You’re not sure what to write in a birthday message to a colleague, customer or business partner?

Try one of these messages:

• I wish you a happy birthday and many happy returns of the day.
• Happy birthday, dear (name). Enjoy your special day with your loved ones.
• Have a wonderful birthday and year ahead!
• Wishing you health, happiness and pleasant surprises on your special day.
• Wishing you health, happiness and good luck for the coming year.
• Count your life by smiles. Not tears. Count your age by friends. Not years. May this day bring you all the things that make you smile. Happy Birthday!

Do you have a favourite birthday message, you’d like to share with us?

“Intelligent people know they are intelligent. They also know that one person cannot know all, hence a person is not stupid simply because he is ignorant of one thing or another. They know that, to another intelligent person, they will not appear stupid in asking for an explanation of what they do not know, and so their ignorance on any particular issue does not become an embarrassment.”
Lynsay Sands, Love Is Blind

According to experts, you don’t need to have a high IQ to be considered a highly intelligent person. 

There’s more to it than that. 

Here are a few signs of an intelligent person.

Do you have any to add?

What are brain teasers exactly?

They’re a form of puzzle that tests people’s thinking and problem-solving abilities.

They are sometimes used for assessing a number of necessary worklace skills.

Interviewers might want to see if a candidate can think logically and creatively, and deal with a difficult situation under pressure.

Here’s a simple one:

“Carol’s mother has 4 children. The first is called April. The second May. And the third June. What’s the name of the fourth child?”

Please write to me if you can’t solve it.

Do you spend a lot of time sorting your LEGO bricks before starting to build? 

Then you might like this Lego vacuum cleaner.

Is it an unnecessary invention? What do you think?

I start writing my ‘Sparks’ directly on the computer.

It’s very rare that I write something and post within minutes.

I reread my text. Perhaps I add a sentence here and there. And sometimes I delete text.

To tell you the truth, I do this many times. Until I’m satisfied. 

Copywriter Eddie Shleyner has a great tip. He nearly always gives himself a deadline.

Perhaps it’s something I could try out. Or perhaps you’d like to, too. Especially if you take a long time to write. Like me!

Do you use workplace jargon and phrases like the ones in the picture or the title here?

According to studyfinds.org, in a survey of 2,000 remote and hybrid workers commissioned by Slack and conducted by OnePoll, two-thirds of the workers stated that they disliked their colleagues using workplace jargon.

Respondents found the following phrases overused or bothersome:

• ASAP (15%)
• Keep me in the loop (15%)
• Just checking in (14%)
• Team player (14%)
• Give 110 per cent (13%)
• Sorry for the delay (13%)
• New normal (13%)
• No worries (13%)
• Touch base (13%)
• Think outside the box (13%)
• Loop me in (13%)
• Back to square one (13%)
• Circle back (13%)
• There’s no I in team (13%)

I try not to use these phrases because many non-native speakers of English might not understand them.

You can avoid these phrases by learning to use clear English.

An example. Instead of saying:

“We need to get back to square one”

you can say:

“We need to go back to the beginning”.

It makes it easier for everyone to understand!