I get a lot of emails these days.
It started when I put my book Master English at Home online for free.
Yesterday my inbox told me I had 1,261 unread messages.
Yikes.
So I got to work.
Then I gave up and took a nap.
Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
My apologies if your email is one I haven’t replied to.
AFRAID TO SPEAK
Fear.
That’s an “English headache” I read about in many of those emails.
It’s connected to conversation, which is our theme for this week, so here’s some advice for you.
This is from my book, Help! I’m afraid to speak English!
One day in Prague, a young man came to see me about his English. He told me he had a small business, he wanted more foreign customers, but he kept losing them to the competition because his English wasn’t good enough.
While he spoke, I listened very carefully but I couldn’t hear any mistakes.
However, here’s what I saw: his arms were crossed and his face was frowning.
To me, it was obvious why he was losing business. His English was fine. But he looked pissed off! And who wants to do business with an angry man? (I secretly wished he didn’t buy my program because I didn’t want to spend more time with him.)
What’s more important than what you say is how you make the other person feel.
Long after a conversation is over, it’s hard to remember someone’s words.
But it’s easy to remember how they made us feel.
And simply, if you make other people feel good, life will also be good.
People will want to hire you, promote you, friend you, marry you, buy your products, etc etc…
But make people feel bad, and life will, as we say in English, be an uphill battle.
So how do you make the other person feel good when you meet?
Easy.
- Eye contact
- Smile
- Firm handshake
- Energy in your words
- Be genuinely interested in him/her (genuine = not fake)
Now go meet someone and make him/her feel good.