How I Successfully WORK and STUDY FROM HOME Every Day — PODCAST

it seems like these boundaries between personal life and work is getting more and more tricky to Define yeah it's becoming more of a blend you know it's hard to separate those things you need to create more of an awareness about what your priorities are in your life you need to really Envision for example what does a perfect day for you look like one simple question I would ask is what's really important to you and what's not important to you [Music] um I've noticed in my students that many of them struggle to study English by themselves outside of the class time they have the class okay once or twice a week that's fine but when it comes to studying by themselves outside of that time we're doing homework they really struggle with finding time to do that why because you know they're usually busy they work all day and when they get home they're pretty much done right they're tired they don't want to do anything else because they don't feel like studying after a long day of work and also many of these people nowadays they work from home so that makes it even more challenging I know it's kind of counterintuitive but I have heard from so many people that since they started working from home remotely they feel like they work more maybe what they mean is that they are in front of the computer more hours you know than they would normally spend you know if they were going physically to the office so they're kind of sick of being at home for working studying and resting uh now in our team Ethan you are considered to be a person who has successfully achieved a certain level of balance in our life which as a result has helped to learn many languages on their own while maintaining a healthy lifestyle which is great and being productive at work so what I find interesting is that you do all these things without going crazy or acting like a machine at least I don't see yourself uh going crazy like that or acting like a machine so I thought it would be cool for us today to pick our brain a little bit and learn some tips and strategies from you that maybe I can apply in my life and the viewers here the the listeners can also apply uh in their lives so let's talk a little bit about this thorny issue of work-life balance all right before we get into that I did want to comment on I think there's some really nice Expressions you you use there you said so-called work-life balance what does it that mean if you say so-called something it's like it's the name that people usually give to something but what I also find interesting about this expression is um when you use you use it when you don't believe that maybe that's a proper term as well you know like personally I don't believe that that's maybe a proper term to call it work life balance so we call it so-called work-life balance you know you mentioned um pick your brain you want to pick my brain what does it mean to pick someone's brain when you talk to a person who you believe has more knowledge or experience than you do uh in a certain area and you ask that person questions in order to learn more about how the person views that topic or what the person does in regards to that topic so you want to learn more from that person and by in the way you do that is by picking the person's brain asking them some questions right yeah nice and then finally you've said uh thorny issue I like that it's very visual what what does that mean it is think about our Rose the flower you know the rose has thorns and you have to be careful when picking one with your hands because you might get hurt you might prickle your fingers so a thorny issue is uh a situation that is challenging to deal with it's not so maybe easy to manage or to handle like this topic we are going to talk about today how to have more work-life balance this is a challenging topic or situation for many people so coming back to the main topic of today so you said that I'm somewhat someone maybe on our team who's seen as someone who has a good sense of balance in life and I mean I would just start off with a caveat saying that I'm not perfect by any means I mean right now it's summer here and I have more travel plans and everything so my normal routine has been suffering but I would say that usually it's something that I value a lot and I would say over the last does it say 10 years or so I've been cultivating having really good routines and habits in my life that help me to bring my myself to both my work and to my life that's something that is really principle for me so it's something that I have prioritized a lot and it's something else I think that's been helpful is that you know I've been with uh with Justin with my co-founder we've been building this together for the last uh I think 11 years now so we were distributed you know I me living in Barcelona and him living in Brazil before we could say before it was cool before covid and it became quite mainstream for people to be working from from home so when covet hit actually for us it was kind of business as usual you know we we've been always distributed first uh so for me it wasn't any shock or any big change in my life to be suddenly working from home but you know I know many people who it was new for that exactly what you were saying that they actually found they were working more and maybe it's in part because they were lacking in those rituals that they would normally have that you know you wake up in the morning and maybe you have your breakfast or coffee and at some point you're grabbing your keys or you know you're heading out the door to travel to work and then at the end of the day you probably have a very specific time that you're ending because you need to you know you need