Examining the Language of Love

Although it topped bestseller lists around the world, E. L. James’ erotic romance novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, was widely panned by critics for its poor use of language. The Grammarly team reviewed the book for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, and learned that — although there were some mistakes — the errors were in alignment with similar gaffes in classic romantic literature.

Here are some of the top errors in Fifty Shades of Grey:

Punctuation errors in complex sentences: E. L. James is not the first author to include a comma in her work when a semi-colon would more appropriate, or vice versa.

Comma misuse: Many writers forget to include a comma when one is necessary, or include a comma when it is not necessary.

Wordiness: Actually, this is sort of a really common mistake. (Words like “actually,” “sort of,” and “really” add unnecessary length to your writing.)

Inappropriate colloquialisms: Although it is largely stylistic, the choice to use informal language — including contractions — can diminish the perception of your writing.

Accidentally confused words: Words like “round” and “around” are commonly confused in writing, and may not be discovered by spelling and grammar checkers.

Sentence fragments: Creating a sentence with no subject or no verb is one way to emphasize an idea. However, sentence fragments are technically errors in writing.

Determiners: Words such as “a,” “an,” and “the” help writers to be specific about what they are talking about.

Passive voice: Using the passive voice is a stylistic choice in writing — not necessarily a grammar error. However, using the passive voice can cause a lack of clarity in your writing.

Below you’ll find some classic quotes from romantic literature that show similar mistakes to those we identified in Fifty Shades of Grey. Grammarly has “graded” each quote based on its adherence to traditional grammar rules, but please note that creative writing requires that authors make stylistic choices that may be technical errors, but are not actually considered so in the context of their overall work.

So, it is in the spirit of fun (and not pedantry) that we aim to show you that the language of love really is a language of its own!

 

Beat Writer’s Block: 5 Tips for Writing Your Best

You’re sitting at your desk, staring at a flashing cursor and waiting for the words to flow. Every now and then, you write something, then mercilessly edit it or delete it all together.

Backspace . . . backspace . . . backspace . . .

You roll your head back and forth to work the kinks out of your neck and sigh. The words just won’t flow. You’re convinced you’ve got a serious case of writer’s block. But do you really?

Writer’s block is a myth.

I’m going to show you a trick to defeat writer’s block. First, place your fingertips on your keyboard. Once you have them comfortably poised over the home row, close your eyes. Take a deep breath, and repeat these seven magical words until you’re ready to write:

There’s no such thing as writer’s block. There’s no such thing as writer’s block.

Better now? If so, then back to writing for you, word monkey! If not, have a seat and let’s talk shop.

I’ve been where you are. I’ve stared at my screen, dazed, until I felt like I could hear the tiny blood vessels in my eyes bursting. (No, you can’t actually hear them. It’s a simile. You with me so far?) I’ve convinced myself that the reason my works-in-progress were not progressing was that I had stumbled upon a horrible, irrevocable creative block, the likes of which I would never overcome. But then I did some soul searching.

Writer’s block, it turns out, is just an excuse for not writing. There’s a reason you never hear of librarian’s block or electrician’s block. Even when librarians and electricians feel less than inspired by the work at hand, they do it anyway.

We all have states of flow—those magical times when we’re bursting with creativity as if the muses themselves are whispering into our ears. And yes, those times are magical. But they’re also few and far between. Ultimately, those inspired times are not what being a writer is about. You’re not just taking dictation for the muses, dear wordsmith. The muses are fickle. It’s your job to write whether they show up or not.

Here are five ways to persevere and write even when you’re feeling stuck.

1 Give yourself permission to write terrible stuff.

If you sit around waiting for those mythical times when you’re at your absolute best, you’ll almost never get any writing done. So, just give yourself permission to be awful, and then write anyway. You’re going to edit later either way, right?

What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.’

—Maya Angelou

2 Set a doable goal.

Accomplished writers don’t sit around waiting for inspiration—they write whether the words are flowing or not. The only sure way to dig yourself out of a creative hole is to write through it.

Set yourself a goal that’s so easy you have no chance of failing. Tell yourself, “I’ll just write for five minutes without stopping.” Or maybe challenge yourself to write one full page, or even just a single paragraph. If you’ve done the goal-setting right, you should knock this writing task out easily.

