September 27, 2026
Host
Welcome to Englishtalklet, the place where you learn to speak English naturally. Have you ever tried something really hard, and felt like giving up before you saw any results? Maybe you started learning English, and after a few weeks, you still couldn't understand a movie without subtitles. Or maybe you started going to the gym, and after one month, your body looked exactly the same. If this sounds familiar, you are definitely not alone. Almost everyone who ever built something amazing went through this exact same feeling. There is a strange, uncomfortable stage that comes right in the middle of every big goal, a stage where the excitement of starting has faded, but the reward of finishing hasn't arrived yet.
Guest
That's such a powerful way to put it. It's that messy middle, right? You're no longer a beginner with that initial burst of energy, but you're also not yet the person you're trying to become. It's a very lonely place to be, and it's where most people actually decide to quit. They don't quit at the start, when it's new and fun. They quit in that long, flat stretch where it feels like nothing is happening.
Host
Exactly. And that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about trusting the process. We'll talk about why results take time, why the road can feel so long, and how you can stay patient and keep moving forward, even when you can't see the finish line yet. And of course, along the way, we'll learn five useful English words that you can start using today. So relax, get comfortable, and let's begin.
Guest
I'm really looking forward to this. I think the idea of 'trusting the process' is one of the most important, and most misunderstood, concepts for anyone trying to achieve a long-term goal. It sounds simple, but it's incredibly difficult to put into practice.
Host
It really is. Let's start with a simple question. Have you ever planted a seed in the ground? If you have, you know exactly what I mean. You put the seed in the soil. You water it. And then... nothing happens. One day passes. Two days pass. A week passes. You start to wonder if you did something wrong. Maybe the seed is broken. Maybe the soil is bad. Maybe this whole idea was a mistake.
Guest
But under the ground, something incredible is actually happening. The seed is growing roots, long, strong roots that spread out in every direction. You cannot see them. Nobody can see them. But they are there, working quietly, preparing the plant for the moment when it will finally break through the surface and grow toward the sun.
Host
That's a beautiful image. And it reminds me of a well-known story about a certain kind of bamboo tree. After you plant it, you water it every single day, but for the first four years, you see almost nothing above the ground just a small shoot, barely growing at all. Many people would give up long before that. But then, in the fifth year, something amazing happens. The bamboo suddenly shoots up and grows many meters tall in just a few weeks.
Guest
Did it grow that fast because of magic? No. It grew that fast because, for four years, it was building a massive root system under the ground a root system strong enough to support that sudden growth. The tree wasn't lazy during those four quiet years. It was preparing. And that's the key, isn't it? The preparation is invisible, but it's the most important part.
Host
This is exactly what happens in real life, with almost everything worth doing. Here's another way to picture it. Think about an iceberg floating in the ocean. From the surface, you only see a small piece of ice maybe just one tenth of the whole thing. The other nine tenths are hidden underwater, invisible, but they are what actually hold the iceberg up and keep it steady. Success works the same way. The final result the fluent conversation, the strong body, the successful business is only the small piece you see above the water.
Guest
Underneath it, hidden from everyone, is a huge amount of practice, failure, repetition, and quiet effort that nobody ever gets to see. Think about learning a language, for example. In the first few weeks, you learn some words. You learn some grammar rules. But when you try to have a real conversation, you freeze. You can't find the words fast enough. You feel embarrassed. You start to think, 'Maybe I'm just not good at this.'
Host
But here's the truth: your brain is doing exactly what that seed, or that bamboo tree, was doing under the ground. Every new word you learn, every mistake you make, every sentence you practice these are like roots growing under the surface. You can't see the progress yet. But it's there. It's real. And one day, without any warning, something will click. You'll understand a sentence without translating it in your head. You'll speak without stopping to think. It will feel like magic but it isn't magic at all. It's simply the result of everything you did before, on all those days when it felt like nothing was working.
Guest
Let me tell you a story that illustrates this perfectly. There was a young man let's call him Daniel who wanted to become a good runner. When he was in school, he wasn't the fastest kid in his class. Not even close. In his first race, he finished almost last. Some classmates laughed. A teacher told him, kindly but honestly, that maybe running just wasn't his sport.
