I often hear my students say: I wish I could speak English perfectly! Is this a wish on your mind too? So, what's wrong with this wish? Perfection is an illusion. Setting perfection as a goal is like choosing a cloud as your destination. When we just wish for something, we don't set goals or take action. We just sit and wait for a miracle.

What can we do instead?

We can change our 'cloud-like wish' into a 'concrete goal' by changing our thought processes in three steps: 

Step 1. Change 'I wish I could ...' to 'I want ...':  I want to speak English really well.

Step 2. Keep repeating the 'I want ... ' statement over and over again until it becomes a strong desire. 

Step 3. Transform our strong desire into a positive goal:  I will speak English really well.

These small language changes to our internal dialogue have a powerful effect. They focus our mind on progress and achievement. We become motivated to take action, to get the right tools, and to invest enough time to reach our goal. 

What if I've already done this, but it hasn't worked?

Some of you may be saying: 'I've already done this many times: I've set positive goals; I've bought different books and online courses; I've attended hundreds of hours of classes, but my English is still weak. I suppose I'm just not gifted for languages. I should give up trying!'

If this is your feeling, then let me assure you that you're as gifted for languages as any polyglot out there.

If you're not making progress despite your best efforts, it's a sign that you may have experienced one or more difficult situations in your earlier contact with the English language: maybe a harsh teacher at school, maybe a challenging situation at work, maybe someone said you weren't good at languages and you believed them.

To set new goals for your English and succeed in them, it's important that you first clear any blocks caused by unpleasant past experiences.

The first step in clearing blocks is sharing your story with others and realising that you're not alone in feeling like this. You can take this first step by taking part in the poll that I've added to the top of this blog post.

If you want to take a bigger step, share your story with me and with your peers in the comments section: What was the unpleasant past experience that you think may be slowing down your progress? Have you found ways to overcome such blocks that you would like to share with your peers?