Then stop. Only do as much as your goal dictates.

The next time you sit down to write, make your goal just a little more ambitious. Don’t go overboard, though. You want to establish a pattern of easily achieving your goals. Then, once you’ve got a few wins under your belt, go ahead and write for as long as the words and ideas keep coming. Your block has been vanquished!

Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk—away from any open flames—to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.

— George Singleton

3 Quit while you’re ahead.

It sounds counter-intuitive, but try quitting when your writing is going along splendidly and you’re excited about what’s coming next. If you stop writing when you run out of ideas, you’ll likely be just as out of ideas the next time you sit down to write. Instead, stop when you’re brimming with them. You’ll be energized and ready to get back to it when the time comes.

The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day . . . you will never be stuck. Always stop while you are going good and don’t think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.

—Ernest Hemingway

Here’s a tip: When I quit writing for the day, I leave myself notes right on my manuscript telling me where I plan to go next. Not only does this give me the security of knowing that my next great idea will be waiting right where I left off, but it frees my mind to stop obsessing over it in the meantime.

4 Multitask.

If you’re not on a deadline, having several different creative endeavors that you’re working on can help you get unstuck. If one project stops clicking, simply switch to another until you get your momentum back. Either way, you’ll be making progress.

Sometimes a project needs a little time to think, a little time to breathe. So what I tend to do when that happens is I always have two or three other things that I’m doing at the same time. I can just go to one of the ones that’s working. Which is how I give this appearance of being prolific.

—Neil Gaiman

5 Move it!

Pounding your head on your desk doesn’t get the words unstuck.

I know, I know—shocker.

What does help unwedge those unruly words is physical activity. Even just taking a walk can give your creativity a boost.

I really wish someone had told me earlier that there’s a relationship between writing and exercise. Writing involves you being completely, revoltingly sedentary while your brain works overtime. But when you exercise, it’s the complete reverse – you more or less become brain dead while your body works like a bastard not to drown/collapse on the treadmill/die. Then after I exercise, I always come back to my laptop and it’s like I’m seeing the story for the first time. I know what I need to do.

― Benjamin Law

You’re not blocked, you just can’t think of anything good to write.

In the 1986 John Hughes classic, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ferris phones his friend Cameron to insist that he join him for a fun day of skipping school. Cameron declines because he’s already at home sick, and then hangs up the phone and moans, “I’m dying.”

As if psychic, Ferris calls back and says, “You’re not dying, you just can’t think of anything good to do.”

Your writer’s block is Cameron—it can’t think of anything good to do. And yet, anyone who’s seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off knows that Cameron not only goes on to have a memorable day, but to trash his dad’s beloved Ferrari and, in the process, have a major life epiphany. So, the next time you’re feeling stuck, try some of these techniques to see your way clear.

And if they don’t work, then hey . . . maybe just go to a baseball game.

Hey, batter batter batter! Swing!

These 7 Posts Will Help Your Job Search Pursuit

Your dream job is out there.

You can and will find it soon. How do we know this? Because you are driven, focused and have come to the right place for job-seeking advice. Grammarly is here to help.

Don’t be mistaken. Finding an ideal career path isn’t easy. Job interviews are tough. Plus, figuring out your perfect fit can be challenging. All of this is what makes the job-search process something most people dread.

Not you, though.

The necessary motivation, inspiration and practical tips on how to best position yourself to be successful and reach your long-term goals can be found here.

Grammarly’s blog has made it a priority to offer our readers actionable insights on how to approach a job search. Below you’ll find seven recent posts that cover the fundamental aspects of finding your ideal place of employment.

1 Organization is essential in beginning any job hunt.

Pro tip: Let technology be your friend. Spending endless hours searching is fine, even encouraged, but don’t be shy about using job sites to populate your inbox with relevant opportunities.

Now that you have an idea of what you’re looking for, you can start digging into job boards. Many will send you email alerts with new positions that match your skills.

Source: How to Get Organized During Your Job Search: 6 Helpful Tips

2 Your LinkedIn profile is becoming just as important as your resume.

Pro tip: Most job seekers overlook the value of a profile summary on LinkedIn. Use it wisely to add deeper context to your work experience.

