Hi Advanced English learners. Welcome back. So today I wanted to talk about some type of situation you might be experiencing where something you're doing is just not working. So maybe you are working on your vocab building and your vocabulary acquisition, but it just doesn't seem to work. It just doesn't seem to stick.

When you learn the word or you learn the phrase and for some reason, it poof, disappears, and you're not able to recall that word. So that's just one example out of several. But the real idea here is to talk about the concept of what is not working and what you can do about it. Okay, so let's get into it.

All right. So the first thing I want you to do is identify what is not working. So just write that down on a piece of paper. Type it into a new Word document or digital file. Draw it out if you want and identify it. Start with just one. Maybe there are a few things that are not working, but start with one, because again, we don't want to have an overloaded system.

We want to take things one step at a time. So the first step: what's not working? Identify it.

The second step, why isn't it working? So this one might be a little bit more tricky to pinpoint meaning to really identify and to understand. So you might need to sit with this question a little bit. So let's circle back to that vocab acquisition example. Maybe you realize that why it's not working is because you are attempting to learn too many words all at once.

Maybe you've gotten really excited and really motivated and enthusiastic about building your vocabulary, which I'm sure many of you are, because it is an exciting endeavor, an exciting undertaking, but maybe you realize that 10 vocabulary words, a day to memorize and to learn and internalize, which is what I prefer to memorization.

I don't like memorization. Remember, I prefer internalization. Maybe it's just too many, and you need to select fewer words. So maybe that's the why. But until you really sit with this question, you're not going to know what the why is, what the reason is, so to speak. So let yourself take some time with this question.

Why isn't it working? What have I done for a while now that just doesn't seem to be working? And why is that? Why? So sit with that and then you will come to a conclusion about it. It just takes some time sometimes.

In other situations, it might be very obvious. So either way, you want to get to the bottom of the problem.

What is the root cause? What is the why?

And then the third and final step, very important. You want to shift to how? How are you going to make this work for you? If it is a priority, then you need to act in that way. You need to act. And make yourself know that this is something that you want to do. So if you truly do want to build your vocabulary, then you've made that a priority.

So then what are the actions? What are the follow up steps you're going to take to indeed say that this is a priority? So it could be just falling back on one word a day and not just one word. But using that word in different scenarios, in different situations throughout the day, or maybe you select five that you're going to do over the course of a week and you mix and match, you make sentences.

You use them in your emails, you use them in your phone calls, you use them in your zoom calls, in your face to face, in person interactions. 

How are you going to shift to how you're going to make this work. So that's really up to you. And my advice would be to experiment with as many different hows as you can.

And then over time, it might be soon, it might be a little bit later, but over time, you will find what's going to work for you. So maybe you experiment with one word that you just focus. Maybe it's just one word a week. Take that, let yourself ease into it, but you're really set on making it work, and you've set yourself up for success as opposed to trying to bombard yourself with 10 words a day.

That's just setting someone up for failure, and we don't want to do that to ourselves. We don't want to self-sabotage, we want to make it as easy for ourselves as possible to succeed. And to do the steps that we need to take, right? We're still taking action and that is extremely powerful. So we're shifting to how to make this work.

I am set on making this work. How am I going to make it work? And I'm going to experiment with different ways and I'm going to get to the bottom of it to really figure out what works for me.

Amazing. So those are three things you need to keep in mind when something's not working and instead of just doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different answer, a different situation, a different outcome, you're going to change. The input so that you can change the output. You're going to put in different variables in the beginning so that you get a different end game at the end. 

And I really encourage you to sit with it. Take some time, don't rush into it first, prioritize what you really need and want to accomplish. Take it one step at a time. Choose one goal to start with, one thing that you want to work on that has not been working for you. And go through these three steps, right? Identify the what, then discover the why. What is the why? Why isn't it working? 

And then finally shifting to how am I going to make this work? I'm determined to make this work. It's just a matter of how I'm going to make this work. It's no longer a question of is this going to work or isn't it going to work? It's this is going to work. It's just going to take some time. I'm prepared for that and I need to know how it's going to work. 

So you can do it. I have faith in you. I want you to have faith in yourself as well, and let me know how it goes. All right, share that with me and the community in the comments on YouTube and definitely in the q and a on Spotify as well. And sign up for the newsletters so that you get all of the updates that we have over here at Advanced English.

All right, I will see you very soon. Bye for now and happy Advanced English Learning everyone. 

About the Author and the Explearning Academy:

Mary Daphne is an expert in communication, executive skills and professional development. She is the founder of the Explearning Academy, a platform dedicated to helping individuals enhance their social fluency, boost their careers, and elevate their social game. Through immersive group coaching programs like the Executive Communication Lab and self-guided journeys, participants gain the social superpowers and career catapults they've been searching for. If you're ready to take your negotiation skills to the next level and connect with like-minded individuals, visit academy.explearning.co and explore the various plans available. Join the Explearning Academy community and unlock your full potential.

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