Have you had this feeling that no matter how much you learn or practice
or use English, when the time comes that you need to actually speak it
and use it, you simply cannot deliver?
You feel consumed by your mistakes, you feel stuck, you feel
frustrated, and like your English is never going to be good enough.
So if that's the case for you, then I want you to know that it's not just you
and you're definitely not alone in this.
Because as speakers of a second language, in addition to managing our pronunciation
and vocabulary and grammar and practice, we also need to manage how we think about
ourselves as speakers of English, and how we feel when we communicate in English.
In other words, we have to, have to work on our mindset in English.
And let me tell you this - the real breakthroughs happen.
And, listen, I have worked with thousands and thousands of
students over the past 12 years.
The real breakthroughs happen not when you master all the sounds of
English and acquire an American accent.
And it doesn't happen when you no longer make grammar mistakes.
The real breakthroughs happen when you are able to develop
the right mindset in English.
That's when you start feeling this limitless sense of fluency.
A few years ago, I had a coaching session with my students, and
this student came on to the call.
She lives in the US, she's originally from Colombia.
And she started talking about how frustrated she feels.
Like she never sees any progress, she is super self-conscious about her English.
She does not feel safe when communicating in English and she
definitely feels like her English is preventing her from advancing.
Now, while she's speaking, I'm thinking to myself, This woman sounds
to me super clear, very fluent; she has this vast vocabulary that
she's using and tapping into easily.
Yet, she feels horrified by her English.
And after a few questions, I realized that her environment at
work was not a safe environment.
Her boss was criticizing her constantly - not on her English, but on other things.
But she immediately associated it to English.
And her experience of herself speaking English had to do with
self-deprecation, sorrow, and shame.
This is not a very healthy environment to be in.
But most importantly, when you are constantly experiencing
these emotions about yourself in English, how will you ever succeed?
And how will you improve?
How will your brain retain any piece of information that you're learning?
And how will you dare and be courageous and grow?
Because to grow and to improve, especially in the workplace,
you need to take challenges.
You need to dare more, you need to speak before you're ready.
And when you don't feel like that's possible for you, you will not do it.
So, the real work, or a big part of the work, is to make sure that you know how
to distinguish between a mindset that does not serve you to a mindset that does.
And this is what I want to talk about today.
I want to talk about the difference between having a fixed mindset to
having a growth mindset when it comes to your English experience.
Now, if you're new to my channel, then hello and welcome.
My name is Hadar.
I, myself, had to overcome a lot of mental and psychological barriers when it comes
to communicating in English, because I am not a native speaker of English.
And it wasn't always this easy for me to turn on the camera and start
speaking to people in English.
It not being my first language, let alone, teaching pronunciation.
But some of the work that I've done, and I've done with my students, have led me to
realize what you really need to improve.
And this is what I'm here to do - to help you speak English with clarity,
confidence, and internal freedom.
If you want to find out more about my work, then first of
all, I highly recommend that you subscribe to my channel.
You can also follow me on Instagram at @hadar.accentsway, where I share a
new piece of content every single day.
And you can also check out my website hadarshemesh.com, where you'll find
a ton of free resources to help you grow and improve in English.
Back to mindset.
First, let's define mindset.
Mindset is a set of beliefs about our talents, intelligence
and abilities, that shape how we interpret the world and ourselves.
This influences pretty much everything about how we behave and think
and feel in any given situation.
Professor Carol Dweck, an American psychologist, talks about two types of
mindset: fixed mindset and growth mindset.
In a fixed mindset, the belief is that the talents and the intelligence that you're
born with is innate and unchangeable.
And there is nothing you can do to improve or change that.
What you get is what you have, and that's it.
And someone with a growth mindset believes that with the right strategies, with
mentoring from people, with working hard, then you can actually develop and
improve anything about your abilities and talents, and even intelligence.
Now, it's not like a person has a fixed mindset or a growth mindset, but
you want to think of it more like a spectrum that goes between 1 - being a
fixed mindset and 10 - being a growth mindset, believing that everything is
changeable and you're capable of reaching your goals with the right strategy
and with the work that is needed.
So, when you think of that, I want you to think about yourself in
English, and about your abilities.
Now, obviously you're not a one, you believe that change is possible.
You believe that you're capable of learning, right?
Because otherwise, you wouldn't be here listening to this.
Right?
