11 phrases you need to know to implement Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" in your life

Does December feel like a battle time to tie up the loose ends? Doesn't feel this way to me since I move to Asia. Wondering what it's like on your side: who feels like a warrior?

"The Art of War" is a 2,500-year-old military text written by Chinese general Sun Tzu, and somehow it's still more relevant to your Monday morning than half the business books published last year.

11 Phrases to Ignite Your Fight

1. Brute force: Using raw power or effort instead of intelligence or skill.
"I couldn't open the lock, so I used brute force and broke the door."

2. With the least amount of bloodshed: Achieving a goal while avoiding unnecessary conflict or harm.
"The manager resolved the team dispute with the least amount of bloodshed, keeping everyone happy."

3. Market awareness: Knowing what customers want and what competitors are doing.
"Our market awareness told us smartphones needed better batteries, so we made one."

4.Worth pursuing: Good enough to spend time and effort on.
"The lead from the conference seems worth pursuing; they're very interested."

5. Back people into a corner: To trap someone, leaving them with no good options.
"By taking away his funding and his team, they backed him into a corner."

6. Desperate: Willing to try anything because you are in a very bad situation.
"He was desperate for a job, so he applied everywhere."

7. To adjust your approach accordingly: To change your plan based on new information.
"It started raining, so we adjusted our approach accordingly and moved the picnic indoors."

8. To rigidly stick to: To refuse to change a plan or rule, even when you should.
"He rigidly stuck to the old recipe, even though no one liked it anymore."

9. Resource allocation: Deciding how to use your time, money, and people.
"Our resource allocation was poor; we spent all our money on ads and none on product development."

10. Mythical ancient wisdom: Supposedly perfect advice from the past, which is probably more legend than fact.
"The secret isn't some mythical ancient wisdom; it's just hard work and practice."

11. Competitive dynamics: How companies react to each other's moves in a market.
"When one airline lowers prices, the competitive dynamics force others to do the same."

💅 What phrase do you choose to incorporate into your speech first?

🪴 Want to get 60 meenutes of high quality focuse practice, meet English For Impact readers, and start using these phrases in your speech already this week?
Text "wednesday" to @ybeymlina to sign up for an open meeting on Wednesday, 6-7PM MSC time zone. You've got what it takes!

"Humans of English for Impact" #3 ⭐️ Bringing to you the stories of our readers, one at a time.

Meet Nick Nedelchuk, Founder & CEO at "Localie."

I LOVE projects with a mission to bring the world closer. "Localie" is one of them. It's a marketplace app bringing together travelers and locals ready to show you around. As a user of "Air B&B Experiences," definitely see value in this. Inclined to believe that "Localie" is way more authentic at this point.

Give ❤️ to Nick and check out his channel @localiehome.

For Russian speakers, check out Nick's fascinating story of quitting a corporate job, moving to the Netherlands, and building traveltech "Localie" during COVID despite all odds.

🪴 Want to share your story here? DM @ybeymlina “Humans of english for impact” and links to your projects

What was it like to run a "PitchUp Club"'s open session for @rezinkinaa 's MFS community.

⭐️General Impressions

I LOVED the founders!
Last Wednesday, I met 8 founders from Andrey's club. While they're from different industries and business development stages, there's one thing that unites them all - a solid foundation.
Another thing I appreciated is their focus and attention to details during the public speaking training. Attention is an expensive gift and it was rewarding to receive it from the "MFS" community.

A shout-out to the founder who made an especially lasting impression on me: Alexander Malandin from "SereneDB." First, I payed attention to his outstanding English. Then, learnt he's recently raised $2.1M in pre-seed. Is it a coincidence?* :)

You can read more about Alexander in Andrey's recent post.

Kudos to @rezinkinaa for building such a strong community that the founders respect and enjoy.

⭐️What we did at the "PitchUp Club" session for "MFS"

- Deconstructed Ali Ghodsi (Databricks's Co-founder, CEO, a16z's portfolio company) founder transformation journey: from academia to CEO [5:30-8:20min]. The 4 min speech sample was obtained from Ali's interview with Ben Horowitz;
- "MFS"'s founders prepared and shared their own's journeys, using Alis' framework;
- Exchanged feedback.

