BE 394: What's Your Daily Routine? Morning Edition
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 394, What's Your Daily Routine? Morning Edition.

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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Hey there, Michelle. How are you? Good, Lindsay. How are you? Good. Michelle, are mornings crazy in your house before work? Yes, they are, Lindsay. I can imagine. They are really something. I can imagine. Yeah. Like my son decided the other day that he just didn't want to go to school because basically he had a sniffle. Okay. And, um...

I mean, you know, I felt for him, but it's different times now. You know, in COVID, you would have stayed home totally. But now, you know, you keep on keeping on. Keep on keeping on. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I think your house is much crazier than mine, for sure. I feel for you. I wish you could see it. It's nuts. It's the most stressful time of my day, I think. By the end, I drop off one kid, and by the time I drop off the other, it's like...

I feel like I'm a balloon, like the air is being like finally released. Ooh, interesting. Yeah. Wow. Okay. But I think a lot of our listeners can identify with you. I mean, they have kids, right? Big families, that kind of thing. But they also need to get to work and they need to get their kids off to school. This is a common conversation topic with our co-workers.

Right. Very common. Yeah. I mean, I already had fun just sharing that little tidbit with you. So we're going to talk about this today. So today we are actually doing part two of a two part series, a mini series about routines. And the first episode was on our other podcast, All Ears English. Lindsay, what was that episode?

That episode was 2379. What's your daily routine nighttime edition? So open up your search bar if you miss that one somehow and type in All Ears English, find the show, hit follow on that show and listen to that episode after we finish today, right? You don't need to listen to that one first. You're okay. We'll learn about mornings and then you'll go learn about nighttime routines. Okay. Exactly. I mean, this is huge for Connection Network.

to be able to identify with your coworkers, share stories. This is a really good way to get to know them. Also, do they have kids? How do they, you know, what kind of a person are they? Do they, are they someone who likes to wake up early and work out or are they just rushing out the door like me? Yeah. I think this is really great because it's the kind of thing that says so much more than what you're saying about you, right? If you are the

the kind of person who's really dedicated to working out. Like you said, your coworkers can get much more information about you and your values when you share your routines, right? Right. So it's funny because talking about your routine, it seems like, okay, that's not that exciting, but actually it is. And it's a good way to connect and learn.

Exactly. And that's actually why this is ironic because we included a lot about this when we interviewed our native speakers for our new course, which is coming out very, very soon. Professional English Level 1. We actually asked our native speakers about their routines, about their work, typical work days, what a typical work day looks like for them. So we use those lessons to work on tenses, grammar, pronunciation, and lots of good stuff.

So Michelle, how can our listeners get, you know, get in the know, get in the club so they are notified first when this course goes live? Very soon in the next couple of weeks, it is going to be a brand new course becoming ready for our listeners. Yes. So guys, go to allearsenglish.com slash professional and there you can sign up.

yes the course has a big emphasis on speaking and also on meetings and presentations because we learned from talking to you all that many of the pressure points the moments when we feel the most stressed at work are actually in the context of some kind of meeting whether it's a daily stand-up or whether it's a more formal boardroom meeting and presentations whether it's a very light quick update to your team or whether it's a formal presentation at a conference these are pressure points

which we're going to work on and other things in this course. So go to allersenglish.com slash professional, get on the early, early insider list. You'll be the first to know. Okay.

Okay, good. Very cool. Very exciting. So, all right, let's get to it. Let's talk about this is really sharing some of the most common things people say. So, okay, the first one is I'm up or I get up at. So, yeah, yeah, I'm up at six. I get up at nine.

probably not um nine who gets up at nine let's see what time do you get up um i these days i'm trying to sleep in a little longer so i get i'm i'm up at seven typically um

But yeah, I like this expression though. It's very native and natural. I'm up at. Right. So I feel like that might be new for our listeners. Yeah, because probably in your textbook, you've been learning, oh, I get up. I wake up. I wake up. Right. I wake up. Right. So but you can also just say, oh, I'm up at six. Yep. Very common. Very, very common. Here we learn the real English, Michelle, right here on the show. Right. Yep.

what about you michelle no um yeah well today my daughter came in at 5 45. um

God, that's a hot. So I try and get her back to sleep and then she decides that she is not going back to sleep. And it's always that scary moment of she's lying down and she seems like she might fall asleep. And then she just sits up and she says, oh, I want to watch Daniel Tiger. So, oh my gosh. Yeah. So that's what it was today. But so yeah, that's okay. So the next one is

We talked on this last episode, I mean, on the first episode of the series, but I wanted to mention it. I'm a morning person, right? So you could say I'm a morning person or I'm not a morning person. Yes, love it. Again, talking about our values, saying so much more about who we are, which builds connection, right? That builds connection. So I love it.

I get out the door by 8 a.m., right? Or I get out the door at. We can use two different prepositions. I'd say the more common one there is by because it's some kind of deadline, right? Right. It's like at any time before this time, whereas at is more at this time.

