35. When anxiety pretends to be an English problem

So I was thinking about this episode and communicate a couple of things that get my attention and which I get a lot, which is when people reach out to me and what they say.

And maybe I feel like all of this information will be of value.

So when people normally reach out to me, they tell me things.

Obviously, they want my support to help them improve their English.

And most of the times this happens when they already have a job.

that requires them to interact with others in their workplace.

And English communication is now something that is expected from them.

Maybe it wasn't before, but now it is.

So it's something critical for them to improve ASAP.

So something I feel like we need to understand here is that they already have the job.

They are not trying to look for the job.

They already have the job and they need to use English.

So that means that they... probably went through a series of job interviews.

I think about that and I'm assuming that most of them went through job interviews where probably their English level was evaluated.

And I say probably because every case is completely different.

Not every time their English level is evaluated.

You know, sometimes English is a part of the role before you apply.

Sometimes it comes later as part of the evolution of the role in and of itself.

So, you know, a new role in the evolution comes with new responsibilities, and sometimes English is included there as well.

Some other times it just comes later in life, in your work life, as a sudden opportunity that maybe these professionals were not even looking for, and it was just handed over to them.

So either way, the part I would like to highlight here is that, and where I want to focus on, is that these people work in places where...

they were most likely exposed to English from before, from before having to speak English.

So maybe they were required to interact with other people around them in written forms.

So sending emails, instant messaging, text messages, creating reports, sometimes in English, sending proposals, preparing quotes for clients or interacting with each other in written forms every now and then or with their clients, right? So what I'm trying to say is that somehow they were exposed to English before they were required to speak the language.

Now they have to speak the language and that's why they reach out to me.