Host
But Daniel loved running not because he was good at it, but because of how it made him feel. So every morning before school, he went outside and ran. Rain or shine, hot or cold, he ran. For the first few months, nothing changed. He was still slow. His race times were still bad. It would have been so easy to quit. Many people in his situation do quit.
Guest
But Daniel kept going. Every morning, he repeated one simple sentence to himself: 'I'm not running for today's result. I'm running for who I'm becoming.' Two years passed. Then three. Slowly so slowly that even Daniel didn't notice it happening day by day his body changed. His lungs got stronger. His legs got faster. His mind got tougher. And one day, at a school competition, he crossed the finish line first. Not last. First.
Host
People were shocked. 'How did this happen so suddenly?' they asked. But it wasn't sudden at all. It took years. It just looked sudden from the outside, because nobody was watching those early mornings, those cold days, those moments when Daniel wanted to quit but didn't.
Guest
Now let me tell you about someone closer to home closer to why you're listening to this right now. Her name was Sofia, and she started learning English at the age of twenty-eight. She could barely form a full sentence. Every time she tried to speak, she felt embarrassed. Her coworkers spoke English fluently, and she felt like she would never catch up.
Host
So Sofia decided to do one small thing every day. She watched one short English video. She wrote down five new words. She repeated a few sentences out loud, even when nobody was listening, even when she felt silly doing it. For the first two months, she didn't feel any different. She still made mistakes in meetings. She still froze when someone asked her a quick question.
Guest
But she didn't stop. She kept showing up, one small video at a time, one small sentence at a time. And around the sixth month, something shifted. She understood a joke in English without needing it translated. She replied to an email in English without opening a dictionary. By the end of the first year, she was leading a meeting entirely in English the same woman who, twelve months earlier, could barely introduce herself.
Host
Sofia didn't have a special talent that other people didn't have. She simply trusted the process, one ordinary day at a time, long after it stopped feeling exciting.
Guest
And it isn't only languages or running. Think about someone learning to play the guitar. In the beginning, their fingers hurt. The chords sound messy. Simple songs feel impossible. If they judged their ability after one week, they would probably quit, convinced they have no talent for music. But every musician you admire went through those same painful, clumsy first weeks. The difference between someone who plays beautifully today and someone who gave up after a month isn't talent it's simply that one of them kept their fingers on the strings a little longer than the other.
Host
This is what trusting the process really means. It means believing that your daily effort matters, even when you can't see the results yet. It means understanding that success is rarely a straight line. It's more like a walk up a mountain in thick fog. You can only see a few steps ahead of you. You can't see the top. But if you keep walking, one step at a time, you will get there.
Guest
Now, let me be honest with you about something. Trusting the process is not easy. In fact, it might be one of the hardest things a person can do. We live in a world that wants everything fast fast food, fast internet, fast replies to our messages. So when we start something new, we expect fast results too. And when those results don't come quickly, we feel disappointed. We start to doubt ourselves.
Host
Here's a comparison I want you to remember: growth is more like farming than it is like heating food in a microwave. When you put food in a microwave, you expect it to be ready in a few minutes. That's normal for food. But when a farmer plants a field, they don't expect the crops to grow overnight. They know it takes months. They water the field every day, even on the days when nothing seems to be happening above the ground. They trust that the process is working, even without instant proof.
Guest
The problem is, many of us treat our goals like microwave food, when really, they're more like farming. We expect a new skill to feel comfortable after one week. We expect our English to be perfect after a few lessons. We expect a promotion after a few months of hard work. And when it doesn't happen that fast, we feel like failures. But you are not a failure. You are simply in the middle of a natural process a process that takes time for everyone, no matter how talented they are, no matter how smart, and no matter how hard they are working.
Host
Think about a young employee who joins a company hoping to be promoted quickly. They work hard, they show up early, they stay late. But after six months, they're still in the same position. It's easy to feel unseen, unappreciated, or unlucky. But careers, like fields, grow in seasons. Skills are being built. Trust is being earned, quietly, in small moments that nobody announces out loud. The promotion, when it finally comes, will look sudden to everyone watching but it will actually be the result of every single one of those quiet, unnoticed months.
Guest
Here's another comparison worth thinking about: a sprint and a marathon look similar at the start both involve running but they require completely different strategies. A sprinter explodes off the starting line, using every ounce of energy in a few short seconds, because the race is over almost as soon as it begins. A marathon runner does the opposite. They hold their pace steady. They save their energy. They think not about the first kilometer, but about the last one, many hours later. If you run the first minute of a marathon as fast as you'd run a sprint, you will collapse long before the finish line.
