Vocabulary… Does any word added increase your vocabulary?

I have written about increasing your vocabulary, I have said it in coaching calls, I have been asking people to do what it takes, and the answer is… nothing. ((Read this other article to see some of what I am talking about when I talk about vocabulary and languages))

One possible reason is that you don’t know what I mean.

I have two students, one of them ex… :-( who, while reading books, wrote down words with their meanings, and learned them like a second language.

I, myself, look up every word on my kindle when I read, I not, and then promptly forget the word. I have to look it up again the next time it comes up. And yet, I “sport” an ever growing vocabulary, that has gone from 1000 in 2011 to 5000 nowadays.

Makes no sense, does it? If I don’t learn new vocabulary words, then what do I do?