Why the “right” mindset is wrong

Everybody feels like they want to communicate right. When you’re a non-native English speaker and you need to communicate in English at work, that mindset of getting things “right” is a bad habit you need to ditch. Letting go of perfection is a key step toward speaking with more confidence, more fluency, speaking up more in meetings and increasing your impact and visibility. Here are 3 effective tactics for handling all your biggest in-the-moment challenges:

1. When preparing for a presentation, don’t write a script of what you’re going to say! Instead, create an outline and practice from the outline.
You see, when you memorize, you have created “the right way” to say it and that just adds pressure and increases your cognitive load.
2. Say it in a simple way, and paraphrase what you’re saying – say it again in another way – or give examples. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about communicating your ideas to others and connecting with them.
3. Focus on what you’re interested in, what motivates you, what problems you enjoy solving, rather than focusing on how well you’re performing, or what they think of you.

We are all uncomfortable with imperfection. But discomfort is a necessary condition for becoming more fluent in a foreign language. When you get comfortable with discomfort, that’s when real learning can take place. For lots of amazing insights about learning effectively and how to train your brain to perform at its best, listen to this interview with Stanford Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman: