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0:00Vanessa:
Are you ready
0:00to immerse yourself in a real
English conversation? Hi,
0:05I'm Vanessa from speakenglishwithvanessa.com
and today I'm here with my husband, Dan.
0:11Vanessa:
And we are going
0:12to be talking about work, some of our work
experiences, and some experiences that might
0:18relate to you as well. During this lesson, you're
going to see some key vocabulary appear here,
0:25but I also want to encourage you, if you want to
understand every single word that we're saying,
0:30you can click CC to view the full
subtitles for this conversation.
0:35And like always, I have created a free PDF
worksheet, which is here over Dan's face.
0:41You can download this free worksheet
with all of today's key vocabulary,
0:46definitions, and sample sentences.
Plus, at the bottom of the worksheet,
0:50you can answer Vanessa's challenge question
so that you never forget what you've learned.
0:55You can click on the link in the description
to download that free PDF worksheet today.
1:00All right. Dan, are you ready to get started?
1:02Dan:
I'm ready. Let's do it.
1:04have five work-related questions, including
a little quiz about some work vocabulary that
1:13I don't know if Dan will know. Maybe he
will. Maybe you will know it. We'll see.
1:18Dan:
We'll see. We both have non-traditional jobs.
1:22Dan:
So we'll see what I know about work vocabulary.
1:26right. Let's start with our first question.
1:28All right. Dan, my first question is,
tell us about your first job. What was it?
1:34Dan:
My first job ever?
1:36Dan:
Well, my first job was a paper route,
1:39which is where you take the newspaper and you
go and deliver it to your neighborhood. Now,
1:46I'm pretty sure that this was probably a
job that my dad said, "Hey, the boys need
1:51a job. Get them a paper route." I had no say
in this and I was probably... I think I was 12.
1:59so I was kind of young. We didn't do it on
bikes or anything. We weren't able to chuck
2:04them out. You know how there's people
on a bike and they throw the newspaper?
2:09Vanessa:
Oh, yeah. In movies, I've seen that.
2:11Dan:
Yeah. We weren't
2:11allowed to do that. We were supposed
to gently set it on the doorstep.
2:14Vanessa:
Oh, that's real life.
2:16Dan:
Yeah. I didn't like it,
2:17though, because I had to wake up really early.
They deliver the newspaper in huge stacks and
2:22we had to roll each one and put it in a bag, and
then I had to walk the neighborhood really early
2:28in the morning. My least favorite part by far
was that people's dogs would just jump out and
2:35scare you. I remember one time I actually kicked a
dog because it scared me so bad and then... Yeah.
2:44jumped out at you and your reflex was to kick it?
2:48was like this big, too, and I felt really
bad afterwards, but it really scared me.
2:54Vanessa:
Because you were 12 years old, this
2:56is under the age that you typically work. So were
you paid under the table or how did that work?
3:03think we were. I don't remember the details of
getting paid. I remember it was not very much.
3:08Vanessa:
Were you motivated
3:10by money at all at that point like, "Oh, I got a
job. I'll get some money. I can buy some toys"?
3:16I was. I do remember that, with
that money, I bought a Nintendo 64.
3:21Okay. So you made enough money to
actually buy something pretty big.
3:24Dan:
Yes. Yes, I mostly
3:26bought video games at that point in my life.
3:29Dan:
Yeah. Those were the big goals back then.
3:31Vanessa:
Okay. Well, I think-
3:33Dan:
How about you? What was your first job?
3:35Vanessa:
For me, my first job was pretty typical.
3:40I feel like maybe it's mostly girls, but a lot
of Americans, when you're 13 or 14 years old,
3:48you start babysitting the neighborhood kids.
So I babysat the neighborhood kids, I think,
3:55when I was 13 years old, the little girl
across the street who now is probably an
3:59adult. She was just a baby. Not super little,
maybe one or two years old. I would go over to
4:08her house when her parents went out on a date
for a couple hours and I just played with her.
