YOU DO YOU
Solid reasons to learn another language
About half the world’s population can speak two (bilingual) or more (monolingual) languages.
While we applaud the independent minded, when it comes to languages, we encourage you to join the majority. In other words: Why not start learning another language?
In addition to the obvious advantages of communicating effectively with more people in more places, speaking two or more languages also comes with other benefits.
According to Language Testing International:
- Most employers (9/10) need employees who speak languages beyond English.
- Most organizations will need even more bilingual/monolingual employees in the future.
- About a third of organizations see a noticeable gap in language skills in their workforces.
Furthermore…
- Bilingual brains might demonstrate enhanced creativity.
- Bilingual brains might be better at warding off or delaying dementia symptoms.
Ready to learn more languages?
New technologies and tools have made it easier than ever to learn new languages.
Here are some pro-tips from the I Am Aileen blog. (Read the full post for all the details.)
Free Tools
- Anki (Learn via a fun flashcard format)
- Busuu (Actively practice new skills with others in the community)
- Memrise (Pick up language skills with immersive lessons that transport you to different places)
- RhinoSpike (Request to have specific sentences recorded by native speakers)
Inexpensive Tools
- Babbel (Enjoy app-based lessons and games)
- Influent (Immerse in a role-playing game that also teaches language lessons)
- Michel Thomas (Learn a new language the way most children do—by listening and speaking)
Fun Tips
- Find a native speaker or fellow learner to be your practice conversation partner
- Watch movies in the language you’re learning (with subtitles on)
- Listen to music with vocals in the language you’re learning
- Every once in a while, change your phone settings to the language you’re learning to test your skills
- Grab sticky notes and label things in the language you’re learning
- Quiz yourself often
TOGETHER WITH BONUSLY
How to Foster Resilience as a Team Leader
As a business leader, you want to be ready to meet challenges as they arise and weather difficult times. But who could have predicted — let alone prepare for — the global events unfolding in recent years?
The pandemic and its economic reverberations reveal the limitations of even the best-laid plans. Forecasting is still important, but there’s simply no way you can ever fully gauge what lies ahead.
Instead, by building resilient, engaged teams, you can help create an organization capable of adapting and thriving in the face of continuing change.
Read on to find out why resilience is so important and how you can best support members of your team in developing it.
👉 Continue Reading
GET MORE SH*T DONE
To react or not to react?
Imagine, or remember, a morning that went something like this: Your alarm goes off. You dismiss it gently before smiling, stretching, and enjoying the sun on your face. You actually feel amazing this morning. Today is going to be a great day!
Then you grab your phone. Notifications, messages, and alerts flood your sense of calm capability. You forget what you even wanted to do this morning and switch immediately into reacting to all the things.
The men’s style magazine Primer calls this the “reactive mode” and says it kills your energy and motivation. (It makes perfect sense: Getting bombarded by others’ needs can make it hard to remember your own.)
The secret Primer wants you to know is that you don’t have to stay in reactive mode, no matter how much your anxious brain insists you do.
Instead, they say, mindfully nudge yourself into active mode:
- Start your day with some me time. (Breakfast, meditation, exercise—anything as long as it feels right and is just for you.)
- Make an active decision about what you will do first, regardless of what everyone else wants you to do. You can even say it out loud if that helps reinforce your conviction. (I choose to finish that report before I respond to emails.)
- Don’t react until you’ve done your important thing or things.
- At bedtime, put your phone on airplane mode to avoid a notification flood in the morning. (If you’re feeling rebellious, you can even keep it on until lunch time the next day. What’s the worst that could happen?)
TOGETHER WITH DIVVY
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LEVEL UP
4 Zero-Fireworks 4th of July Activities
Glow Party. Invite people over for a festive outdoor barbeque and hand out glow sticks—lots of glow sticks. You can even challenge guests to come wearing their best glow-stick outfits.
Color-Changing Bonfire. Get the same multi-colored dazzle as fireworks with way less noise by making your fire change colors. You can go the DIY route or buy pre-made packets.
Blow Glow Bubbles. Make your own glow-in-the-dark bubble mix and light up the sky.
Stargazing. Drive out to a less crowded area and enjoy natural beauty more breathtaking than a firework display.
Summer-fun bonus! Mark your calendars for these epic night-sky shows:
- June – July: Venus will be visible
- July – August: Perseid meteor shower
- July – August: Delta Aquariid meteor shower
- August 10: Mercury will be visible. Look West just after sunset.
- August 31: A super blue moon
WATERCOOLER TALK
When your friend gets divorced…
Supporting friends going through divorce can get tricky, especially if you’ve never been through it. (And even if you have, you’ve never been through this specific divorce.)
Someone wrote into the Atlantic’s Dear Therapist advice column to find out how to navigate the emotional and behavioral shifts they noticed in their divorcing friend. Dear Therapist responded with some evergreen advice that bears repeating. To summarize:
- It’s not selfish to admit and accept that your friend’s challenging time also puts you in a challenging situation.
- Understand that divorce is the death of a marriage and comes with, like other deaths, a natural grieving period and process, which will be different for everyone.
- Accept that your friend may—temporarily—be unable to meet some of your needs. Turn to others in your life to fill those gaps.
- Your friend doesn’t need you to fix their problems but to simply be present. (You can be there for them without taking responsibility for them.)
- You can’t take away your friend’s pain, but you can love them.
- Practice curiosity and compassion instead of judgment. If you don’t approve of your friend’s coping strategies, ask yourself what reasons they might have for doing what they’re doing. Be patient.
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- Hilton is hiring for a Global Wellness Director (McLean, VA).
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- Asana is hiring for a Senior Marketing Operations Manger (San Francisco, CA).
SPILL THE TEA
Hooray, You Made It to the End of Our Newsletter!
Riddle me this: You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why?
⭐ Answer here.