⭐️Key take-aways
- Sharing your personal story helps to build trust and credibility.
- Don't ramble*: choose up to 3 points and bring them home with clarity.
- Glue the speech together using the signposting language* such as "That's about you yourself. Now, for managing..." to indicate where you begin and end thought blocks.

*Glossary
🫧To ramble - to speak a lot without a clear direction
🫧A coincidence - when 2 events happen at the same time in a surprising way
🫧Signposting language - phrases that show how parts of your speech relate to each other

🪴Over to you

Know a community that will benefit from a "PitchUp" trial or simply want to get a sneak peek into "PitchUp" yourself? Comment and/or DM @ybeymlina "PitchUp" to apply

5 phrases Sam Altman would use in Bangkok

On my way back to Viet fresh with Bkk energy, asked Claude what SA would say about the place. Not disappointed with the results:

🫧“This floating market is basically decentralized commerce.”
Tries to explain to confused vendors why they’re actually web3 pioneers. They just want to sell him mangoes.

🫧”I’m very excited about the talent density in this co-working space”
There are three people there. One is napping.*

🫧“Incredible go-to-market strategy.”
Seeing the monks collecting alms.*

🫧“This is obviously the future of remote work infrastructure.”
Gestures vaguely at a beach bar with spotty WiFi* and plastic chairs.

🫧“We need to make this 10x better.”
About Thai iced tea. He’s not wrong, but also it’s already perfect and he’s ordered six.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

*GLOSSARY
🫧To nap - to have a short sleep
🫧To collect alms - to ask for money in the street
🫧Spotty wifi - unreliable wifi that keeps cutting in and out

What would Sam Altman say about your city?;)

8 Acronyms to Survive a US Office

We're all a bit of a Sahil, aren't we?.. ;)

Trannoscript

Sahil, FYI before applying for OOO complete KT by EOD. I'll be on DND mode, so SME will be your POC for any QQ

8 acronyms spelled out

🫧FYI - for your information
🫧OOO - our of office
🫧KT - knowledge transfer
🫧EOD - end of day
🫧DND - do not disturb
🫧SME - subject matter expert
🫧POC - point of contact
🫧QQ - quick qiestions

IG reference sahil_the9to5

❤️ Like, share, comment to spread fun, knowledge, and confidence

1️⃣0️⃣ phrases to speak about 6 big ideas as seen by "a16z," the world's leading VC fund

We checked out those two articles from Andreessen Horowitz, a big venture capital firm's predictions for the biggest tech trends coming in 2026. Think of it like a peek into the future from people who bet big on new ideas.

🫡 Overall, the big theme is that AI is moving from just chatting/answering questions to doing real work, personalizing everything for you, and even revamping old-school industries like factories and banking.

1️⃣0️⃣ phrases you need to speak about 6 trends in English

1. To peek into the future - To get a quick, exciting look at what might happen later.

"Reading that crystal ball app is like peeking into the future – suddenly I 'know' I'll win the lottery!"

2. To bet on (an idea) - To invest money or strong belief in something new, hoping it succeeds.

"Investors bet big on electric cars years ago, and now everyone's driving one."

3. To revamp old-school industries - To completely modernize outdated traditional businesses.

"Robots are revamping old-school factories. Goodbye assembly line boredom, hello fast-paced machines!"

4. To treat everyone the same - To give identical treatment or options to all people, no personalization.

"One-size-fits-all jeans treat everyone the same. Great if you're average, tragic if you're not."

5. To jump in to help - To quickly step in and offer assistance without being asked.

"When I dropped my groceries, a stranger jumped in to help. Instant superhero moment!"

6. To prevent problems - To stop issues before they even start.

"Brushing your teeth prevents problems: way better than crying at the dentist later."

7. To pull from (photos, messages, habits) - To gather or use information directly from those sources.

"The app pulls from your photos and messages to create a hilarious 'year in review' video that feels magically personal."

8. Widely used - Popular and used by a huge number of people.

"WhatsApp is so widely used that even my grandma sends memes now."

9. To spark (the internet boom) - To start or ignite something big and exciting.

"That first easy web browser sparked the internet boom. Suddenly everyone was online shopping in their pajamas."

10. To set apart - To make something or someone distinctly different or special.

"Her bright pink hair really sets her apart in a sea of boring office outfits."