4:13I remember when she went to bed, when the baby
went to bed, I guess I somehow helped the baby
4:20go to bed. I would do the dishes for them. I
cleaned up their playroom. I did some chores
4:27around the house that the parents didn't ask me to
do. Every single time when the parents came home,
4:33they were like, "Vanessa, you didn't
need to do this. This is amazing."
4:37And I always thought like, "Well, what
else am I supposed to do? You're paying
4:41me to be here to watch your kid and your
kid's asleep." But now that I'm an adult-
4:46Dan:
That's why Vanessa is a good worker.
4:48Vanessa:
Now that I'm an adult,
4:49if I paid a babysitter and my kids were
asleep and I came home to a clean house...
4:56the floor and bow to this person.
I'd be, "Thank you. I love you."
4:59Vanessa:
I know. Whenever
5:01our parents come and they do the dishes for
us at the end of the day, after we're eating
5:06dinner and we're giving the kids a bath, it's
so helpful. So those little things I think.
5:10Dan:
Yeah. That's my job,
5:10too, so I would be extra thankful.
5:12Vanessa:
Oh, the dishes?
5:14That was my first job and I think it was pretty
typical. I was just paid in cash under the table,
5:21nothing official. And I babysat throughout
all of high school, various kids. To me,
5:27it always seemed like a pretty easy
job. Being a parent is not an easy job,
5:32but being a babysitter, you're playing
with kids, you're just doing the fun stuff.
5:37Dan:
Depending on how many kids.
5:38Vanessa:
Yeah. And how nice they were.
5:40Dan:
It's get harder with every kid,
5:41yeah, add to that equation.
5:42Vanessa:
I feel like,
5:43though, parents, when they leave their
small children with a babysitter,
5:47they really try to... At least the families
I watched, they would be like, "All right.
5:51Here's all the toys. We have a special snack,"
and it's like a special occasion and Vanessa,
5:56the babysitter, is coming. It's not real
life. When you're a parent, it's real
6:00life and you're doing the hard stuff. But as a
babysitter, it was like fun times, party times.
6:05Dan:
Yeah. I babysat four a couple times.
6:09Vanessa:
Oh, how'd that go?
6:10Dan:
It was pretty crazy, mostly.
6:13Vanessa:
How old were you when you did that?
6:17Dan:
Yeah. I was a little bit older and-
6:19Vanessa:
Was it like...
6:19Dan:
... it's a family friend.
6:21Vanessa:
People that you knew?
6:22Vanessa:
All right. Well, let's go on
6:23to our second question. Our second question is a
little more of a modern question. I want to know,
6:29would you rather work from home or at
a workplace? The workplace could be an
6:35office or in a coffee shop or the location that
the job is set at. What would you rather do?
6:42Dan:
Well, that really,
6:43really depends on the workplace, right?
Because a lot of my jobs that I've had,
6:49I worked at a factory on an assembly
line. I'd rather work from home.
6:54Vanessa:
Oh, than that. Yeah.
6:55like a standard office job. I kind of like the
idea of I work one day at the office and I work
7:02the rest of the days at home. I like to get
a little bit of that variety, but in general,
7:08I think I would choose a workplace just so because
I like to be really active. Like my job now, I'm
7:15teaching children, elementary kids. So when I'm
in a classroom, I got to be really moving on top
7:22of it and basically on my A game. At home, I don't
get that same energy. I just kind of fall into...
7:33Maybe a rut is kind of too dramatic of a word,
but I can more easily get into a rut at home.
7:41more motivated when you're on the location?
7:45summer job one time in high
school. Was it in high school?
7:48Dan:
What job are you talking about?
7:49Vanessa:
When you were working at Sony.
7:50Dan:
That was college. Yeah.
7:52Vanessa:
Okay, a summer job where you just-
7:55Dan:
That was the factory.
7:55Vanessa:
... tapped a TV for 10 hours a day to check it.
