This is Rock and Roll English. Real people, real English. Here's your host, Martin Johnston. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Rock and Roll English, episode number 350. Maybe I probably should have checked the episode number before, but that would be something that an intelligent person does and...

or an organized person, and that is not me. And that actually brings us on nicely to today's episode, where we speak to a very special guest, Emma, from Pronunciation with Emma. You've probably heard of her. She is big in the English teaching world. And today we talk about how to be organized, because I was listening to some podcasts the other day, and then Emma's podcast just popped up.

came on and it was about how to be organized. And I thought, you know what? That's interesting because I am desperate to be organized. Okay. So I thought I would talk to Emma and kind of play devil's advocate, meaning when she gives us, let's say, a productivity hack, how to be organized, how to be productive. I then tell her something which

says, you know, I've tried this, but how can you make this work for an idiot like me? So if you are an idiot like me or a lazy person or not organized, hopefully this podcast will be useful. OK, because Emma shares some tricks and even says to an idiot like me, how do

to be organized okay so that's the premise of the episode that's the idea so now let's jump to the episode and i will talk to you at the end happy listening

So hello Emma and welcome back to Rock and Roll English. Hello, it's been so long. How have you been since we last spoke like four years ago? Four years ago, yes, a lot has changed. We discovered in our pre-podcast chat that basically you left the UK at that point and I moved back. Yeah.

And I also mentioned to you, I don't know why I moved back. But now you are in sunny Barcelona, right? I am. I mean, it's funny you say sunny Barcelona because today it's quite cloudy. I can see like a tiny patch of blue sky, but normally it's much sunnier. That does make me feel a little bit better, I must admit, because it's absolutely freezing here today in the UK. Yeah. And when I see those things, I saw literally just yesterday that

So we record this on the 7th of February from the 6th of February. A few years ago, I was in Sicily. I was actually at the beach in the water and it makes me feel sick. But exactly. So let's let's talk about some happier things. So although it was.

four years ago that we spoke like properly on a podcast our paths did cross fairly recently ish in a kind of course that we were doing and I actually missed one of the sessions and I had I was watching the recording and I was actually not really watching but listening when I was driving and I think it was like talking about problems you have and then you were talking and you said I

My problem is I sit down at the computer. I've got so many things to do. And then I start doing one and then I start opening new windows and I get lost and I don't even know what I was supposed to be doing. And as you were talking, I was just thinking, oh, my God, that is me. So...

Well, I thought we could talk a little bit about this and then try for both of our like for our sanity to think about how we can stop doing this. So first question, are you still like that when you sit down at the computer? 100 percent. Yep. Right. I've maybe got a little bit better. And I've now started implementing like a few little tricks and things which I can definitely share. But I think it's some I think it's just part of my personality. Yeah, it's just me.

Yeah. Yeah, I think the same. But obviously these days it's so easy to open things, isn't it? For example, a classic thing I will do is I think, OK, right, I have to send someone a message on Facebook. Might even, so when I recently contacted you on Instagram, might think, well, I'm going to send Emma a message and then...

you watch a video and then for example i think there's a there's an actor and i think oh how old is that actor let me just google that and then i'm opening google putting in how old is uh will smith completely forgotten that i've got to send it but you did mention you've got some tricks then so

tell us these because like, I think I'm, I'm getting worse with this. So any tricks and tips are more than welcome. So when it comes to like this very specific part of, um, you know, you sit down at your computer or your laptop and you know, you have to do work overcoming this, overcoming this overwhelm. Is that even a correct sentence there? But, um,

A lot of the time, like I've realized the reason why I feel overwhelmed is because I don't know where to start. And maybe I do know where to start. Like I know that I need to create a document, for example, but it's actually the tiniest steps.

that, uh, that I need to do. It isn't just create a document. Actually it's research the topic. It's, um, create the template. It's, uh, find which videos and resources I need to link about like all these tiny little tasks that make it up. So what I started to do was at the, at the start of the day, I would write down exactly what I'm going to, what I was going to do that day.

And I try to limit it to about three tasks. It depends because if it's something like reply to emails and I know it's going to take me two minutes, I don't cheat. And I'm like, well, that's done. Like if I know it's going to take me like a few minutes or something, then yeah, maybe four or five tasks. It really depends. Okay.

I, by shortening the number of tasks down, because maybe I have two, like 20 tasks that I need to do, but by shortening the list down, it makes it a lot less overwhelming for me. And... But do you actually manage to finish those tasks? Because I, my to-do lists, I generally have lots of to-do lists on paper that I lose. Yes.

And another thing that I always do is when I read a book, I get lots of ideas and I still like the real books. And then if you look in any book that I read, there's a to do list in the back. And then I lose that. But now I do have a Google document and I write stuff on there. But for example, you mentioned responding to email. So that is something which I always put on mine. But then I think I don't want to use my...

good brain energy now to do that. So I'm going to try and do the more difficult thing. This is a really good point. Okay, well, that's good. But then when I get later in the day, I think I haven't even got the energy to respond to those emails now, even though it's only a two minute task.

And that's why I'm terrible at responding to emails. Yeah, no, I'm the same. Sometimes it can take me days to respond to emails simply because I'm like, I need to like take advantage of this energy that I have in the mornings. And then by the time it gets to the afternoons, I'm like, I can't be bothered to answer emails. Like I'm not going to give my 100% to the people, you know, that I'm responding to. So I'd rather just not do it. It's interesting because I've definitely...

