🗒️ Idiom: A Watched Pot Never Boils
💬 Meaning
- When you focus too much on something that you are waiting for, it seems to take longer.
- Patience is important. Constantly checking on progress can make time feel slower.
🧠 Example Sentences
- Checking your email every two minutes won’t make the client reply faster; a watched pot never boils.
- Our manager told us to stop worrying about the report and take a break; a watched pot never boils.
- When you’re waiting for results from a project, remember that a watched pot never boils.
🏛️ Origin
This saying goes back to the 18th century. It is thought to have first appeared in a letter by Benjamin Franklin in 1785. The phrase comes from a simple observation: when you watch a pot of water, it feels like it takes forever to start boiling. It became a common expression to remind people that waiting anxiously doesn’t make things happen faster — in business or in life.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
Stop refreshing your inbox — ____________________________.
Answer
a watched pot never boils
2. Choose the correct option:
What does “a watched pot never boils” mean?
a) Boiling water takes longer when watched
b) Time feels slower when you’re impatient
c) You should never boil water at work
Answer
b) Time feels slower when you’re impatient
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“She keeps checking for updates, but it just makes her more stressed.”
Answer
She keeps checking for updates, but a watched pot never boils.
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