8:01There were some varieties. Sometimes, we got
to pick up the TV and put it on the table.
8:05Vanessa:
Yes, that was a job.
8:11Vanessa:
Yeah. That's a
8:12job that really makes you grateful for the other
jobs that you have in life. But this type of job,
8:17first of all, you'd rather not do, but
also if that's your comparison point,
8:22you would rather work at home. But in general,
working in the workplace is better for you?
8:27Dan:
Yes, for me it's better.
8:29I mean, in our scenario, we worked together
from home for a while. And because both of
8:35us were working at home, it really turned
into our entire life is just in this house.
8:40Vanessa:
Yeah. Especially because we had-
8:42Dan:
It's kind of old.
8:43Vanessa:
... young kids and
8:44we're working from home, it was really
hard to have a community and get out,
8:49because to get out with small children is already
tricky and you're working. So I think you working
8:54at the school now just adds another wonderful
layer to our family where we have a community.
9:02You have coworkers. There's more... Yeah, it's
also a nice community. It's a nice workplace.
9:08Vanessa:
Some workplaces are not nice.
9:10Dan:
That makes a big difference, for sure.
9:13Dan:
And how about you? Yes.
9:14Vanessa:
I think, for me, because
9:15I work for myself, I have my own
business teaching you English,
9:18Speak English with Vanessa, I'm going to answer
neither. I don't want to work at home and I
9:25also don't want to work in a workplace.
This is my ideal scenario. Are you ready?
9:30She wants to be totally independent.
She wants to work in space.
9:34Vanessa:
I want to work in a
9:35castle overlooking a kingdom. No, I want to, and
I can probably do this in another couple years,
9:42work for my business, great, but not at home.
Last year when I was pregnant with my baby,
9:50I worked at a coworking space. These exist all
around the world. Maybe you've heard of them,
9:55maybe you haven't, but it's like a really fun
office. They try to make it cool because they
10:02want you to go there and everyone is working
just on their laptops for their own jobs.
10:10Vanessa:
Freelancers or maybe they're working for-
10:12Dan:
Or people like you.
10:13Vanessa:
... various companies
10:14or maybe they run a company. There's
events, there's food, there's food trucks,
10:20there's things going on. It's like
the fun place to be. This is, I think,
10:26my ideal where I'm working at the job that I
want to work at to, being your English teacher,
10:32and also in a location where I'm around other
people. Working from home is so convenient with
10:39small children. My baby's napping in the other
room right now. I can nurse her. I can help my
10:46kids. I can do those types of things. But when
they're a little bit older, I'm out. I want to
10:51go and be out in a coworking space. This type of
environment, I think, is really healthy for me.
10:58Dan:
If you couldn't tell, she is a people person.
11:00Vanessa:
I like to be
11:01around other people, but I know some people
can work, for example, in a coffee shop or
11:06this busy environment. I cannot. If it's
an absolute necessity, like a requirement-
11:14Dan:
A public place.
11:14Vanessa:
... we have no
11:16internet at home and I have
to get something done, yes,
11:19I can go to a coffee shop and get some work
done, but that is not my ideal environment.
11:24Dan:
I'm not productive in that environment either.
11:26Vanessa:
Yeah. Some people are. Some people thrive with the
11:28chaos and lots of stuff going on, but that's not
my jam. All right. Now, are you ready for a quiz?
11:35Dan:
Oh, to the quiz?
11:37Vanessa:
The next section is a quiz.
11:40These are some office acronyms
and an acronym for example is BRB,
11:49be right back. You might write this in a text
message. You might write this in an email.
11:54These are specifically things that you would
write in an email in the office. Are you ready?
12:02think I'm not going to be very
good at this, but let's do it.
12:05one is WFH. I'll give you a sample sentence.
12:15Vanessa:
This is a W-
12:16Dan:
Work from home.
12:17Vanessa:
Yeah. This is a WFH position, or I'm looking
12:22for a WFH position. This is work from home, which
is increasingly more common since the pandemic.