to travel back home maybe you need to be there in time to pick up your kids from school or for other things that you have happening in the evening but because we're kind of like missing in those rituals of of travel of having a moment where you're transitioning from your home life to your work life uh it can cause issues for some people obviously if you're working more too if you're not having like these rituals and stuff to transition then it can also mean that maybe you are sacrificing some of the things that you really need to feel that sense of balance in your life to really bring your best to your work uh I thought a nice place to start because we have our method for helping people to learn English called the real life way and this actually fits really nicely with some of the topics of what we could so-called work-life balance uh one part of this is we call connect it so uh part of that is identity really getting clear on the identity that you're wanting to cultivate who is that person that you want to be in the future and so this goes hand in hand with what we're talking about today because you need to create more of an awareness about what your priorities are in your life you need to really envision for example what does a perfect day for you look like between being at home starting your work ending your day and and so on um and I think there's some there's some questions we can give people that could maybe help them just to reflect a little bit on that maybe even pause the podcast for a moment and just like write down for a few minutes some answers to these so one simple question I would ask is what's really important to you and what's not important to you so even if you uh there's a really great book I read several years back actually I've read it a couple times called the effective executive and one of the sections that this book talks about is basically giving you know how to be someone who's a great executive a great boss uh or a great entrepreneur and so on one of the things he talks about is really meticulously tracking your time so spending two weeks for example writing down every single thing that you're doing throughout the day you know from how much time you're spending in the morning making and having breakfast uh the different habits that you have and like from transition to work meetings uh different tasks you're working on and so on like really meticulously capturing all this and then analyzing that to see where your time's going and what are you working on that fills you with energy that feels really important that is really driving you forward or that in your life outside of work for example that you're really passionate about that you look forward to and on the other hand what are the things that are dragged for you that you just dread having to do that thing or you know you it's something that saps your energy meaning that it it leaves you after you start out with a higher level of energy and you end it with less energy so doing kind of an analysis of these things and figuring out what are those things that are energy producing and what are those things that are energy draining I find interesting what you're saying because you know it seems like the the main issue here has to do with awareness right being more aware because when you were describing the situation before the pandemic let's say when people still used to go to their offices physically maybe it wasn't something so you know that people were aware they did you know it was just the routine yeah the rituals as you call them right like oh I gotta be at the office by this time so I gotta leave at this time but they don't really think about it but now that we are working more and more often from home and remotely more than ever yeah it's important to become more aware of how we are spending our time and where our time is going yeah I really like that before we continue with and I just want to ask a few uh questions here about vocabulary you used first of all uh you said that you know you and Justin were working together uh way before uh the pandemic when before online work was a thing but for you guys it was business as usual what does that mean when something is business as usual so it means that it's something that isn't new for you something that you're always doing so in this case maybe people could understand from the context we always were working as a distributed company we were used to having our meetings online we were used to collaborating using online tools and so on so for us nothing changed really with a pandemic whereas for other people it was a completely new experience it was not business as usual because they were lacking in tools to collaborate online they were lacking in just their own habits that would help them to bring their best self to working in that sort of way even a lot of people right that they had to work from their living room because they're lacking in the space in their home that could be dedicated to to working that's so true yeah and you also said the word dread yeah what is something that you're dread doing what does that mean to dread something we could say you're eager for something or you're looking forward to something for something that you're excited about so maybe a vacation that's coming up traveling to somewhere new or seeing a friend who you haven't connected with in a few months for example are all things that you'd really look forward to the opposite of that something that you're really not looking forward to or even it fills you with a a sensation of I don't want to do that so things like filing your taxes or maybe your partner is dragging you to the Opera and that's something that just for you is really boring it doesn't fulfill you for one person could