Host
Most of the goals we truly care about a new language, a healthy body, a strong career, a meaningful relationship are marathons, not sprints. And yet, so many of us try to run them like sprints. We study English for six hours on the first weekend, feel exhausted, and quit two weeks later. We go to the gym every single day in January, and by February, we never go again. The secret isn't more intensity. The secret is a pace you can keep for months, even years, without burning out.
Guest
Take a moment and think about a goal you're working on right now maybe it's exactly this, learning English. Ask yourself honestly: am I trying to sprint through something that was always meant to be a marathon? If the answer is yes, that's not a failure on your part. It simply means it's time to slow down your pace, not your commitment.
Host
Let's talk about a few more everyday examples. Think about someone trying to lose weight. In the first two weeks, they eat better and exercise, but the number on the scale barely moves. It's tempting to think the plan isn't working. But inside the body, real changes are already happening the metabolism is adjusting, the muscles are strengthening long before the scale shows it.
Guest
Or think about someone learning to cook. Their first few meals might turn out badly too salty, too dry, not quite right. But every single attempt teaches the hands and the senses something new, even the failed ones. Nobody becomes a confident cook after one meal.
Host
Or think about someone trying to save money. Putting aside a small amount each month can feel pointless at first, because the total in the bank barely changes. But months later, that small, consistent habit turns into something significant not because of one big deposit, but because of many small, patient ones.
Guest
Or think about a friendship, or a relationship with a family member that isn't as close as you'd like it to be. You can't fix years of distance with a single conversation. Trust, closeness, and understanding are rebuilt slowly, through many small moments a phone call here, an honest conversation there, showing up again and again, even when it feels uncomfortable at first. The relationship doesn't heal in one dramatic scene. It heals the same way everything else in this video heals: quietly, gradually, and often invisibly, until one day you notice it simply feels different.
Host
Here's something I truly believe, and I want to share it with you directly: most people don't fail because they aren't talented enough. They fail because they quit exactly one step before their breakthrough. They give up in the messy middle right when the roots are almost ready to break through the surface.
Guest
Think about that bamboo tree again. Imagine someone plants it, waters it faithfully for three and a half years, and then, right before the final push, decides it's hopeless and stops watering it completely. From the outside, quitting at that point looks exactly the same as quitting on day one nothing ever grew. But underneath, it wasn't the same at all. All of that invisible root growth, all of those years of quiet effort, simply stopped short, right before it was about to pay off. This is the real tragedy of giving up too early: it isn't that the effort was wasted completely, but that it was stopped just before the moment it would have shown itself.
Host
So how do we stay patient? How do we keep going when the road feels long and the results feel far away? Let me give you some practical advice you can actually use, starting today. First, focus on effort, not outcome. You cannot fully control the result. You cannot force a language to click faster, or a business to grow faster, or a body to change faster. But you can control your effort today. So instead of asking, 'Am I successful yet?' ask yourself, 'Did I do my best today?' That question is always within your control, no matter what the calendar says or what the mirror shows you.
Guest
Second, celebrate small wins. Progress rarely arrives as one huge, dramatic moment. It arrives in tiny pieces a sentence you understood without help, a conversation that went a little smoother than last time, a task at work that took you less time than it used to. These small wins are proof that the roots are growing, even when the plant hasn't broken through the surface yet. Notice them. Write them down if you have to. They matter far more than you think, because they are the only visible evidence you have of an invisible process.
Host
Third, stop comparing your day one to someone else's day one hundred. This is such an easy trap to fall into, especially now, when we see other people's success on our phones every single day. You see someone speaking fluent English, and you compare it to your own broken sentences. You see someone with a strong, healthy body, and you compare it to where you're starting from. But you're not seeing their whole journey their early mornings, their failures, their moments of doubt. You're only seeing where they are now, after months or years of effort. Comparing your beginning to someone else's middle will only leave you discouraged, and discouragement is the enemy of patience.
Guest
Fourth, remind yourself why you started. When the process feels long, it's easy to forget your original reason. Maybe you started learning English because you wanted to travel, or get a better job, or talk to people from other countries without feeling nervous. Maybe you started exercising because you wanted more energy to play with your children. Go back to that reason. Let it remind you that the goal is still worth the effort, even on the difficult days when motivation is nowhere to be found.