The top of your LinkedIn profile is an opportunity to summarize what you’re about—to make an impression beyond the array of jobs you’ve held. You might try thinking of it as an opportunity to answer the question “What makes me an outstanding candidate for my next career move?”

Source: We Studied 750 Top LinkedIn Profiles. Here’s How to Write Yours Better.

3 Resumes, cover letters, and email correspondence will be the difference-maker in your dream-job pursuits.

Pro tip: In most cases, how and what you write is often the first interaction you’ll have with future employers. Make sure you spend extra time crafting your personal copy before applying for a new job.

In today’s competitive job market, how you communicate with potential employers can make your skills stand out. Making sure you effectively express yourself, accurately represent your abilities, and stay present throughout the process is what makes the difference in ultimately receiving a job offer.

Source: Red Flags to Avoid During Your Job Search in 2017

4 Once you’ve landed a job interview, what you say and how you say it will further demonstrate your abilities to perform the tasks required by a potential new company.

Pro tip: Don’t show up to an interview without any preparation. Thinking your way through potential interview questions ahead of time will give you comfort when having to talk about important topics like work experience and expected salary.

Taking the time to prepare can mean the difference between walking away from an interview with a sinking feeling and landing the sweet gig you’ve been hoping for.

Source: 10 Things You Should Avoid Saying in a Job Interview

5 The way you frame your skills is critical in the job-search process.

Pro tip: Demonstrate your enthusiasm for the position and explain why your experience aligns with the responsibilities that are needed by the company.

Remember that everybody starts somewhere, and hiring managers interview inexperienced candidates all the time. When you’re still growing in your career, there’s one positive quality you can emphasize to help you win over a potential employer—enthusiasm for learning. Show the employer that not only are you able to learn, but you’re excited by the possibilities.

Source: This Is How to Put a Positive Spin on Weaknesses in a Job Interview

6 Your professional-self and personal-self should be very much aligned during a job search.

Pro tip: Be cognizant of what you’ve posted on social media and how you present yourself in public forums, especially if your social-media activity is tied directly to the line of work you seek.

According to a CareerBuilder.com survey, 60 percent of employers research job candidates on social media, and over half are reluctant to hire candidates with no online presence. They’re mainly looking for professionalism, whether you’re a fit for the company, and proof of your qualifications. If your social media profiles show you in that light, you’re golden.

Source: 9 Things to Avoid on Social Media While Looking for a New Job

7. You’ve done everything correctly in the job search and now an offer is in your hands. What happens next?

Pro tip: Research the company you’re looking to join. Remember, you’re hiring them, too, in a sense. Sites like Glassdoor can show a glimpse into a company’s culture by offering candid reviews from current and former employees.

The important part when researching a company is to take into account themes you uncover from a variety of employees, and looking for reviews and details related to what’s important to you and your life in and out of work. What’s a bad review to one person may not be a bad review to someone else, so it depends on what’s most important to you.

Source: The Ultimate Guide to Analyzing a Company’s Glassdoor Page

How to Take Feedback, Even When It’s Hard

Getting feedback in the workplace can be a difficult experience. We each crave success, aspiring for praise from our leaders and peers that will, in turn, make us feel recognized and valuable at work. In reality, constructive criticism will be doled out more often and will play a more significant role in the dynamics of our relationships with co-workers and in our individual performance.

Trust me, I know how hard it can be to receive feedback. When I was working in my first job out of college, my manager sat in on one of my calls with a client. After the call ended, she told me that I needed to do a better job of conveying confidence by being less apologetic and not heightening my pitch as I ended sentences. I took her input horribly. I thought she believed that I was not cut out for the job and that I was one strike away from being let go.

Over time, I’ve learned to build thicker skin and use constructive criticism as a means to become more competent in my responsibilites. Here are a few of the key takeaways that have helped me in shifting my mindset:

Accept Your Imperfections

Receiving input can be uncomfortable. If you take it personally, or take it as a sign that you’re bad at your job, it will quickly affect your performance.

For example, when my manager told me that I needed to project more confidence with clients, I took the feedback as a reflection of my personality and generalized it as how others normally perceive me in most settings. This made me increasingly self-conscious and self-critical as I engaged with customers, colleagues, friends and family.