I've definitely been, I want to say researching, but I've come across things that talk about perfectionism.

And sometimes we don't do these things. It's like I said before, like, oh, I don't want to send these emails because I'm too tired. Okay, well, if you're too tired, like physically tired, that's something else. But if it's a case of, well, I feel like I'm not really gonna do a good job if I send these emails or if I plan this YouTube video that I need to film tomorrow, like the script isn't gonna be as good, blah, blah, blah. Then a lot of the time it comes from this fear of perfectionism

And sometimes, it depends, like I'm saying this very generally, done and completed is better than perfect. Or done and completed is better than not done, is what I want to say. Because if you're always waiting for something to be perfect and then you're not doing it, then...

Yeah, it's going to sit on your list forever. Yeah, that is absolutely true. But so yeah, you mentioned you have these tasks and the few times where I actually do manage to do all of those tasks, it is a great feeling, I must admit. But those days, yes, huge. But those days are few and far between to say the least. Yeah. I tell you something, I read a book.

called 4,000 Weeks. I've heard of that book. Yeah, I can't remember who wrote that book. Maybe you can have a quick search while I'm telling people about this book. That's me delegating there. So the book essentially talks about this idea that we only have 4,000 weeks on average to live.

Okay. Okay. It's Oliver Berkman, by the way. That sounds familiar. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, we have around 4,000 weeks to live on average. Wow.

And what we do as humans is we want to conquer the world every day and we want to achieve everything. We want to travel to every single country. We want to do everything that's on our to-do list. So we wake up in the morning full of energy, we have a cup of coffee, we're dosed upon caffeine, and then we sit down and write our to-do list. Then we're like, yeah, yeah, I'm definitely going to get through this 20 things because we're so optimistic, right, as humans.

And then it gets to the end of the day and you're like, oh my God, I've only done two things. And those two things weren't even the things that were meant to be done today. Like these are the things I do like in two weeks. I've done this all wrong. And he talks about how to deal with this, this kind of fear that we have that we're not,

that we're not able to achieve everything. Because for sure, when it's got to the end of the day and then you've not achieved everything on your list, you feel really anxious and you feel really bad. And that cycle just repeats every single day. And then you're like- The story of my life. Yeah, and then you're just like, why am I alive?

am I like this? You know, I'm such a disaster. And then you, you get stuck in this loop of God, I'm never achieving anything. I'm never getting anywhere. I'm never, you know, reaching my goals. I'm such a disaster. I'm so behind in life and everyone else on social media is doing amazing. And he talks about this and he's basically like, just accept the fact it sounds really morbid. Right. But once I sat with this and I was like, okay, I accept this. So once you accept the fact that

you're gonna die right and real happy podcast i know keeping it light-hearted um and that you are not going to achieve everything and that it's human to want to try and achieve everything but physically you're not going to be able to and therefore you should just calm down yeah that that's it i was like wow actually he's right you know at first i was like oh my god i'm gonna die

um but of course it's gonna happen and thinking actually if i don't get to my emails today it's not the end of the world it's okay and i really like this anxiety that i had about not completing these 20 tasks tasks on my list they were gone like i would say like a day or two after you know

Reading this book, I was like, wow, he's right. And one tip he suggested, which is the tip that I recommended, was instead of trying to write down all 20 tasks you need to do, just write down like two or three and make sure they're realistic.

I think that that is also my problem thinking like I should that that will only take 10 minutes that will take 20. No. In reality it takes much longer but it takes longer because I'm getting lost on the Internet of opening a new window. Like I mentioned maybe I'm interested how old Will Smith is and then and then I start thinking oh when did he slap that guy again. Was that two years ago or three years ago. I'm just getting more and more lost. Yeah.

And then I honestly, I just take a step back and think, what am I doing? So one thing I've got, actually, I'm not sure if it's on my desk, but it's a really cool timer. And it looks really cool. I mean, if I could show you, not just like on your phone, but...

And setting that for a set amount of time, I think is really good because this is the thing I've tried all these productivity hacks like and I've bought all of these productivity courses and stuff. A website I used to use was this did used to work. I can't remember. It was focus sessions or something like that. And you would. So you just say, for example, OK, tomorrow at nine o'clock.

I'm going to I need a focus session and then you you go online and you talk to a completely random person and then you both just say right what are you going to do in this session and you say I'm going to write the script for my YouTube video and the other person says I'm going to do this report for work and then it's mics off but cameras are still on but obviously you're not looking at the other person and then at the end you say how did how did it go

Yeah. I did that for a long time. That did really work. A lot of awkward conversations, I must admit. Yeah, the strangers. Which kind of put me off. And the other thing which stopped me doing it, when I first did it, one session I didn't go, I can't remember why, but I forgot to cancel it. And then I got an email saying like,

like you can't do this three strikes you're out oh my god and but then another time like i don't know six months or a year later i missed another session and i didn't get that email and then i thought like there was almost no consequence to it so i lost that motivation to i need to be told off like i've just got that i've got that yeah i've got it ingrained in my head um

So, yeah, that's the, that did work. But then, like I said, like, also since I've had children, it's a bit more difficult of like, even just having that one hour, probably get a phone call and like, oh, you need to clean this poo or something like that. Happens to me as well. Yeah.

With the dog. Not pooing yourself. Happens to the best of us. But this idea of having a timer is really good. I really like using the Pomodoro timers. So this, I've tried this one as well. So that's, well, this technique, I've heard it's like you can only stay focused for 25 minutes and you do that for 25 minutes and then you take a break for five minutes. Yeah.