12:30Yes, work from home. You got it. All
right. The next one. You might see
12:33this at the bottom of an email, OOO.
This is the letter, not the number.
12:46Vanessa:
If you saw OOO...
12:47Dan:
Orange, ostriches, orangutans, united.
12:52Vanessa:
Yes, you got it. No, this is out of office.
12:59When someone is going to be gone during usual
business days, let's say you have a vacation
13:05Monday through Wednesday, in your email system,
you might write an automated message that goes
13:13out to everyone. That's your OOO, your out
of office message that says, "I am sitting
13:19on a beach right now. Ha-ha, you're at the office.
I'll see you on Thursday," or something like this
13:25Dan:
For our school in our chat,
13:27there's the little red dot in the corner
that says they're out or not available.
13:31Vanessa:
Oh, okay. Same idea.
13:33Workplace, so you might be familiar, too.
13:35Vanessa:
Yeah. Yeah. OOO is
13:37a common... There's some really funny out of
office messages I've seen out there. Anyway,
13:42you can look this up another
time. All right. The last one is-
13:45Vanessa:
There's only three. The last quiz is-
13:52Vanessa:
Would you like a sample sentence?
13:56Vanessa:
The sample sentence is,
13:58"I need this finished by EOD," or
"I will have this finished by EOD."
14:06Dan:
Earliest. Earliest? No. Even?
14:13Vanessa:
Uh-huh. Can you have
14:16this finished by EOD? And you would not say this,
you would write this in an email or in a text.
14:23Vanessa:
Oh, close. End of...
14:25Vanessa:
Yes. Yes. Yes.
14:25Dan:
End of day. End of day.
14:29have this finished by EOD? Can you
have this finished by end of day?
14:32Vanessa:
This is just
14:32talking about deadlines and you might see this
in an email. You might see this in a group chat,
14:38like Dan was saying, with your coworkers. There's
14:41Google Workplaces kind of chat about EOD.
Great work. What, you got two out of three?
14:47Dan:
Got two out of three.
14:47Vanessa:
Two out of three,
14:48great work. All right, let's go on to our-
14:50Dan:
And I'm not an office-y kind of guy, so...
14:53let's go on to our next question, which has to do
with being on the other side. Not just working but
15:02being someone who is in charge of hiring other
people. At various times, we've each had to hire
15:10people. I want to know, for you, tell us kind of
the circumstance of why you were hiring someone,
15:16but also what were some of the key reasons why
you hired someone or the character traits that
15:21you were looking for in those people and what
happened? Yeah, tell us about hiring people.
15:28Dan:
When I hired people,
15:30I was working at a coffee shop in Downtown
Asheville. I got the manager's position there,
15:37so I was kind of like middle management, we
would say, where there was somebody above me.
15:43Not so fun, especially this guy. But then I had a
team working the coffee shop and so I had to hire
15:52basically baristas. The criteria I mainly looked
for was were they cheerful and presentable and did
16:05they seem with it? As in would they be on time?
Can they follow directions and orders? And then,
16:13of course, I always ask them about their
previous experience. And usually with the
16:19most recent job they had, I kind of ask
like, "Why did you leave that job," to
16:24get their... You want to hear what their story
is and then pick up all those little signals
16:29that they're given out. So, yeah, I
actually thought hiring was really fun.
16:33Vanessa:
If someone said,
16:34"Oh, I left my last job because
the manager was awful," and they
16:38say bad things about their manager,
then would you hire that person?
16:42of course not. And I thought it was
fun, too, because it was kind of like,
16:47"Ooh, I get to curate my team. These
are the people I want to work with."
16:52Yeah. And the people who you hired also
had to work well with the people who
16:57were currently working there, because
when you're working in a coffee shop,
17:00everyone is working behind the counter.
It's a very tight space physically.
