Take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, words, and actions.

To take responsibility for your life is to take responsibility for your powers of thinking, feeling, speaking and acting, because this is the structure of all human experience. You create your life with your thoughts, feelings, words, and actions.

You take responsibility when you accept that the thoughts you have, are your thoughts coming from your mind. How you feel happens in your body and is a result of your thoughts. The words you speak come from your mouth and voice. The actions you take, are taken by you.

What this means is that nobody can make you think, feel, say or do anything. Nobody can push your buttons, because you are the button maker! In the same way, you don’t have control over how other people respond as they respond from their mindset.

Dina Marais

We sometimes need to be reminded.

Because two heads are better than one!

Last year, I had the honour of being asked to mentor a budding Business English coach.

And let me tell you, having a mentor is like having a secret weapon in your arsenal.

Of course, you can go it alone. But why not have a partner in crime to accelerate your progress and make the journey way more enjoyable?

My job was to give guidance, advice and feedback to help my mentee reach her goals and aspirations.

I shared my knowledge and expertise to teach her new skills and give her a deeper understanding of the world of language teaching.

And, I provided examples of good practice and encouraged her to adopt these behaviors and attitudes.

My discovery

I found out that mentoring isn’t just about giving advice. It’s also about receiving it.

My mentee taught me just as much as I taught her.

This year, I switched roles and am now working with a mentor myself.

My recommendation

If you’re looking for knowledge, wisdom, experience, advice, and/or support, consider working with a mentor.

Or offer your services as a mentor.

It’s a win-win situation.

Mentoring is a learning curve for both parties involved.

Has a mentor or mentee relationship had a positive impact on your business? 

I’d love to know!

 

Use 10 Minute Mail to keep your personal email address private.

How often have you given out your email address to access websites or sign up for services and then received  a lot of unwanted emails or spam?

10minutemail lets us create temporary email addresses to use instead, so our main one stays safe.

Tell me if it works for you.

When I was young, I remember spending hours huddled around the kitchen table with my father, working on jigsaw puzzles. 

At first, we would carefully sort through the pieces and separate them by colour and shape.

We would start with the edges to build the frame. And then we would work our way in, trying to find the pieces that fit together.

With patience, persistence and skill, we would eventually complete the puzzle and admire the beautiful image that we had created.

Isn’t learning a language a lot like working on a puzzle?

It feels a little overwhelming in the beginning.

But with each new word or grammar point we learn, we move closer to understanding the bigger picture. 

And if we seriously want to improve, there are two things I feel are crucial:

1. Whatever we choose to do, it must be enjoyable. If not, we’re more likely to become frustrated and give up.
2. We need to practise regularly. Consistency is key.

As a regular reader of my Sparks, you are already doing something consistently.

Congratulations.

I used to get nervous about speaking in public, but incorporating tongue twisters into my daily practice helped me build confidence in my speaking abilities.

Tongue twisters might be able to help you, too.

Say the following out loud.

But practise them slowly at first and then gradually increase the speed.

Here are two of my favourites:

• Betty Botter bought some butter
  But she said the butter’s bitter
  If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter
  But a bit of better butter will make my batter better
  So ‘twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
  A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
  If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
  Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

And two new ones:

• Willy watched the waves wash the white wooden wagon.
• Vera visits various villages, viewing various vistas, and voting for various vendors.

(When saying the last two tongue twisters, make sure that the V sound is made with the bottom lip and upper teeth and the W sound is made by rounded lips.)

Tongue twisters are great if you want to improve your pronunciation and fluency in English. 

Reader’s Digest has some challenging ones.

Do you have a favourite?