Excellent Writing Skills

Seven Stages of Effective Communication

What is the whole communication process like? Can we make mistakes at some stages that lead us to misunderstandings?

Research shows that improving communication skills as a staged process let us improve our soft skill, and avoid many conflicts and misunderstandings in our lives.

Here is the scheme of 7-staged process of communication, according to Claude A. Shannon's "The Mathematical Theory of Communication". Let's take a look at seven stages more precisely.

1. The "Source" stage means you! As an effective communicator, you need to be clear about having something important and well-planned to say. Decide what you want to say, and why you think it's important to your partner.
2. The "Encoding" means getting your message across with words. And your partner must be able to "decode" your message and understand you! So, the less confused words, intonations and stresses you use, the less misunderstandings you'll receive at the "Feedback" stage. Brevity, competence with your auditory and cohesiveness might help you with it.
3. You might use different "Channels" to share your minds. Verbal communication, writing, instant messaging have different pros and contras. You should be aware of mismatch of channels between you and your partner: if he expected you to write an email to him, he might be not satisfied with your words.
4. The "Decoding" occurs when your partner receives information from you. First, you need to be assured that he understood you with minimal hitches. Of course, you cannot be absolutely sure, but you don't really have to concern about... Anyway, lacking any background under the chosen topic or using jargon might your partner to get confused.
5. The "Receiver" is your partner or your auditory. People who hear your drawn up message might have a response for you. You need to brush up on your emotional intelligence and empathy as well as rational ideas to improve the response.
6. The "Feedback" is your partner's response for you. The feedback may have different reactions, verbal or non-verbal. It also shows the understanding of your message by your auditory, so you can adapt your speech style or ideas to have better results next time.
7. The "Context" is the situation when you deliver your message. Some kind of personal, political or social environment may influence on your or your partner's minds or words.

Each stage has specific barriers which makes your communication ineffective. For example, lack of planning is fraught with wandering off the topic, and context or cultural mismatch may lead you to misunderstandings. Also, in the wrong context you might get caught on a hop with completely unpredicted feedback!

Understanding the communication process as a process helps you became more capable and efficient communicator. Knowing the reason of problem is the half of the problem-solving process! :)

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Vocabulary

• To get the message across - to let your listeners understand what you're saying.
• To be cohesive - when someone speaks clear and simple to avoid jumping across the subject.
• Brevity, ~ conciseness - it's when someone uses less words to fill more sense with.
• To get caught on a hop - (idiom) if you suddenly find yourself having to answer to the unexpected question or do something you've never done before you're got caught on a hop!
• To drift off (wander off) the topic - to switch the topic to another one. Wandering off topics means you switch between topics uncontrollably.
• To be fraught with something - having the high risk of something to happen.
• A foolproof - a tool that protects something from foolish, risky, or unexpected exceptions.

Basic Tips of Effective Reading

What reading style do we mean as 'effective'? In what cases we apply each of existing approaches?

Sometimes, we have to read many articles or technical documentation when the clock is ticking. Or, we just need to show our "best performance" before annual performance review at work. We always need to stay up to date with new techs and approaches for our work, so learning through reading is essential for us.

As I read many articles about reading & learning strategies, I understood that the reading approach depends on purpose of reading.

• You would probably like to use Speed Reading techniques if you have to cover the main idea of text or don't consider it important at all, and your time is limited.
• If you think that the reading you need to complete looks like a trash for you, here's the question: do you really have to complete it? :)
• If you need to learn by reading learning materials or your text is full with complicated information or professional jargon, you'll probably need much more time than you have to understand the details, and some additional tools like glossary.
• All the cases might demand a free-distraction environment and a mood for reading: if you don't have concentration or desire to learn something, you won't do it well.
• Some materials, such as professional handbooks or scientific articles, provide key information, table of contents, and divided into units/chapters. It makes your reading easier, especially if you're interested in one topic rather than entire article/book.

Generally speaking, each case needs a special approach to handle with.