But the problem is I have with that is, yeah, we really concentrate for those first 25 minutes and then the timer goes off. But I'm not disciplined enough to actually stop what I'm doing because I think I'm

No, but I'm really involved in this task. I'm in the flow. And then I think maybe what happens is I keep working too much and then I kind of lose that energy. Whilst from what I understand, the way this method works is like you take a break when you still want more kind of thing. So then you want to go back.

I've heard this for various different things. If you stop something when people still want more, they're going to go back. But if you just keep going until everyone's tired, they're not going to go back.

Exactly. Actually, I used to do exactly the same. I was like, no, no, I'll just crack on. Like I'm in the flow. I'm in, what is it? Deep, deep work or something. There's a name for everything nowadays, right? But I've definitely found that once the Pomodoro timer goes off, I'm like, right, stop. And then I'm just going to leave my office.

and i'll just do some stretches i'll stand on my balcony and stare at people you know like an old woman i'll do whatever and it's 25 minutes the the timer yeah depends i actually set mine a bit longer because i find that it takes me like five or ten minutes to get into the work yeah um so i set mine for 55 minutes right okay and i find that that's the perfect

time for me but some people may think oh that's way too long emma like i need 25 it it's really personal yeah and then you actually do stop and then get back into it one thing i do as well is um co-working online right and we do exactly that timer by the way yeah it's pretty cool but if you listen to the podcast you watch the videos i do that and then so you've got a real visual and you think and it

I do enjoy that of thinking, oh my God, I've only got two minutes left. I really need to keep going. But then like you said, I'm not disciplined enough to stop with that. But so yeah, the coworking thing, that sounds great, but it's just, I always think my days now are so like anything can happen and I wouldn't want to let people down like to have that, I was going to say empeño, the, the, the,

the appointment let's say no like to have that appointment a meeting I can't think of the English word for that but like this appointment with someone yeah like that that kind of adds a bit of pressure to my day yeah like the commitment yeah commitment that's a better word yeah because appointments more for like doctors isn't it which in the UK it's like a doctor you don't have an appointment with someone I've just been

I'm just confused with Italian there. Yeah. False friend. Yeah. Right. Okay. So that's kind of like some tips, I suppose, about how to stay focused. So I think...

the thing I've taken away from this, from what you told me, is to be disciplined and stop when my timer, when my beautiful timer goes off. I mean, it's a beautiful timer. Yeah. I bought a few of these as well. I had a round one. I've honestly spent at least £100 on timers, just to tell you how much of an idiot I am. Because I always think...

or this new thing I buy is going to change everything. That's my problem. Yeah. And again, if I think of the actual time I've spent, maybe when I'm supposed to be doing a task and then I'm looking for something to be productive because I think if I find this thing, so if I just keep searching on Amazon for two hours, then it's going to change my life like this timer. And it helps, but has it changed my life?

Not yet. Not really, but it is beautiful. But yeah, I'm going to stick to the times and actually stop

when it goes off yeah yeah this is what i like about about doing co-working because i i co-work with other language teachers and we just jump on a zoom call like we have a whatsapp group and we jump on a zoom call and it can be very free as well like sometimes you know some people will say oh i'm gonna start at half past 10 this morning if anyone's around they'll jump on the call and you're like oh well i can't join at half 10 i'll i'll join in half an hour or something so it makes it a

And because you have these forced breaks, like if you're in a room with, you know, three, four or even one other person, like it forces you to have that break.

Because you've got other people who are having that break. And of course they all unmute as though you can't work. So yeah, it forces you into it. Okay. Right. Okay. That's another good one then. So recently I was listening to a podcast. I was cycling my bike and then the podcast finished. It went to another one and I suddenly heard your voice. And I was like, oh, this is strange. I wasn't expecting this. Hello, I'm here. Yeah. After like four years. Yeah.

That was your first episode in four years? No, no. I think it's been my first episode in probably about a year or like eight months or something. Yeah, it stopped for a while. And it was about how to set goals and achieve them. And...

My first thought was, is this the girl that told me that she's the most disorganized person in the world? But so I thought it was really interesting. And so I thought you can help us for lazy, stupid people like me. Tell us how to set goals. Because again, I've read all the books. One book I read, which I really did like, but I was just too lazy to implement it, was 12 Week Year. And so that's dividing your year into

into like 12 weeks. So a year, let's say is 12 weeks. So then you've got the way it works is you say you set your goal for these 12 weeks. And yeah, so basically you've just got shorter time to do it because obviously the classic thing, January the first of this year, I'm going to do this. And then that's kind of too long. Like the deadline's too far away, but if it's got a closer deadline, so I'm going to lose, I don't know,

10 kilos or something like that. If it's got a closer deadline, it's more likely you're going to do it. That was the like premise of the book.

And I thought that's really good. This is brilliant. I totally agree with everything. Put the book down and it's kind of like, yeah. It is gone. It's gone. It's interesting actually. I've been doing this, but I didn't realize it was like a thing. Already a book. Yeah. I actually took this idea from the business world. So, you know, in the business world, you essentially split your business into quarters, right?

So you've got Q1, quarter one, Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4. And every Q, every quarter, you have business goals. So it could be, right, in Q1, we're going to launch a new course and we're going to hit X revenue. We're going to launch a new podcast in Q2 and so on, right? And I thought to myself one day, like it was at the start of this year, I was like,

why don't I do that with my life? You know? Why not? It makes sense to do this with my life. So for Q1, one of my... It sounds very businessy, but for Q1... To be honest, even when I hear that term, if I get an email and someone says like Q1, I just think... It's so cringe. I hate it. It is so cringe. Q1, Q2. I'm a...

