📖 Book Don't Sweat the Small Stuff … and It's All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, PhD. Synopsis: Simple ways to keep little things from taking over your life. The book consists of 100 short articles -- we'll go through them week by week. This week’s # 50: Write Down Your Five Most Stubborn Positions and See if You Can Soften Them Here's what you need to do: 1️⃣ Read it yourself, take time to reflect on it and make notes. 2️⃣ Join the live reading on Wednesday. We'll read and listen to the article together, line by line. 3️⃣ Share your thoughts. Keep your answer under 2 minutes. Be clear, and focus on expressing your ideas about the topic to practice real English speaking. ***** The first time I tried this strategy, I was so stubborn that I insisted that I wasn't stubborn! Over time, as I have worked toward becoming a gentler person, I have found it far easier to see where I'm being stubborn. Here are a few examples from my clients: "People who aren't stressed are lazy." "My way is the only way." "Men aren't good listeners." "Women spend too much money." "Children are too much work." "People in business don't care about anything except money." You can see that the list itself is potentially endless. The point here isn't the specifics of what you are stubborn about but rather the fact that you hold on so tightly to any given idea you might have. It doesn't make you weak to soften your positions. In fact, it makes you stronger. I have a male client who was adamant, to the point of being obnoxious about it, that his wife spent too much money. As he relaxed a little, and noticed his own rigidity, he discovered something that he's now a little embarrassed about, but laughs at. He found out that, in reality, he spent more discretionary money on himself than his wife spent on herself! His objectivity had become muddled by his own rigid belief. As he has become wiser and gentler, his marriage has improved immensely. Rather than resenting his wife for something she wasn't even doing, he now appreciates her restraint. She, in turn, feels his new acceptance and appreciation and loves him more than before.

DDM 1063 Assignment is up! 🗓️ DEADLINE: October 3 (LA time)! ⚠️ COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, and your FILES should be attached BELOW ☺️👇🏻 Good luck! ☺️

Friday NAVIgating Spot: Welcome Session & Q&A It's October 2, 2026 -- the 275th day of the year, with 90 days to go. Great to have you @Ramon Almeida, @Jack Chen, @Min Chen, @Lucas Tian, @Pauline Wong, @Sharon Tu, @Xiao Guo, @Annie Zeng, @Sara Li, @Lin Lin, @Lens Lee, and @Luis Gonzalez. Thanks for joining! Let's enjoy the journey and master English together. And remember: 🔑 Key ingredients to LEARN quickly: 1️⃣ Quality -- Study useful material you can use right away. 2️⃣ Consistency -- Daily practice, even for a few minutes. 3️⃣ Mistakes -- Make them, and fix with a coach to improve. See you (^^)/

Excellent job, everyone. Great work on the assignments and very interesting (a bit provocative) questions, too! Here's the LINK! If you are NOT in DDM Elite...why not?!!

Good always triumphs over Evil ~ Excellent work, everyone! Thanks to @Evelyne Vincent, @Alex Yu, @Daria Filippova, @Albina Karimova, @Daria P, @Linus Z, @Natasha Ermakova, and @Amal Ta for your focused practice. Just keep muscling through until speaking feels second nature. See you at the next session~