The existence of this blog entry is purely down to a spillage of fabric conditioner.  When Sarah got a new toaster recently (thanks to the said spillage being over her old one) she noticed that it has a pause button on the side.  A very useful feature indeed as fellow toaster-users will undoubtedly agree!  It’s almost up there with the live-pause feature on her satellite TV; the pause on her iPod; the automatic engine cut-off on her car that kicks in when the car’s at a standstill…  In fact, when you look around you spot all sorts of features and gadgets that have some type of pause button on them that are designed to help; and we use them all the time! 

But how often do we activate our own personal pause button and give ourselves time to think and to help ourselves?  We reckon that if everyone paused to think a bit more often, more goals would be achieved and the metaphorical toast wouldn’t be burnt so often! 

Imagine what could be better for you, your team or your business if you paused to think… then ask yourself when you’re going to take that pause.

It always amazes us what personal revelations our training course delegates have when they’re with us.  Last week’s ‘Presenting without the L-Plates’ course at the National College was a prime example.  We started the two days with 4 nervous and reluctant presenters and ended with them stating:

“Wow!  After all these years, I’ve realised it’s not presenting I hate, it’s reading from a script”

“I reckon I could do stand-up comedy”

“I’m going to find more opportunities to present”

All because we stretched them, built their confidence and gave them some cool techniques to try. 

Which begs the question – if you stretched yourself or your team a little bit more, what revelations might you have? 

We’ll leave that thought with you…

So why would you want to improve your vocabulary?

Well you’ve probably been judged by your vocabulary many times this year without even knowing it!  Whenever you speak, people instantly use your language to gauge how educated, competent and successful you are.  So it’s not surprising that studies show that a powerful vocabulary is directly linked to status, success and income.

What do the experts say?

“English vocabulary level has been shown to be strongly related to educational success. In addition, it is related to the level of occupation attained”. Bowker, R. (1981)

“A rich vocabulary is a valuable asset and an important attribute of success in any walk of life….” Elley, W.B. (1988)

“An extensive knowledge of the exact meanings of English words accompanies outstanding success in this country more often than any other single characteristic we have been able to isolate and measure.” O’Connor, J. (1934)

Well, there appears to be overwhelming evidence that a rich vocabulary may help your lifestyle!   So how can you go about improving yours?  Well, we Rambutans have thought of a few ways of doing just that, so read on…

In no particular order:

• Dictionary – pick a new word every day/week, learn it, understand it and use it often
• Terry Pratchett books – learn how to use words to create images
• Reading a quality newspaper – when you come across a word you don’t understand, find out its meaning and use it often in your own conversations
• Software – type ‘vocabulary improvement’ into Google and you’ll be amazed at all the software available to help you improve your vocabulary
• Vocabulary games – for example play word search or complete cross words as often as possible
• On line word games – there are many free (useful if you come from Yorkshire and hate spending) word games on-line that will help you
• Scrabble – the competitive element will have you reaching for your dictionary and you’ll soon have a reservoir of useful words available for you to practice
• Copy – find someone with an excellent vocabulary, talk to them, listen to them and blatantly copy them
• Think – when you are speaking, think about how you can enrich your sentence with words you already know
• Study English Literature – “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”   Hamlet (III, iii, 100-103)
• Read, read, and read – the best tip of all!

Warning

Think about this:  “It’s more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words, but rather short, easy words like ‘what about lunch’.”   Winnie-the-Pooh

Have great fun with your words!

A recent episode of Hustle on BBC1 prompted Sarah to put finger to keyboard and write this short blog! 

The hustlers were trying to figure out how to achieve the impossible, which was to steal a life-size, jewel-encrusted tiger worth £10m.  The tiger was heavily guarded in a stately home, it was being transported under guard to a museum; and the insurance company had their beady eyes on the whole situation because of the somewhat crooked record of the tiger’s owner…

So what did they do?  They looked at the facts:

• we can’t steal it whilst it’s under heavy guard in the house
• once it gets to the museum it’ll go into a vault which is the most secure place in the city, so we won’t be able to steal it from there
• our only opportunity to steal it is between when it gets packed at the house and when it goes into the armoured van
• we need to avoid anyone raising the alarm before the following morning

Their solution?  To create an ice sculpture of the tiger and place it on a bed of green foam blocks used by florists (to inconspicuously soak up the water as the inevitable melting happened!) then wrap it in the same white packaging sheets as the original.  Then to create a diversion and perform a switch of the tigers so that the van took away the icy version, meaning they had plenty of time to do what they wanted with the real one! 

Genius!

Whilst we definitely wouldn’t advocate the criminal side of proceedings, we would most certainly encourage you to think creatively when trying to solve a problem!  If there’s any situation you’re facing that seems impossible, try taking a refreshed look at it and see what you come up with…