But yeah, so for my first 12 weeks, I could say, between January and March, basically. Is that January, March? Yeah, January and start of April. One of my goals, and it's a very, very simple goal, and this is the key to really sticking to your goals, is to be able to do one push-up.

Now, that sounds so basic and so small, but I can't do a push-up. Right, okay. And in order to be able to do a push-up, it means that I've got to get stronger. Yeah.

So instead of telling myself, I need to go to the gym and lift weights and do press-ups and push-ups and whatever other ops you need to do to be able to... Gym ops. Gym ops, yeah. I really... I don't know what all of them are still learning. I'm learning them in Spanish, which is great. But yeah, I was...

I was thinking instead of setting this goal of, yeah, I need to go to the gym and do all these things like three, four times a week. I know I'm not going to do that. I know myself. I'm not going to do that. So what I did was, again, I came at it from like a language learning and a business point of view. So I was like, okay, if I had the goal of doing this thing in a new language, say Japanese,

What would I do to get there? Well, I would hire a teacher. I would take classes with the teacher, right?

So for me, it made sense instead of just, you know, buying all this expensive gym equipment and doing it at home or buying like gym memberships and stuff like that. I invested in a personal trainer. Is it cheap? No, I can definitely save more money if I go to the gym and pay, you know, 40 euros a month or whatever.

But by having a personal trainer, I have someone to hold me accountable. I definitely go to my session. And by God, does my personal trainer push me? But it also really helps me to see my progress. So,

Actually, I went to my personal session. I went to my gym session today, my personal training session. And I remember when I first started, like, we're recording this on the 7th of February, right? When I first started, I started like two weeks before Christmas because in my head, I was like, I'm going to get ahead, you know, on 2025. I'm going to get ahead on this push-up goal for Q1. Give myself an extra two weeks, right? And I...

Could hardly even lift like a four kilo weight or a five kilo weight, like above my head. Now people listening, they may be like, well, that's like nothing like four kilos, five kilos is nothing. That to you is nothing. But to me, it was really hard lifting like a five kilo weight. And today we did nine kilos, right? Which I- That's impressive. It's like more than a hundred percent increase. Right, exactly.

And when was that? That was like five, six, seven weeks ago.

Another thing as well is I did like a deadlift. I don't remember all the terms, but you have like this bar around you, like a hexagon, like a hexagon kind of around you. And you kind of squat and it's like a type of deadlift. And he put 30 kilos on. And I was like, oh mate, I'm not going to be able to do this. You know, this is like way too much, 30 kilos. He's like, no, no, go ahead. I think you can do it. And I did it. I was like, oh, this is all right, actually.

what I believe what I have believed so I suppose the big question is have you done the press up yet or no okay so kind of right we had that big build up for a kind of answer so two days ago

I was sitting in the living room and I said to my boyfriend, huh, I wonder if I can do a push-up. Right? Just as you do. We're like just watching TV in the living room. And I was like, oh, I have this sudden spout of energy. Like I'm going to do a push-up. I wonder if I can do a push-up. And he was like, pues venga. Like, go on, do it. Like we didn't even think it was weird. He's like, just go ahead and do it.

So I got down on the floor. The floor's covered in dog hairs, right? It's disgusting. I want to really set the scene here, right? I'm still in my pajamas. And yeah, I couldn't quite do it. I did it a little bit and I was like, well, that's progress. That's progress. But it's not a full push-up. That's not what I want. So he said, well, why don't you just try it on your knees? Like not using your toes, right? Try it on your knees. Yeah.

And I did it. I did it. So I kind of have reached my goal. I feel like 50% there. Okay. And I couldn't do that before. Oh, that's progress. I think with anything, and I think I read somewhere that

I can't remember where, but that's how we, that's like happiness for humans is progress. Because when you are, you know, stuck in a rut kind of thing, doing the same routine, not going anywhere, that's when I think people start feeling sort of down and depressed. Because you just, every year is the same, like you've done nothing. So progress in any form matters.

is is always great but it was interesting so you mentioned you invested in yeah a personal trainer and I think there's more and more now about yeah I've done various different things and it's just for me it's like I need to actually financially invest in something sometimes like I've done various different like coaching things for business and stuff and the things they tell me to do

I already know. And I think I know this. It's not like I'm paying someone and they're giving me this unbelievable secret. But it's just the fact that I just think if I pay for this, I'm going to do it. And the same. And not only that, I mean, this sounds even more ridiculous. I've paid for other courses and stuff. But if I haven't paid enough money...

I let, I stop those courses. Like if I've only paid, I think up to like a hundred pounds, that's not enough for me. Oh, okay. You've got to go big then. I've got, yeah. I've bought various different courses for a hundred pounds. And especially if it's like a self study course thing. And then, yeah, you watch the first couple of videos. And then after that, I just think, God, like,

I've got to go home, I've got to put the password in, I've got to open the computer. But if I had spent like £1,000 on that...

then I would do it. It's just how my small brain works. My boyfriend is the same. He calls it his amoeba brain. Right, okay. It's like, oh, my little amoeba brain works. Nice. Or his chimp brain, he calls it. But I'm the same to a certain degree. Like, I definitely need some external motivation, whether that's financial,

But I tell you something as well that's also started really getting me thinking about how I spend my time and be more productive. Like, I really don't like this idea of we should always be productive, you know? Grind, grind, grind, be productive. Because you need some downtime, right? Like, I love sitting and, you know, rotting while playing The Sims, right? For like seven hours straight. But one thing is that money...

