Hello Reader,

One of the worst things you can do is fall for the idea that you have to have flawless English before you use it.

Obvious?

Of course you can't wait for flawless English in order to speak.

I think you know that. (Right?)

But do you ever feel stuck like this?

"I don't want to make a mistake. The last one I made was so embarrassing that I never want to feel that way again."

Sound familiar?

I've felt those embarrassing moments, too.

I've completely blanked out - froze - in front of a busy grocery store cashier in Mexico City. Every Spanish word I thought I knew, zip! Gone. Vanished.

I remember looking at her dumbly.

She just asked: "¿Encontraste todo lo que buscabas?" (Did you find everything you were looking for?)

Like I said, I totally blanked out.

Worse? The store was packed. My line was full - people were behind me....watching me crash and burn.

The result?

I never wanted to go grocery shopping again.

My mistake? Forgetting what to say in front of others.

What I told myself? "I can't go out there again unless I am ready for every possible question a cashier can ask me."

Every. Possible. Question.

Perfection.

The result? I stopped going on my own to buy groceries for a while, and hid behind my Spanish speaking friends to do my grocery purchasing for me.

Would you like to know what happened to my Spanish speaking skills over those months?

Nothing.

My skills stopped getting better because I didn't give myself chances to practice.

I didn't practice because I knew embarrassing mistakes would happen again, and I didn't have a perfect response.

The truth?

Your English gets better over time, the more you use it with other people - mistakes and all.

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Looking for some listening practice? Let's work on building a stronger mindset towards making mistakes when you use English. This podcast might help inspire you to get out and make a few this weekend!

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Watch? And then there's the 'spotlight effect' = what I felt that day in the Mexico City grocery store, where you feel like everyone has you AND YOUR MISTAKE under a giant magnifying glass.

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📧 Over to you! Do you ever feel like you have to have everything perfect before you use your English? Reply to this email and let me know! I'd love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading! Have a great weekend!

Aaron