Hey,
it's Annemarie was Speak Confident English and welcome to this week's Confident
English lesson.
This is exactly where you want to be to get the confidence you want for your
life and your work in English.
And this week we're all about how to accelerate your confidence in English in
2020 this is actually going to be a two part lesson.
We're going to start part one today and then for the next couple of weeks I want
you to spend time thinking through everything you're going to learn in this
lesson.
And then in part two we're going to actually plan how you can accelerate your
English fluency and confidence in the next year.
Now before we get started,
I want to be very honest with you about a couple of things.
When I say accelerate your English confidence in fluency,
I mean to speed up or Quicken,
that doesn't mean that you can become confident overnight.
Fluency and confidence do not happen in an instant.
They take time, patience, commitment, and hard work,
but you can accelerate the process when you start doing the right things that
will actually help you accomplish your goals.
So instead of wasting time and losing energy on things that don't work and make
you feel frustrated,
we want to focus on the things that are going to move you forward and we're
going to do that in a way that might surprise you. In part one,
I'm going to ask you five questions that focus on what you've been doing in the
past, what's worked and what hasn't,
because the truth is you can't make plans for where you want to go.
If you don't know where you've been,
this is an essential step that will help set you up for success in 2020 then in
part two,
we're going to make concrete plans and take action steps to help you achieve the
goals that you have for your English confidence and fluency in the next year.
To get started, I want you to get your calendar from the past year,
a pen and some paper.
This is definitely going to be a thinking and a writing exercise.
Now you could definitely do this in your native language and that's perfectly
fine,
but I want to challenge you to use this as an opportunity to practice thinking
and even writing in English.
As I ask you these five questions today,
I want you to go back into your calendar and review your year.
When you do that,
it starts to activate your memory and helps you go back to things that you've
probably forgotten, things that happened in January, February, March, and so on.
Now there's just one more thing before I ask you the first question.
All the I asked you today and in part two can be used to help you set successful
goals for any area of your life, whether it's work related,
personal goals or relationship goals. Of course,
in our lesson we're going to be focused on your English confidence and fluency
goals. But if you love these questions,
I encourage you to use them for any part of your life.
So let's go ahead and get started with question number one.
Looking back on this year and your efforts to become more confident in English,
what are you most proud of? Now,
this is where I want you to go back in your calendar, review your year,
and start to activate your memory because you might have forgotten some of the
things that you've done this year that you're proud of,
that actually worked and helped you move forward.
As you remember those things, I want you to write them down.
At Speak Confident English,
one of our values is to celebrate every success no matter how big or small it
is. And when you acknowledge an accomplishment,
something that helped you move forward,
you're identifying something that worked well for you.
And that's something we want to remember.
As we start to plan for 2020 we want to focus on the things that work and move
you forward.
And we want to stop doing the things that keep you stuck or make you feel
frustrated. So as you go back and write down the things that you were proud of,
I want you to also think about what helped you reach that point.
What helped you accomplish that? Question number two, again,
as you look back on the past year, what did you learn?
The reason I want you to do this is it's so easy to get focused on feeling stuck
or frustrated. It's easy to focus on the things that we can't do,
but when we do that,
we start to get discouraged and when we become discouraged,
we're more likely to give up. I definitely don't want you to give up,
so when we go back and we reflect on the things that we have learned,
we realize that we have been making progress.
It might have happened slower than you wanted and it might not be the level of
fluency and confidence that you want,
but it is progress and again, it's essential to celebrate those things.
It helps you stay focused on your goals and gives you the motivation to keep
going. Question number three,
what challenges did you overcome this year in your English? For example,
did you finally start conversations with your coworkers and begin having lunch
with them every day?
Did you finally say hello to a neighbor and get to know them?
Or maybe it was doing a job interview in English. Once again,
write down any challenges that you overcame this year in your English and
celebrate them.
Now I know that challenges or obstacles aren't easy to overcome.
For example,
giving a presentation in front of your boss and English isn't easy and that's
okay. Challenges are never easy,
but if you've been following me for a while or if you're in any of my courses,
you know that I often say without challenge,
there isn't change.
If you want something to change or improve or get easier,
you have to learn to overcome. So if you've done that this year,
write it down and celebrate it. Now,
before I go onto questions four and five,
I want to pause here and ask how you're feeling.
You should be feeling pretty good if you're going back and thinking about all
the things you're proud of,
the things you've learned and the challenges you've overcome.
It's an amazing feeling to realize that you have made progress this year.
In fact, this past month in our advanced conversation course,
we've been reflecting on these same questions,
doing the same activity with our students.
We've been thinking about what they've learned over the past year,
the obstacles or challenges they've overcome so that we can plan to do even more
in 2020 and do it successfully.
And now you're doing exactly the same thing. All right,
now let's move on to question number four.
As you look back on your answers to questions one, two, and three,
what steps did you take this year that helped you do that?
This is part of the process of identifying the things that worked well for you,
that you should continue doing and eliminating anything that's wasting your time
or keeping you frustrated and stuck. And finally, question number five,
what fears, anxieties, bad memories,
and negative stories do you want to leave behind and say goodbye to in 2019
fear, anxiety and negative talk paralyze us.
For example,
have you ever said no to something because you didn't think that you could do it
in English or maybe someone wanted to give you an opportunity,
but you've already told them that you can't because your English is terrible and
it's not possible for you.
So they never offered you the opportunity in 2020 I don't want that to happen to
you. I want you to take every opportunity that you can to move forward.
So for this last question, I want you to write down every fear, anxiety,
bad memory or negative story that you've been telling yourself.
And then I want you to do whatever you can to say goodbye to those things and
leave them in 2019 we want to start fresh and new in 2020 and here's why it's a
hundred percent possible for you to become confident in fluent in English.
No matter how shy, stuck or nervous you feel right now.
I know that because this is what I do. This is why I created speak,
Confident English. This is why I do these videos.
This is why I have my students and our courses.
This is everything my team and I do.
It's what I'm most passionate about in life.
Helping you discover how you can become confident and fluent in English so that
you can do the things that you want in life,
whether it's just living everyday life in an English speaking country and doing
it without stress or fear or helping you get the job that you want.
Those things are possible for you.
And the truth is when you become confident in yourself and in your abilities,
you're unstoppable.
That's why I want you to remember the things that you've accomplished, learned,
and overcome this year, and celebrate them.
Recognize the progress that you've made,
and then leave all the negative behind and part two,
I'm going to share five more questions with you that will help set you up for
success and accelerate your English confidence and fluency in 2020 to end.
I've got two challenge questions for you.
If you identified a negative story or a bad memory,
something that you want to leave behind in 2019 tell me about it.
I would love to say goodbye to that with you. Or question two,
if you have an aha moment while you're doing these questions,
I would love to know.
An aha moment is a moment of discovery or insight.
I am truly excited for you to accomplish what you want in English.
I hope that you'll take time to carefully go through these questions and then be
sure to watch for part two so that we can set you up for success in the next
year. If you love this lesson, please be sure to let me know.
You can give it a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to this channel so you
never miss a future lesson, including part two.
You can share this with friends and family on Facebook or email it directly to
someone who you know also wants to make real progress in 2020 thank you so much
for joining me and I'll see you next time for your Confident English lesson.