Of course, this depends. I'm speaking very, very generally here. But money is something that you can always get back. But time is something you will never get back.

So it's really, really got me thinking about, okay, I've got this free afternoon. Instead of rotting on the sofa with my dog watching old episodes of House, why don't I go to the forest for a walk with my dog and I'll take some nice pictures and create some nice memories. Of course, there are days where I do need to sit and rot on the sofa while watching repeats of House, but it's really got me thinking more about

Like the time investment, not just the financial investment. No, I totally, totally agree with that. But what other tricks have you got then to keep goals and maintain them? Because, for example, one of the things when I listen to this podcast, you mentioned about writing your goal down, which I have done lots of times. And then I lose a piece of paper that the goal was written on. So...

And what's your plan for that then, again, for the idiots like me that can't even...

manage to follow those instructions okay so if you're there are a number of things that that you can do right so if you're one of these people that's like right it's you know the first of january i'm gonna write down all my goals and then yeah you lose the piece of paper and then you find it like seven months later and you're like oh yeah i did want to lose 10 kilos or you know what i mean um so

Instead of setting, you can go about this in different ways, okay? This is an idea. The one thing you can do is instead of setting goals, you can set a theme for the year. So instead of saying, I'm going to go to the gym three times a week, right? Instead, you could tell yourself, well, my theme of the year is strength, right?

And instead of setting this goal, like, you know, like this tangible goal of, you know, going to the gym three times a week, then maybe you, I don't know, maybe you wake up and you're like, actually, I don't really feel like going or I'm on holiday this week. And then you don't achieve that goal and then you feel bad. But if you instead attach a theme to your year or a theme to your month or a theme to your quarter, whatever you want to do,

it helps you then make more mindful decisions about certain things. So for example, like my theme of the year is strength. Last year, it was belief. Okay, sounds cheesy, but it worked. So last year with belief, it was, I want to have this belief that I can achieve the things that I set my mind to because I was so scared of achieving, I was so scared of doing certain things and,

for so many years that I never did those things and one was traveling really far outside of Europe by myself. So with this belief feeling, you know, this belief theme, I basically told myself, well, I just need to believe that I can go. Like if I research this trip, I know it's gonna be a safe trip. I'm gonna be okay. I'm gonna get a SIM card as soon as I land and you know, all of these other things.

then I have a belief. And did you do that? Yes, I did. Where did you travel to? I traveled to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Bangkok by myself. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I was terrified.

But every time I felt this feeling of like, oh my God, what am I doing? I'm literally on a plane by myself. Like, what am I actually doing? I just told myself, Emma, you've researched this trip. You have a full notion document. Everything there. You know where you're going. You know what to do. It's okay. You know, if there's an emergency, don't worry. Like...

You have your phone, blah, blah, blah. And I just believed in myself more. And that was my theme. When it came to climbing, I wanted to be able to increase my climbing level. So for the longest time, I was climbing at...

Like five, A, B and C. This won't mean anything to people, but it's just to give an idea. It doesn't mean anything to me, yeah. So let's say I was climbing at a level five, okay? Okay. Which isn't that difficult, but I was always like, oh, but it's safe. Like, I feel like my feet aren't going to slip. I feel like, you know, if I fall, then it's easier to, it's easy to fall on these sorts of things, you know? So I started pushing myself. Well, Emma, just...

that you can do a level six and push yourself a bit more. And I did. I started to do like, you know, six A's, six B's, which

Which again is not going to mean anything, but I achieved a higher level. Yeah. Because I told myself like, just believe in yourself, Emma. Now that belief, so I heard that on the podcast. That was something I was going to bring up actually. Yep. Because so for the things that you just mentioned, I can see, I don't know, it just seems to make more sense to me. But so on these various business things that I've done,

And I think the one that we did, there's always the part at the beginning of any kind of course you do where you work with someone and they always say like, you have to work on your mindset. So like, and then you have to write down your goal and you have to repeat your goal to yourself. And I've done these things. I found myself walking around the park. I even recorded myself saying this goal. And then I used to listen to that.

but there's only so much you can listen to that before you start thinking my god this is weird but so if when you're doing this let's say for like a business goal then okay now obviously so we have like online businesses but it may just someone else like a let's say sounds horrible a normal job not a weird job like a youtube or something

yeah and they they you know they want to get promoted and become ceo of the company whatever that's that's the thing where i i find it a bit kind of woo woo i suppose of like um i i say so woo woo meaning like a bit kind of like people say this kind of thing it's it's those people say it's i don't know if it's true but i say that but i have done it

But a caveat to that is I've never done it maybe for long enough. And I always think, but do I fully believe this of what I'm saying? So if I say, for example, I can't even remember what the thing I wrote down was now. But let's say I say, I'm going to earn one million pounds every day. And I'm going to be the biggest podcaster the world has ever seen or something like that. I mean, obviously, my goal wasn't that, but...

