Mastering a Foreign Language: How To Become A Brilliant Speaker, Part 7 of 7

by Teresa Bolen

'You Are What You Believe?'

You're probably familiar with some of these cliche: You are what you eat. You are what you read. You are who you spend time with. There are a lot of ideas and sayings out there about who you are, and although some of them hold a great deal of wisdom, the one that rings true for me is, you are what you believe yourself to be.

Your beliefs about yourself and your abilities are either the dealmakers or the deal breakers.

No matter how great a language program you are in, no matter how hard you try, no matter how many things you do great to master a foreign language, if you don't truly believe you have the ability and the tenacity to do whatever it takes to master the language, you are fighting a losing battle, uphill both ways, barefoot, in the snow.

What you believe and what you expect are going to determine your outcome. This is because what you believe determines what you do. It determines what decisions to make, and what actions you will take that will ultimately lead to your success or lack thereof.

If you believe that you are capable of being a brilliant speaker of a foreign language, and it is something you truly want to do, you will automatically take steps that create that reality for yourself. You will choose certain classes, materials, friendships, practice patterns, strategies and behaviors that make you into a brilliant speaker of that foreign language. The outcome of becoming a brilliant speaker of that language is inevitable! It will be as if being anything less than brilliant mastery isn't even an option for you.

This is one of the main reasons why envisioning your way to fluency as discussed in Part 4 is such a powerful success training tool, because when you use it you are training your beliefs and expectations. You are training yourself to expect the success that you desire and deserve.

What do you currently believe about your ability to master a foreign language? How would you like to see that change? It all starts with you.

Here's to Your Success!

Teresa Bolen

Copyright 2006 by Teresa Bolen. All Rights Reserved.