A reminder that LEARNING is a natural process for humans.
Your eagerness to learn new things, your curiosity, your spark, your interest in new things is your aliveness.
You can replace an old pattern at any age.
You can learn a new skill at any age.
And you don’t need to wait for your life to get easier to begin.
A lot of people tell me that learning a new skill when their life is already full feels unmanageable. They think a new skill will ask for more discipline. But they’re so busy in life that adding more discipline to a life with very little rest feels impossible.
Learning requires curiosity and eagerness to experiment and maybe be a fool for a while.
The real discipline you need is your commitment to live up to your own potential and embrace more of who you can be.
This is what drives me.
What else am I meant to do in this life? What else am I capable of? What else is aligned with who I am?
Your eagerness to learn new things, your curiosity, your spark, your interest in new things is your aliveness.
You can replace an old pattern at any age.
You can learn a new skill at any age.
And you don’t need to wait for your life to get easier to begin.
A lot of people tell me that learning a new skill when their life is already full feels unmanageable. They think a new skill will ask for more discipline. But they’re so busy in life that adding more discipline to a life with very little rest feels impossible.
Learning requires curiosity and eagerness to experiment and maybe be a fool for a while.
The real discipline you need is your commitment to live up to your own potential and embrace more of who you can be.
This is what drives me.
What else am I meant to do in this life? What else am I capable of? What else is aligned with who I am?
❤1
https://youtu.be/md_1zMlaxlE
A reminder for you - the things you want to pay attention to.
A reminder for me - how much my English has changed over the last 3 years!
A reminder for you - the things you want to pay attention to.
A reminder for me - how much my English has changed over the last 3 years!
YouTube
A short exercise with "Booksmart". Develop the habit of checking understanding and stop guessing
Follow along, and in 9 minutes we'll do an exercise to improve your listening skills, and I'll show you the fundamental skill of "checking understanding".
If you find yourself guessing what people say, start a practice routine to learn to HEAR what people…
If you find yourself guessing what people say, start a practice routine to learn to HEAR what people…
“My IQ drops to fifty the second I walk into that room.”
A client told me this last week. She is a native Russian speaker and runs investor relations at a VC in London. She’s sharp, capable, and very smart. Her English is good.
But then someone asks the real, uncomfortable question — about big money, the one she couldn’t have scripted for — her English is gone.
Here’s what happens in that moment:
While the investor is still talking, she’s running a second conversation underneath the first: Do I look competent enough? Smart enough? Strategic enough? Do I sound like someone they’d trust with this much money? She isn’t only speaking for herself in that room — she’s the face of the company. So every bit of attention goes to monitoring how she’s landing, and there’s none left for the answer.
So the sentence doesn’t come. Not because she doesn’t have it. She has the right sentences an hour later, and even three better versions of what she should have said. But in the moment that mattered, there was no room to reach it.
She doesn’t have the language problem. She doesn’t need more English.
She had the English. She needed to access it while someone was looking at her.
And she’s spending everything she has on not looking like she’s struggling.
I’m not surprised that her English disappears under that load. I’m surprised that she’s expected to survive untrained.
The work she needs to do is not learning more vocabulary. She needs to learn to keep her attention on the person in front of her instead of only on herself.
Spontaneous speech is trained, not studied.
You’ve been taught to correct language mistakes. You spent years fixing your English.
But what fails you in rooms like that is not grammatical errors but lack of awareness of your own speech. Your speech doesn’t need to be corrected. It needs to be trained so people can see YOU in it.
Train the speech. Start here.
P.S. if you want my eyes on your situation, send a DM with a voice note. I’ll listen and direct you to the training/exercise that YOU need the most.
A client told me this last week. She is a native Russian speaker and runs investor relations at a VC in London. She’s sharp, capable, and very smart. Her English is good.
But then someone asks the real, uncomfortable question — about big money, the one she couldn’t have scripted for — her English is gone.
