“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”
John Steinbeck

Have you experienced this?

If you’re like me, you might go through several days without having one good idea. Perhaps your mind is focused on other things. And then, suddenly, ideas will come to you one after another. 

Ideas need time.

Someone asks, “How are you?”

What do you say?

Do you react automatically with: “I’m fine thanks.” “Not so bad.” “Could be better.” “I’m doing well, thank you.”

Vanessa Van Edwards suggests we ‘break the social script’, and try some funny ways to respond. Especially if we want more fun in our social interactions.

Some ideas for responses

• “Better inside than outside.”  (You might say this if you think you don’t look too good!) Or even, “Better outside than inside”.
• “I still haven’t figured that out.”
• “Amazinggggggg.” Or, “I’m g-r-e-a-t”. (It adds a lovely theatrical touch!)
• “I’m 20 but I feel like 70!” “I’m 50 but I feel like 21”.

And instead of asking, “How are you?” back, try something different.

Some ideas for different questions

• “Have you been keeping well?”
• “Have you been well?”
• “How have things been going for you lately?”
• “What have you been up to lately?”

Do you have any favourite questions and/or responses?

Grandparents are becoming powerful social media influencers?

Surely this can’t be true.

However, according to an article I discovered on axios.com, they are!

Older video creators are “racking up millions of followers”.

Are you surprised?

I was.

I was even more surprised, perhaps a little shocked, to watch some of the video clips to which the articles link.

However, when I read 85-year-old TikToker Gaylynn Baker’s words, I thought, “Why not?“

Gaylynn commented, “I’ve never had such a good time. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be on this planet, but I hope I’ll always be having this much fun.”

Well, if TikTok can change people’s ideas about ageing, it can’t be bad, can it?

What do you think?

 

Would you like to test your English?

Cambridge University Press has two free online tests you might like to try.

General English 
Business English

So how did you do?

‘Revert’ doesn’t mean ‘reply’.

I often read sentences like:

• Please revert with the details as soon as possible.
• Feel free to revert.
• Please revert back to me if you have any questions.
  

Have you seen sentences like these. Or do you use the word incorrectly?

‘Revert’ means ‘to return/go back to a previous state’.

Here’s an example:

Michael said his boss became increasingly depressed and reverted to smoking heavily.

I hope that helps!

 

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan

You’ve been working on your English skills for some time now.

Perhaps you’ve been working with me. Or you’ve been working with another trainer or coach. Or you’ve even been working on your own.

If you ever feel frustrated because you think you’re not making enough progress, try to remember Michael Jordan’s words.

Or just remind yourself that “Rome wasn’t built in a day“. 

Learning a language is a journey.

Quite a  fascinating one, don’t you think?