OVERCOMING ‘NOSEBLEED’
People are so afraid to get out of their comfort zones. But you know what we need at a time like this? We need to have a growth mindset. The question is not ‘do I need to do it?’ but ‘why not do it?’ There’s a big difference
Learning English has always been underscored as essential especially in doing business or seeking a job as it is an international language. More so during this time when communication is essential because social distancing has moved us to conduct our businesses or office work through digital means. Hopefully, nothing gets lost in translation as we talk or send messages to our bosses, peers and clients.
We earnestly try to learn new things even, or especially during, pandemic times. Perhaps you’re like me — attending various webinars on digital marketing and graphic design tutorials — just to keep abreast of things in my quarantined world and to make sure I’m still up to date with the goings on of the industry I’m in.
But something that we may have been taking for granted, as we reason out that we’re bilingual speakers to begin with, is the need to brush up on our English. Whether you’re working in a Business Process Outsourcing company or a newbie entrepreneur, say selling succulents or baked treats, it pays to mind your English in particular, and generally, your communication skills.
“Learning English is really a good tool to build your confidence. What I noticed is that when people speak English better, or if they feel that they speak better with it, they seem to be less intimidated by people and more confident to face (Grammar gramma of Facebook) anyone,” says Lilet La Viña, a communications expert and life coach (facebook. com/grammargramma).
“And the other thing that we need to remember is that because of the new normal, a lot of the communication we’re doing right now is no longer face-to-face. It’s either written or you do videos. Even if you can speak Taglish, what’s mostly used in business correspondence and social media captions right now is still English. That’s why you have to own the language as well.”
La Viña shares that in her workshops, she always begins by asking her participants how they feel about someone who speaks in English. “Usually
(teasing) or they say they get ‘nosebleed,’ which means there’s a level of discomfort already. So, negative (already). And yet, we know that English is an integral part of our work life just as much as Filipino is, especially if we want to be professional. In my personal experience, I can really feel that my integrity rises whenever I speak the language.”
Improving the way one speaks or expresses a thought or feeling doesn’t happen overnight. But with some drive and diligence, a learner can create good habits like reading and practicing how to speak every day. Essentially, it is exposing oneself to the language and keeping learning positive and fun so one can adopt one’s learnings to real-life situations as well. This way, speaking and communicating becomes more spontaneous and natural. Though for those who are still not so sure about dealing with strangers (the potential business customers), La Viña suggests coming up with scripts as a tool for breaking that initial shyness.
“Just a word of caution though, the script shouldn’t be something that you read straight when dealing with other people. It should just serve as a guide so that when you’re at a loss for words, you can actually just look at it,” La Viña notes. “The script will serve to remind you of important things that you may need to cover in your conversation with whoever — your boss, a peer, a customer, a supplier. It’s all there in your notes.”
Of course, the path to self-improvement isn’t always easy. It takes hard work or sipag at tiyaga to be good at anything, as La Viña points out. “Learning something new can often be painful. But it’s going through pain with a purpose, really. “People are so afraid to get out of their comfort zones. But you know what we need at a time like this? We need to have a growth mindset. The question is not ‘do I need to do it?’ but ‘why not do it?’ There’s a big difference!” Communication is key now more than ever. Not just to look out for one’s self or one’s enterprise but to give back to the community as well.
“We don’t work to make a living, we work to make a difference,” La Viña shares. And as we are realizing in this new normal, the quest for survival in entrepreneurship isn’t such a lonely journey after all. It takes that proverbial village to be the better person that we can all be right now and beyond the pandemic. Reach out and move others, pay it forward, just as we have been certainly receiving acts of kindness from family, friends, fellow entrepreneurs and co-workers, even people we don’t know.
La Viña borrows an inspiring note from Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for
Meaning, “In his foreword, someone asked him, ‘How do you find happiness?’ and Frankl said, you find happiness when you go out of yourself. Think of whatever you have in you and how it can be used to serve other people. How it’s going to benefit others. And that is what’s going to give you real happiness.” Raring to explore how you can improve your communications skills? La Viña has a webinar today, 15 July, 1 to 3 p.m., titled “Conquering Confusables” (P500 participation fee). To register: bit.ly/
CongConfusables.