17:04Dan:
Yeah. You're public,
17:05but you're also in that setting. You're
front-facing, you're seeing everybody,
17:12and you have to be cheerful. But then when
people walk out, you're also... A lot of times,
17:17a lot of gossip builds up in these situations,
so you want to find people who are low drama,
17:22which can be difficult in the
coffee barista industry, I will say.
17:26Vanessa:
But you did it.
17:27Vanessa:
Tell us about the
17:29people you hired. Did it work out? How did it go,
without saying any names in case they're watching?
17:37but maybe one of my hires were pretty good.
Some of them were like slam dunks, I thought.
17:43Vanessa:
Oh, okay. Okay. And what made them-
17:46Dan:
Just vary with the people.
17:46Vanessa:
They were with it?
17:47Dan:
One of them was the manager when
17:48I left. Some of them were kind of high strung,
but that meant they were with it, you know?
17:56Vanessa:
Yeah. Okay.
17:59also for that coffee shop, most of the
people who worked there were women. And
18:04so I had to kind of be a little careful
who... That made actually hiring guys
18:09harder just because a lot of times if you get a
guy who's single and giving off these signals,
18:16then it just ends up building this kind of
tension and drama. I was like the married
18:23guy there and Dan's taken, it doesn't matter,
whatever. I gave them relationship advice, but...
18:31Vanessa:
You wanted to hire someone who wasn't-
18:33Dan:
From the married guy perspective.
18:34Vanessa:
You didn't want someone who was
18:36just going to flirt with the coworkers the whole
time? You wanted a good environment for everybody?
18:41Dan:
Yeah. Because guys would come in from
18:42other shops and flirt with the girls there, so it
was like they're already messing up the jive, men.
18:48Vanessa:
Yeah. I think an important part about
18:51hiring someone is that, if you have to work with
a team, that they work well together. That was
18:56actually something I was going to say about the
people who I've hired. I've hired several people
19:01to work for Speak English with Vanessa, because
one person cannot make all of this magic happen
19:08by themselves. I'd say one of the key things that
I look for now... I've had some not completely
19:19failed hiring experiences, but ones that didn't
work out as well. One of the things that I've
19:25learned from that is if somebody can understand
what you're asking for and then either ask the
19:33right questions so that they can do it correctly
or do it correctly the first time, that is huge.
19:42when I'm asking someone, for example, to help
write some sample sentences for an English course,
19:49well, I can tell them, "Here's the vocabulary. Can
you write two sample sentences per vocabulary word
19:56with a definition?" I can give them simple, small
instructions like that and see what happens. And
20:02if they do it perfectly the first time, okay. If
they don't, I don't really care. It's that they
20:07ask the right questions like, "Oh, do you want a
long definition or a short definition," or "Would
20:13you like it to be double space? Single space?" If
somebody is thinking about those types of things,
20:19I think that, like you said, being with
it and on it... Great vocabulary words,
20:25but those are the most important because you can
teach the other things oftentimes in various jobs.
20:30Dan:
So an openness to learning-
20:33Vanessa:
Yeah, openness to learning.
20:34Dan:
... and asking questions.
20:35Vanessa:
Yeah. And when you give corrections like,
20:38"Oh, I would prefer if you did it like this," or
"Can you change this to be like this," the next
20:44time they also do that. So kind of the various
changes that you'd like and being able to do that.
20:50had somebody who didn't do that well.
20:52Vanessa:
Yeah, I think-
20:54Dan:
I remember some conversations.
20:56It's really tricky to hire someone,
especially for me because I've never...
21:01Dan:
It's kind of blind, really, to meet them.
21:03Dan:
I do talk to them I presume.
21:04Vanessa:
Well, I talk to them on Zoom and
21:07stuff but I've never really hired people. A lot of
these positions that I'm hiring people for, it's
21:13the first time I've ever hired someone for that
position. So I'm learning what exactly is the job
21:19position, what exactly do I need? It's not this
company with a big long process for hiring various
21:27people in the same position, so I'm kind of
learning from scratch each time. But I think it's
21:33a good skill, being able to hire the right people
and have a good situation. There is something
21:41interesting that you did not mention and I didn't
mention about hiring people. Their qualifications.