be something you're looking forward to for another person could be something that they're dreading anything like this that just kind of fills you with that anxiety or that already feeling a sense of boredom just having to think about it those are things that you've dread and before we move on uh we wanted to make sure to let you know if you are watching this on YouTube make sure you hit that subscribe button and the bell down below because every single week we bring you lessons like this that help you go from feeling like a lost insecure English learner to being a confident natural English speaker and even beyond that just to improving Beyond improving your English improving your life with topics like we're talking about today so join our community of hundreds of thousands Learners that are doing exactly that by hitting the Subscribe button now we were talking about identity and kind of got away from that but it can be a really good reflection we've talked about this before on the podcast just to think about we talked about this with English for example that a lot of people say I want to be fluent in English but that's just so superficial so we actually give people to get more into the details of thinking okay what will my life be like when I'm that fluent speaker what kind of things will I be doing with my day who I'll be spending time with will I be in a different sort of job will I be living in another country and so on and already acting today as if you were that person so it's the same thing here basically is getting really clear on okay what would a perfect day for me look like a day where I'm feeling full of energy I'm feeling balanced I'm feeling connected to things that I'm passionate about and so on and start making that a reality already you know if your ideal day looks like you want to be participating in a group sport let's say because that's something you did when you're younger you're really passionate about then maybe you'll realize like you need to actually prioritize looking for opportunities to join a weekly football club let's say so starting with why right exactly we like to say that a lot here I was talking about doing this quick reflection just thinking about the things that you're spending time on that aren't important for you so look for are there any ways that you could be delegating any of these things so that you don't have to spend time on them and this is something that you know um different there's different ways that you can trade money for time which depending on the economic situation you have and everything you might have more or less abilities to do this but for example if you really dread having to clean the house or go grocery shopping or cook meals for yourself some people really enjoy these but if that's not your case and you're doing those things you might look for okay if I'm currently cooking for myself uh maybe investigating a little bit how much does it cost to get food delivered to me so like maybe I don't have to cook lunches anymore this is something I did found like a really great service in Spain that they deliver lunches so it's like something I used to have to spend almost half of my Sunday cooking meals that I don't have to do that anymore because I just get them delivered I'm training money for time and convenience right same thing for going to the grocery store something I really didn't look forward to every week having to spend an hour to leave my house go to the store actually pick out groceries and everything and now I order all my groceries online so I can spend that time on things that are more important to me which can be like for me work is something that's important or for things that fill me with energy you know might be going to the gym or participating activity or going to see friends or things like this and nowadays I think um it's becoming way more accessible yeah for you to be able to do these things so yeah I mean check your reality and see if if maybe not all of them at least try to delegate one of these things that you have to do anyway right yeah that's so true and make a step towards that future identity right now that's so true yeah uh one thing that I've I've been finding really helpful to me personally lately is deliberately starting my days earlier than usual and by earlier I mean one hour earlier than I would normally get up or even two hours depending on the day there is a trick to that of course because you know you don't want to sacrifice sleep in order to do that you still have to make sure that you are sleeping enough hours but if you plan you know if you go to bed a little bit earlier and everything I find that for me it's been very helpful to start my day one or two hours earlier than usual because it's like I'm front loading my day from loading like you know doing the big things for the day first for example right now we are recording this podcast the podcast for me today and it's a Tuesday by the way it's like the big thing that I have to do today I'm doing it in the morning which is great so you know what tackling the the most important tasks that you have in your day or that consume more brain power or brain energy in the morning so that in the afternoon you are a little bit more relaxed you can maybe just join some meetings or do do things that don't consume much of your brain capacity or brain power and the cool thing is that also you get to end the day a little bit earlier than usual as well in my case um I have many things that I have to do and now I have my job I have my classes to teach I have a toddler at home my daughter I have to give some attention to her I have some learning to do I got books to read and courses to take on some subjects I'm interested in so and working out so you