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 6-7PM MSC time, EFI (@englishforimpact)'s readers will
🫧learn what 6 trends're about
🫧summarise the gist
🫧express their opinions using advanced vocabulary
Text Wednesday to @ybeymlina to sign up.

🌸 Share with a friend who needs a bit of inspiration

"MIT Lab" is introducing the first near-telepathic device, "AlterEgo."

Besides converting speech thought to text, "AlterEgo" allows you to communicate with another device wearer in thoughts, without saying a word out loud. In most common languages.

🤯 Yes, your thoughts can be translated into the target language live!

TRANSCRIPT
Alter Ego gives you the power of telepathy, but only for the thoughts you want to share. With Alter Ego, you talk just like you normally would, but without making a sound. Let me show you how it works.

[Thinking]: "From the outside it looks like telepathy."

We all have moments when inspiration strikes* and you want to save an idea before it slips away*. You can now capture those instantly without lifting a finger*. For example: "Make a note I need to pack hiking boots for my trip to Bulgaria." Just going to see if that sync. Oh yeah. Awesome.

Alter Ego has tiny cameras built in and can make sense of the world around me from my perspective. Here I have a postcard and when I find something interesting, I can point to specific parts and ask questions about what I'm seeing:

— "Who's this character?"

— "That's Europa, who represents Europe, shaking hands with America to celebrate the first transatlantic telegraph cable."

— That's cool. "Remind me to send the postcard back."

— "Okay, reminder is added to your notes app."
— Awesome.

You can get so much done with Alter Ego, but I want to talk about how it changes communication. This is where it gets really interesting. Alter Ego works with your other devices, but it also works with other people wearing an Alter Ego. It feels almost telepathic.

— "Where do you want to get lunch after this?"

— "Thai food could be good."

It doesn't matter where Arnov and I are. It could be a noisy environment or a quiet office. Having a direct conversation is possible without saying a word. The signals Alter Ego detects aren't affected by environmental noise. So even if you're walking past a wind tunnel or a construction zone, what you want to say will always get across.* It's like having infinite noise cancellation.

If you're traveling, your silent speech can be converted into any language.

— Scott, how's my Mandarin? "When I visit Shanghai, I'm hoping you can show me around the city."

[Trasnlates into Mandarin.] "I would be glad to show you Shanghai. I'm going to use my Alter Ego to give you a travel tip in Hindi."

For all of human history, we've built tools to extend our abilities, but we never perfected the tool and the interface to extend the human mind. Alter Ego gives us that, a way to communicate at the speed of thought. We believe this is the beginning of that future where technology is no longer an external box we carry but a natural extension of who we are. Thank you for being here with us today at the beginning of that future. You can visit us at altergo (dot) io to sign up for early access.

5 phrases yoused in the video you can benifit from using in your speech

GLOSSARY

🫧

Inspiration strikes

- A sudden, clear, good idea comes to you.

🫧

To slip away

- To be forgotten or lost.

🫧

Without lifting a finger

- Without any physical effort.

🫧

To get across

- To be understood by someone else.

🫧

A natural extension of who we are

- A tool that feels like a normal, effortless part of yourself.

AlterEgo website. You can learn more and even sign up for early access.

👍 I want to try “AlterEgo”!
💀 I am afraid of “AlterEgo.”

💅 By the time you're seeing this, @ybeymlina and most committed EFI readers’ve already discussed this and 5 other emerging trends (see yesterday’s post) using high level English.
Text Wedensday to @ybeymlina to sign up for our next focused practice.

🍕 An actual pizza order for "a very pregnant" wife

The Problem with "Very Pregnant"

"Pregnant" is what linguists call an absolute or non-gradable adjective. You either are pregnant or you aren't. There's no middle ground. You can't be "somewhat pregnant" or "extremely pregnant" in the literal sense.

That said, colloquially, people often say "very pregnant" to mean visibly, obviously, or far along in pregnancy. It's not technically correct, but everyone understands it means someone is showing clearly or in their third trimester.

The husband's pizza order is absolutely chaotic. It's loaded with bizarre combinations (banana peppers, half portions of everything, light jalapeños, olives) and includes an anxious, rambling customer request about his "very pregnant wife."