21:48Dan:
Oh, their qualifications.
21:50Vanessa:
So if you are a graphic designer, if you're,
21:53of course, a doctor or something like this, you
need some specific job-related qualifications.
21:59Dan:
Yeah. That was always
21:59a little lower on the list
for what I was hiring for.
22:02Vanessa:
That's interesting.
22:03Yeah. And I feel like, for me, when I hired,
for example, a writer, I want someone who has
22:10writing experience, but I didn't care if they
had a certificate or a degree. It was more,
22:17can they do a good job? And I feel like this is a
little bit more of a modern hiring process. Lots
22:23of traditional jobs still want you to have this
certificate, this degree, this qualification.
22:28Dan:
Well, it depends on the
22:29technicality. My dad is an engineer and he
works in a... What would you even call it? Not a
22:38factory. A workshop with metals and big machinery
and stuff. And if he's going to hire an engineer,
22:45they need a certain kind of expertise to
even have a baseline knowledge. Because
22:49if I walked in there, I'd be like, "I
don't even understand what is happening."
22:53Vanessa:
You would not be hired.
22:54Dan:
Right, exactly.
22:55Vanessa:
Yeah. For certain jobs,
22:57of course, you need some kind of experience
with the job itself, but I think a lot of jobs
23:03nowadays, they are looking for character
traits, especially if you're young,
23:09more than specific experiences. But there are so
many jobs out there, these many different things.
23:17Dan:
Yeah. Totally depends on the field.
23:18right. Are you ready for our
final question of the day?
23:22Vanessa:
All right. I wrote it out here. Our final question
23:24is one that many students have asked, maybe
hundreds of thousands, maybe bajillions of times.
23:32Vanessa:
Oftentimes,
23:33this question is asked to me, but I think it
can relate to both of us. How can you have a
23:40work-life balance with so much going on in your
life? We both work, we have three children,
23:48we have two cats and nine chickens and a
house and a big garden, and, yes, all of this.
23:54Dan:
Boy, that garden.
23:55Vanessa:
I'm just saying right now it's pretty busy.
23:57Dan:
It does take a lot of work.
23:59Vanessa:
Yeah. So how can
24:01you personally have a work-life
balance? Then I can answer.
24:05Dan:
Yeah. For me, because we both work,
24:09it's important for me not to really get, at
this point in my life, a full-time job. So
24:16I have pretty much the perfect situation for me
because it's professional but it's not strict in
24:26its hours. That really helps because I was able
to negotiate getting Fridays off all the time.
24:35a non-traditional school, so they already
kind of do something different on Friday
24:39anyway. Just their flexibility for scheduling
was really perfect for our situation. While
24:50it's not as great for making money, it's good
for work-life balance, so there's always costs
24:56and benefits. I'm not making as much money,
but I get to spend more time with my family.
25:01And you get the same vacations as
our children because you have the
25:06same schedule and all of that, so you take the
kids to school and manage their school life,
25:14which, as parents know, managing your
children's school life is a big deal.
25:19that's something that I kind of take
for granted because I take Theo to
25:24school with me. Nobody has to drop him off or
anything because he just goes with me, so...
25:30Vanessa:
And soon Freddie, too.
25:32Dan:
As far as a general tip, that's not really
25:36going to work for a lot of people because this
very particular situation... But, yeah, I would
25:43say that to accomplish work-life balance, you need
to either have both people working a little less
25:51or one person working dramatically less to be able
to take care of all the stuff around the house.
25:57That's why it's common for the husband to work
and the woman not to work, not to work because-
26:04Vanessa:
Not to make money.
26:05Dan:
Yeah, not to make the money because well then you
26:08might be able to get a better work-life balance.
Although for each person, it's out of balance.
26:14Dan:
I don't know. It's actually pretty tricky.