know it's a lot of things that I have to do and all these things are a priority so how can I do them by you know making sure I start the day a little bit earlier you will you will find that if you do that you can do so much with that one extra hour that you gain in your day yeah that's a really great Point there's actually a video I saw a couple years ago by this guy named Brian Johnson who is all about helping people to connect more to their purpose and optimize their life and he talks about when in that video when you're really clear on your purpose that this can be something that's guiding that's motivating for you in the sense or like one example here related to sleep because a lot of people might be in the morning sorry in the morning in the in the evening they're just they finish work they get home maybe have dinner and they're just exhausted from the day and so what do they do they go they like lays about on the couch watch binge watch uh some series or something and then it's late in the night and you know they're they can't keep their eyes open anymore so they go to bed but when you're connected to your purpose then you might say like you know instead of just vegging out and watching a TV series at night I'm going to start going to bed a little bit earlier so I can wake up a little bit earlier and I can spend that on something that is more connected to my purpose in the morning and I think the thing that child was talking about about front loading it's so important because maybe you have all the all of us have all these intentions the world all these things that we want to do all these things we want to get better at uh things that are healthy for us that we want to spend more time on and so on but the problem is is like throughout the day we have all sorts of things come up all sorts of distractions all sorts of responsibilities that we have to take care of maybe kids maybe taking your dog out for a walk maybe something an emergency coming up at work and so on that are going to take away your time their unexpected things that you can't plan for but if you start in the morning you're purposely doing things that are most important to you before all the distractions come in so for me it's the same thing that I've over the last 10 years I've created a really solid morning routine that by the time I get that it's time to start working I've already set a really great base for my day and I already have checked the boxes off on a lot of things that are really valuable priorities for me so for example you know I'll also like wake up early uh I drink a big glass of water I meditate I do do a little bit of yoga uh to like you know stretch get the body moving stretch a little bit um make myself a good breakfast and then I sit down we'll read whatever book I'm reading for at least 20 minutes and take notes and everything and then I take my dog Phoebe out for a walk so I'm like doing all these things that are important to me before I'm starting work before I'm even letting any distractions come in like I don't even look at my phone until I've completed all these things so that I can really ensure that before anyone else is is trying to demand things from me that I am priority prioritizing prioritizing myself first it's just like that analogy right on the plane you uh put on the oxygen mask on you first before you know handling everybody else's demands let's say right exactly yeah we we even have a value for this at real life English one of our values is bring your best off and so we try to help everyone our team to cultivate these routines that help them to arrive at starting the work day already with a sense of fulfillment and a sense of having high energy because they've taken care of the most important habits whatever those are for them before coming into work there you go yeah it feels amazing because you know by the time you actually start working you feel like you have already done so much and it's still like I don't know 8 A.M in the morning and they're going to start working then yeah it's amazing the other thing that we were going to discuss that also comes out of the real life way we call it live it and this is all about making a fun natural convenient and every day so I think that uh you know having this time in the morning to prioritize things that's really great and something else that can be really helpful is with the skills that you want to develop looking for ways to make them super enjoyable someone comes to learning English we talk about this all the time right it's like watching TV series uh when it comes to learning languages for me I I've had times in the past I think Chiago as well where I've been more dedicated to a big priority of mine was improving the language and so I had really clear routines it was actually with cotton for example one times I Advance the most uh was when I was living in Santiago Chile Where the native language there is actually Spanish but I had routines where I would wake up in the morning I would go for a run and while I was running I would listen to music or a podcast and Catalan I'd come back I would listen to a radio program and Katan while I was making breakfast uh and then you know when I started work throughout the day I was listening to music and Kathleen so I had like without uh really doing any deliberate practice or anything I was just filling tons of my time with the listening part of it with passive part of the language so I was just taking it all the time without even having to live in a native speaking country so there's no reason for you that with English you can't do the same as like looking throughout your day what are convenient moments that you can inject different exposure to the language and there's so many fun ways