- Exactly. Yeah, I guess both are good. What else, Michelle, could we say here? - Well, this is a good one. My mornings are usually blank. - Insert your favorite adjective, right? - Yeah, so my mornings are usually crazy or relaxing or not too bad or my time to recharge, right? - Yeah, if you don't have kids. - Yes, exactly. - Yeah, I'm at my desk by 9:00 AM or 8:30.

um i feel like it's interesting from what i've heard the east coast starts a little later let's let's let's take out work from home here let's imagine people going to the office i've what i've concluded from talking to people is that it seems like the east coast typical start times are usually 9 9 30. yeah whereas out here people start closer to 8 8 30. oh really and i think the reason is that because if they're working with the east coast

They were like we actually interviewed someone in professional English level one who lives in Colorado But he works for a it's a he's a project manager for a medical supplies company that's based on the East Coast So he works East Coast hours, right? So he starts at 7:00 a.m. And finishes at 3:00. Yeah I bet he likes the 3:00 end time for sure for sure, but the 7:00 a.m. Sounds tough. Yeah. Yeah definitely

So yeah, I am about at my desk at by right those times. And then this is another one that can tell a lot about a person. I always need to blank to really wake up in the morning. Yes. What about you, Michelle? What is it for you? Drink coffee. So yeah, sometimes. Yeah. So you could say shower, drink coffee, go on a run, do yoga, stretch. Right. For me, it's definitely yoga.

have my coffee, have my whole breakfast and my coffee. Do you ever, like, sometimes I feel like once I've gotten through all of the things, I'm like, ah, now I'm ready to go. Do you have that feeling? Oh yeah. I feel like I need all the things we're listing here. I need to do all those things.

Unfortunately, it's not going to work out like that forever. If I have a family in the future, I'm going to have to pick and choose, right? But certainly, shower. I need to shower. I do want to drink coffee most of the time. I want to go on a walk with my dog. There are a lot of things to get done and I need to eat breakfast. So I have a lot of requirements to be ready for.

A lot of requirements. You have to check off all the boxes. Yeah, that's true. I love it. So fun. See, we're having fun. It's like you said, Michelle, it seems like a very straightforward, maybe dry topic, but it's absolutely not. It's not. This is our lives, right? This is the messiness of our lives and our quirks, our habits. Yep. Yeah, exactly. I mean, we've already been, you know, I wrote, let's have a talk about our mornings and try to use these, but we've been doing this naturally because it's fun. I mean, exactly. Um,

So, yeah, we've already been talking about this. It just comes up naturally because it's an interesting topic and we could continue talking about it. I mean, it can lead you into other stories about things that have happened in the past or what's going on in your future or whatever. Yeah. Or just even if I say I need to

walk, go for a walk and walk my dog, you could ask, oh, yo, do you like to work out? Is movement important to you? Right. Are you an active person? You can go off in so many directions. So we we're not going to run out of topics here if we're really listening and connecting. Right. It's a really good like topic to springboard into lots of different topics. So good.

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All right, Michelle. So yeah, I think we've just said, you know, exactly why this is useful for work. So I really want our listeners to listen to this episode again, potentially, and bring this into work, right? This is how we get to know people, build the connection and the relationships that matter, right? Yeah. And I mean, I mean, well, let's talk just quickly, like when would be a time when you have this kind of conversation, do you think?

I think when you're just coming off of the thing, meaning the morning, right? So we're talking about morning routines. You're more likely to have this conversation when you first arrive in the morning. Maybe you come in and you're a little disheveled and you miss the train and that's where that your coworker says, oh, miss the train or something. That's where that conversation might start. Less likely in the afternoon or the evening as a structured conversation topic. Right? Yeah. It's spontaneous.

Yeah, I agree. So, you know, I think that's a good if you're thinking of, of course, if your coworker comes in and they're clearly in a rush, you don't need to start a whole conversation. But if you if you're kind of sitting around the break room, maybe you're having a cup of coffee together before your big meeting or whatever, you know, sometimes you might say, oh, how was your morning? Right. That could be a good conversation. Right.

Or I can think of another scenario, not necessarily at work with friends. If you're looking at, maybe you're looking for a new job and your friend is asking you, oh, you applied for a couple of new jobs and oh, what do you need? Like when's the start time? Right. What do you need to do in the morning? You talk about kind of the lifestyle you want with your work more broadly. Yeah.

interesting right right right exactly so all right so let's give this a shot of how it might happen between two co-workers so here we are we run into each other getting coffee before work yeah yeah i love it here we go all right okay uh hey lindsay michelle hi i didn't have time to drink my coffee at home so here i am oh i'm here every morning

Yeah, I always need to drink coffee to really wake up in the morning, so I have it at home. Yeah, my mornings are usually crazy, so I like to get out. The kids are hard to get out the door. What time do you usually get up? I'm a morning person, so I'm up by 6. Wow, not me. I get up at 8 and I get out the door by 8.30. I definitely need more time in the morning. I'm at my desk by 8 just to relax a little bit before everyone gets in. Today I was running late, though. Oh, I see.