26:16Dan:
I think we do it,
26:17but we are able to do it because we have
flexible jobs that we've sought out. We've
26:26also gone through a lot of transitions in
our life where, "Oh, this isn't working.
26:30This is terrible," then you're reworking
stuff and then you get into a better place.
26:34Vanessa:
Yeah, I do feel like-
26:35Dan:
You got to be able to
26:36be willing to change directions like that as well.
26:39parents had the very traditional husband
works outside the home, makes the money,
26:44the wife stays home and takes care
of the kids. Both of those are very-
26:48Dan:
It's an easy answer.
26:49Vanessa:
Both of those are very difficult jobs, but I feel
26:52like between their generation and our generation,
there was a shift of both people working full-time
26:58and now we're kind of switching to... I feel
like a lot of Millennials, which is what we are-
27:04Dan:
How can we work less?
27:06Vanessa:
... trying to kind of do what
27:08we're doing. I do think there's a lot of people,
a lot of my friends who are our age in the US,
27:14they're both the wife and the husband are
kind of mixing these traditional roles
27:20and not working both full-time jobs or just
trying to do things a little bit more outside
27:28the box. I imagine our kids when they're
adults and the next generations are just
27:33going to be constantly evolving and shifting
and trying to make things even more balanced.
27:41Because for me, I work from home at the
moment, and technically my job could be
27:48never-ending. I could always be coming up
with new courses and new lessons and new
27:52ideas. The way that my brain works, I always
have new ideas. I swear, every single time-
27:59Dan:
She never stops.
27:59Vanessa:
... that I take a walk
28:00or I'm alone with my thoughts, I have a million
ideas. Dan's favorite thing is when I come to
28:06him and say, "Hey, hun, I had an idea." His eyes
go, "Oh." But I always have new ideas, but it's
28:15not always healthy for me to be outputting a lot
of work all the time because I have other things,
28:20other people, my children especially, in my life
that bring me joy and need a lot of attention.
28:27I think the key for me, and I don't do this
perfectly so I don't know if I'm the best person
28:32to answer this... I don't think there is a best
person to answer this, but I think the thing that
28:37works for me is to be 100% present with whatever
I'm doing. If I'm working, I am in this room, this
28:47is our little office, the door is closed, I am
focused on work, nothing else is going on. Maybe
28:53the kids are playing with someone else, they're
always here, but they're with somebody else.
28:58Or if my kids come in here, I have to
stop what I'm working on and look at them,
29:05work on whatever I'm doing with them, say hi to
them, and then when they leave, continue working.
29:11Just the other day, they were doing something else
and I was doing some work. And they busted in the
29:18room, "Mommy, you're on the computer. Wow, I want
to sit on your lap." There were two children on
29:23my lap and I was halfway through finishing an
email that I really wanted to finish. There
29:30is no way that you can do that if you have
ever tried to do that, so in my mind, I say,
29:35"I'm not going to do that right now. I will wait
5 minutes, 10 minutes. It's going to be okay."
29:41it's okay. And focus on just whatever
they need at that second, and then I
29:48can get back to it. Because I think if you
try to check your emails while you're also
29:54talking to your kids or doing something
else, your brain is going to go crazy.
30:00a lot of parents probably hand their
kids like an iPad or turn on the TV
30:04or something. That's an option, but
probably not great for your kids.
30:09Vanessa:
Yeah. For me,
30:10usually I only do work whenever the kids are at
school, sleeping, or with someone else. They don't
30:18really watch that much TV, so that's not really
an option for our family, but trying to focus
30:24100%. And that's also something I recommend with
English is when you are really studying English,
30:31if you're listening to a song in English, if
you're listening to a podcast in English, that's
30:35fun stuff, right? That's great. You're immersing
yourself. But if you are studying vocabulary,
30:40you are writing out those sentences, you are
practicing your pronunciation, focus on that.
30:45Try to focus 100% of your attention and you'll
do your best at it and you'll actually improve.
