To learn English, or any other skill, follow the “Mastery Formula.” 
What is the Mastery Formula? Well, whenever I’m truly committed to mastering a skill, I follow a very basic “mastery formula.” For example, I use this formula for business, music, and health.
Here’s the Mastery Learning Formula:
- Find an excellent coach, mentor, role model, or teacher.
- Practice “CANI” (Constant And Never-ending Improvement).
- Learn intensively.
(Alternate between and repeat steps 2 and 3 forever.)
That’s it! Very simple, but extremely powerful!
The first step to mastering anything is finding a truly remarkable coach, role model, or teacher. This really isn’t easy. Most teachers are mediocre or “average” (by definition). In fact, I’ve found that in every field I’ve researched, 99% of teachers range from bad to mediocre to “good.”
Obviously, you don’t want a bad teacher—but you don’t want a mediocre or merely “good” one, either. These teachers tend to use the same methods and materials. They have the same basic ideas about teaching English (or anything else). You’ll find them everywhere, using the same textbook-based teaching methods … the same tools, exercises, and memorization techniques.
And it’s not just English. I found the same thing in music. Most guitar teachers, for example, use the same basic methods. It took me a year to find a truly remarkable guitar teacher. That’s normal; it takes time to find an excellent teacher, and you need to be patient and search.
When evaluating teachers, it’s important to remember that teaching and performing are distinct skills. In other words, just because someone is a native speaker and has a PhD in English doesn’t mean they’re a good teacher. I learned this with guitar teachers. There are lots of great guitarists who are terrible guitar teachers.
Teaching is a distinct skill. Look for a teacher with a powerful teaching system of their own—not just a collection of textbooks. Look for teachers who are energetic and get you excited about learning. Psychology accounts for 80% of success, so you need a teacher who will inspire you and keep your motivation strong!
Once you’ve found a great teacher, you should use two different approaches to learning. One is called CANI (Constant And Never-ending Improvement). It’s the same idea as the Japanese concept of “kaizen,” which means focusing on making small improvements constantly, every day. This is a very easy, gradual, and consistent learning technique. Basically, you practice or learn for about an hour a day and try to make at least one small improvement each day.
The CANI/kaizen technique becomes very powerful over time. You start with a few small improvements and keep improving a little every day … then, suddenly, you’ve built a strong foundation … and your improvements begin to accelerate. It’s a very powerful process.
However, slow and steady improvement isn’t enough. Sometimes we also need to learn intensely. For example, every 3–5 months, do a four-week super-intensive period in which you study or listen to English for five hours or more every day. The goal is to flood your brain with English … but only for that short four-week period. After the four weeks, return to a more gradual “CANI/kaizen” approach.
And that’s all you need to do: find and stick with your EXCELLENT teacher. Then alternate between periods of steady, progressive study (CANI) and periods of very intensive learning (intensive).
Learn English with the Mastery Formula, and you’ll learn much faster and enjoy your learning a lot more.
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