1. Pushing time conditions and low requirements to your reading result make Speed Reading techniques valuable for you. Speed Reading training increases your performance in reading documents for getting the overall concepts. You won't get any details or ideas from your materials, and probably you'll drop back to your recent activities after, but you'll complete your task as it was requested.
2. Avoiding distractions is important for every style of reading! If you encounter a hurly-burly in your work, it will be hard to tackle your task. If your 'hurly-burly' situation becomes a permanent condition on your work, you'll probably start to turn your reading into going through the motions, so be careful about that!
3. If your task is connected with an area where you need special knowledge, you need a moderate-precise view on your text. But if you do it just once, do you really have to learn it 'from scratch'? Asking proper questions, talking through your task with more experienced people, or reading "general" materials to understand the main idea could be a better way.
4. If you just enjoying reading any entertainment book, you don't have to hurry up or use 'detailed-learning' technique about it. Just enjoy your natural reading style! :)
5. If your task is reading a professional article, you might use its structure to higher your effectiveness. Many articles have their structure to help you decide which part of information is the most important for you: ex. feature articles contains entertaining or background information in their body, and news articles might contain their key points in the introduction.
6. If you're studying something new, it's recommended do not dash and have a mood and inspiration. Even if you don't have to remember details, it's important to read the information slowly and attentively to get the overall concept.
7. If your text contains rare/professional words you don't know, it might be great to use a glossary. You also might create your own glossary with your own words and their definitions.
8. If the most important part of knowledge you've requested is a structure of subject, the table of contents may help. Also, you might create your own table of contents based on what you've learned, to understand the topic better.

As you see, questions "Why?" and "In what time?" might help you to choose the style of your reading. Choosing your proper approach increases your performance, and reduces your effort. I think reading strategies are important part of your working culture and the important part of avoiding information overload as well.

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Vocabulary

• Going through the motions - idiom: it's when you do something you don't actually need, but the result gives your supervisors or colleagues the false impression of your high-performance.
• to shadow someone (at work) - In business language, it's when the more experienced colleague shadows the junior to help him do his job or learn.
• world-weary - a) very experienced (at work), b) tired (figural)
• A threefold ~ "the third side"
• To feel resentful ~ to be upset about something.
• A hurly-burly - it's when people rush into their work/business because they have very limited time but don't have a success because nobody planned it and it caused mistakes.
• to talk through - to talk seriously about something. These talks are aiming to clear out the new way of doing something, or create a new plan.
• to drop back - it's when you've learned something new but came back to the old mindset/lifestyle/working methods.
• to pad something out with - to fill it with useless material or information to make it longer ("They decided to pad their film out with useless love story instead of meaningful action").
• to tackle something - a) to solve (the problem), b) to understand something, c) to do something.

Conscious Competence Ladder: How Your Skills Are Leveled Up

The way you're learning is changing with time.

You can feel yourself different and have different emotions while learning. Have you ever given up on learning because you don't know where you need to move to? Have you ever feel unconfident because you're not sure where your lack of knowledge is? Have you ever feel that you're overwhelming with such amount of information you need to remember? These things slow you down and might change your attitude to the skill you're learning, and make you give up on it.

To explain this and help you to get right ideas from your training, about 30 years ago Noel Burch developed a Conscious Competence Ladder. This ladder contains 4 learning stages:

1. Unconsciously Unskilled - you know nothing about something, and you even don't recognize your lack of knowledge.
2. Consciously Unskilled - you know you are not good at something, but you try to learn new skill to achieve it.
3. Consciously Skilled - you're skilled at something, and you know you're good at it.
4. Unconsciously Skilled - you use your skill or knowledge effortlessly without any struggle or concentration. You might even not think about how you do it, you just do it well.

Different learning stages require different approaches for learning.

• Unconsciously Unskilled people feel that they have 'lack of knowledge' somewhere, but they don't know how huge the gap is. If this skill is required, ex. at work, they can be conscious and aware of the result, but they simultaneously feel that 'something is wrong'.
  To move out from this stage, you might need to analyze yourself. What are your weaknesses? What's the real origin of your feeling of lack? The answers of these questions might be difficult to find and hard to accept, but you really need to do this to start your learning being honestly about your real 'starting point'.
  So, learning about yourself is the best learning you can perform at this stage.
• Consciously Unskilled people usually worry about how much they can't do. If someone around them do this work without any struggling Consciously Unskilled people might become envious at them. Faults and failures can make them to give up. If the Consciously Unskilled person is perfectionist he might blame himself for his lack of skills.
  It is extremely important to stay positive and don't judge yourself for your failures. Also, it's pretty difficult to be a 'noob' around your skilled colleagues or teammates, and this is an issue for your mentor to show you your personal way of acquiring the new skill without any comparison with much more skilled opponents.
  Your special way of learning is very important at the beginning. Don't give up on it and stay positive about the result.
• Consciously Skilled people feel themselves confident when they're concentrating on their skill. They need to be vigilant about the way they do something and about the result as well. This might be exhausting and lead to burnout, especially when your 'conscious skill' is related to your job.
  To avoid burnout and exhaustion, you need to boost your confidence about your results and quality of your work. You need to turn your concentration issues into your natural activities, and you won't concentrate on them any more.
  You need to improve your skill from 'strong' to 'natural'.
• Unconsciously Skilled people feel comfortable with the skills they're strong at. But even now they may encounter some existential questions like "What have I achieved this for?". In addition, they might feel a lack of communication because they desire to share their experience, but there are no one to share experience with.
  To overcome these natural consequences of your expert skill level, you need to seek the way you can share your knowledge and experience with other people. You can be an expert or mentor on your job; you can also become a teacher or a trainer, or share your experience by personal blog or volunteering. The communication network is important for you, and you need to have people who desire to acquire this skill and ready to learn from you.
  So, teaching someone is the best way you can improve your skills at this stage.

