He didn’t know the session had started

One of my clients, a managing director on the finance side, used to get restless after about three minutes.

We’d be talking about the weekend or how the quarter was going, and he would shift in his seat and ask if we could start the session.

We had started. And those three minutes were the best English he spoke all morning, because he thought they didn’t count.

The moment something counts, you get careful. Careful English is slower and smaller than the English you actually have.

Quick win: Before your next English call, have one true sentence ready about something other than work. That’s the whole preparation.