- Carry a book at all times
- Read a page everyday
- Mix ebooks and paper backs
- Try a free book from Audible
- Always leave a book on your nightstand
- Watch one TED video on your way to work
- Read in supermarket queues
- Jump into an impromptu speaking situation at work
- Create a video playlist over the weekend
- Get a friend to be an accountability partner
- Watch Hans Gosling’s amazing TED talk
- While reading, underline/highlight words whose meanings you don’t know
- Pick one word, look up and write its meaning down
- Watch movies with captions on
- Read more than one book at a time
- Subscribe to a podcast of your choice
- Watch the good movies again with captions off
- Write down any interesting words/phrases that strike you
- Add a second difficult word and its meaning to the one before
- Tell someone about an interesting program you watched on a streaming network
- Jump into Toastmasters meetings as a fun social activity
- Write down a third difficult word and its meaning
- Write the synonyms of the last word whose meaning you wrote
- Look up and write down the antonyms of the same word
- Count the number of words you already knew (you’ll be surprised!)
- Watch stand-up comedy
- Read for 15 minutes before you go to sleep
- Subscribe to a newsletter in the subject that interests you (maybe this one!)
- Count from 1-5 before you respond in a stressful situation
- Look through the words you wrote in your word list
- Read a blog post on improving communication
- Add another difficult word and its meaning
- Think of a story to start your next presentation
- Sing along with your favourite songs
- Put your phone away and really listen in a meeting
- Free write for 10 minutes everyday to sharpen your writing skills
- Always. always read through what you have written before you hit send
- Record your part in a meeting and replay for yourself
- Ask at least one question to your audience during your work presentation
- Recite dialogues from your favourite movie to practice voice modulation
- Think of one thing you will do differently in your next presentation
- Write a short review for a movie you just watched
- Answer a question on Quora
- Think of one thing you’d like to change from your last presentation
- Do one thing differently in your team meeting this week
- Create a reading wish list of books you aspire to read
- Reward yourself with something you love every time you finish a book from the list
- Ask your friends/colleagues for book recommendations
- Tell someone about the podcast you’ve been listening to
- Create a video on a passion topic explaining what it is
- Try presenting with minimal use of ppts
If this seems like a long list, here is how you can put this to best use:
Pick 3 things that you can easily achieve. For instance, leave a book on your nightstand. Watch a TED Talk. Or read an article online.
And then you work your way to the others.
Here are some additional resources to help you achieve some of these tips:
VIDEO: How to join a Toastmasters club
READ: My book recommendations from 2021
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