José Cruz : Um, going to um, this this, Napoleon Hill book tho’ (Mm-hmm) Um the the guy almost sounds like a a self-help “guRO” Uh guru sorry. José made a mistake, noticed it, and then said the correct word and ended by saying sorry. This is a common conversation method. (0:07) The guy almost sounds like a self-help guru in that he says that well if you just think the right thoughts, (Yeah) you’ll be rich yourself. Does that sellThis is a colloquial meaning for sell. It means 'to convince'. Also, 'Do you buy that?' can mean, 'Are you convinced by that?' (0:18) you?

Alex Bodnar: Uh not really. Uh, ha-have you ever read the book?

José: Um, To be honest, I’ve never read the book. I only heard about him through this um, uh article, uh but when I show it to certain people they they become very sceptical.

Alex: Yeah, uh I read the book in uh high school, maybe even just before high school. Uh (Mm-hmm) It’s a, it’s a quick uh, easy read. (Mm-hmm) But the message is really simple (Mm-hmm) Uh, it it’s the same kind of message that uh, you should give yourself uh, if you want to achieve any kind of goal. No-not just to get rich. But uh, If you want to run a marathon, right? You don’t just suddenly go run a marathon. you you set a goal and uh, do what you have to do to achieve it.

José: I actually use, um, because even tho’ I haven’t read the book, I like you, figured out the message pretty much just by looking at this article and and doing some background reading on Napoleon Hill. As you know living in Japan, as we both do, it’s hard to get um, books like this unless you order them all the way from um, from from across the Pacific uh from a bookstore in America.

Alex: Well, you can get the ebook, can’t you?

José: You can, but I was pretty lazy. Um and I actually just did some background reading. And like you said it’s a very simple message. You make a plan. You go about doing it. You do, you you you um, you execute your plan on a daily basis. (Yeah yeah) And I actually use the idea to show my students that if you, like you just said, like you just said, if you actually take this whole idea you can apply it to anything. And I show my students that you can apply it to su-studying English.

Alex: Yeah, absolutely.

José: And and that a lot of what people think about rich people, they think it’s their connections, well it is partly their connections but they also think that it’s because they’re smart. Or uh it’s because they’ve they’ve got an inheritance or uh, they have some incredibly special talent, or they went to all the right schools. Uh…

Alex: That reminds me. (Yeah?) I I I just uh read yesterday that uh, you know Sting?

José: Sure oh yes yes! Go ahead.

Alex: Yeah, I heard that uh he plans not to give any of his uh, fortunes to his uh, children. (Right. Mm-hmm) He wants them to earn it, right? Uh not not to… Well I don’t remember his uh, his exact words, but uh…

José: Uh huh. He basically said the same thing Bill Gates said uh maybe about two weeks ago. And the article that I read was putting them you know, shoulder to shoulder. Bill Gates the billionaire, Sting the the you know the centi-millionaire. (Mm-hmm) “Uh, nope'Nope' is a colloquial form of ‘no’. (3:10) I’m not going topronounced GUNNA. (3:11)… You know I’ll I’ll get them an education, I’ll put them through college, maybe buy them a car, but after that they’re on their own. So basically like um um, a top level middle-class parent would do, but I’m not going to make them instantly wealthy by by giving them a trust fund.”