But at the same time, if you still feel like there is something that is holding
you back and you interpret situation like that woman that I was talking about, it
didn't matter that her English was fluent and clear and even powerful, right?
She interpreted it as not enough.
So I want to see where we're at on that spectrum.
Again, 1 - being hardcore fixed mindset, and 10 - being growth mindset 100%.
Right?
So we want to see where we're at on that spectrum, but also to look at certain
situations and see where we're at and how we're interpreting situations, right?
In a way that is more fixed mindset or growth mindset.
So this is going to be a lot of fun and really interesting.
Now, I really want you to let go of cynicism and resistance.
Because I'm sure it will come up, especially for people who are not
thinking about this on a daily basis.
And really try to put in the work and put in some thought into it.
Because at the end of the day, we see people in powerful positions, where
we say to ourselves, "My English is a lot clearer than his or hers.
Right?
So why are they capable of putting themselves out there?
Why these people don't let failures deter them or quit?
Whereas for us, sometimes we feel like we can never do this unless
we improve, or until we improve."
So these are questions that we need to ask ourselves, you need to ask yourself,
to be able to reach that breakthrough.
Now, by the way, if you stay with me until the end, I will tell you how
I can help you with a free Bootcamp.
I highly recommend for you to check it out because we are going to create
an entire event designed to help you understand how you can develop
the right mindset in English and build powerful learning habits.
So I'll talk more about that at the end.
Okay.
So now, like I said, before we even get started with the examples, I
want you to think about a number, again, between 1 to 10, that suggests
where you're at on that spectrum - between fixed and growth mindset.
So, I want you to put it in the comments right now, somewhere between 1 and 10.
1, again, means that you feel like, you know, you'll never be able to learn
English because you're not talented or, you know, your brain just doesn't get it.
And this is how you were born, and it's impossible to change, and why bother.
And 10 - being, "I can learn anything, I just need the right strategy
and method, and put in the work.
And I can do everything: I can train my brain, I can improve."
So that would be 10.
And 1 would be, "This is not for me".
By the way, one more thing that I want to talk about in this aspect,
maybe that would help you decide on the number, is that when it comes
to failure or when it comes to doing something that is not successful, people
with a fixed mindset will interpret it as proof for, you know, them not
being capable of doing these things.
Right?
And usually, they won't take any risks simply because they know that
they would just fail and not succeed.
Whereas people who operate from a growth mindset, they see failure as
an opportunity to learn and to improve and to see what hasn't been working
and what they can learn from it.
So this is another thing to look at.
Are you a person who lets failure stop you from doing the things that you
want, or the fear of failure to keep you from, you know, daring and doing things
that you feel are almost impossible?
Or are you the type of person who thrives despite failure or thanks to
failure, because you learn and you keep doing and you keep taking action?
So, another thing to think about.
So now let's look at a few situations where we can look at them through the
lens of fixed mindset and growth mindset, and how people with different mindsets
might interpret that one situation.
Now, again, remember, you can have a growth mindset in other areas of your
life, but in certain situation you will operate from a fixed mindset.
So, it does not mean that you are a person with a fixed mindset if, you know, some
of these situations would indicate that you're operating from a fixed mindset.
No.
But it just means that in English, in these situations, probably because of your
history and past, and maybe things that you don't even remember that influenced
how you feel and think about English, probably all of that is the reason why
this is how you interpret such situations.
So the first scenario would be: you are in the middle of a conversation
and you're trying to remember a word, and the word just doesn't come up.
Right?
You can think of that word, and you get stuck.
A person with a fixed mindset might completely stop, not continue the
conversation, or cut the conversation short, or apologize for getting stuck.
Because in their head, they're not intelligent enough or, you know,
their English is not good enough.
And, you know, it's just proof, "Oh, I'm discovered now, it's just proof
that you know I'm incapable in English."
Whereas a person with a growth mindset might stop, think about
the word, try out a different word.
Ask for help, start over, say that, "Oh, I can't think of the word."
Right?
Acknowledge it.
Because that person knows that it's important to use
that to learn and to improve.
And that it doesn't mean anything about their abilities or their English.
It just means that you forgot a word or that you don't know it.
So what?
Another example is, let's say you're sitting in a meeting and there are a lot
of people, a lot of your colleagues or customers, and maybe your boss is there.
And you want to say something.