To get over this hump, I decided to acknowledge negative thoughts when they came up, but instead of believing them, I’d come up with positive alternatives. Instead of “I don’t think I’m coming across as intelligent or experienced,” I began telling myself “I believe in my training and knowledge, I can help this client.”

Another mental shift is to accept that you are not perfect. Perhaps you occasionally lose your confidence or get anxious when speaking with more experienced, older professionals. Whatever the case may be, it is important to embrace your imperfections and accept consultation so that you give yourself an opportunity to mature both professionally and personally.

Ask for Help

Is there a certain role that you’re aiming for? What are your goals for the next five years?

To ensure that you are on track to hit your objectives over time, feedback from colleagues who either work closely with you or are in roles that you desire will be critical. (A combination of both would be even better!) This will allow you to get a better idea of the skills that are required to be successful in those target roles and understand where you need to improve in order to get there.

If the peers and superiors you hope to seek feedback from are currently silent, there may be numerous reasons that explain why. They may be shy or perhaps feel like you’ll take it the wrong way. Whatever their hesitation is, your aim should be to unravel the feedback they have to offer. To do this, you need to be honest and give a good reason for why you’d like their input.

For example, you can say something along the lines of, “I’m really eager to improve in this role. What is one thing that you think I can do to get better?”

If you frame your question with a reason, your colleague will feel more comfortable in opening up and giving you their honest thoughts.

You are also helping the colleague that you’re seeking advice from. Not only does their willingness to help make them look good in front of their boss, but it also gives them the chance to feel important and valuable.

Follow Through

Feedback carries no value if you never follow up on it.

Your first step should be to investigate it further. Ask your colleague for specific examples. Review documents, recordings, or any other relevant materials for the areas that you need to improve on.

Once you fully understand what you need to work on, you can form a plan for improving and monitoring your development over time.

It’s also worth considering that people who took the time to help you will more likely begin to pay more attention to you as a result. Out of curiosity (and their own self-interest) they will want to see whether you implemented their advice and how it improves your performance.

If you ignore your colleagues, you risk coming across as someone who is not seriously considering their opinions. As a result, the likelihood of them helping you in the future will be compromised.

Feedback is a constant in the working environment. Your approach to receiving and acting on feedback will define your professional development, relationships with colleagues, and outlook on life. My feedback for you is to take action and ensure that you are in a position to receive and process constructive criticism effectively!

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Jon Gitlin is a Customer Success professional at a start-up in the East Bay Area. During his free time, he loves to watch the Warriors, go on runs, and listen to podcasts.

What Does Meta- Mean?

Meta is a word which, like so many other things, we have the ancient Greeks to thank for. When they used it, meta meant “beyond,” “after,” or “behind.” The “beyond” sense of meta still lingers in words like metaphysics or meta-economy. But that’s still not the meta most of us come across today.

One of the more popular uses of meta today is for the meaning best described by the formula “meta-X equals X about X.” So, if we take the word “data” for our X, and add the prefix meta- to it, we get metadata, or “data about data.” A meta-text is a text about texts, metacognition is thinking about thinking, and a meta-joke is a joke about jokes. The self-reflection sense of meta has also given rise to the use of the word as a standalone adjective, where meta is used to describe something that’s self-reflective or self-referencing.

The self-referencing sense of meta seems especially popular in art. In its simplest form, a book in which a character is writing a book or a movie in which a character is making a movie can be described as meta. Some works are more meta than others—the movie Birdman, for example, is a movie about an actor who played a superhero in a movie and who now tries to rekindle his career in theater, and that actor is played by an actor who really did play a superhero in a movie and is now trying to rekindle his career in a movie that looks more like a play than a movie.

When characters in a work of fiction act as if they are aware that they are in a work of fiction, this technique is called meta-referencing. It is often employed in metafiction, a work of fiction in which the author breaks with conventions in order to show that the work is, in fact, fiction.

In the world of gaming, meta is used in two ways. Meta can be used as an acronym for “most effective tactics available,” and calling something “meta” means that it’s an effective way to achieve the goal of the game, whether it’s to beat other players or beat the game itself. Meta can also be short for metagame, which is using information about the game, derived from the world beyond the game or its rules, to influence the outcome of the game or gain a competitive edge.

