BE 388: Listen Today for a Quick Win
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 388. Listen today for a quick win.

Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA. Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.

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- Hello, Michelle. Good morning. How are you doing? - Good morning, Lindsay. I'm good. How are you? - Fantastic, fantastic. What are we getting into today on Business English? - Well, so Lindsay, what's your favorite fruit? - Oh my God, there's so many fruits that I love. I love peaches or nectarines in the summer. - Yeah, that's my favorite. What about you?

I think if I had to choose one, it would be a pomegranate. Really? Interesting. Pomegranate seeds. Pomegranate. Okay. When there's a thing, what do they call them? Arrows?

that is oh i don't know what the pomegranate you know the seeds that's what they're called arils um do you ever have pomegranate yeah sometimes they're on salads right i can take a jug like i you could there aren't enough pomegranate seeds in the world really i did not know that about you that's something new okay yeah i love pomegranate but uh for a typical fruit i guess i would say

I don't know. I really love all fruit. I really do love fruit. But pomegranates like the standout. Fruit is the best. I eat a lot of fruits, a lot of vegetables, especially if they're low hanging. No, just kidding. Ah,

- So today, Michelle, what are we talking about? - Low hanging fruits. - Yes, and I have a feeling this is one that our listeners, an idiom that our listeners have heard before, right? So we're gonna refine today how to use it, make sure we fully understand.

Yes, this one is super common. So we're going to get into it today. Before we do, guys, we would love for you to share this show with a friend. Yes. Yeah, go ahead and share it. You know, if you believe in connection, not perfection like we do, and you want to take the ideas of connection and how do you how do you apply those in your career, in your professional life? We show you how to do that here. You probably have some friends who want

to do the same thing in the same way with us. So go ahead and go into your podcast player. Nowadays, the podcast players have a way to actually share a link to the show. Text it to one person. All right. See what they say. Good stuff. Exactly. Find out their favorite fruit. So what does that mean?

does that mean a low hanging fruit? Yeah, so a low hanging fruit is the easiest thing to grab. Okay, it's easy to get it and pull it down. And then metaphorically speaking, this is kind of a metaphor. It's, it's the task or the the action item or the thing that you could do that would be the easiest and would create the best results.

Exactly. So the low hanging fruit. So let's give some examples, Lindsay. So here's one. When I get overwhelmed with work, I just start with a low hanging fruit so I can start checking off tasks and get that dopamine rush. Yeah. I struggle with this because the low hanging fruit is often, well, it's the easy thing to do and you get the dopamine rush, right? But it's usually for me and my work, it's not the most important thing or the thing that moves us forward as a company. So

Every day it's kind of a battle. I want the dopamine hit. I want to get these things done, but I also want to move things forward, you know? Right. That's interesting. Because you can then start just avoiding things. Oh, yes.

yes yeah you could work you could work 80 hours a week and avoid actual work yeah I could because just to be doing the little the minutiae right let's organize this folder let's send this invoice let's do this and that but yeah you always have kind of that thing on your list I mean for me it's a not not work related but this is my in my personal life making a doctor's appointment

Yes. Making that phone call and just getting that all set up. You know, that's something there are some appointments I've been meaning to make for lunch, for lunch. My God, for months, not lunch. We're talking about food and everything is going crazy. Anyway, I've been meaning to make for months and they sit

in that to-do list and I'm checking off everything else. And meanwhile, these are just sitting and sitting and sitting. Yes. You are not alone. A hundred percent. I'm sure our listeners are going to hear what you're saying and feel, yep, as very human. I know, but you know what? There is actually another dopamine rush. That's even better. That happens when you do the thing that you've been wanting to do for months or, you know, you should do. Yeah. It's even better. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. I did. I did.

I did make a couple appointments recently. I still have more to do, but when I did, I was like, whoa, whoa, what are this feels amazing. Gosh, I'm going to go out and paint the town red. It's huge weight off your shoulders for sure. Yes. Yep. Yep. Exactly. It's so funny. So here's another example. All right. You did a great job, but let's not just go for the low hanging fruit. I think we need to challenge ourselves. Yeah. This is kind of what we're talking about here. Right.

challenge yourselves make those appointments you know do those things what's another example all right yes we could easily make new hires of low-hanging fruit but it's important we take our time to get the best candidates possible so are we talking about hiring fruit

Well, no, hopefully not. Oh, my gosh. One day, maybe. I don't know. We're going to have AI computers and fruit and things like that. Mr. Banana, thanks for that great report. Who knows what's going to happen. But no, so it's an interesting construction, too. We could easily make new hires of low hanging fruit. Yeah, that's really interesting. Yeah.

