چگونه از از دست دادن فرصت ها در انگلیسی دوری کنیم

This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 82: “How to Avoid Missing Out on English Opportunities.”

Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, where you’ll finally get real, native English conversation with your hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the ‘English Adventurer’ and Gabby Wallace, the ‘Language Angel,’ from Boston, USA.

In today’s episode you’ll learn how to think about risk in a new way for English learning, international experiences, and a better life

Hi Gabby.

Hey. Hey Lindsay.

How (are) you doing?

Good. How are you?

I’m feeling great. So we just want to start off today’s episode by saying a huge special thanks to Simon who is one of our listeners and friend.

Yeah. Simon.

Thanks Simon.

Thank you.

Also thank you to some of our iTunes reviews from Japan, kai5963, chakostar, hasano724, Akie-yama, Yoshi H, kipplejp, Fernando Forster, and a special thanks for our loyal listener, Yuko and also thank you to Keiko in Japan for a lovely voice message that you left us this week.

We love hearing from you guys. We love you so much, so please keep commenting and connecting with us.

All right. So what are we getting into today Gabby?

Today we’re talking about the cost of avoiding risks. So a risk, right, is something that you don’t want to take because it might be dangerous, right?

Yeah.

Like (um), I don’t know, it’s risky to run because I might hurt my knees.

Yeah.

So therefore, I shouldn’t exercise, right?

Exactly. Well, no, actually no. You’re wrong.

I tricked you. But we’re actually going to share some of our experiences with you guys today about when we confronted risk and we’re really glad that we took a risk because it changed our lives for the better.

Right. And we really hope this will inspire you guys to go ahead and identify what those risks are in terms of your English that you’re not taking and what the cost is of avoiding those risks.

Yeah.

Okay.

And, and our inspiration for this topic comes from an article by Seth Godin and we’ll link to that article in the blog post for this episode.

Yep. So this article came out on January 9, 2014 from Seth. And so the, the question is, (you know), how much does it actually cost you to avoid the feeling of risk. That’s the question that he asked you.

(I mean) it’s, it’s a really interesting question because you might think that you’ll be better off by avoiding anything dangerous, anything risky. Like for me personally, (um) several years ago, I had the opportunity to move to Japan, but (you know), my, my life in the US was pretty good. (You know), I had (um) I actually owned my own condo right.

Wow. Interesting.

Yeah. So I had that investment and I had a good job. (Um) I was teaching Spanish at a middle and high school. (Um) and life was pretty good. I had my friends, (you know), life was fine. So why would I take the risk of (like) leaving all of that and going to Japan?

Why did you?

You know what. I wanted adventure and I wanted to grow as a teacher and as a person just see what’s out there. Sometimes you don’t know exactly what you’re going to find. But you just want to see what’s out there. So I sold my condo. I quit my job. (Um) and I said to my friends, “I’ll see you soon.”

Wow. That was brave!

(Um) yeah and it was the right decision. (I mean) you worry about the risk, but really I learned so much (um), (you know) language, culture. I learned a lot from my job and my colleagues and I, I’m a different, better person for it.

And what would have been the cost of avoiding that risk, of staying home?

Well, my life would’ve been fine. I wouldn’t have had any problem per se. But I wouldn’t be the same person I am now. I wouldn’t have gained the skills that I can share with our listeners. (I mean) not to say, (you know), I’m so great and (you know) I’m… But, but really I feel like I have more to share now from my experience.

Absolutely. So you gotta (got to) listen to that sort of deeper voice inside of you.

Yeah. What about you? I know Lindsay, you have some experience with travel and taking risks.

Yeah. So I also had kind of deeper voice inside of me. I was living in New York. I’d found an amazing rent controlled apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and that was something that you don’t leave when you have that kind of (uh) affordable rent, affordable apartment. But I also had that deeper voice saying I needed to see Latin America.

So I just decided to, (you know), get – not sign my lease for the next year and just go. I took off and I traveled in Latin America for a year and I also wanted to learn Spanish. That was really important to me. (Um) and so I listened to that voice and I did it. But if I hadn’t done it, I would’ve just kept living in that apartment in Manhattan. I still would probably be in that apartment now and I wouldn’t be able to speak Spanish.

Right.

(Um) I wouldn’t have made amazing friendships and relationships in Latin America. And now that I’m back in the US, I can connect with people from those countries on a level that I never, (you know)…would have otherwise.

It’s life changing.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So sometimes taking risks is for the better. And we just want to encourage you guys with your language learning, with your travels, and in your professional life to take some calculated risks.

Right and think about the cost of avoiding that risk.

Right.

Excellent. Thanks Gabby.

Thanks Lindsay.

If you want to put your ears into English more often, be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes on your computer or on your smartphone. Thanks so much for listening and see you next time.