Now, a person with a fixed mindset would say, "Oh, if I say something
and I get stuck and I can't explain myself, cause I don't have all the
words, that means that I would fail.
And failure would be, you know, proof that I'm incapable or
not good enough in English."
Or, "Why bother?
Because I won't be able to express myself freely anyway,
because I'm not good at English."
And the person with a growth mindset would probably say to themselves,
"Okay, I have something to say, I'm going to say it no matter what.
If I get stuck, I'll just ask for help or I'll figure it out along the way.
Because that's how I learn.
And more importantly, I need to say what I have to say, right?
And I can figure it out.
And people can help me."
So, this is another way of interpreting the same situation, where you
want to speak, but you don't know exactly what you're going to say.
And how about receiving criticism?
Let's say someone says something about your English.
A person with a fixed mindset would see it as proof that their English
is not good enough, that would make them feel upset and sad and incapable.
And they would say to themselves, "Okay, I should just stop learning anyway.
Because I've been working so hard and I've been doing all this work and
it's not changing, it's not improving.
So what's the point?"
Whereas a person with a growth mindset either will know to deflect
criticism that is irrelevant, right?
And say, "I know what I'm doing, I'm working hard.
Thank you so much.
But I feel that I need to speak like this so I can improve."
Or might receive that criticism and say, "What can I take from this?
What can I learn from this?
How can I improve without it making me feel horrible and
frustrated and incapable?"
And without going into that loop of self-deprecation and self-judgment, right?
So again, same situation, different interpretations.
Now, here's the thing.
And that is the most important thing that I want you to remember.
No matter where you're at on the spectrum, interpreting something is only up to you.
You are the thinker of your thoughts, and how you see the world
and how you think about things and how you feel about things.
Because, you know, feeling is a result of a thought.
It's all up to you.
So, yes, the circumstances have led to you feeling this way, and maybe you have
some limitations and limiting beliefs because of how you were brought up
or what your teacher said about you.
All of that is valid.
And, you know, you need to feel all the feelings and think about
this and try to process it.
Because it's really important if you want to become fluent
and have that internal freedom.
But how you interpret situations is up to you.
And you can change that instantaneously.
You can decide that you are going to operate from a growth
mindset at any given second.
It takes practice, it takes work, it takes consistency.
Because of course, it's always easy to go to what's comfortable.
And comfortable is always the safe place.
And, you know, being safe is not speaking, ultimately, because
then you can't make mistakes.
But that's not what we're here for, and that's not why you are
here for listening to this video.
So I'm inviting you, first of all, to start thinking about your English
from a growth mindset perspective, and I'm going to link some resources
for you to explore that idea even more in the description, plus a few more
videos about mindset that I've created.
But I also want to invite you to an event where I will help you step
into that fluent mindset that is definitely a growth mindset in English.
The event that I'm talking about is the Fluency Bootcamp.
In the Bootcamp, you are going to train with me every single day.
So, I will be delivering a training every day for 15 minutes.
And then you will have exercises for another 15 minutes, all
designed to help you build strong foundation for learning and speaking
English confidently and fluently.
We will talk about building strong learning habits, what keeps you stuck,
the things that will help you break away from bad habits in your English,
but also in your learning experience.
We're definitely going to talk about growth mindset and fixed mindset, and
all of the elements that can help you develop a growth mindset in English.
We're also going to learn how you can build the ideal strategy
for yourself in English.
Because every person has their own personal path.
And you need to know what's right for you to be able to do the things that
actually get you the right results.
Or any kind of results, right?
So, this Bootcamp is absolutely free, but if you're watching this after the
Bootcamp is finished, that I'm still inviting you to click the link and sign
up to get my weekly lessons to your inbox.
Okay.
So I'm waiting to see where you're at on that spectrum.
And if you want to share with me more of your experiences, then I'm inviting
you to do that in the comments.
I really hope to see you in the Bootcamp, it's going to be amazing.
I forgot to say that we're going to have a ton of speaking practice and
opportunities to put into practice what you'll learn, which is the
best way to learn and to improve.
And the best way to do it is also not to do it alone.
And you'll have my support, and my coaches' support.
So, it's going to be a lot of fun.
It's going to be an English fluency Bootcamp party.
So I hope to see you there.
I hope this was helpful.
And I will see you either in the Bootcamp or next week in the next video.
Bye.