Use it or lose it! 小心不然你會失去你的能力！

Use it or lose it!

小心不然你會失去你的能力！

不要怕麻煩！

If you’re not practicing English every day, you’re getting rusty (生疏).

If you’re not moving your body, you’re getting weaker (衰弱).

One thing I’ve noticed in Taiwan is that everybody is so obsessed with “taking it easy.” I always hear people say, “幹嘛要那麼累!”

First, a bit of a story.

I always see people taking the elevator or escalator up one flight of stairs, either because they don’t want to move any more than they have to or because they feel tired.

The only time I take the elevator is if I’m with my wife. Otherwise, I take the stairs, even when I’m carrying heavy boxes. The way I see it is that I am going to keep moving while I’m still able to move. I’m not going to wait until I can’t move anymore and then complain about getting old.

Why am I saying all this? Since I was 24 years old, I’ve had really bad RSI (職業病, like 滑鼠手) in my hands, and they have been numb and hurt every single day.

Originally, I thought that I should rest my hands because they were too weak. That is what did for about 21 years.

Did my hands get stronger? NO! The muscles continued to get weaker.

I needed a new strategy. Early this year, I stumbled across “Captains of Crush” hand grippers. I bought several of them and started pushing my hands as hard as I possibly could about twice a week.

My hands started getting stronger, and, now, they are almost as strong as those of a normal person. While they still feel numb and slightly uncomfortable, they no longer hurt when I carry bags or do other things normal people can do.

In fact, while I used to avoid carrying things, I now carry as much as I possibly can.

Also, now that I've been strengthening my hands for about half a year, I'm still pushing myself to my limit. I'm not slowing down. Remember: either you're getting better or you're getting worse. It's impossible to maintain your current level.

What’s my point? Why am I telling you this story?

You all need to be very careful!

You need to continue “exercising” your English (or math or whatever skills are important to you) several times a week. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself having lost your ability.

SAT students - If you are not practicing your critical thinking by doing SAT questions several times a week, you’re going to lose your edge.

TOEFL and IELTS students - if you are not speaking English every single day, you’re getting rusty. If you are not writing English (preferably your own essays and/or 抄寫), then your writing is not improving (and is probably getting worse).

So, here’s the moral of the story: use your skills (and your body) now, while you still are able to. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Also, if you have been lazy (or, like me, you haven’t used certain “muscles”) for a long time, understand that it’s going to take a considerable amount of time for you to get back to where you were. For instance, if you were scoring Band 6 on the IELTS two years ago, it may take you several months to get back to that score (unless you’ve been living in an English-speaking environment).

Don’t be lazy!

Work hard!

It’s worth it!

I hope you all do well.