Watch this 4-minute long YouTube video of British etiquette consultant William Hanson talking about the new etiquette rules of 21st century living.

Listen to what he has to say about using mobile phones and electronic cigarettes in public—and to his views on social media.

(You don’t always understand what he’s saying? You might like to activate the subtitles.)

What do you think? Can we interrupt a conversation to take a phone call? Should we vape indoors or even check social media when we’re with others? I’d love to hear your thoughts on these topics.
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to vape = dampfen (mit einer E-Zigarette)

Giving general compliments like “great idea”, “good work” or “I love it” might have their place. However, being more specific is so much better for the other person’s ego and for his or her future work.

So instead of telling someone that you loved their presentation, be more precise by pointing out what s/he did well and the value you gained from it.

For example, you might comment on his or her amazing visuals and graphs, and explain how s/he has helped you to finally understand a particular topic.

That way your praise becomes more meaningful—and long-lasting.

Talking about praise, what do you like most about my posts? 😉

Here are some English words that are now used in German. Of course, we just need to add the German infinitive ending ‘-en’!

brunchen – to eat brunch
chillen – to chill out, to relax
downloaden – to download from the internet
toppen – to top, to exceed, to be better
updaten – to update software or data
zappen – to zap from one TV channel to another
tricksen – to trick

Do you have any more to add to my list?

“Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls – family, health, friends, integrity – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.”
Taken from James Patterson’s book “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas”

Don’t we often over-emphasize work?  Of course, it’s important. But so are our health, relationships and personal life.

A question to reflect on: What part of your life means the most to you?

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PS scuffed = abgewetzt, zerkratzt | nicked = eingekerbt | shattered = zertrümmert

Do you start your day off on the right foot?

I drink a glass of water after getting up, go to the bathroom and then either do 15 to 30 minutes of exercises with my Smovey rings, or go out for an hour in the woods with my poles for a round of Nordic Walking. Upon returning, I make myself a green smoothie—and then get down to work.

Do you have a morning routine? If not, you might like to try the SAVERS routine developed by Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning. You decide whether you want to invest 20, 30 or even 60 minutes a day. 

The word SAVERS stands for silence, affirmations, visualisation, exercise, reading and scribing (which is another word for ‘writing’).

S – Practise mindful walking, meditation, reflection or deep breathing for 5 minutes. 

A – Say an affirmation out loud and repeat for about five minutes. This can be an affirmation to improve your health, relationships, confidence, finances and so on.

V – Visualise your greatest goals and deepest desires for five minutes.

E – Exercise by walking briskly or running for 20 minutes a day, to get your heart rate up and your blood flowing.

R – Read anything that might help you to grow personally and professionally for about ten minutes a day.

S – Start journaling for 5 minutes a day, and write down your insights, successes, lessons learned, breakthroughs and so on.

Hal Elrod tell us that we don’t need to do everything in this order—and that we can start with just six minutes a day!

I might even try this out. What about you? Would you like to join me?

 

 

Written mistakes can be easily overlooked, can’t they?

Before sending out a message, you might to give LanguageTool a try. It’s a proofreading tool—available as a desktop app, web service, and browser add-on—that checks your spelling,  grammar, punctuation and style. And it’s not only for English!

How it works

Choose the language you want. And then enter your text in the text field provided.
Any grammatical or spelling errors will be underlined.

If you click on the underlined error, a pop-up window will appear with suggestions for replacing the word or phrase. Click on the suggestion to replace the error with the correct spelling or phrase.

You can also click on the icon at the bottom of the page to see the potential errors LanguageTool has detected and its suggestions.

Would you like to use the tool to improve your writing? If so, do tell me if it works for you.