What's the worst that can happen?
Overcoming the fear of making mistakes
Hello,
Today I’m going to share with you an email I wrote a while ago as part of my other newsletter: “Confident English for Professional Women”.
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Have you ever stopped yourself from saying something in English because you were afraid of making a mistake? Then keep reading!
If you’ve been reading my emails for a while, you may already know that I sing in a choir. (Don’t know what “choir” means? There’s a vocabulary section at the bottom of this email.)
In some ways, learning to sing in a choir is like learning a new language. You practise, you make mistakes, and you improve over time. Making mistakes is part of the learning process.
My choir does three concerts a year and we have rehearsals every Monday evening for a few weeks before each concert.
Our musical director often tells us he wants us to keep singing even if we sing the wrong notes. He tells us that if we make a mistake, that’s good because then he can fix it.
But if we stop singing when we're unsure of the notes, there's nothing for him to fix and he can’t help us.
It's similar when you're speaking English. If you make a mistake, maybe somebody can help you to fix it, like a teacher or a trusted friend. You might even start to notice and fix your own mistakes.
But if you don’t speak because you’re afraid of making a mistake, nobody can help you and you won’t have the opportunity to learn and improve.
Another thing our musical director says is “What's the worst thing that can happen if you make a mistake? You're not going to make the ceiling come crashing down.”
(We sing inside a beautiful cathedral which has stood strong for 900 years!)
What about when you're speaking English? If you go wrong, what's going to happen? Nothing terrible! You're not going to make the building come crashing down.
I know some people will be thinking, “The worst thing that can happen is somebody will laugh at me.”
Let me tell you, we laugh a lot in our choir rehearsals. When it goes wrong, it can sometimes be funny! We laugh at ourselves and the musical director laughs too. But it’s always friendly laughter and not unkind.
Sometimes a student says something funny in a lesson. For example, “kitchen” is a difficult word for some people and it often comes out as “chicken”! That’s funny! I never laugh at my students but sometimes we laugh together! If we can learn to laugh at ourselves, mistakes become a lot less scary.
And yes, there are some horrible and mean people out there who might laugh at you. But I would say that’s their problem, not yours. This is just unkind and stupid behaviour. Don’t let it upset you or stop you from speaking.
So to summarise:
🔹 It’s good to make mistakes because you can learn from them and improve.
🔹 Nothing terrible is going to happen if you make a mistake.
🔹 Relax and learn to laugh at yourself.
🔹 Don’t worry about the idiots who laugh at you unkindly.
🔹 Keep speaking!
Vocabulary
choir = a group of people who sing together, either in religious services or public performances.
rehearsal = a time to learn and practice
ceiling = the surface at the top of a room which you see when you look straight up
cathedral = a large church which is the most important church in the area
See you next week!
Katie
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