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“I still sometimes falter in trying to find words, but at least now I know my powers.” - Prashant Patel, Contractor.
…After he joined BBR English.
This is the story of Prashant Patel, a 29-year-old Civil Engineer who grew up in the narrow streets of Amoda, Madhya Pradesh.
With five years of experience in water supply projects, he now works in Bhopal as a Water and Sanitation Engineer.
But something has been bothering him for a while now.
He needs help speaking the right words in English with MIS officers, deputy managers, construction managers, contract engineers, subordinates, and storekeepers daily.
Plus, almost 80% of his clients only understand English.
While he can talk to labourers and locals in Hindi, he must also speak English professionally.
Hence, he needed to gain more self-confidence due to a lack of fluency in English.
Read ahead to know more about how a UIT Bhopal graduate conquered his weakness and became a great communicator in his professional and social circles.
Prashant studied in a Hindi-medium school throughout his childhood.
When he entered college, he felt intimidated by the people who were good at speaking fluent English around him.
It started becoming difficult for him to settle into the environment.
Why? Because he struggled with speaking fluent English.
He stopped asking questions if he got stuck somewhere in a subject.
“I would tell myself that I couldn’t do it as I didn’t understand the question because it’s written in English.”
And this intimidation led to his low self-confidence because he thought he could never settle here as he came from a small village.
He carried this lack of self-confidence to the corporate world when he joined a Consultancy as a Quality Control Officer.
He served two years on the job. One day, an incident happened.
He got into a conflict where a Contractor Engineer was applying for a utility bill for a long time, but it wasn’t going through.
Prashant took the responsibility of signing and sending it forward to many districts. But his senior shouted at him for not doing it sooner.
Prashant stayed silent because he didn’t know how to defend himself.
Later, he started working as a Contractor himself in his next job.
It required communicating with many seniors and deputy managers and visiting different sites.
He wasn’t prepared enough to talk in front of bosses, colleagues and an entirely new place where he didn’t know anyone.
And another similar incident happened when he lost his temper while talking to a client.
The argument happened because the client chose a different site for commencing a project - which wasn’t approved.
It escalated to the point that they had to take it to court to settle the issue.
This was a significant position. Prashant was responsible for tackling the entire Sewage Project funded by the World Bank.
If he lost, it could cost him a major chunk of money to settle the claim. Though such a situation never arose because his current senior helped him see through his fear of speaking in front of the judge.
All of this has piqued his low self-esteem because he didn’t know how to communicate effectively.
He needed to improve his communication skills.
He didn’t want to be that underconfident Civil Engineering student again.
He didn’t want his inability to understand questions and problems in English to continue becoming a roadblock on his way.
He didn’t want his emotions to take control of him whenever he was stressed or angry.
Most importantly, he didn’t want to stay silent whenever he had to speak in English in front of anyone!
Why? Because he wanted to understand clients and convince them to bring more business to his company.
And that can only happen by improving his fluency in English and self-confidence.
Since his underconfident nature makes him nervous and silent, he needs help to speak correctly.
He didn’t want his job and company to lose business due to his poor English communication skills.
He wanted to overcome his low self-confidence and find the right words to speak in front of anyone.
Joining BBR English was the right decision for Prashant because he liked the foundation session.
Why? Because BBR English prepared his customized roadmap (with his mentor, Anuradha).
The course helped him achieve his specific goals that checked all his requirements:
Prashant didn’t want to continue feeling at a loss for words anymore. He wanted to be more confident when talking to clients, colleagues, seniors, and friends.
He didn’t want to make a lack of English communication skills STILL an excuse for not taking up a task.
When he was in college, he used to make it an excuse whenever he had to read a Mathematics problem or Physics question in his college classroom.
And it was one blunder that really affected his life.
And his low self-confidence was becoming an obstacle that he wanted to overcome.
Prashant’s biggest weakness was his nervousness when talking to new people.
But what sets him apart is his realization that he needs to be more confident to talk to people.
“Earlier, I used to take a lot of time to overcome a challenge. Now I try to overcome it quicker.”
So, Prashant took his concern to one of his friends, who suggested trying the British Council because they have well-defined courses.
But British Council had group classes to teach English communication.
Prashant wanted a personal mentor who would focus on his problem individually.
Then, he came across a Facebook ad for BBR English
So, he decided to go with it.
So, throughout ten sessions with BBR English, he found exactly what he was looking for:
Here’s how his calibration report looks like:
Prashant started his transformation journey from an underconfident professional.
With BBR English, Prashant gradually explored a hidden weakness and strength through the sessions.
And it all happened with one thing in common - speaking so that the person in front of you understands you. Prashant learnt about:
As he went through the sessions, regular practice and guidance from his mentor kept him on track.
His mentor guided him through the following:
A mock interview helped open him up in front of a new person.
He talked about his challenges, handling difficult situations at work, and resolving conflicts. He learnt to talk about his negative traits in a way that favours him.
It gave Prashant many ideas to weave his weaknesses to his advantage. He tried to overcome the growing insecurities because he thought he didn’t know proper English.
The first assignment taught him the technical things of spoken English - Tenses, Grammar, and Written English.
Prashant was eager to learn and improve effective communication in the workplace. Now, he knows how to deal with different types of people, control his emotions, and non-verbal communication.
His improvement started when he asked questions and shared his opinions upfront with a smile now on his face - an integral part of non-verbal communication.
It was the antidote to his mental block. He judged himself more than others could ever do.
Anuradha advised him to start speech shadowing. Here, he learnt about understanding people by repeating what they said.
His challenge was that he understood words but couldn’t apply them correctly because he got uncomfortable.
To overcome this, he learnt a great way of conquering his fears.
How? He started conversations in English with his family, friends, and colleagues.
Prashant learnt how to improve and overcome his anxiety by getting feedback from his colleagues on the content he prepares for his presentations.
He learnt the power of visualizing scenarios before speaking in public to tackle and answer questions better. He was on his way to building his confidence and eye contact.
Prashant’s performance kept improving from day one. All because of his eagerness to learn and improve his English.
He now knows how to apply what he learned.
Courage lies in realizing where you are at fault, accepting them, admitting them, and then taking the step to overcoming them.
And Prashant took that step with BBR English guiding him throughout his incredible transformation.
Prashant is one of us and a hero. Most of the heroes we come across are from very ordinary places.
Do you also need help finding the right English words to speak because of nervousness and low confidence?
And do you also want to find the reasons behind it to overcome them as Prashant did?
Then, sign up for the foundation session with BBR at only Rs. 499! NOW!
The BBR English courses help you become self-confident and speak fluent English with a personal mentor who understands you and guides you to accomplish your goals.