Speaking to myself, I think most of my skills are at 2nd and 3rd levels. There are skills I'm strong at, and there are skills I'm just starting to learn. And there's some knowledge that I would be pleased to share. I implement my desire by posting some thoughts and ideas here, on Smartprogress.

Learning Styles: Expanding The Way You Learn

You may be encountered with the case when you don't grasp any idea from your course, classmate or teacher. You also may struggling with some courses in spite of your prerequisites and/or your readiness to learning.

That could be a result of your learning style incompatibility.

Many courses and learning programs have the preferable learning style, and participants are recommended to follow. It must be your criteria when you choose the course. Also, you may need to discover what learning style is preferable to you, so you can seek the course which is preferable to you according your learning style!

Dr. Richard Elder and Barbara Soloman (North Carolina State University) developed a Learning Styles model which help people to define their preferable learning style. It has the next four dimensions of learning styles:

You can also complete the test to discover your learning advantages here. And there are some explanations of your results.

You can see my results here.

Here's the summary I provide to myself:

1. I'm a reflective learner. That's why I prefer to think about something rather than just doing it, and that's why I prefer working alone even if I do something in a group.
   On the other side, this cause a lack of actions, when I think about them too long.
   I need a time to review and reconsider ideas I've got from my learning. Time for considering, taking notes, and reviewing is as important as reading/writing as well.
   (that's why I feel myself comfortable when I write long posts: this helps me to review and reconsider the subject).
   The solution for a lack of actions may be involving myself into the group decision-making and trying to apply my theories by the most practical way, if possible.
2. I am an intuitive learner. Possibilities, global opportunities and applications of the new knowledge are more preferable for me than facts and/or data. That's why I love creating, discussing and working on theories and patterns of doing something. I also love innovations and criticism on the existing work or theory.
   If I need to do something typical I sometimes fill confused about it, because there's no freedom to be innovative :) Also, overemphasizing intuition may lead to making and missing mistakes in routines.
   As an intuitor, linking new ideas with facts and possibilities is important to me, simple memorizing causes boredom. I need to be careful with tests and another competitions because I'm really impatient with details :) (that's why I hate tests!)
3. I'm a visual learner. This means I usually grasp the information by pictures, presentations, graphics, and so on. Actually, I don't feel confused when I encounter a ton of text, but I really feel boring when there's a ton of speech instead :)
   Even if the course is not friendly for 'visuals', I need to find some visual representation of the content. Using tools like video/audio, highlighting text by marker, concept maps and schemes may help. And, to be more effective in getting the information by words, I should practice speaking with people about the subject I'm learning, and hear them.
4. I'm a global learner. I like 'jumping' from subject to subject in my learnings, and most of my ideas I achieve by inspiration, not by clear memorizing. And I find important the 'big picture', so when I get it, I'll fill in all details. 'Run when can't walk' situation is fairly common for me, especially when I caught the big idea but forgot about details :)
   And for me, having the light bulb goes on is the only way to do something. If I have no inspiration, no mood, and no reasons for sudden bewilderment, it's very hard for me to learn and act, even if I have required knowledge and skills.
   The issue for me is getting 'the big picture' faster. In first, I need an overview of what I try to read, write or understand: it can be done by annotation, briefing, or some preparations before the main work. In second, I need to have enough time to consider on the large block of work and link the skill\knowledge with what I already know. In third, I should be in a good mood to do something, so I need to care about it.
   My 'run when can't walk' idea might also have the solution of following exact steps for solving problems, without any 'jumps' between them. This helps my 'big picture' ideas to be systematical and sequential, so I can provide powerful results by logic and inspiration.