3 Trends That Will Dominate English Writing in 2017

Any way you slice it, 2016 has been a tough year.

We lost beloved novelists like Harper Lee and Gloria Naylor; lyricists like David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen; and book-character-embodying actors like Alan Rickman and Gene Wilder.

We expressed a dip in mood in our writing online. One study by social media analytics company Crimson Hexagon showed that popular retail holidays like Black Friday experienced a rise in negative sentiment in 2016, despite rosy predictions. Similarly, sentiment analysis of the 2016 American election showed more negative emotions than ever before. One study published by the National Academy of Sciences in November even suggests that a well-known linguistic phenomenon, the tendency to use positive descriptors instead of negative ones, could be affected by this year’s political and cultural conditions. This means that, as negative as 2016 was, we could be feeling the linguistic effects for years to come.

We even chose decidedly negative words to represent this year. The first two dictionaries to announce their “Words of the Year,” Dictionary.com and the Oxford English Dictionary, both explained that this year’s picks were far more somber than last year. The OED has named “post-truth” as 2016’s Word of the Year, while Dictionary.com chose “xenophobia.” Not to be confused for a positive choice, Dictionary.com’s announcement blog opines, “Despite being chosen as the 2016 Word of the Year, xenophobia is not to be celebrated.” Ouch.

But instead of focusing on the doom and gloom that was expressed in 2016 online, it’s time we looked to the positive. Some great things happened in English this year, from the recognition of the singular they as an standard English to Christopher Marlowe finally gaining credit as Shakespeare’s coauthor. We wrote more than ever before, and we even added “squee” to the OED!

So, in the vein of these positive achievements in writing, here is an intentionally constructive list of trends we think writers will see in English-language writing next year. As it has done for centuries, English will only get better with age, and we’re very excited for these three trends to continue in 2017.

1 Fake News . . . and Real Fact-Checking One of the most surprising discussions about writing in 2016 revolved around so-called “fake news” and the idea of a “post-truth” society. Major American publications’ sourcing and writing tactics were called into question, and many op-eds were penned on the importance of well-researched writing. We predict that this discussion will continue in 2017, but hopefully with more actionable discussions of citation, sources, and plagiarism than ever before. Google has already added a fact-check tag to its news services, and we expect that others will soon follow suit.

2 Informality Meets Function By now, some of our followers are probably tired of hearing about text speak, slang, and emojis, and for good reason. The English language is constantly evolving, and in 2016, we observed a startling amount of informal language being accepted by our users. And we weren’t the only ones! The scientific community made a massive shift toward less complicated language, while discussion of informal means of communication at work soared.

Of course, some can take this opportunity to decry the “destruction” of the English language, but we don’t have to see it that way. As we saw in our trendy language study, slang does not necessarily mean shortening language, but it clearly is helping some of our users communicate in ways that make them feel more comfortable. We’re excited to see which grammar rules become myths in 2017, and which rules (like the Oxford comma) are here to stay.

3 More Writing in More Places Grammarly checked over 31 billion words in 2016. To give you a sense of what this number means: if every person on earth wrote four words in Grammarly, we’d still be 3 billion words short! Clearly, error-free digital writing was a force to be reckoned with in 2016, and we believe that our users will continue to pound on the keys at record-high numbers next year. Why do we think the amount of writing will increase? Check out these stats for more context on how digital writing grew this year:

• The number of indexed web pages grew by almost five billion from 2015 to 2016. Since the average web page contains 1,600 words, this represents a vast amount of written material.
• Over 2.3 million blogs are published every day, according to WordPress.com. The average blog post in 2016 was 1,054 words, meaning that over 2.4 billion words were written on blogs alone this year!
• At the time of writing, over 321 million tweets were being tweeted per day. Even if the average tweet is only 28 characters and only half are in English, this still represents almost 5 billion characters tweeted every day.

Even if 2016 was a tough year for online writing, we think 2017 will bring an exciting new chapter for the English language. To quote the authors of the previously mentioned LPB study, “previous research has neglected an essential dimension of language: time.” Language has never existed in a vacuum, and we are excited to see the ways in which English will grow and change in the coming year.

What do you think will happen in digital writing next year? Has your writing changed significantly in 2016? We’d love to hear your thoughts about effective writing in the comments below.

