Up to date

Up to date

Today’s English expression is, “Up to date.” There are two ways to use it. First, if something includes the latest information, it’s up to date. And second, if a person knows the latest information, that person is up to date.

Right now, in Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz is fighting for his life in the fourth set of his match against the Italian Jannick Sinner. Novak Djokovic is going to play in the round of sixteen later this afternoon. Rafael Nadal just won a match handily yesterday.

Is this information up to date? No, it is not. I wrote this lesson in the afternoon on July 3. You’re hearing it, at the earliest, on July 18. If you’re a tennis fan, you already know the winner of the tournament. So my report on Wimbledon was not up to date because it doesn’t include the latest information.

My password manager , however, is up to date. That’s because I never create a password without also adding it to LastPass. So my LastPass is always up to date. My LastPass always includes the most recent information.

Earlier today, I suggested that you write down your wishes for your digital accounts in the event of your death. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Just state what you have, who should access it, how they should get the information, and what to share with other people. I also suggested revisiting this around the holidays every year. If you do that, your instructions will be up to date. Your instructions will include the latest information—they’ll include what you currently want.

You can easily imagine how your preferences might change. You might delete an account, get a new one, your legacy contact might die before you, you might have new files you want to save—a lot can happen in a year. So revisit this information once a year—or more if you want—but revisit it at least once a year so that it’s up to date, so that your instructions include your current thinking about what you want to happen to your digital life after you die.

If you have a traditional will, you should make sure that is up to date as well. You might get new bank accounts, buy or inherit possessions, or simply change your wishes about who should get your assets when you die. If your financial situation changes, or if your thinking changes, you should change your will so that your will is up to date. Change you will so that it has the most recent information.

So these are all things—things are up to date if they include the most recent information. A report, a document, a password manager, a will, a letter—these are things that are up to date.

But a person can be up to date as well. A person is up to date if that person knows the latest information. I shared some personal news a few weeks ago—I finally left my traditional job and I’m one hundred percent dedicated to Plain English. As I was making that decision, I kept JR up to date about my plans. That means, he knew the most current information. I told him I was considering leaving my job. Then I told him when I had made the decision. And he sent me a nice good luck text on my last day. He was up to date—he had the latest information.

Quote of the Week

For today’s quote, we’re going way back in time, but it’s a timeless quote. It’s from Socrates and it’s famous. Here it is: “Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Let me do and I understand.” For anyone learning something new, those are true, true words. If you sit in the back of the room and just listen, you probably forget what you’re learning. If you watch it happen live, you have a much better chance of remembering. But if you get to do something yourself, you’ll really remember it.

See you next time!

And that, I think, is an important point to remember as you think about making progress in English. Listening is good; you need to listen. Reading is good, too; that helps you improve. But to really get better, you need to be using what you learn.

Now I told you I had a special bonus for you, and that is this. I just put together a special training video for Plain English listeners and it’s all about the differences between being an active learner and a passive learner. And in the video I give you lots of ideas for how to be an active learner in English—and a lot of them are free.

To get that video, it’s really simple, you’re going to want to go to PlainEnglish.com/active. Active, a-c-t-i-v-e, PlainEnglish.com/active. And that’s where you’ll get access to this free 30-minute training. You’re going to learn so much, I had so much fun putting this video together. PlainEnglish.com/active.

And that will help you move to the third part of the Socrates quote—“Let me do and I understand”—PlainEnglish.com/active.