You could make your own summary and share your results and ideas in the comments! Thank you! :)

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Vocabulary

• To grasp, ~to learn - to understand something.
• A bewilderment, ~a perplexity, ~ an amazement - this is a feeling when you don't understand something but it looks cool to you :)
• The light bulb goes on - (idiom) when you've just found the solution despite that you haven't even understand before how it works.
• To be fuzzy about something - do not have the exact understanding of something.

Could you help me please? In the test question 37, I've encountered next expressions: "I am more likely TO BE CONSIDERED OUTGOING" and "I am more likely TO BE CONSIDERED RESERVED". I haven't found their meaning yet. If you were me, how would you understand these expressions?

Well... I guess I have no inspiration today. I feel blue and sleepy :) I've read many articles to encourage myself, and found them useful, but I still haven't got any idea to share. However, I have prepared a large vocabulary for you! :)

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Vocabulary

*A drawback, ~a disadvantage, ~a flaw - your 'contra' against your possible deed or decision.

*A flaw is a disadvantage. That's why 'flawless' means 'perfect'.

*a lag, ~a freeze, - a delay between the action and the result.

*If the latter ~in the last case - a formal expression to talk about the last thing you've said before. For example, you've said something about apple and orange. If you want to say the next sentence about oranges, you can begin with "If the latter, ..."

*To get the most out of - idiom: to get the maximum from something, ex. from learning.

*Insightful, ~astute - a person who have right reasons and concequences of any action, is usually insightful.

*Insightful #2 - meaningful, purposeful.

*to stick to something ~to adhere - when you have the schedule you usually stick to it to reach all the goals you've planned there.

*A slew of - a mass of things you find difficult to deal with.

*A commute time - a time you spend on your journey between locations, such as the way from home to work, travelling from one country to another, etc.

*long-lasting - if your goal aims something which important to you for a long time, your goal is long-lasting.

*to set aside some time - if you need a time to do something, you usually set aside the exact amount and the date of start.

* to read up on smth - idiom: to learn something by reading, For example, reading a document to learn something more about your work means you read up on your work.

* to be firm - it's like to be confident.

* genuine - true.

* To opt, ~to pick, ~to decide, ~to prefer - when you prefer something you opt it. Also, 'opting' means you choose both the action and its condition, ex. if you're opting your learning, you also choose when will you learn it.

* To tick off - idiom. #1 'To tick someone off' means 'to get him angry/annoyed'. #2 to complete an item of a list, or mark it as completed.

* 'To feel a little slow straight after lunch' means you feel sleepy and definitely not ready to work :)

* buzzing with energy - (idiom) to be filled with energy.

* time-poor - a person who don't have enough time to anyway is time-poor.

* to dig down - idiom: to spend one's money. #2: 'to dig down through something' means 'getting through something in your way'.

* to be savvy, ~to be shrewd - to be perceptive and well-informed.

* A hindrance, ~an obstacle - something which don't let you to do something.

9/11: In Memoriam

Yesterday I've refused to say what I don't like in Belarus because it is filled with negativity and could be inappropriate to read.

That's a real pity that today I went to the Belarussian newsfeed tut.by and noticed this and this. The original article was accorded to 9/11 museum, and nothing foretold troubles I guess...

LOOK AT THOSE FUCKERS! this is what I really hate in Belarussian and Russian people. And I am really proud that I decided to leave them.

Sure, they just follow the instructions from the Russian government as we all know. But you know what? It becomes even more disgusting when you realise that governments of Russia and Belarus are full of bastards who are really pleased with such tragedies just because they're American :), and our people even support them!

I hope I won't include any Russian/Belarussian disgusting things into my posts any more.

*Nothing foretold troubles - an idiom: it's when you thought the situation couldn't cause a bad ending but it happened.

Yesterday I watched this amazing video about immigrants' feelings in the U.S.

The questions they were answering sounded intriguing for me. So, today I'm going to share my answers to you!

I'm not an immigrant right now, but I hope I would be him one time :) (And yes, the U.S. is my aim to move to!)

Q: Are there any things that you don't understand about Americans?

A: Well... the Americans aren't the people who you can entirely describe by ideas or misunderstandings, there's so many people from other countries and nations, and that is what I love them for! I can't just judge Americans and apply stereotypes on them, and there's no things I get confused about. But... you know, I've encountered some immigrants' points of view when they regret they moved into the U.S. (even under this video on YouTube). Aaand... I always have a question for them why they just moved to the USA if they're not satisfied? :)

Q: Has coming to U.S. helped you to grow as a person?

