I Can Do It!: Finding Motivation

If you're feeling listless, distracted or even depressed, finding the willpower to achieve in the smallest tasks can feel impossible. And maybe some days they will be. But you know what? You're not alone - and you've got some secret weapons: Go for the smallest possible task. Channel all your self-love. Tap into your support …

Now!: So Long, Procrastination! Hello, Freedom!

When you don't quite have the motivation to take on your tasks, you'll find yourself poring over screens and plumbing through endless minor errands. How do we escape the prison of procrastination? Like this: Eliminate distractions from your environment, so you can easily prioritise only that particular task. Become mindful so you spot procrastination behaviour …

Be Your Own PA: Getting Organised and Maximising Your Productivity

Part 1: The Three Ps How do we bring order to the chaos in our lives? Well, here's a three-step approach to getting started. I call it the Three Ps, and it goes like this: Prioritise. Prepare. Protect. Let's take a closer look. One: Prioritise. What areas of your life are most significant to you? …

Cultivating Inner Success

Success: What It Is and What It's Not. 1. Success is not a state. It's a process. Here's a bomb: You will never "be" successful. Never. Because success is not a moment in your life, but an ongoing journey. If someone "is" successful, it's because we admire their daily commitment to flourishing. There is no singular …

Future Tense: Things Still to Happen

Molo, mfundi!  Hello, student! Wamkelekile! Welcome! When we want to talk about things that will happen, we use the future tense. In the positive: SC-za ku-(OC)-R-a: Baza kundihleka. They will laugh at me. In the negative: a-SC-zi ku-(OC)-R-a: Abazi kundihleka. They will not laugh at me. Short Spoken Forms: When speaking in the future tense, …

Perfect Tense: Did and Has Done

Molo, mfundi! Hello, student! Wamkelekile! Welcome! Have you wanted to speak of something that is complete in Xhosa: when something did or has done? For this we need the Perfect Tense. In the positive: SC-(OC)-R-ile: Ndiziphekile. I have cooked them. Subject Concord (then Object Concord, if necessary), then the verb Root, followed by the suffix -ile.  …

Na- and Nga-

Asinayo! We have it! Ndinomhlobo omnye qha... I have only one friend... Abantu bonke baneengxaki abaninzi. All the people have many problems. When learning isiXhosa, we notice a wide variety of uses for the sounds na- and nga-. Let's look at the different uses of each, and practise applying them ourselves. na- na- is a …

This Reads Like a Constipated Volcano: A Literary Laxative Against My Most Heinous Writing Crimes

"No way. Did I really write that? Really? Surely not. I mean, good lord, it barely even makes sense! What, with the cliche imagery, the endless run-on sentences, the agonising  abstractions. None of these characters have plausible motivations for their behaviour. There's so much exposition happening, I think I'm going to suffocate. Why is this …

Concord Revision #2

Molo, mfundi! Unjani namhlanje? Ndiyathemba urayithi! Hello, student! How are you today? I hope you’re well! Let’s revise some of the grammar foundations we’ve been exploring: Subject Concords Copulative Concords (and Kukho and Khona too!) Possessive Concords Object Concords Adjectives and Numbers Locatives and Prepositions How about we try out some sentences that make use of all the above? C’mon, …

Concord Revision #1

Molo, mfundi! Unjani namhlanje? Ndiyathemba urayithi! Hello, student! How are you today? I hope you're well! Let's revise some of the grammar foundations we've been exploring: Subject Concords Copulative Concords (and Kukho and Khona too!) Possessive Concords Object Concords Adjectives and Numbers Locatives and Prepositions How about we try out some sentences that make use …