BALTIMORE, USA – I love flying.
No email to check. Nothing to clean. And nowhere to be. In fact, nothing to do at all except read my book or write in my notebook.
And if I get the window seat — perfect!
So last week when I flew back from Austin, I was in a good mood.
As I sat down and looked for my seat belt the guy next to me commented, “Sure is crowded.”
“Yup.” I said.
I think he could tell I wasn’t the type for small talk, because that’s the last thing I heard him say.
But I kept noticing him.
And I kept thinking about him.
I wanted to focus on the book but he kept distracting me — how annoying!
What was he doing?
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
He just sat there.
For an hour and thirty minutes.
Maybe he looked at the airline magazine for a few minutes, but that was it.
And on the flight from Atlanta to Baltimore, different guy, same story.
What a waste.
Didn’t they have a giant to-do list? Goals? Projects? Dreams?
When I meet with a new student, one of the first challenges we face is time.
They don’t have enough of it.
They’ve got a family, a job, friends, hobbies…
And now they want to improve their English.
If you’re reading this instead of staring at the wall… my guess is you’re the same.
I have a few techniques to solve the problem.
But the one I want to share today is called Finding Your Dead Time.
Dead time is any time during the day when you’re not working, relaxing or enjoying yourself.
It could be driving, walking, or waiting in line.
We don’t think about these moments, because they’re usually just a few minutes.
But when you sit down and add them up, suddenly you see that every day you have a lot more time than you realized.
It’s like finding money between the cushions of your couch.
And if you use that time — and not waste it — by listening to an interesting audio book or reading an interesting story, and you do it every day, then soon you really start to notice the difference in your English.
As we say in English, works like magic!