Obviously. Yeah. But it's just like, let's just use that as an example. I'm going to earn a million pounds every day. It's obviously ridiculous. But like, how do you actually believe something like that? That's the difficulty that I have, like to actually fully believe that. And I don't know, have you tried these things? Does it work for you? So...

have my ultimate goals in life. So like an ultimate goal could be, I want to make 1 million a day. It's not, that's not mine either, but again, for the, for the podcast is an example, right? Right. So that for me would be an ultimate goal. So I would, I would basically work backwards from that. And I would say, okay, so I,

To reach a million, I'm going to try and achieve half a million. Again, maybe that's too much. It depends where you are, you know? Okay, I'm going to try and make 10k a month. Okay, I'm going to try and make 1k a month. Like, you're going to do it in steps, right? So your first goal towards your 1 million a month could be, I want to try and make 5k months, okay? Mm-hmm.

And then you think, well, how am I going to get there? Right. I have courses that are however much. How many courses would I need to sell in order to get there?

So maybe it could be something like, right, I'm going to create a new course and it's a thousand euros. Again, I'm inventing people. Okay. Um, it's a thousand euros. Um, so what I would need to do every month is I would need to sell five of those courses to make my 5k goal. Hmm.

you know, you would build up like that. Yeah. But are you good at tracking these things? So for example, another thing which I've thought about recently in the last few months, trying to get kind of like better financially, not as in earn more money, but just know where I'm spending my money. And so I've created this beautiful spreadsheet and I spent

probably a couple of weeks and I want to physically input everything. I was looking through all my bank statements and I was like, right, okay, I know exactly where I'm spending my money and things. This year, I'm going to do it every Sunday night. I'm going to sit down and do my weekly, put down what I've spent, but I haven't done it. No, I haven't. Because there's more admin. I hate doing more admin. I hate life admin. Yeah.

That is true, I suppose. I mean, because you obviously can get apps to do that for you. I was going to say, like most banking apps nowadays, they have that feature. But I just thought it was... I thought it was going to help me doing it manually. Because I also... Before I had the apps and I just never look at them. Of course. So that's my difficulty of like setting goals and things. So...

So you mentioned, so whatever it could be. So I want to earn this much this month and then next month, I'm just not good at tracking them. So how do you make sure that you track these things? So I definitely can't comment on the financial thing because that's not something I track. But let's say with the...

with the, you know, being able to do a push-up. - Yeah, so we're talking about goals in general. - Yeah, yeah. - We're talking about goals in general. - I do want people thinking Emma's gonna give finance advice now 'cause I'm the worst person to ask. So what I do with my Q1 goal of doing one push-up, right, is I've given myself like little stages, like little steps. So it could be, for example,

When I first started, so I set a benchmark, like where am I at the very beginning? When I first started, I couldn't, I could only just lift four kilos, right?

a few weeks later it's like okay let's go up a few kilos right now i can confidently lift six kilos today i did nine kilos okay so that for me is like okay well i'm getting somewhere because i can actually feel the difference um and that's how i'm tracking my progress with that when it comes to tracking say like business goals it

It depends what you're tracking. If it's like YouTube subscribers, you know, you have the timer, the countdown. So I'm just, as mentioned, trying to play devil's advocate. And so let's say your goal, and this is again, kind of, I say one of my goals, it's something I am becoming more and more mindful of, is to use my phone less, especially when my children are around. Because sometimes I might find myself

I get I go down those rabbit holes of I think I'm not going to use my phone and then I pick up my phone for whatever reason maybe I got a message and then I start researching Will Smith or something like that I'm not even a Will Smith fan I don't even know why I'm using this an example he was just an actor well he was just an actor that came to my mind and then I thought well just stick with that example now um

So, and then I could get lost down a rabbit hole and then I think, God, what am I doing? Like, I'm an idiot. So let's say your goal is to use your phone less. Which is one of my goals this year. Right. Okay. So that, well, I suppose there is the numerical thing of that you get that, um,

screen time thing that doesn't work with me I just cancel it it doesn't work right doesn't work with me so okay so if that is one of your goals then because that that is a bit more difficult and you're not looking at the statistics so how are you tracking that for example because for kilos that that

It's sort of a bit easier to track because like you said, you went to the gym today, you lift nine. That's kind of a bit easier. But like for your phone then, how would you track a goal like that? So I have a very, very clear goal with that. And it's to use my phone for less than four hours a day.

Which again, when you think about it, you're like four hours, that's a lot of time. But I also work on social media. So sometimes I need to do stuff on my phone. Like I use my phone for my work. So an hour to two hours of that could easily be work stuff. Of course. If it's a rotting day, then four hours is just TikTok and Instagram.

But what I have is I have on my home screen the actual amount of screen time that I...

that I used that day, you know. Interesting. Is this an app? How do you get that? No, no, it's just on your phone. You can just create like a widget on your phone. So yeah, you just, I think it's like in the wellness settings. Right. Are we talking iPhone too? I have an Android. I'm an Android girlie. But for sure, it will be on your iPhone as well. Okay. But if you go into like, if you go into your home screen and then you go into widgets,

and then you look at like the wellness or whatever section it's called on iPhones, you can actually choose a setting, a widget option that is your screen time for the day. Okay.

So every time I open up my phone, it will show me you spent two hours and 37 minutes. And I'm like, oh, that's quite a lot. And my goal is four hours. So I'm really like, it's almost like a currency. Like I now start to see it as a currency because I'm like, well, instead of spending like half an hour on the toilet, you know, on my phone scrolling or whatever. I'm so glad you said that because I do that so often. Everyone does. And if they say they don't. Exactly. You're lying. People just don't...

