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Being bad at English is the first step to being a confident, professional English speaker.

  • Writer: The English Coach
    The English Coach
  • Jul 17, 2022
  • 2 min read


Several recent studies and books have focused on the science of skill acquisition. (๐˜š๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ โ€“ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ข ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜บ) As it turns out, we are born with few natural talents and skills. Excellence is borne not of any innate ability but practice. In other words, you can be good at whatever you want.


If itโ€™s possible for anyone to acquire any skill, why donโ€™t more people do it? Why donโ€™t they improve or get good at things theyโ€™ve always wanted, like cooking, sports, or playing the piano?

The first answer, of course, is that itโ€™s difficult, much harder than people realize, and requires incredible discipline. It just takes time and effort, which most people donโ€™t have or arenโ€™t willing to give.

Ed Sheeran shares this concept and demonstrates that not all artists are born with natural talent by playing an early recording of himself when he was younger trying to sing:


https://youtu.be/flkjMuaKYQU


โ€œ๐˜š๐˜ฐ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐโ€ฆ โ€˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ฉ, ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถโ€™๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต. ๐˜โ€™๐˜ฎ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆโ€ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜บ, ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต. ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถโ€™๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต. ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ.โ€ - Ed Sheeran

So, if you're bad at golf or snowboarding โ€” and you know you are โ€” take a chance and let go of your fear of embarrassment. Itโ€™s possible to acquire and hone skills to perfection (or nearโ€‘perfection) through practice and dedication.


Kobe Bryant can also teach us about how he improved his basketball skills. After each game, he would call people and ask for feedback on how his game went. He'd try to understand what he did wrong and what he could do to improve the next game.


"You can also learn a lot by asking yourself questions, watching others or reading a book. The benefit of asking questions is that it will encourage you to think about what you can do to improve and what makes others so good at what they do." - Kobe Bryant.


In this interview, Kobe Bryant offers vital advice on a growth mindset and his systematic approach to improving his game.


I genuinely appreciate his words when he tells us how we must take embarrassment less personally in the extended scheme of our ultimate final goal. Here's what he said:


"You gotta get over yourself. It's not about you, man. Like, OK. You feel embarrassed. You're not that important, like, get over yourself. You're worried about how people may perceive you and, like, you're walking around, and it's embarrassing because you shot five air balls. Get over yourself. (Instead,) Ask yourself, 'why did those air balls happen?'" - Kobe Bryant


You can watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/VSceuiPBpxY

The bottom line is you mustn't be embarrassed about how bad your English may be. Instead, consider that you must be first ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ต something to improve and become ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ต it.


If you are an independent learner, please download my Guide to Self-Study and ensure you're doing *active* learning activities to help you grow.

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