Monday Motivation Hack: Get Your Mind Right

When you picture someone meditating, what do you see? A yoga class? A person of South Asian descent in a religious context? A random businessperson in a stock photo?

Messages about mindfulness have been muddled, messy, and largely unhelpful since its rise to popularity. In the last few years, mindfulness has moved from hippie-and-yogi buzzword to bonified productivity skill lauded by the likes of The Harvard Business Review and Tim Ferriss. Since its appropriation by leadership seminars and tech giant conferences, mindfulness seems to have lost some of its meaning. So what does it mean, anyway? Here’s a simple definition:

Now, if that makes sense, let’s talk about how mindfulness can help you hack Monday mornings. We mentioned mindfulness as a practice when we talked about morning routines, but this productivity-producing mental habit deserves more attention.

Why practice mindfulness in the morning? As Dr. Laura Maciuika puts it in Psychology Today, “Your routine first thing in the morning sets the tone for the entire day. Before breakfast is generally a good time to meditate.” Even if you’re hungry and little groggy, taking a moment for yourself before tackling the day can help you to remember to remain calm and grounded, no matter what happens later.

The Twenty-Minute Version: Full Meditation

If you want the deep dive version, consider taking up a full meditation practice in the morning. If you have the time, this practice can help your days, weeks, and months run smoother than they have before.

To start, you should probably work with one of the guided meditation options below, starting with a ten-minute-long session. After a week (or whenever you feel comfortable), you can try focusing on your breath and your thoughts for ten minutes independently.

When you branch out on your own, choose a comfortable seat on the floor—or in a chair! There’s a misconception that you have to sit in a bendy yoga-esque position to meditate, and this is simply not true. Also, make sure you’re alone in a quiet space, where distractions are minimal. On the emotional side, be sure to enter a fully judgment-free zone when you attempt your first meditation. There’s no “right” way to meditate (no matter what the Internet says), and this is your first time flying solo, so be gentle with yourself. Also, a practical note: to keep your session on track without staring at a clock, be sure to set a timer with a gentle, non-intrusive beep. Close your eyes, start to notice your breath, and follow the instructions you’ve learned through guided meditation. Next thing you know, you’ll hear the beep and find yourself starting the day as a calmer, more centered human.

As you become more acclimated to this type of grounding in this space, you’ll be able to increase your meditation sessions from ten to fifteen to twenty minutes. If you have a full half hour, go for it! If possible, try to keep your meditation in the same physical space, so your mind associates that chair, room, or pillow in the closet with centering and focus. And have fun with it!

The Ten-Minute Variation: Guided Visualization

When we talk about mindfulness, we often equate it with quiet, sit-on-the-floor-by-yourself meditation. But that doesn’t have to be the case! You can just as easily sit in a chair, throw on your headphones, and have someone else guide you to a state of mindfulness.

There are few options to make this happen, from paid services to apps to podcasts to the old, reliable YouTube video. Try these three, and see which one suits you. Then you can check out this larger list of options. And remember, this is about your feels, so there is no “right” way to move through guided meditation!

1 The Classic YouTube Video

Male Voice, With Nature Imagery and Music

Female Voice, With Cats (and Cat Sounds)

2 The Podcast

3 The App

The Two-Minute Option: Mindfulness on the Move

You know what the great thing about mindfulness is? You don’t have to be meditating to practice it! You can apply the principles of mindfulness to anything you do.

Let that sink in. Anything.

So, if your morning routine is already hectic because of limited time or extra people to get ready for the day, you don’t have to carve out dedicated time to meditate. Instead, you can choose a mundane, repetitive activity you do every morning, and apply meditation principles to it. Some great candidates include:

• Walking to work (if you’re one of the lucky ones who can)
• Eating breakfast (if you won’t be interrupted)
• Showering (if you won’t be interrupted)
• Commuting (if you’re not driving)

If you choose one of these activities to do mindfully, you will need to ensure you can do it for five to ten minutes without interruption. It doesn’t necessarily need to be quiet where you are, but you’ll need headphones and a dedicated app if it’s loud. Just use the same principles as above, and do the activity as you normally would. But remember, pay attention to yourself without getting caught in your own feelings web.