I totally agree with that. Lies. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. It's like when people say, you know, oh yeah, I don't take my phone to bed or whatever. Lies! Everyone lays in bed rotting on TikTok and stuff for half an hour before they go to sleep, right? And if you don't, then you're weird. I'm joking. You're missing out. You're missing out.

You're missing a real treat. But it's a common thing, you know, is what I'm trying to say. So one thing I started to do was I realized what triggers, like when was I spending the most amount of time on my phone?

And I realized it was in the mornings. So I would wake up before my alarm. I would spend about an hour on my phone in the morning. And that's already eaten into a quarter of my four hours that I've dedicated for the day. So what I started to do was I just put my phone in another room. And then I have a watch. It's not like an Apple watch, but it's a smart watch. And I just set an alarm on that.

So once the alarm goes off, I'm like, well, I can't rot in bed on TikTok, you know, so I've got to get up. It's boring here. What else can I do? So I get up and then I end up starting my day earlier and I bought myself back an hour of time. So I realized there were like little triggers like that. Also, it's really interesting. I've been catching myself doing this.

I just instinctively when I when I go to leave a room I instinctively go for my phone and I take it always do this yeah and now I'm starting to catch myself and I'm like what why am I doing that that's so weird like I'm just instinctively grabbing my phone going to the kitchen or going to the toilet or going to bed or whatever so now I'm catching myself in these moments and I'm like

okay yeah i i am now walking to the kitchen with the phone in my hand that's fine but instead of walking to the kitchen with it i'm just going to put it on the table here and i'm going to go to the kitchen without my phone yeah it's like little things like that have helped yeah i'm i'm exactly the same with that reflex of and another thing i find a classic thing for me so let's i'm uploading a podcast and i've got very high internet connection it might take

10 seconds and then it comes up like the uploading in those 10 seconds i'll think right well i'll just i'll just click touch my phone and then that could be the start of going down a new gateway rabbit hole yeah it is so that that again for me it's like just a thing that i say to myself now is just like you know it's only 10 seconds yeah you don't need to feel

these 10 seconds yeah like just just watch the bar go up it's only going to take 10 seconds yeah don't

touch your phone um so that that's one for me yeah healing my um healing my attention span is something i want to do this year um so i i mean i've joked about like scrolling on tiktok i don't actually have tiktok anymore on my phone i removed it um i do have instagram but i have a timer on there so before i said all timers don't don't work for me um they don't i easily cancel them

But by having that reminder of, right, you spent 30 minutes on this, Emma. It's like, right. Okay. Yeah. I spent 30 minutes and it just makes me conscious so that I'm not, because you could just keep scrolling in before, you know, an hour's passed. Right. Like half an hour feels like nothing when you're scrolling. Yeah.

So it just sends that little trigger, like, Emma, just be aware, just be mindful. You've spent half an hour on this. Like, I'm really trying to be kind to myself as well and just be like,

just be aware of you spent half an hour on this if you want to spend a bit more time it's okay you can do you know it can add an extra 10 minutes but don't spend forever on it yeah i have that same timer on instagram i find that doesn't work at all because normally it will come up when i'm in the middle of a video that i want to watch and then i'm just like get away from you stupid timer like i want to watch this video and then

I did also, I actually paid for something which every time I opened any social media, it just came up with this thing and it just said, just breathe and it would take 30 seconds. And it worked really well for about a month. And I was like, this has changed my life. And then, like you said, I also do things on social media. And then when you'd like...

I was maybe putting a video on Instagram and then I'd go back to do something and then I got to go back and then it was making me wait again and I wanted to just throw my phone out the window. So then I cancelled that app. Oh,

it did work really well when I wasn't using when I wasn't posting for a while but then it drove me crazy but I do like the thing I didn't know that you could have this a screen time in general you mentioned so that is definitely I'm some I'm

something I'm going to do. It just makes you more mindful. I guess maybe that's the theme of this is it's like, it's just being mindful and being like, oh yeah, actually I did. I've already spent two hours on my phone today. I better put it away and actually do something, go touch some grass. So I believe I am becoming more mindful of these things, but my, my worry is, yeah, I'm becoming more mindful. I'm just noticing. I'm, I'm just,

I'm doing these things. I'm still doing them. That's the first step, right? Because I mean, there's doing these things and then not being aware. And then, cause that was definitely me. And then the next step is right. It's like acknowledging you have a problem, right? The next stage is acknowledging you have a problem. And then what's the next stage? Like denial that you have the problem. Like, you know, there's all these different stages, but yeah, like it,

it's the next stage just just being aware like because before i set the four hour limit i was spending like six to seven hours a day on my phone which is absolutely insane like it is insane um and it's because i would spend like two hours in the morning and then two hours in the evening and then little bits you know during the day and maybe only like an hour an hour and a half of that would be work maybe two hours so it's like

what am i doing for five hours like this is actually insane so i i cut it down to five i think i cut it down to six hours and then i was like hmm okay i feel like this isn't like making much of a difference cut it down to five cut it down to four that's a good idea so i've just been doing it like um little by little and the goal is by the end of the the year

to get it down to three hours a day, which again still sounds like a lot, but I work on social media. So if it's two hours of work and one hour of whatever, that's fine for me. Yeah. Yeah, it's just amazing how much we use our phones. When I see my screen time, in my defense, I also listen to podcasts on my phone. I'll be listening to it and doing something else. So I'm not actually looking at the screen.

