Tip number 1: Sound yourself in English. 
You might live in a non-English country. Or maybe you live in an English country. 
Either way you need to make your Environment as English as possible. 
You need to immerse yourself in the language as much as you can. You can control over your room, your work station, 
your kitchen your bathroom. You absolutely have control over your environment. 

Label items in your home with sticky notes.
notes can be your best friend because you can put them all over
your house. You can label objects, you can remind yourself of vocabularies that you are learning. Verb structures, verb tenses. You can put them everywhere. And just seeing them, even if you don’t focus on it, just seeing it quickly your
brain is processing that, remembering it and learning it. 

Other easy things you can do, you can write your daily to-do-list in English and instead of your native language. 
You can change all of your devices to display in English. I actually have the Russian keyboard on my phone, so I can switch back and forth and practice my Russian Language, you can do this on your phone in English. 
I also downloaded a few Russian language apps on my phone and I practice on many of my ‘wasted’ times during the day on the Russian language apps. You can download a few on your phone too to give you the added option of using them while riding on the Metro or in your family car. 

You can get creative and think of many different ways you can immerse yourself in English in your environment. 

By the end of the week, I want you to go out and buy some sticky notes and start labeling one room of your house. 

Tip 2: Think During Everyday Activities. 
There are so many activities that you do every single day that are wasted time. But you can turn that wasted time
into productive time if you simply think in English as you are doing that activity. 
Some common wasted time activities that you do everyday are: 
Working out, having a shower, what a perfect time to think in English. For me, its definitely getting ready. I always make sure I do something productive while I’m putting on my make up, or drying my hair. Otherwise, its wasted time. 
Making breakfast, doing chores, and of course commuting, commuting is a great time to think in English. I do a lot of walking, so when I am out walking, because I am learning the Russian language I always use this as the perfect time to practice my Russian by reading as many Russian signs as I can. Signs on buildings, signs on billboards, 
signs on the street. There are so many ways I can practice reading the Russian language. 
There is also waiting, maybe waiting in line, waiting for things to finish, Waiting is the perfect time to think in English. 

But you are probably wondering, how can I turn commuting into productive time.

That leads to tip number 3: Which is to make simple observations
This is such a powerful exercise because if forces you to become very present in your environment. So, you will also be practicing mindfulness at the same time, which is very good for your mental health. 
So, as you are out in world, maybe your walking, and commuting or waiting in line and its wasted time, I want you to simply to look around and observe your environment.  
What do you see? And your goal is to make simple observations and of course you are doing this in English. You are thinking in English. 
So, lets say your at a park, you’re going for a walk or your walking your dog, you’re eating your lunch. You are at a park you can make some simple observations. 
There’s a big tree, the tree is green, the tree has leaves
There is a pond, there are ducks in the pond
There are mountains, the sky is blue
So turn wasted time into productive time by making these simple observations and it will force you to think in English.

Take a minute to look around you and tell me what you observe. 

Tip number 4: Add Complexity: 
First of all, don’t underestimate the power of simple sentences. 
Don’ t think that making a very simple sentences like the tree is green isn’t helping you. It absolutely is helping you to think in English and get more comfortable thinking in English. But of course I understand you want to add complexity. 

So, lets talk about some ways to add complexity. 
One of the easiest is to use adjectives, verbs, modifiers. 
The palm tree has vibrant leaves. So adding vibrant makes that simple sentence sound more complex. 
You can share your opinion or make a general statement. 
In my opinion, spending time outside everyday is important for our mental health. 

Another great way is to compare and contrast: 
You could say: These mountains are more impressive than the mountains near my work. 
So start simple and then add complexity to your simple sentences and remember you are doing this in English, you are thinking these thoughts in English
So you can make observations in any environment that you’re in, whether its an interesting environment like a beautiful park  or a boring environment like a plain room. you can still make observations. 

Lets move on to tip 5, which is: Use Images 
You can use google images and simply look for any style of images that you like and if your not sure what to search for, just search interesting images 
Okay, lets do this now. Grab your phone and see what you pull up 
Lets talk about these images in English. 
Look through the images and find one that catches your eye 
as for me, this image with the cat, of course caught my eye. 
So now your going to make simple statements, simple observations about this image. 
The cat is adorable, the cat is standing on a mountain, the cat look majestic standing on this breathtaking mountain. 
So remember, start simple, and the add complexity as you do this exercise and I recommend you doing this exercise for 5 to 10 minutes a day. 
And by doing this you are going to turn wasted time into productive time. 

Tip 6: Speak Out Loud: 
Until now these tips have focused on thinking in your head, you can also write them down, like writing your to-do-list in English, writing your sticky notes. Now, I want you to speak out loud. 
What I mean by that is your producing sound that other people can hear. 

Right now, I am speaking out loud, because you want to gain confidence speaking as well. 
So, thinking those simple statements and verbalizing them, saying them out loud is a different skill. 
Even if you are at a beautiful park, I still want you to verbalize your statements, your observations, say them out loud. 
If you feel self conscious doing this, then you can always just pick up your phone and pretend you are talking to someone on your phone even though you are just talking to yourself. 

Tip 7: A Daily Recap
At the end of your day you can simply summarize your day. And by doing this you force yourself to think in English, \think of different verb tenses, think of different vocabulary that you need to summarize your day. 
You can also talk about the best part of your day, 3 things you are greatful for, Any areas for improvement. That could force you to think of some interesting vocabulary and grammatical structures as well. 
And you can also plan your day for tomorrow. So these are all the different things you can do for tip number 7. 

Now for tip number 7, you can think in your head, you can think about 3 things your greatful for. 
You can also speak them out loud. You can verbalize the best part of your day, even if nobody is there to listen to it, that doesn’t matter. 
You can also keep a journal, which forces you to write all of this information down. I personally have my own journal. 
My recommendation is your schedule 10 minutes in your day before you go to bed to write in your journal, to write about your day. 

And finally, Tip number 8: Be Patient
This is so important because many students they try these tips once or twice. They get frustrated because they don’t get instant results and then they quite or say I’ll never learn English, I’ll never become fluent. 
But the reality is they weren’t patient enough to get the result. 

So lets imagine that you improve your ability to think in English by 1% each day. 1 %m thats not very much, right. But, at the end of the year, how much of an improvement would that be. 
365% improvement in 1 year. That’s pretty amazing, right. 
So, small improvements absolutely matter. Getting better by 1% each day matters. You will not notice any results after 1 day of following this advice. 
You will notice some results after 30 days of consistently following this advice. 
You will notice good results after 60 days of consistently following this advice 
And great results after 90 days of consistently following this advice. 
And incredible results after 365 days, so, you just need to be patient. 

So put in your journal I’m committed to 1% better each day, I’m committed 

Are you enjoying this lesson.
Remember, you are going to start simple and add more complexity when your thinking and speaking in English. To add more complexity, you need to feel confident with verb tenses. 
But did you know that only 5 verb tenses make up over 96% of a Native speakers vocabulary. 
So now, lets review those 5 verb tenses in detail. 

The 5 verb tenses are:
The present simple,which makes up 57.51% of speech
The past simple, which makes up 19.7% of speech
The future simple, which makes up 8.5% of speech
The present perfect, at 6% of speech 
And the present continuous, at 5.1$ of a Native speakers speech
And the total of all 5 verb tenses is 96.81% of speech

So lets make sure that you feel very confident using all 5 verb tenses and don’t worry because I summarize everything 
So, lets start with the present simple: and pay close attention because I correct mistakes from my advanced students when they make mistakes with the present simple almost every time they submit their practice exercises. So, pay close attention. 

Video time: .13:53