like I think especially if you do some reflection on what your what things you're really passionate about what things really give you energy there's all sorts of things you can look for that are going to help you with this and the cool thing is that if you do that deliberately like you know what if your plan your days deliberately during the week by the weekend you actually have the weekend off you know and then on the weekend then you can do it you can veg out on the couch if you want to you know to watch some Netflix it's the weekend right or I don't know you can study more deliberately English in this case yeah oh I don't have time to really dedicate aid for studying during the week but on the weekend I do have some time so I do have half an hour one hour so yeah if you plan well your weeks in terms of work and responsibilities by the weekend you will find that oh now I can you know indulge myself a little bit or allow myself to have those me time let's say yeah the me times as we say we both said uh fun phrase over there Veg Out veg out on the couch what does that mean I think of a vegetable like you know like Homer Simpson you know you are just a couch potato a couch potato sitting on the couch uh donut [Laughter] and So speaking about really convenient things uh it can be really easy the passively to be listening to podcasts to listen to music to watch series in English instead of watching them in your native language for example all these things are really great but so many Learners have told us that the thing they have a lot of difficulty with is actually speaking because they don't have anyone around them with whom they can speak English so this is exactly why we created the real life English app which is the only place where anytime anywhere you just press a button and we instantly connect you to another English speaker another part of the world for fun Dynamic and culturally insightful conversation with another Global Citizen and this is really great because even if you just have let's say a 10 minute coffee break at work you could have two conversations and be uh you know practicing your speaking so you really have no more excuses not to be activating your English your English speaking every single day [Music] we wanted to give shout outs to a very special user of our app all right this one goes to Dimitri or Dimitri and Dimitri says this is a totally essential app for any English learner contractions idioms life needed vocabulary and even the opportunity to speak with other Learners around the world all of this is provided here it can definitely be used as a tool for everyday practice oh yeah thanks so much Dimitri or Dimitri and if you two want to experience learning so much more with the real life English podcast and being able to speak English every single day and meet some really amazing people then we highly recommend that you check out the app you can find that linked down in the description on YouTube or wherever you are listening to this uh and also by clicking up here somewhere if you're on YouTube somewhere yeah on the screen guys yeah all right so before we go today it's time for our big challenge thank you the big challenge today is we have a question for you guys out there what practices do you use in your life for better work life Synergy let's start calling it work-life Harmony or work-life Synergy rather than work-life balance so what practices do you use in your life for better work-life Synergy leave us a comment here on YouTube if you are on YouTube you can also send us an email at hello real lifeglobal.com or if you prefer you can send us a voice message of yourself reading your response you can send your message to speakpipe.com riolife English that is speak pipe pipe.com real life real life English okay just remember to keep the auto message short 30 seconds or less we're also going to leave the link here in the description of the video in the show notes so you can access it quickly all right oh yeah so thanks so much for joining us today we hope that it was helpful for your English of course we've given you a lot of new vocabulary expressions and there's a lot of them too that that we do not take the time to explain for you but if you listen to this on the right English app then we give you the definitions for all the most important vocabulary and expressions so definitely if you want to take your English Next Level check that out it's free to download and if uh if these lessons these podcasts are helping you a free way that you can support us is by leaving us a five-star review wherever you're listening on Apple podcast on Spotify or anywhere else and if you're on YouTube being sure to subscribe and like this video so more people can find these lessons and finally remember that no matter what divides us that which unites us is so much greater so we look forward to seeing you next week one two three [Music] it's one of learners main goals actually when they come to me for classes for example they want to study English they want to improve their English most of the time they are focusing on doing that for work they want to get a better position they want to get a better job they want to work for a company overseas but when it comes to improving your English for work I find that most people focus on developing the wrong skills why it's important to develop vocabulary communication skills your English in general I think there is one capacity let's say that often gets ignored by learners

Channel: RealLife English

Views: 63,882

Keywords: podcast english, english podcast, podcast conversation, practice, listening comprehension, work life balance

Id: -QU6fs7i9wg

Length: 27min 7sec (1627 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 04 2023