Month: July 2016
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Stop falling for the allure of News FOMO
Last night I dreamed that I bumped into Nassim Nicholas Taleb in a cafe. He was sat thinking, recording his ideas via audio note on his mobile phone. Then his phone rang and he spoke to someone in Arabic for a few minutes. After the phonecall I introduced myself. I told him how inspired I…
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Language Hack 6: Uncomfortable Situations
One way that you can really stretch yourself linguistically is to put yourself in situations that are uncomfortable. In comfortable situations you usually use vocabulary you know well. Only spending time with friends can leave you relying on their familiarity with with your style of speaking, rather than on your accuracy. It’s also easy to treat speaking your target language as a performance…
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Language Hack 5: Sleep
Sleep is one of the most under appreciated sources of energy and clear thinking. Because of the multi sensory experience of living outside my comfort zones continuously and trying to wrap my brain around new words and a brand new culture, my early days in Jordan were enveloped in a dull cloud of tiredness. At times I felt like…