RIP: 4 Habits You Must Put to Rest to Get Recognised in English

On the western side of the earth’s hemisphere night time arrives earlier and days get shorter. In North America, Halloween festivities invite adults and children alike to dress up in costumes to spook, surprise and soothe our restless spirits as the winter draws near.  For costumes the usual suspects are witches, ghosts and gobelins for the sole purpose of fending off or driving away evil.

When it comes to communicating with impact in the workplace, we tend to get comfortable with evil. And driving away the spell is easier than we think.

The name of this evil spirit is called: Habit

Many of my clients fall into the trap of habits they have accumulated over the years. These habits once served the purpose of keeping them safe. When they decide to work with me it’s mainly because they have decided to give their career that competitive edge that will take them further into either changing jobs, getting that promotion, or to be recognised for their skill, personality and performance. Because of these new goals, the habits that once kept them safe are now outdated. They must break these habits on their way out of their comfort zone.

Below is a table of the current habits I’ve observed that stunt growth for impactful communication in English.

The habit of over-analysing	you fail to focus on the conversation and miss keywords that could help you get into the flow
The habit of not revealing ourselves to avoid making mistakes	decreases authentic communication
The habit of not asking for help	deprives you of clarity from the speaker
The habit of seeing yourself as you once were	you fail to see what is possible, you are stuck in your past mistakes

These habits perpetuate the cycle of: “they are out to get me, they are just waiting for me to fail, “my level is too low to speak and be understood”.

I don’t know about you, but habits like the ones above are not attractive and very much scary. In fact so scary that they stop us in our tracks to, you guessed it: to being recognised, promoted and paid. 

It’s time we broke the spell once and for all, don’t you think?

Habits are hard to break which is why 3 times per month a group of like-minded executives come together to transform and anchor new ways of seeing themselves communicate. They do this by:

Setting aspirational goals	To Crush self doubt and trigger new behaviours
Holding each other accountable	To recognise what peer support feels like
Using rituals to cement practice	Daily contact with English becomes pleasurable
Thinking on their feet	To prepare for improvised conversations

Habits can make or break your chance to get paid, promoted and/or recognised. Lay those habits to rest that no longer serve the leader you are becoming. It’s high time to practice thoughts and habits that allow your business voice to be heard in the boardroom. Business doesn’t have time for grammar, so m

Imagine the places you’ll go, the people you’ll meet, the teams that will thrive with your leadership if you could make speaking with impact a daily habit.

It is my mission to eradicate the stigma on imperfect language. For this reason at Boardroom English® leaders build habits that conduce them to decisive conversations with confidence. 

Jim Kwik, Brain Coach for Hollywood says it best:

“First you create your habits, then your habits create you,”

Join us at Boardroom English so you can create new habits and see new opportunities lurking in the most inconspicuous places (see this LinkedIn post

Find out if you apply by sending me an email: contact@leonildarenaldo.com