Yeah. And I come, so this scenario is, you know, we happen to be, maybe we are like a Starbucks near work or something. That's exactly what I was thinking. Right. Maybe in the same building or something across the street. And we happen to run into each other. Very common scenario where this would happen. Yep.

And this would be very two different people. Yeah. Yeah. And this would be the way it's like when we're building connection, we have to think about what is the current context we're in in that moment. It doesn't have to be some brilliant topic idea that we have to come up with in that moment. It's 8 a.m. for goodness sakes. Right. No, it's just simply bring up the how is your morning? You know, what are your routines? Why coffee matters to me? Why you go into that?

You don't have to overthink connection is what I'm trying to say. Yeah. Right. It's so true. Some things that might seem like the most mundane thing. I mean, that's why in the classroom, I always would say when I would ask my students, oh, what did you do over the weekend? I say, oh, nothing, nothing. And I said, really? Nothing? Did you sit? I mean, there's always something to say. Yes. Right. Even if you even it doesn't just because it wasn't an exciting weekend.

doesn't mean you have to say I did nothing. Maybe you watched a new show. Maybe, I mean, even if you were inside the whole time, you could say, oh, I just was exhausted. Like such a long week. I, you know, there's always ways to elaborate on something that seems super mundane. Yeah. There's always something. So try to avoid saying, oh, nothing. If you think it's boring or just not interesting because you can always make it more.

it more interesting. Actually, that's a good idea for an episode topic. Yeah, it's so true. I used to, when I taught in Japan, Michelle, I had a very similar experience. I would ask my students what they did over the weekend and I got two answers really commonly, cleaning my room and went back home to visit family.

And I would challenge our listeners, if you are going to your classes and saying the same thing, maybe you're doing the same thing every weekend. Totally cool. But say something different about it. Challenge yourself to say, take a different angle. Stretch it out in a different way. Yeah. Yeah. Different angle. Maybe it's about your time constraints. Maybe it's about the tools you use to clean.

I don't know, make up something different every single time. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. All right. So should we go through the role play? Yeah, let's do it. So here we go. So I said, Oh, I'm here every morning. And you said what, Michelle?

I said, yeah, I always need to drink coffee to really wake up in the morning. So I have it at home. So basically I'm saying I can't even wait to get closer to work. And I love this. This I think could be another episode, Michelle, an episode on how to bond over coffee addiction.

I think that's a great idea. That is a great topic. Yeah. We've been talking about that for years. Yeah, we have, we have. So stay tuned guys. Hit follow to make sure you get that episode on both shows. I'm not sure which one it'll be on. All right. And,

And then I said, yeah, my mornings are usually crazy. So I like to get out. Meaning and what I what do I mean here? I mean, I like to get out of the house. Yeah, you want to you want to get out of the house. And so that's why you just have your coffee when you get closer to work. You want to get out and get going. Yeah, totally. And then you said, Michelle, I said, what's next?

I said, "What time do you usually get up?" So I used that as a... So you said, "I'm a morning person, so I'm up by six." - And then I said, you said, "Wow, not me. I get up at eight and I get out the door by 8:30. So we're seeing our contrasts here." - Right, so I only take a half an hour. I'm like zip, zip, zip, get, you know, because I wait till the last minute. I have my coffee, I have my breakfast, I'm out the door.

Yes. Yes. But you're kind of the opposite. You said, I mean, you said mornings are crazy, but you said you get, so it sounds like that's why you get up early in the morning. So then you said, I'm at my desk by eight to relax a little bit before everyone gets in. Yeah. Everyone has kind of their own way of finding relaxation in the chaos. Right. And that's another good way to get to know someone. Is it when you're on the train, when you're listening to a podcast, is it at your desk for just a moment with your coffee before someone come, people come in?

These are good ways to also know who this person is. Right. Love it. Very cool. Oh, well, this was fun, guys. Remember, if you haven't already listened to that episode of All Ears English. So this is the day, the morning edition and the nighttime edition is over on the All Ears English podcast episode 2379. What's your daily routine? Nighttime edition. Definitely check it out so you can get the full picture of all the ways you can bond with people over their morning and nighttime routines.

Yeah, and I think that's the takeaway. I think we said it earlier in the episode. Use context and shared context, shared situations to build connection off of. Don't feel like you have to come up with some brilliant topic idea, something from the news. No, politics. Don't worry about it. The connection is right there in front of you because you're in the same situation as this person standing next to you ordering coffee, right? Yeah. So let's think about that. I love that. So good for connection.

All right. Yep. All right, Lindsay. Well, this was a lot of fun. I like this series and guys, let us know about your routines. Yeah, write to us. All right. Talk to you soon, Michelle. Have a good one. Bye.

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