Here’s what happens in that moment:
While the investor is still talking, she’s running a second conversation underneath the first: Do I look competent enough? Smart enough? Strategic enough? Do I sound like someone they’d trust with this much money? She isn’t only speaking for herself in that room — she’s the face of the company. So every bit of attention goes to monitoring how she’s landing, and there’s none left for the answer.
So the sentence doesn’t come. Not because she doesn’t have it. She has the right sentences an hour later, and even three better versions of what she should have said. But in the moment that mattered, there was no room to reach it.
She doesn’t have the language problem. She doesn’t need more English.
She had the English. She needed to access it while someone was looking at her.
And she’s spending everything she has on not looking like she’s struggling.
I’m not surprised that her English disappears under that load. I’m surprised that she’s expected to survive untrained.
The work she needs to do is not learning more vocabulary. She needs to learn to keep her attention on the person in front of her instead of only on herself.
Spontaneous speech is trained, not studied.
You’ve been taught to correct language mistakes. You spent years fixing your English.
But what fails you in rooms like that is not grammatical errors but lack of awareness of your own speech. Your speech doesn’t need to be corrected. It needs to be trained so people can see YOU in it.
Train the speech. Start here.
P.S. if you want my eyes on your situation, send a DM with a voice note. I’ll listen and direct you to the training/exercise that YOU need the most.
👍4
Anyone can get lucky one time.
I don’t play for the outcome. I play to master the process.
And I PLAY!!!
I don’t study hard. I don’t stretch my limits. I don’t exhaust myself with practice. I PLAY!!!!
I love to play.
I want to master the process so I get do a handstand split again. So I can bake yummy, healthy bread again. So I can run 10k again. So I can speak with the American accent tomorrow again (not only when my coach is watching and correcting every sound).
I want to be able to do it again.
Not by accident.
Not because i was lucky.
Not for the show or an exam.
But whenever I choose. Whenever I want. Whenever I decide.
That’s why I practice and play.
If you don’t have the skill in the most mundane moments, you won’t have it in the moments when stakes are high.
And MESS - please normalize it! It’s part of the process. Part of the PLAY.
Don’t try to get rid of the mess. Play with it.
Welcome it. Trust in yourself grows out of your increased capacity to tolerate your own messiness and the mess that’s ingrained in the process.
Enjoy your practice today.
I don’t play for the outcome. I play to master the process.
And I PLAY!!!
I don’t study hard. I don’t stretch my limits. I don’t exhaust myself with practice. I PLAY!!!!
I love to play.
I want to master the process so I get do a handstand split again. So I can bake yummy, healthy bread again. So I can run 10k again. So I can speak with the American accent tomorrow again (not only when my coach is watching and correcting every sound).
I want to be able to do it again.
Not by accident.
Not because i was lucky.
Not for the show or an exam.
But whenever I choose. Whenever I want. Whenever I decide.
That’s why I practice and play.
If you don’t have the skill in the most mundane moments, you won’t have it in the moments when stakes are high.
And MESS - please normalize it! It’s part of the process. Part of the PLAY.
Don’t try to get rid of the mess. Play with it.
Welcome it. Trust in yourself grows out of your increased capacity to tolerate your own messiness and the mess that’s ingrained in the process.
Enjoy your practice today.
New YouTube video is out 🎥
Everyone Says Your English Is Great. So Why Does It Feel Wrong?
If you've ever felt that your English is "good enough," but still doesn't feel like you, this one's worth watching.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8WuZHHVYGU
Everyone Says Your English Is Great. So Why Does It Feel Wrong?
If you've ever felt that your English is "good enough," but still doesn't feel like you, this one's worth watching.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8WuZHHVYGU
YouTube
Everyone Says Your English Is Great. So Why Does It Feel Wrong?
Here is how you can start practicing differently - toward authentic expression in English:
FREE:
Join my Telegram channel https://t.me/nativelikefluency
Free course: 9 Essential Skills to Get to Native-Like Fluency in English
https://nataliatokar.me/9skills…
FREE:
Join my Telegram channel https://t.me/nativelikefluency
Free course: 9 Essential Skills to Get to Native-Like Fluency in English
https://nataliatokar.me/9skills…