The phrase "very pregnant wife" signals two things:
1. She's far enough along that her cravings are intense and specific
2. He's terrified of getting the order wrong

Usage Tip

"Very pregnant" is widely understood in casual speech to mean "obviously/heavily pregnant."

🔠It's not grammatically neutral!

You can call it someone:

🫧close to you as a term of endearment
🫧annoying in a derogatory way
🫧but hardly ever in a neutral way

🌸 Send this to someone you want to make "very pregnant," if you dare ;)

Introduce yourself like a boss ☺️

There're 3 ways to introduce yourlsef, at least
1. A way that builds trust and clarity
2. A way that manupulates your listener to push your authority through
3. A way that is low key to downplay yourself

All 3 are valid, when suiting the circumstances. The guy in the video is definitely No. ... 2. Key characteristics:
🫧Vague language: "a culture of innovation," "leveraging* synergies"
🫧Highfalutin metaphors: "to steer* the ship"
🫧Deflecting intrusive questions: "Do you ever do anything? It's less about "do," more about* "be"

Master all 3 characteristics of No. 2, and you will never be put on the spot.
🔠 DON'T use No. 2 to win partners, not likely to work out.
🔠 DO use to encite curiosity and emerge as an authority, for some.

TRANSCRIPT
— What do you do for work?
— I'm a CEO.
— Can I ask what does that actually look like?
— Strategic oversight, mostly.
— But like, what do you do all day?
— I steer* the ship, leveraging* synergies and fostering holistic growth.
— But how do you actually steer? Like, what are some examples?
— I create a culture of innovation.
— But what are your daily tasks
— Leadership isn't about tasks.
— Do you ever do anything?
— It's less about "do," more about* "be." Being present. Being a leader.
— Okay, just name one thing.
— Lamp.
— Oh, my my God.

IG reference clickupcomedy

*GLOSSARY

🫧

To steer

- to guide or control where something goes

To steer a ship, a car, a company

🫧

To leverage

- to use what you have to get a better result

To leverage your network, education, strength

🫧

It's less about ..., more about ...

- showing more and less important parts of something

It’s less about looks, more about traits when entering a relationship

Your turn
👙 I love telling people what I do
🧦 I hate telling people what I do

The Core Skills for 2030 according to WEF (World Economic Forum)

How do you spend the last week of the year? As my B-day falls on* the same week as NYE, this period calls for double reflection. Not always pleasant, always useful.

In the fast-changing world, the question I ask myself: what do I need to learn to stay relevant* and keep being useful to people? In search for the answer, I started looking up most high authority resources on skill development for the future.

It turns out, there are not many of them! The most credible I've dug up is "WEF." Do you know a better one? Let me know in comment.

As I was browsing through the upper-right quadrant*, "core skills," I've realised I suck at quite a few of them: my "AI and big data" and "tech literacy" especially can easily be beaten by many of my techie friends.

🐷 At the same time, I realised 2 interesting things:

1️⃣ I don't wish to grow the skills I am weak at. On the contrary, I've recognised that the skills I already have and take for granted actually are sought after*. I intend to double down* on them instead.

2️⃣ I've realised that our 2 products develop way way more than English speaking skills. Here, I give credit to the users who have especially done a great job growing core 2030 skills this year with us:

> Curiosity & Lifelong Learning

"PitchUp" member @TheEdinorog, the author of @theedinorogblog has shown intense curiosity following founder speeches from a variety of industries, not directly relevant to his. This pays off as he can verbalise opinions and leverage relationships across industries.

> Leadership & Social intelligence

"PitchUp" member @Eugen_Targaryen, the author of @bdsmmchannel has given thoughtful feedback on product denoscriptions and founding stories to PMs and entrepreneurs in the workshops. His comments show both guidance and celebrating the strengths, key feedback traits of a good leader.

> Empathy & Active listening

"S2S" user @anasteisha1k has sharpened her active listening even further becoming an engaging interlocutor who can find an approach to diverse speaking partners.

*Glossary
🫧To fall on - to happen on a certain day
🫧Quadrant - one of four parts of something
🫧To stay relevant - to remain important
🫧To be sought after - many people want it
🫧To double-down on - to put in more effort or focus on something

🪴 WBU, Is there a skill you'd like to grow in 2026? Is it one from your strengths or weaknesses?