Yeah, you're basically saying, yeah, you're basically saying there are a lot of candidates who would love the job, they would be easy to hire, easy to get on the team, but they might not be the very best, right? He might not move the business forward in a way you need it to need

Right. Yeah. Sorry. I have this image in my head now of like a banana sitting on a computer. I don't know. I just I can't get out of my head. Anyway, here we go. Sorry, guys. But here's one more example. Well, we know we will get our base to come, but they're the low hanging fruit.

Right. So now you're talking about maybe an audience or a group. Maybe you have a TV show and your core audience will come to see the live filming, but we want other people too, right? Exactly. Yeah.

Hey, listeners, we're happy to have you with us as we explore business and sharpen your English language skills. If you're looking to take your learning even further while gaining invaluable business insights, we highly recommend a podcast that we love called TED Talks Daily. This show delivers daily TED Talks from some of the world's brightest minds covering topics like technology, career growth, education, and beyond.

It's the perfect way to improve your English, fuel your curiosity, and get inspired. Listen to TED Talks Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Okay. What else, Michelle? What are other things we might say? Because our listeners I know have heard low-hanging fruit, but we want to have other things to say. Yeah. Right. Right. So these are similar. So one is quick wins.

Right. So this is so it feels good to go for the quick wins first, but our time would be best spent planning for the long term, which is a lot of what we're talking about. The low hanging fruit is the it's exactly the easy stuff.

Yeah. Someone, I don't know, some business writer that I read once talked about the importance of eating the frog. Now, I'm not saying literally eating frogs. What he meant was on Monday morning or every morning, you have to eat the frog. That means you have to do the hardest thing that you know is on your list to do that day. It's so much easier to answer those easy emails, right? But instead, eat the frog. Then you set up a day of fulfilled work, right? Like you feel fulfilled from what you're getting done. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,

But it's hard. It's such a good idea, but in practice, it's hard because we get tired. We maybe wake up tired. It's tough. Right. And we're distracted. We're not motivated sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. This is the struggle. Exactly. So another thing you could say is easy targets or the easiest targets. Yeah. Yeah. So how would that sound? All right. So let's go for the easiest targets. Then we can move on once we get more confident.

And sometimes there is a place for that. Maybe you're training someone and you want to gradually build their skills, right? Yeah, exactly. So Lindsay, any of these favorites for you? Yeah. I mean, yeah, I do like, I don't know if low hanging fruit is a lot of work to say, so I like quick wins.

- Quick win. - Yeah, to get a quick win. Let's get a quick win on this. I like to use that to motivate our team. It feels positive. I just like it.

I'm going to agree with you. I think low hanging fruit, it's important to know, very important to know, and you can use it. Sometimes it can sound a little cliche. I think it's a little overused. So I would maybe go for other ones, but I do think it's important to know. And I do think it's important to use this from time to time. It's helpful. Yeah, I 100% agree. It's not just...

long to say, it is a little cliche. It might be approaching just overuse at this point. It's just everywhere, right? So try a few different things, mix in low-hanging fruit. Let's see how it looks in a role play. All right, here we go. So we are preparing for a meeting with clients.

all right okay yes all right so should we go should we start with a few quick wins to gauge their interests great idea get the low-hanging fruit first yes get some of the easiest targets out of the way yeah there you go there you go there it is so you're saying should we start with a few quick wins to gauge their interest and gauge might be a bonus today um to judge right

to get a sense of. - Yep, yep, exactly. And then you said, great idea, get the low hanging fruit first. So I'm just reinforcing the strategy as I see what you're doing, right? And then you said, yes, get some of the easiest targets out of the way. Well, we're on the same page. - We're just saying the same thing over and over, but we're doing great.

Yep. Guys, your next episode to check out today right now to continue listening is 378, How to Catch Attention When You Introduce a Change in English. Interesting. Yes. Definitely. Our titles are very intriguing. They are. They are.

All right. Where should we leave our listeners today? All right, guys. Yeah. Well, this is a very, very common expression and it's very useful. So we don't want you to avoid it. That's why we teach it. Right. We want you to know what it is. But we also gave you some other ways to express a similar idea that may be a little bit easier and a little bit more concise.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think the next level skill for our super high level listeners here is start to take notice of what are the

idioms that are kind of becoming cliche, right? There's a lot of them out there, not just braining cats and dogs. We know that one is cliche. There are others that you just hear a lot. And how do you feel when you hear it? How do you feel when you think about using it? Reconsider those and look for other options. That's a meta skill with English that I think that was what I'm ready for. Yeah, for sure. All right, Lindsay. Well, this was fun. I'm going to go eat some pomegranate. Okay. Enjoy that. Talk to you later. Thanks. Bye. Take care. Bye. Bye.

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