Hello, hello. This is Joanna speaking, and I should say welcome back after a long pause. It’s the 28th of October 2025, and a couple of days ago I realized that it’s been a year since I recorded my last podcast episode.

Why that is, what’s new with me, and what I brought for you today in terms of learning English — well, that’s the content of today’s podcast. And hopefully, you won’t wait another year for the next one.

So, first of all, it’s been a year because I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted each and every single episode to be absolutely flawless. And that’s not possible, right? That’s not the best approach to anything in life, probably.

But why I decided to return — it’s not that suddenly this episode and all the next ones are going to be perfect. It’s because I was inspired by another podcast, or rather by a person, by the host of this podcast.

I read a book, and I came across it by accident. I had heard about this title for quite some time from a couple of people that I know online or in person. And then I saw it at the airport when I was traveling internationally. I thought, okay, since it was positioned as a bestseller, this must be a sign. I have to buy it. And I did.

I always find it more pleasant to read a paperback version of a book rather than an ebook on my Kindle. So I grabbed it and started reading. It really, really inspired me — especially when I realized that the author of the book runs his own podcast.

The book is The Diary of a CEO, and the name of the podcast is exactly the same. You can find it on Spotify, YouTube, wherever you like. I realized that this guy, Steve Bartlett, has recorded over 700 episodes. But I started listening from the end — with the oldest ones from 2017.

Currently, I’m listening, and it’s absolutely amazing to see how he developed over time, because the book was written in a completely different time than the first episodes of the podcast. Anyway, it inspired me to return to my own podcast — and here I am.

Now, what’s new with me? It’s not that I’ve been slacking for the past year, because I wasn’t. I was pretty busy developing my English Weekly course. I actually organized my first language weekends.

The first one took place in October in Warsaw, and the next one is going to take place in November in Poznań — from the 14th to the 16th of November. So if you’re lucky enough while listening to this, you may still have a chance to secure your own spot at this language weekend.

I truly believe this is an amazing experience for learners because we immerse totally into English. It’s 100% English time — during coffee breaks, lunch, dinner, even playing board games in the evenings. You get to experience English fully, together with all those natural reactions, short questions, and everything that comes with real-life situations.

I’ve also visited the United States, which I think will be the topic of another episode. I visited a couple of new states. My main destination during this American trip in September was Montana, because I was so inspired by the series Yellowstone.

But more about Montana — whether I liked it or not, how I liked Yellowstone National Park and all the other parks we visited, because we mainly focused on new places we’d never seen before — I’ll tell you more in the next episode, or maybe a bit later. I promise you that.

Now, I wanted to share a bunch of very useful idioms related to this episode’s theme: starting from scratch.

I’m not actually starting from scratch myself, because I’ve already created six episodes of my podcast last year — you can still listen to them. But it feels like it. The break was so long that I feel like I’m starting from scratch.

So starting from scratch is simply zaczynać od zera. You can say: I feel like I’m starting from scratch, but that’s okay. That’s exactly about me.

You can also say a clean slate or a blank slate, which means a new chapter. For example: This podcast feels like a clean slate for me — like a completely new chapter. Something like tabula rasa in Latin.

The next one is to turn over a new leaf, which means to start something anew, to have a different approach to something, to begin doing something in a new way. For example: I’m turning over a new leaf and leaving perfectionism behind.

Another one, one of my favourites, is to pick up where I left off. That would be in Polish zacząć tam, gdzie się skończyło. So I picked it up in October last year — because that’s where I left off.

You could also say I’m back to square one, which relates to board games I mentioned before. If you’re back to square one, you’re back to the very beginning. For example: At some point, I realized I was back to square one, overthinking everything.

When it comes to perfectionism and obstacles, you could say to get caught up in something, meaning zatracić się w czymś. I got caught up in trying to make every episode perfect.

You could also say to overthink things — thinking too much about something. I was overthinking every sentence, every pause, every intro. Or I was chasing perfection, which is definitely not the best thing for progress.

Now, on the brighter side — when you want to talk about inspiration or motivation — remember that motivation can be external or internal. You can say to light a fire under someone. That podcast really lit a fire under me, which means rozpalić motywację w kimś.

Another great one is to strike a chord. His book really struck a chord with me. It means poruszyć kogoś, to move someone emotionally. Strike is irregular, so it’s struck.

You could also say it gave me a kick, meaning kop do działania. Listening to those early episodes gave me a real kick to start again.

By the way, talking about The Diary of a CEO — if I ever had to choose a British native speaker whose voice I’d love to have in terms of accent, vibe, tone, rhythm, and quality, I’d definitely put Steve Bartlett in my top five. Everything he says is music to my ears. His English is absolutely gorgeous.

If you don’t like the topic of his podcast — business or self-development — just give him a chance. Listen to a bit of it, drop by, and hear his voice, his accent. It’s absolutely perfect.

And the last one for today — to come full circle. In Polish, zatoczyć koło. Or, again, to be back to square one but with a new, fresh perspective. I’ve come full circle — back to podcasting, but with a slightly different mindset.

So these are the idioms. You can find the transcript and the vocabulary list in the description of the podcast — the link to my website is there.

I would really appreciate your comments, your shares, or following me on YouTube or Spotify. Leaving a review would be very, very valuable to me.

Let’s start over together. I truly hope you liked it. Thank you so much for listening. I’m truly excited for this new chapter — that’s what I can also call it. And until next time — speak to you soon. Ciao, ciao.