The culture in which many of us live, tends to focus on product over process; and what’s
more is that we want to get the product or skill or whatever is that we want as quick
and as easy as possible. When we approach life or learning in this way, it has been
referred to as ‘end gaining’ - coined by a famous Australian actor called Frederick
Alexander, who devised a form of education called the Alexander Technique. An Alexander
practitioner called Hilary King says, “End gaining is the tendency we have to keep our
mind and actions focused on an end result whilst losing sight of, and frequently at
the expense of, the means-whereby the result is achieved.” Many of my clients express
a desire improve their speech and pronunciation as fast as possible, and during the coaching
process, when I ask them how they’re getting on at the beginning of each new session, this
continues to be a top priority. But one client, a very successful women who was president
of a global pharmaceutical company, replied to the same question by saying, ‘…it’s
percolating’, which is a term often applied to making coffee meaning ‘to filter gradually’.
And interestingly, she made rapid progress, with apparent ease, in part, it seems, because
her attitude towards the learning was one in which the process was more important than
the product. The learning filtrated at its own pace and she was happy just to enjoy the
process, play with the exercises and let the learning take-care of itself. So if you’re
in a mad rush to get your speech and pronunciation changing or you’ve been told about some
quick-fix ‘change your accent in 30-days’ training programme then it won’t work and
don’t let anyone tell you that it will. The quickest and easiest way to sound like
a native is to focus on the process, enjoy the learning and
let it percolate’.