You’ve probably seen them. Those smug polyglot influencers who claim to speak 8 or 9 languages fluently and swear their “secret tips” will change your life. “Just fall in love with the process,” they say. “Immerse yourself completely.”
It’s enough to make anyone roll their eyes.
If you’re tired of being told to enjoy every second of learning English - or feeling like you’ve failed because you don’t - this is for you. Let’s have a chat about what confidence in English actually looks like.
The Myth of the Perfect Learner
Do any of these sound familiar?
You cringe over tiny mistakes in conversations and feel like everyone noticed.
You beat yourself up for not “making the most” of your time by using English more.
You feel guilty for watching your favourite series dubbed instead of “practising” English.
You avoid speaking up in meetings and then kick yourself for missing opportunities.
This is what happens when we buy into the myth of the perfect learner.
You’ve been told that being good at English means being obsessed with it - always studying, improving, and striving for perfection. But let’s be honest: that’s exhausting.
Confidence in English Is About What Works for You
Here’s the thing: you don’t have to love English. You don’t even need to think about it that much.
Most of my clients aren’t really interested in perfecting every grammar rule or memorising obscure idioms. They want to feel confident in English so they can get on with their lives - whether that’s nailing a presentation, making friends, or just not replaying every word they said in their heads.
Take one of my clients, for example. She was officially “advanced” - top of her class in exams - but she felt invisible at work in her new English-speaking country. While her team got promoted around her, she struggled to make her voice heard.
The solution wasn’t fancy language exercises to keep expanding her vocabulary ever wider. It was practical steps that anyone could do: saying hello to colleagues, making one comment in meetings, sending a short email to her manager.
These small actions didn’t just boost her confidence - they changed her relationship with English entirely. She wasn’t frozen by this myth of perfection anymore. She was just aiming to feel good enough - and she absolutely smashed it.
Confidence Means Letting Go of the Pressure
So, let me be blunt: you do not need to be passionate about English to be great at it.
Getting to a point where you stop overthinking - where you can shrug off a conversation and think, “Meh, it was fine. What’s next?” - is a massive win.
English is just a skill - like any other. No one's pressuring you to fall in love with Excel to use it well enough for work. You don’t need to adore latte art to make a cracking coffee at a café. And you definitely don’t need to obsess over English to build the life you want.
Ready to Build Confidence in English?
If you’re done with the guilt and the endless overthinking, it’s time for a new approach.
Start by downloading The Confidence Uprising - it’s a free guide to breaking out of the “perfect learner” mindset. It’s packed with insights and tools to help you stop overthinking, ditch the pressure, and finally feel confident in your English.
Because confidence isn’t about loving English—it’s about using it in a way that works for you.
Comments