The Confidence Gap: Why Studying English Isn’t Enough
- William Todd
- 27 ene
- 3 Min. de lectura
Professional English isn’t built in a day — it’s refined through consistent practice and the right support.
If you value clarity, guidance, and practical strategies you can use at work, follow along and explore what I share here:
Many professionals don’t struggle with English. They struggle with using English.
They understand meetings. They write clear emails.They follow complex discussions without a problem.
And yet, when it’s time to speak, something changes.
The words feel slower. The tone feels weaker. The confidence disappears.
This is the confidence gap. It’s the space between what you know in English and what you can deploy in real time.
And studying alone doesn’t close it.
Why Studying English Isn’t Enough (and doesn’t build confidence)
Studying gives you:
Vocabulary
Structures
Awareness
Understanding
All of that matters. But none of it guarantees confidence.
Confidence is not information. Confidence is familiarity under pressure.
You can know exactly what to say and still hesitate. You can understand everything and still stay silent. You can be advanced on paper and invisible in meetings.
Because confidence doesn’t come from accumulation. It comes from exposure. Studying English isn’t enough.
Use is what trains your nervous system
When you speak in English at work, you’re not just choosing words. You’re managing:
Timing
Authority
Position
Risk
Leadership
Your brain is deciding:“Is this safe?”“Is this the right moment?”“What if this sounds wrong?”
Confidence grows when your nervous system learns:“I’ve been here before. I can handle this.”
That only happens through use. Not through another article. Not through another list of phrases. But through entering conversations again and again.
Why so many professionals default to writing
Writing feels controlled. You can edit. You can polish. You can hide uncertainty.
Speaking is exposed. It’s real-time. It shows thinking. It shows leadership.
So many capable professionals end up:
Sending emails instead of speaking
Waiting instead of entering
Explaining instead of positioning
Staying quiet instead of shaping direction
Not because their English is weak. But because their spoken confidence has never been trained.
The real skill is not English. It’s deployment.
At work, English is not about:
Sounding native
Using complex grammar
Knowing rare vocabulary
It’s about:
Entering conversations
Holding space
Reframing ideas
Disagreeing clearly
Closing decisions
Those are leadership behaviours. And leadership behaviours are learned through practice, not study.
Why coaching works differently
Coaching creates structured use.
It gives you:
Real speaking repetition
Language tied to intention, not perfection
Feedback that strengthens authority
A safe environment to experiment
Familiarity with high-pressure moments
You don’t just learn English.You learn how you sound when you lead in English.
That’s where confidence is built.
Confidence isn’t learned. It’s rehearsed in real situations.
You don’t gain confidence by collecting English. You gain confidence by entering situations with English. By speaking. By interrupting. By clarifying. By disagreeing. By deciding. Each time your brain survives a real moment, confidence grows. Quietly. Organically. Reliably.
A tool to help you see how your English actually shows up at work
If this resonates, I created a practical self-reflection to help you notice where your confidence gap lives.
How You Use English at Work: A Practical Self-Reflection is a short document that helps you:
Identify how you really participate in conversations
Notice where writing feels easier than speaking
See whether your English reflects your authority
Understand how pressure affects your clarity
Recognize how much energy your English currently costs you
It is not a test. There are no right or wrong scores. It simply shows you how your English is functioning in real professional moments. It also explains how different coaching approaches support different profiles. This is often the moment where professionals realize: “My English isn’t broken. It’s just underused.”
Download the free guided self-assessment:
Final thought
Studying prepares you. Using transforms you. Coaching guides that transformation. If your English works on paper but hesitates in real life, you don’t need more information. You need structured use.
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