30:52If you're trying to do a million things at
the same time, at the end you're just going
30:56to feel frustrated. At least that's how
I feel, like I got nothing done because I
31:00was trying to do everything at the same time.
So I'm constantly trying to simplify my life
31:07because there's lots going on. Anyway, that's the
roundabout answer for this very tricky question.
31:13other words, you just got
to figure it out somehow.
31:16Dan:
There's not a one-size-fit-all answer.
31:18Vanessa:
Absolutely, not a one-size-fit-all.
31:21I think if your goal is to really have a work-life
balance... I think for most people it is,
31:27but if that's something that you really want
to prioritize, like Dan said, I think you need
31:33to dump out the bucket of all the things you have
going on and decide what is absolutely necessary.
31:39Dan:
That's a good strategy.
31:40Vanessa:
What can we cut?
31:42What expenses can we cut so we can work less?
What trips can we cut? What work trips? What
31:48commitments? All of these things so that we can
get down to just the basics. And then you can
31:54kind of build it up from there. But I think, a
lot of times, I know some people that feel like,
31:59"Well, I have to do this. I have to do this." And,
yes, sometimes you have to do things, but overall
32:07trying to really cut back and decide, "What do I
need to purchase? What expenses are necessary?"
32:16Vanessa:
What hobbies do I absolutely have to do?
32:18Dan:
Some of them might
32:19be painful. I recently stopped watching
hockey, which is my favorite sport. That
32:24kind of brought a little tear to my eye,
but I just don't have time for it anymore.
32:28And maybe at another point in
your life you'll have more.
32:30Dan:
I can watch all the hockey games I want.
32:32Vanessa:
You'll have more figurative bandwidth,
32:36but for now, maybe in your life, if you're feeling
really stressed by this work-life balance, lay
32:41everything out on the table. What is necessary?
How can I cut back so that I feel more balanced
32:47and happy? I think you owe it to yourself, you
owe it to your family, and you'll just be a better
32:52person for it. But I'm still working on that,
Dan's still working on that, so take it with a
32:56grain of salt. All right. Well, thank you so much,
Dan, for joining me for this work conversation.
33:01Dan:
Yes, you're welcome.
33:02Vanessa:
Yes, we made it. Thank you so much for immersing
33:05yourself in English. These types of conversations
are excellent for improving your vocabulary,
33:10all the words you saw down here. But something
even better about these conversations is that it
33:16has been absolutely proven. The best way to learn
a language is through immersion and acquisition.
33:23This means that you don't really even know you're
learning. You're just picking up on all of the
33:28rules and the nuances and the ideas of English
while you're listening to these conversations,
33:34so you're welcome. I hope that you enjoyed this
lesson, you learned a lot. Feel free to watch it
33:40as many times as you want. Also, please download
the free PDF worksheets over Dan's face right here
33:47with all of today's vocabulary, sample sentences,
ideas. You can answer Vanessa's challenge question
33:54so that you never forget what you've learned and
you can click on the link in the description to
33:58download that free PDF worksheet today. It is
my gift to you. So thank you so much, dear.
34:04Dan:
You're welcome.
34:05Vanessa:
I appreciate
34:06you joining me for this conversation. These
are absolutely beneficial to our students.
34:11Dan:
It's my pleasure.
34:12fun to talk with you about these types of things.
34:14Dan:
Yes, indeed. Thank you.
34:16Vanessa:
You're welcome. Well,
34:17thanks so much for learning English with
me. And let me know in the comments,
34:21what is your job? Tell us
in the comments of your job.
34:25Dan:
Do you have work-life balance?
34:26Vanessa:
Do you have work-life balance and tips for the
34:29rest of us? And we'll see you again next Friday
for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
34:36Vanessa:
But wait, do you want more? I recommend
34:39watching this video next, where Dan and I will
talk about our daily routines, including something
34:44that Dan does every morning and I never do. What
is it? Well, I'll see you there to find out.
