. They won’t like that you’re being different. If you look at it in a short-term way you think oh, this is bad, but here’s the thing. Being different also helps you when you’re searching for a new job. Because, again, when you go to an interview if you can show that you’re quite different and you’re different in an innovative way, in good ways because you’re trying to be better and more interesting and more effective, it’s so much easier to get new jobs, so much easier.

I mean I know myself just from interviewing people for jobs, being the employer, the person hiring, that most people when they come in and you interview them they kind of all sound the same. They all give the same answers to the questions. You know what are your greatest strengths? Well, I just work all the time. I’m a workaholic and I’m always on time. It’s like yeah, yeah, yeah. Then the next person says the same exact answer and the next person says something very similar. I start getting really bored. It’s like they’re all the same.

Then someone new comes in, someone different and they give a totally different answer. Their whole emotion and energy is very different. They’ll say well, my strength




is that I’m very innovative. I’m excited. Sometimes I make mistakes, but I’m always trying new things and I’m always trying to do the very best for the students or whatever it is. Then they give me examples and they show that wow, this person is not the same. This person is interesting. Immediately I am more focused on them. Now, you know, maybe I’ll hire them, maybe not, but I’m more likely to hire them because they’re different. They’re unique. They’re interesting. All of the other people are in a big pile. They’re all kind of similar and the same.

Do you see why safe is risky now? Things are more competitive now. The world has changed. The economy has changed and being safe doesn’t work anymore. It doesn’t work so well. This is true if you’re employee and its super true if you have your own business. If you’re kind of a freelancer kind of doing your own thing, also true. There are so many ways you can be different. So many different ways you can be unique.

Again, Seth Godin talks about this and I’ve talked about it in the past and I’ll mention it to you again. You don’t have to be crazy. You don’t have to do that. You could be more personal, more human and you could really, really focus on that, on being much more human and personal than everybody else. Most people are trying to be “professional”. ‘Professional’ really means corporate. So they’re always so serious. Everything is very serious and serious and professional.

Well, you know, people are human beings, so I especially like people who are more personal, more casual, more relaxed, more real, and more sincere. If you really develop that and it’s true to you, you’re not pretending but it’s real, then people feel that and people will be attracted to it. Not everybody, but enough people that will give you a great business or a great career.

Maybe you are energetic person so you can be more energetic and more enthusiastic than most people or maybe you’re the opposite. Maybe you’re just more calm and clear headed than most people. Whatever it is, just find ways that you can be truly different.

So this month, just as I’ve talked about in the past with this topic, what I want you to do is really think about the ways you are unique. What are your special qualities that you like? Then the second step is I want you to think how you can make those stronger. How can you bring them out of you? How can you show them more powerfully?

If you’re a really energetic person, how can you show and share that energy more in your job, in your family, in your career, whatever. Of if you’re just a very sincere person, how can you share that and develop that and make it truly different and distinct and unique so that everyone can feel it and knows it. Maybe there’s some special skill or skills that you have that are unique and special. How can you develop those and communicate them more.




So, number one, you have to develop them and make them strong and, number two, you really have to share them openly so that people can really see and feel them. I was always energetic, but in the past sometimes I kind of hid it and I tried to control it. When I really started just showing it and sharing it and really making it strong that’s when I started to have a lot more success with teaching English and then with the business too and you can do this in your own life in your own way. So find your unique qualities and then think about how can you share them and make them stronger and really show them strongly. Then I want you to actually do it more, this month and beyond in your career or in your home life, whatever.

That’s it, safe is risky. It’s really a simple idea, but it’s one I want to keep repeating again and again and again because in school I know you have been trained to be safe, safe, safe, safe. They’re training you to think in a way that’s 50 years old, as if you were going to go work for a big company like IBM and you’d be their employee for your whole life and then you would retire.

That was my dad’s sort of experience, but even my dad lost his job after 20 years with IBM. You can’t think that way anymore. In that time period, maybe back then it was good to be safe. You didn’t want to be strange and different then, but now things are totally different. Things are always changing. There’s no job security, so you have to think more like an entrepreneur or a businessperson. So don’t be safe. Safe is risky. See you again, bye-bye.




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· You’re going to get all this criticism. That’s really what we’re talking about when you think about it. In most parts of life, including business, when we’re talking about