But if you turn it off, because I had the same thing, but still, if you turn the screen off, but the podcast is playing, it doesn't recognize that the screen is on. Well, I generally listen to podcasts on YouTube though these days. So because this is just again of how lazy I am.

So when I open YouTube, it will generally immediately say like suggested for you and I can just click. If I open a podcast app, I have to think about what podcast I want to listen to. And that is too much brain power for me. This is just how lazy that what I've become and I think everyone is becoming. Everything is just so difficult now because everything is just getting easier and easier and easier to do. And instant. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. The other day, my boyfriend ordered something on Amazon and I was like, oh, what time will it arrive tomorrow? He's like, no, it's going to arrive this afternoon. And I was like, what?

What world do we live in where you can order on Amazon and then it arrives the same day? Like we really are just so spoiled. So we have to be mindful of this, which is the first step. But okay, so coming towards the end then. So in a nutshell, if you said, for example, okay, let's do two things. How to stay focused, how to achieve your goals, what would you say?

God, that's such a huge, huge question. I was just looking at like a couple of bullet points, like write it down, set it into a step, something like that. Yeah. Okay. Well, I can share some of the things that I've been following recently.

when it comes to being more organized and also setting goals and actually achieving these goals because I really do feel for the first time in my life I'm actually achieving these goals. And these are things that I used last year as well. And...

they worked really well. Okay. So just bullet points just go boom. Yeah. Yeah. So the first thing was, um, when you write down your goals, instead of saying, for example, I want to run 30 minutes every day, you change the wording to the kind of person you are. So the kind of person who does that action. So instead of saying, I want to run 30 minutes every day, you write, I

I am a runner who runs for 30 minutes a day. And then you're basically programming your brain to think, I am that kind of person. I'm not just running 30 minutes a day. I am a runner who runs 30 minutes a day. So that really helped. Another thing as well, and this is something I love to do at the start of the year now, is bingo cards. So of course you've got the classic bingo where it's like, um...

What is it like with the numbers, you know? So it'd be like two little ducks, 22, and then you cross them off and so on. But what you can have are very, very specific goals. So some examples I have for Q1, you know, is to do one push-up. It's a very, very simple goal. If your goal is too vague and it's something like get fit. Well, how do I know when I've got fit, right? Or...

Learn Japanese! When do I- where is the limit for me to know that I've learnt Japanese? So the goal has got to be so specific and so like tangible, like you can smell it, you can touch it, you can feel it, you know that you've done it and you can cross it off.

Another is to complete one copywriting course this quarter. It's so simple. If I put do a copywriting course, it could be any. But if I'm like complete one copywriting course, that's so achievable. So yeah, I've got a few like bingo goals. And my final piece of advice, I mean, I have lots, but this has been...

This has been the biggest game changer and when I talked about this on my podcast episode, this was the one thing that people were like messaging me about and they were like "Oh my god, this like blew my mind." Like I've done this for like a week or so now, Emma, and it's been amazing. So I call it the "if principle". I don't know if this exists, okay, but it's something I've been doing for a while. The "if rule" or "if principle".

You have your main goal that you want to do. Okay, so it could be go to the gym every day, right? That's your top goal. That's like your number one. I can't go to the gym. I do Pilates at home with a YouTube video.

That will be my second goal if I can't do that first one. Then the next one. If I can't do Pilates at home and watch a YouTube video, I will do 30 squats while brushing my teeth. Right? So my main goal is exercise. Right? That's it. Like do some sport. Move my butt. Okay? That's it.

But by giving yourself this like if principle, it gives you a way out. So maybe you wake up in the morning and it's raining and you're tired and maybe a bit hungover because you went out. I don't know, whatever. And you're kind of like, I really don't want to go to the gym today.

If I can't go to the gym today, I will do Pilates instead. So it removes this feeling of, oh God, I'm such a terrible person. I'm never able to achieve my goals. Yeah, okay. Because then you have something after and this has changed my life. And also a great way to practice the first conditional. I'm very, yeah.

If I don't go to the gym, I will brush my teeth doing squats. Exactly. Or even first conditional, zero conditional. Like if your grammar isn't to that level. Yeah. If I don't do this.

I do this instead yeah love it um well thank you so much for sharing all these productivity tips with us my pleasure I've definitely taken a couple of things which I'm feeling motivated now so I'm gonna definitely do something for the next hour and then who knows write another list yeah exactly but so thank you very much for sharing these tips and we'll see you soon maybe hopefully before four years this time I don't know maybe we can make it a four year thing every four years I come back

Exactly. Like a World Cup. Yeah. Yeah. OK, well, thanks a lot, Emma. And we'll see you soon. Bye bye. Thanks a lot. Bye bye. OK, so that was me talking to Emma about how to be organized, how to be productive. I hope you learned at least one thing. Lots of different things that we both shared, because believe me, I have tried every single productivity hack.

that exists in the world. So maybe you may have even learned something from one of the things I mentioned, which doesn't work for me anymore. I generally find things work for me

for a little bit and then I get bored and then I have to look for a new one. So if one of those things can help you, then I will be very happy. So thanks a lot for listening to today's episode. Remember to check out Emma. I'm sure you know who she is already, but just in case you don't, there are links to all of her stuff in the show notes to this episode. So thanks a lot for listening. I will talk to you soon, but in the meantime, just keep on rocking. Bye.

Thanks so much for listening to Rock and Roll English. For more great content and to stay up to date, visit rockandrollenglish.com and facebook.com slash rockandrollenglish. We'll catch you next time.