Host
Fifth, expect the difficult days, instead of being surprised by them. Nobody moves in a straight line toward their goal. There will be days when you feel tired, unmotivated, or like you're moving backward instead of forward. This isn't a sign that something has gone wrong it's simply part of every long process, for every person who has ever tried to build something meaningful. When you expect the hard days in advance, they lose much of their power to stop you.
Guest
And sixth and I think this might be the most important one be kind to yourself. So many people are incredibly hard on themselves during the process. They call themselves lazy or not good enough, simply because progress is taking time. But think about how you would talk to a good friend who was struggling with the exact same thing. You wouldn't insult them you would encourage them. You would remind them how far they've already come. Try giving yourself that same kindness, especially on the days when it feels hardest to find.
Host
I want to be fair here and mention the other side of this too, because trusting the process doesn't mean doing nothing and simply waiting for good things to happen. Patience without action is just wishful thinking. You still have to plant the seed. You still have to water it. You still have to show up, practice, and put in real effort. Trusting the process means combining patience with consistent action not replacing action with patience.
Guest
So the real balance is this: work hard every single day, and at the same time, release your need to see immediate results. Do the work, and let time do the rest.
Host
Now, before we finish, let's learn five useful English words from today's lesson. The first word is patience. Patience means the ability to stay calm and wait for something without becoming upset or frustrated. It's what a farmer needs while waiting for a crop to grow, and what a language learner needs while waiting for fluency to arrive. For example: 'Learning a new language requires a lot of patience.'
Guest
The second word is persistence. Persistence means continuing to do something, even when it's difficult or when you don't see quick results. It's the quality that kept Daniel running every cold morning and kept Sofia watching one video every single day. For example: 'Her persistence finally paid off after two years of hard work.'
Host
Third is discouraged. To feel discouraged means to lose confidence or hope about something, usually because progress feels slow or a result didn't come the way you expected. Almost everyone feels this way at some point in a long process. For example: 'Don't get discouraged if your English doesn't improve overnight.'
Guest
Fourth is breakthrough. A breakthrough is a sudden, important moment of success or progress, usually after a long period of quiet effort like a bamboo tree finally breaking through the surface after years underground. For example: 'After months of practice, she finally had a breakthrough and spoke fluently.'
Host
And fifth is worthwhile. Something that is worthwhile is valuable enough to justify the time, effort, or difficulty it took to get there. Looking back, almost nobody regrets the process, even the hardest parts of it. For example: 'The process was long, but in the end, it was completely worthwhile.' Try using these five words in your own sentences today. It's one of the best ways to make new vocabulary stick in your memory.
Guest
So, let's bring everything together. On one side, growth takes time. Progress often happens quietly, under the surface, like roots growing before a plant appears or like a bamboo tree building its strength for years before it ever grows tall. It's normal to feel discouraged sometimes. It's normal to wonder if your effort is even working.
Host
But on the other side, that quiet, invisible progress is real. Every day you show up, every mistake you learn from, every small win you notice—these are all building something bigger, even when you can't measure it yet. Somewhere underground, right now, your roots are spreading, even on the days when you feel like nothing is happening at all.
Guest
So the next time you feel discouraged—the next time you compare your beginning to someone else's middle, or wonder whether your effort is actually working—remember the seed, the bamboo tree, and the iceberg beneath the surface. Remember Daniel, running alone in the early morning cold before anyone believed in him. Remember Sofia, quietly writing down five new words every single day, long before she ever led a meeting in English.
Host
None of them could see their own progress while it was happening. They only saw it by looking back, much later, from the other side. Trust the process. Sometimes results take time. Sometimes the road feels long. But every single step you take is bringing you closer to your goal, even on the days when it doesn't feel that way. Be patient with yourself. Believe in yourself, even when the proof hasn't arrived yet. And whatever you do—don't give up. The people who succeed are rarely the most talented. They're simply the ones who kept walking, one step at a time, long after it stopped feeling exciting.
Guest
Thank you for practicing your English with us today. If this conversation helped you, don't forget to like it, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs to hear this message. We'll see you in the next episode. Keep learning, keep growing, and keep trusting the process.