Brainstorming in English — 9 Magic Phrases for Introverts

58,414 views ・ 2021-04-21

Speak Confident English


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I'm curious if these three statements sound familiar to you?
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.When my boss asks me a question in a meeting, my mind goes blank.
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I hate brainstorming meetings in English.
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Everyone's sitting there looking at me, waiting for me to speak,
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but I panic and I don't have anything to say.
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I feel so embarrassed or maybe number three,
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sounds familiar to you.
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This is something that one of my students recently said to me, Annemarie,
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I'm frustrated because my coworkers share ideas that I have in
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business meetings. But when it's my turn to speak,
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I forget everything I want to say.
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So I never get the opportunity to share my ideas.
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If any of that sounds familiar to you. I hear you. Of course,
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it's possible that you're stuck and frustrated because when you know you have to
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communicate in English, your anxiety increases,
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which makes it more difficult to think clearly.
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Or perhaps you're an introvert and like many introverts you
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prefer or even need time to think before you speak.
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You're an internal processor. Or perhaps it's both.
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I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
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This is exactly where you want to be every week to get the confidence you want
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for your life and work in English.
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Whether you're struggling to communicate effectively when brainstorming in
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English due to increased anxiety,
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or because you're an introvert who needs more time to think in today's lesson,
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I have four tips and nine magic phrases to help you get the time you need to
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think so that you are ready to communicate your ideas confidently in English.
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[Inaudible].
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Let's get started right away with tip number one, prepare in advance.
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Now I know that one seems obvious, but truthfully, we don't always do it.
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We might be pressed for time or feel overwhelmed,
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but there is a quick,
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simple way that you can get familiar with the topics that are going to be
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discussed and have the time you need to fully
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formulate your ideas so that you can deliver them with confidence.
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In my Fluency School course,
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I love working with my students on developing mind maps or learning to
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outline their ideas with just a few key words.
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It certainly is not worth your time to write down every sentence you need
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because in a business meeting,
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of course you can't read everything that you want to say.
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You need to be able to communicate in the moment.
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So reviewing the agenda in advance and then taking a few minutes to create a
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quick mind map or jot down a few keywords can help you be
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prepared to share what you want in the business meeting.
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Now I know you might be thinking,
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but what if there isn't an agenda provided in advance?
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Ask.
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And this is your first magic phrase for today's lesson on brainstorming in
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English. A simple effective way to ask for the agenda is to say,
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would you mind sharing the agenda in advance?
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I'd like to have time to prepare before the meeting.
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I can promise you that most of the time a business owner, supervisor,
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or manager will really like to hear those magic words I'd like to
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prepare before the meeting, or I'd like to prepare in advance.
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Tip number two for effectively,
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brainstorming in English is to ask for time to think again,
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whether you have increased anxiety,
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because you're trying to find the right words in English,
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or you're an introvert like me and you just really want the time to
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organize your thoughts, ask for the time to think.
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In fact, in English, we have a wonderful idiom for this.
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Have you heard the idiom to buy yourself some time?
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What that means is to do or say something that allows you to stall or
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delay in this case, delay speaking.
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So whether you're asked a question directly in a meeting and you have that
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initial moment of panic,
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or there's a conversation happening around you,
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and you know that at some point it's going to be your turn to speak,
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but you're still not ready.
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Here are three magic phrases you can use to buy yourself some time.
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Number one, I'm still thinking this through or I'm still thinking,
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do you mind coming back to me in a moment? Number two,
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I'm still mulling this over. Would you mind coming back to me tomorrow?
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Something over means to think carefully about it for a period of time. Number
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three,
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I've got some ideas on this brewing or I've got some thoughts brewing.
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Could you come back to me in a moment? Now,
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I know that you can't always buy yourself some time.
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There are situations where someone asks a question and you have to be ready to
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respond. So we'll talk about that in a moment with tip three,
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but before we get there,
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there's one more thing that you could do to buy yourself a little bit of time,
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to think,
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organize your ideas and be a voice for the other introverts
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in the room who are also desperately hoping for time to think you could
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ask your group or team members.
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Could we pause for just one minute and take time to jot down a few notes?
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This is definitely helpful for those of us in the room who need to process
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internally. I can promise you if you ask a question like that,
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there will be others in the room who will thank you for it.
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And now let's go on to tip number three when you have to respond in the moment,
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but you're feeling that sense of panic because you haven't fully formed your
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ideas. Be okay with unfinished ideas.
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If you're like most introverts,
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I know that you prefer to have your idea fully formed before you share it.
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You don't like thinking on your feet or thinking out loud. In other words,
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you struggle to express your thoughts. The moment they occur. Again,
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you prefer to think in advance the same may be true.
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If you're struggling to find the right words that you want in English,
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if you're feeling uncomfortable with an unfinished idea, but you know,
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you have to say something, here are three magic phrases that can help.
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Number one, I'm just thinking out loud with this. But...
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For example, I'm just thinking out loud with this, but what if we tried...?
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And then you continue with the idea that you do have,
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it may not be fully formed, but it's a start. A second option.
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I haven't figured it all out yet, but... I have,
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I haven't figured it all out yet, but one thing I'm thinking is...,
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And then again, you continue with your idea. And number three,
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well, I'm still putting the pieces together, but...
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Each of these sentence starters gives you the permission to have an
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unfinished idea.
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It's also a signal to everyone listening to you that you're just
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thinking out loud. You're still figuring out all the little pieces.
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And that's the whole point of brainstorming.
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There may be someone else in the room who has the missing piece to your
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idea. And finally tip number four for effectively,
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brainstorming in English,
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especially if you're an introvert is to take advantage of your
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strong listening skills.
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Introverts tend to be fantastic active listeners in a
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brainstorming meeting.
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You can benefit from this by listening carefully to what everyone else has to
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say. And then when it's your turn,
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you can respond to something that someone else has said that
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may be backing up or supporting someone else's idea.
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Perhaps it's offering a different perspective or maybe in this case,
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you're the one with the missing piece to the puzzle. Either way,
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taking the time to listen to everyone else in the room can give you the time
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that you need to think about what's being said and be ready to
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add your thoughts or ideas.
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And here are two magic phrases to help you do that. Number one,
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I liked Mariana's point about... because...
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Of course here you would rephrase the key point or idea that
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someone else shared and then be prepared to state why you think that's a good
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idea. A second option while listening to Mariana,
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I had another thought or I had another perspective come to mind...
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And then of course you would with sharing your idea.
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Before we finish for today,
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let's do a quick recap and I've got a challenge question for you.
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So the four tips to help you effectively communicate your
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ideas when brainstorming in English are to number one, prepare in advance.
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Number two, ask to have time to think number three,
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be okay with an unfinished idea. And number four,
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take advantage of your strong listening skills.
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If one of these phrases was particularly helpful to you,
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I would love to know which one it is.
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You can share with me below your favorite new phrase or expression from today's
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lesson and try to use it in an example sentence.
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Maybe you have a business meeting coming up soon.
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You could use this as an opportunity to practice using that new sentence starter
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or phrase and get comfortable with it.
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If you found this lesson helpful to you, I would love to know.
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And as always you can tell me in two simple ways, number one,
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give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube and subscribe to the Speak
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Confident English channel so you never miss one of my Confident English lessons.
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And number two, if you have a friend or coworker,
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who's also struggling with brainstorming in English,
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be sure to share this lesson directly with them.
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You can do that by sharing it on Facebook or by email.
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Thank you so much for joining me,
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have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing you next time for your
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Confident English lesson.
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