A: I've already grown as a person in comparison with the last year, for an example :) And ... you know, I prepare myself to jump over my limits when I move to the USA! I think moving to America (if I get it done somehow) is the perfect boost for my self-development progress! :)

Q: Have you been teased for being an immigrant?

A: Could we start with the OUTSTANDING fact that I am AlREADY being teased for decision of immigration by Belarussian people who don't understand me and think I'm a 'traitor'? :)
Generally speaking, I don't think that teasing someone is the big deal. OK someone disrespect you because you were born in the other country... Well, how about millions of people (~350M or so) who respect you wherever you were born? Why should you communicate with toxic people if your actual choice is so wide?

Q: Have you been ashamed for your own country?

A: YEAH, I DO! I believe I'm supposed to criticise Belarussian governement and society, but I won't do it. I'll just say I HATE post-soviet principles in our society and I'm so tired from lie, propaganda and totalitarism, so I just seek the way out :)
To be honest I've given up on Belarus long time ago. I do not feel Belarus can give me something I can't achieve somewhere else. Well, I agree with the Belarussian speaker in the video, and I seek freedom in the U.S, like she was.

Q: Have you ever feel like you abandoned your family and friends?

A: I think when I abandon my Belarussian life the answer would stay NO. Firstly, I don't really think I should miss people who haven't wanted me to improve my life :) Secondly, I wouldn't miss those people who I would continue to chat with! Come on, people, there's so many messengers, and there's a FACEBOOK, how could you miss someone if you just can write him every time! :)))

Q: Are you proud of who you are right now?

A: Even when I'm in Belarus I'm really proud of who I am right now. But hey, there's much room to grow, and I suppose in the U.S. I'll overcome the peaks I've never dreamed about in Belarus!

Using Your Trainings And Courses Effectively

Courses, trainings and other educational tools such as university programs help us strengthen our knowledge, career, and self-confidence. Our world offers us so many courses, and it's easy to get lost. So, we may need help to choose wisely what do we need and how are we going to use the new skills.

The next ideas can help you to choose the course, work on it, and graduate successfully.

• Learning should NOT assume just for learning. Yes, learning drains your money, time and life energy, and if you're just learning from one course to another without any specific application for your knowledge, you get nothing as the result! Learning should open your opportunities for doing: that's what you learn for! Does your training assume any doing as your result? :)
• Think about the purpose of your learning. WHY are you taking this course? Will it really make you smarter or self-confident? Will it help to reach your aims on your career or promotion? Could it be that you're just seeking your hobby, and you actually don't know what else you're interested in? Do you have clear objectives for this course?
• The good question is why are you taking THIS course? Will it complete your objectives? If you had a freedom to choose, which courses/educational programs would help you to get the best results for the least money? Are they better or worse than courses you've chosen before you considered it? Is your chosen course is credible enough? Also, there are options and terms of use which we can review and decide about the accordance between them and our learning objectives.

I'm saying that because you may take many trainings because you just have to. Or... you're just assured you have to. If you have a career goal and believe that only THAT training can satisfy your boss' demands on you, you may lose opportunities that actually are more valuable for you. On the other hand, you can just feel bored and take some courses just for fun, even when they're just don't satisfy your purpose and your goals, but drains your money and energy. Anyway, that's the reason to reconsider it, if you are not sure about your objectives.

• Taking an active role in your learning may help you to get the best results from the course.
  Usually, you have a teacher/trainer, your classmates and yourself as resources for your learning. But no one except you knows what you really need to learn! And no one can help you with that until you tell them your wishes! :) Well... that's where communications have value to the quality of learning!
• Feedback is the common way to get knowledge from your classmates and teacher. It improves your learning experience by exchanging ideas and points of view, and by giving suggestions as well!
• Using right learning tools for your needs is very important. There's no value in using the tool which isn't do what you want it to do. As an example, if you need to practice your skill, you could choose practice-oriented classes instead of theoretical-ones :) However, if you're learning skills which needs strong theoretical basis and practical experience, you must choose wisely between theory and practice, and do not ignore either of them!
  Also, you can use here tons of methodologies, like system thinking, critical thinking, Mind Maps (TM), etc. Each of them can help you to get better results from your learning.
• For the application of your new skills, you need to have a plan for after a course. What are you supposed to do after it ends? Will it make any changes to your career or your entire life? Are there any specific things you need to have/know after ending of the course? Are there any follow-up training programs of this course? Are there any opportunities to teach your new skills to others?
  If there's no actual proposition for your new skills, it would be forgotten pretty fast.

