INPUT ARTICLE: Article: It’s hard to keep your cool when your texts and phone calls suddenly go unanswered. However, you should take a deep breath and relax before launching a tirade of frantic texts or sending a 10-paragraph angry email. Not knowing why they won’t respond is maddening, but it's better to cool off before saying something you'll regret or jumping to conclusions. If you feel the need to initiate contact, stay rational. Send them a message or voicemail and say, “I haven’t heard from you lately, and I hope I didn’t do anything to offend you. If you want to try to resolve any issues, I’d be happy to talk. Otherwise, I wish you all the best.” Many people find ghosting acceptable in some circumstances. For example, if a match on a dating app starts ignoring your messages, your best bet is to brush it off and forget about it. If you just met the person or went on 1 or 2 casual dates, checking up on them probably isn’t worth your time. However, if you’ve been friends or romantically involved for months or years, they might just have a lot on their plate. Before jumping to conclusions, see if they've simply been busy, and make sure that they’re in good physical and mental health.  You could check their social media profile and see if they’re posting pictures or statuses. Keep in mind you shouldn’t obsess over their posts for hours. Just do a quick check. If you both have a mutual friend, you could ask them if the person who’s ignoring you is okay. If you think the person might be depressed or going through an emotional struggle, you could write them a message and say, “I haven’t heard from you in a while, and I hope you’re okay. I know you’re going through a tough time, and I’m here for you.” If it’s clear that the person is intentionally ignoring you, it might be best to cut your losses. If they post fun pictures on social media and your mutual friends say that they're doing well, the ball's in their court. There's not much more you can do beyond telling them you're willing to discuss any issues and wishing them well.  As much as it hurts, do your best to stop making excuses for them or holding out hope that they’ll eventually respond. If they do try to contact you in the future, use your best judgment. If they apologize and explain that they had a lot going on, they might not have had bad intentions.

SUMMARY: Stay calm. Address the issue if you have an existing relationship. Confirm that the person is intentionally ghosting you. Accept the truth instead of getting trapped in denial.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: After you learn the ropes and feel confident with basic turns, start to practice parallel turns. During these turns, your skis stay parallel to each other throughout the entire turn. The turn is made by pivoting your hips to redirect your weight. Once you learn how to parallel turn, you usually don’t need to do the snowplough turn. Bend your knees and move your shoulders toward the front of your skis. This repositions your body weight and starts moving you down the slope. When doing a parallel turn, you use your body weight to increase your momentum and make your turn. When parallel skiing, your skis should always face straight toward the front. This determines your direction of travel. To go toward the left, move your hips toward the left. To turn toward the right, reposition your body to the right side. To turn, roll your knees and ankles in the direction you want to turn. Move both of your feet toward the same direction to keep your skis parallel. You can then switch your turn by adjusting your weight to the other side of your foot.  If you want to turn to the right, adjust your weight toward the right side of your feet. Put your weight on the left side of both feet to make a turn toward the left. Keep your shoulders slightly rotated toward the direction you want to turn. Ski with your knees slightly bent and your weight distributed to the side you want to turn toward. When you finish your turn, distribute your weight toward the front center of your skis by leaning your shoulders forward. This realigns you to the forward parallel skiing position. The momentum you build up as you ski controls your speed.

SUMMARY: Try a parallel turn when you get the hang of the snowplough turn. Lean forward and distribute your weight across both skis to start your turn. Match the direction of your skis and your body to orient your turn. Push to one side to redistribute your weight and make your turn. Ski at a constant speed until you want to come out of your turn.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: The very first thing your pitch should do is introduce you to your listener. Immediately launching into an anecdote about your accomplishments or a list of your skills might leave your listener feeling a little bewildered.  For example, you can start by saying something like, “Hi, I’m Amanda Smith. I just recently graduated from the University of Maine’s marketing program,” or, “Hi, I’m Ryan Long and I work in manufacturing sales.” In both examples, your listener immediately learns your name and the most important thing about you. Now that your listener knows who you are, tell them why you are at the event you’re both attending. It might be a job fair or an industry conference or you might just be dropping off a resume. In each situation, you should know why you’re there.  For example, if you’re attending a job fair, your objective is probably to get a job. You could say something like “Hi, I’m Amanda Smith. I just recently graduated from the University of Maine’s marketing program. I’m looking for an entry-level position in social media coordination.” You could also say something like, “Our auto parts manufacturing business has been growing, but I’m looking to take our sales numbers to record-breaking heights.” In both examples, your listener has learned who you are, what you do, and what you’re looking for next in only two sentences. The best way to convince your listener that you can reach your stated objective is to share past successes. This tells your listener that you already have a good track record in your field. Use the CAR technique for this: Give the context for your accomplishment, the action you took, and the result of that action. For example, your accomplishment might be that you improved your company’s sales over the last quarter. The context might be that sales were okay, but you believed they could be better. Your action might have been that you sat down with the sales team and reworked your entire selling strategy. Your result was that your company’s sales increased. Telling your listener what skills you have allows you to emphasize what you can do for them in the future (and not just what you’ve already done for someone else in the past). Share both your hard skills – things like degrees, certifications, and work experience – and your soft skills – things like being good at interpersonal communication or an excellent writer. For example, you might say something like “I have a Master’s Degree in Business and worked for eight years as the assistant sales manager for a smaller auto parts manufacturer. My superiors have always commented on my ability to communicate clearly and effectively with our clients.” Your call to action is basically what you can do to seal the deal after you’ve made the pitch. This will look differently from situation to situation, but it should set up the next step in your relationship with this new contact. For example, you can end your pitch by saying something like “Can we set up a meeting to discuss how I can increase your company’s sales?” You can also end it more simply by saying “I think I could be a great asset to your company; can I give you my business card?”

SUMMARY:
Tell your listener who you are and what you do. State your objective. Share your accomplishments. Share your skills. Close with a call to action.