The effective learning is a part of your proactive way of life. That's the way you change your life! There are many ways to choose what do you need to learn and how will you learn it. So you need to consider it, meet your exact needs and choose wisely.

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Vocabulary (you may add your explanations and other words of this post!)

• A follow-up training program - the training program you can take after you've completed your current course.
• To retain, ~to preserve, ~to maintain - to hold someone from mistake.
• A credibility, ~ trust, ~persuasiveness - a trait that makes the people trustworthy and look competently in business.

Learning From Your Mistakes

Yes, our mistakes aren't pleasant deed of ours. We always suffer from them and feel a rush of panic when we fail something. There's unpleasant, but good opportunity to learn something from it.

What is the mistake? Is it truly equal to failure?

The answer is 'no'. A failure is the result of a wrong action, while the mistake is this wrong action ifself! So, failures are related to consequences of what you did, and mistakes are related to reasons you did it and to the exact way you did it.

Does it make any difference? By this difference, you can apply different approaches to learn from mistakes and failures and to handle them as well!

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Here are 5 steps to help you to have a lesson from your mistakes:

1. The most difficult beginning is admitting your mistake/failure. If you confessed that YOU did it, you automatically gain an opportunity for fixing and/or preventing it in the future.
   There's a common problem here which is called 'the blame game'. Most people don't like admitting their mistakes, and they use more comfortable way of hiding the mistake/failure or blaming someone else for it. People who were blamed blame the blamers :))) in the process of the game, and that's carrying on recursively until the end :) The 'loser' in this 'game' - a person who has given up on blaming the opponent - should confess (even when he didn't make that mistake) and fix that instead of letting the right person do something to handle.
2. The way you react to your mistakes is the other important point here. So, you should improve it to get your lesson from your mistake. Do you usually reflex reactively - blame only the external factors and think your mistake is your 'doom deed' for what you'll be fired and burn in the Hell? :) However, you can just react proactively, with your 'growth' mindset, and think about a way you can change your approach on your activities to not repeat this.
3. Analyzing your mistakes is the next step of handling or not repeating them. What reasons caused your mistake? Why your way you were doing something caused the wrong consequences? Are there external factors which you couldn't handle with?
   The important thing here is the role of factors of your mistake/failure. Yes, sometimes there's something you just can't handle with - ex. your boss was wrong. You're not responsible for what other people do. But changing the factors you're responsible for is the great way for you to not repeat your mistake.
4. Putting the lessons you've got into a practice is your way to change. If you've analyzed your mistake carefully, you may have noticed you have many issues in your work and/or behavior patterns. And, you may have a temptation to make a 'quick fix' for them - DON'T DO IT! 'Quick-fixing' something now may cause you to make much more bigger failures in the future, when your 'small' issues stay unresolved and become 'big' as the result!
   If you need to fix the mistake/failure you've done, that's the right time to show the way you change! If someone blames you and even punishes you (it might be your boss), he probably needs to get some guarantees you won't repeat your mistake. So, you can involve him and someone else (ex. your colleagues) to help you to fix that as fast as possible, and help them to understand your 'new' way of working! (your boss can also review your 'new way' and help you by giving his feedback!).
5. Reviewing your progress might be your personal feedback. Do you apply your new approach correctly? Are there any opportunities to make it better? Do people think you still make mistakes? Why?.. :)

Some cultures, like Belarussian or Russian ones, just don't let mistakes/failures to exist, by 'blame game' and immediate severe punishment for every error in your life. So, people see the link between their mistake and their punishment, and they believe it can't be broken, from the birth (parents) to death (bosses, spouses, state, police etc.). That's why hiding mistakes or blaming others is common in our countries, and admitting mistakes with changing your way to do something you're mistaken in is a pretty rare event in our life!

And that's why the first thing you need to change in you while naturalizing in mistakes-friendly culture (ex. the American one) is letting your mistakes be the part of your life and your opportunity to learn something useful from it.

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Vocabulary (you may add your explanations and other words of this posts!)

• carry on = continue (not carry-on! That's bags which you have while travelling :) )
• foster, ~encourage, ~favor - promoting someone to better results
• to pinpoint, ~to sharpen, ~to emphasize - to show someone something with the detail point of view.
• to feel a rush of panic - when you've been mistaken or failed, you begin to think you're doomed, and you may do some stupid things trying to fix quickly what you did :)