This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 577, Phrases That Will Turn Your Day Around.
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Hello, Michelle.
How are you?
I'm doing well, Aubrey.
I'm doing well.
I'm excited to talk with you today on the Business English Podcast.
How are you?
I am great.
I have a question for you to start us out.
Do you know anyone who's really good at cheering people up when they feel down?
Hmm.
Not me.
You're not just going to automatically say me.
I'm offended.
It's you.
No, I mean, I do.
I have like a couple really good friends that I would say if I feel down, I could go to them.
I think also my brother is... It's not so much that he's...
Well, he makes some jokes, but he'll like logic you into feeling better.
Does that make sense?
Yes, it does.
And I like that even better, right?
Kind of like show you that logically, you should be feeling better than you are.
Yes, because as a kid, I remember that he would do that.
I mean, if I was worried about something, he would just talk about it from a very logical point of view and explain, and he was very helpful in that way.
So I would actually say him.
But I feel like I give him a lot of credit on these shows and mostly I make fun of him.
I hope he listens to the podcast so that he hears all of the credit that you give him.
He's the best.
But don't tell him.
I will not.
We don't need him to have a giant ego.
He already does.
No, I'm just joking.
Anyway.
So that's interesting, because at work, of course, it can be difficult to stay cheerful and positive, especially when we're bogged down.
We're drowning.
We're too busy.
It's easy to get super stressed out or feel, you know, even though logically we know like maybe things are going well but just a lot's going on, it's hard to stay positive.
So it's a really important connection skill to cheer up colleagues.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
This is huge, guys.
We want to have that awareness of what's going on with our colleagues.
And that's just going to help build the connection.
So Aubrey, this is part two of a two part series.
So guys, stay to the end if you missed the first part.
And we're going to share the details.
But is it okay to listen out of order?
Absolutely.
Yes, you can listen to these out of order.
So yes, stay to the end for details about that one.
And be sure to hit follow if you missed that one, both here on the Business English Podcast and All Ears English.
Some series will have part one on All Ears English, part two here.
So that the related vocabulary that we might use more at work is here and in daily life is on Allers English.
So be sure to hit follow on both podcasts.
Awesome.
All right.
So should we get into it?
Let's do it.
Let's dive in with our first bit of vocabulary here, which is cheer me up, cheered me up to cheer someone up.
What does this mean, Michelle?
Okay.
Most of you to make someone feel more cheerful, cheer me up.
Maybe you're feeling I mean that assumes that somebody comes into something already feeling not so great, right?
You don't really say I'm going to cheer you up if someone is already happy, right?
Exactly.
Good point, right?
This is for someone who does not feel cheerful.
You'll do something to cheer them up to bring them out of the funk out of a bad mood.
For example, after a tough meeting with a client, my colleague cracked a joke that really cheered me up.
Right.
So I had had this tough meeting, wasn't feeling great.
And my colleague cracked some kind of a joke, kind of like your brother would.
Right.
And that would cheer me up.
Jokes often cheer me up.
Oh yeah, for sure.
Getting positive feedback from my manager on that report cheered me up after a long week.
So yeah, certainly at work.
If you've worked on something and you've been exhausted and this has been a lot, but then you get that positive feedback, that can really kind of make it all worth it, right I?
Absolutely.
Yes.
And you can see how important these are, not just as like a great coworker who can help someone else feel cheerful.
It benefits you as well.
You want the people you're working with to be happy and cheerful and positive.
You can be a huge part of what does that, right?
If you're making efforts to cheer people up.
Yeah, exactly.
So the second one is lifted my spirits.
Yeah, to lift someone's spirits.
Same idea.
You can see like, you know, cheer someone up, lifted my spirits.
So we're talking about, you know, going higher, right?
We're in our mood.
So lifted my spirits is the same idea.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And this is a little more idiomatic, right?
Nothing is literally being lifted, but we use this verb idiomatically as well to mean like improve.
So, and then our spirit is, you know, it's... how we feel in general, our emotions, right?
Sometimes this might have more of like a religious connotation, but we use this idiomatically just to mean that same thing.
Cheer someone up, make them feel happier and more positive.
That's right.
So, for example, hearing that our team's project was approved lifted my spirits after months of hard work.
That would lift my spirits.
Yeah.
Made all the hard work worth it.
Yes.
Exactly.
Or my coworkers encouraging message before the presentation lifted my spirits.
Yeah.
So you maybe were stressed out.
You're anxious.
And a coworker leaves you a little note or just says to you, like, you've got this.
That could really lift your spirits.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Or that you could say that turned my day around.
So it's imagining.
I mean, if you think of the day, if you're like kind of personifying the day and you're turning it around, it means maybe it was turned towards something negative and now you're turning it Towards feeling better or something positive.
Exactly.
We use this especially when a lot is going wrong.
It's kind of a terrible day.
Many things are not working out.
And then something really positive happens.
You get good news.
Someone says something kind of like that really turned my day around.
Yeah.
Just means you started feeling more positive.
Things started getting better after that.
Yep, exactly.
So, for example, I was having a stressful morning with technical issues, but finishing the proposal early turned my day around.
So, yeah.
Oh, gosh.
Well, we had that last week.
That's right.
We had stressful technical issues.
But then we were able to record together and we had a lot of fun.
And I think it turned our days around, right?
That really did turn my day around.
It's true.
Because recording is always fun, even if it starts with some technical issues.
Then you start recording and it's so fun.
Turns the day right around.
It's true.
Or when the client said they were happy with our work, that really turned my day around.
So yes, really good point Michelle, that you made, that we wouldn't say this if things are already going well.
Like the day's going well, the presentation went well.
And then someone said something nice that turned my day around.
No, this very much means that things were going badly before, whatever it was.
And then something good happened.
That cheered you up.
It lifted your spirits.
It turned your day around.
Would you say that?
Would you say it in the opposite way?
Like, oh, things were going well, but it turned my day around when something bad happened?
What do you think?
Oh, that's interesting.
That turned my day around.
I don't feel like we do say that to mean that things start going badly.
I don't think it says much in that way.
I'm trying to think what we would say.
Things took a turn for the worse is probably how I would say it.
Like everything was going really well and then this bad thing happened, and then everything took a turn for the worse.
That might be how I would say that.
Interesting.
Interesting.
All right, Michelle, let's do a role play here.
You are sharing client feedback with me in this role play.
Want to start us out?
Sure, let's do it.
Okay.
Hey, I just heard from the client.
It sounds like your meeting with them went really well.
Oh, that's good to hear.
I've been stressing about it.
They had a lot of concerns about the timeline and I wasn't sure how they took everything.
Well, I got an email from Mark and he said they were happy with the strategy overall.
Okay, I'm glad you told me.
That honestly really turned my day around.
Oh, I get that positive feedback from a client always lifts my spirits.
It sounds like you did a really solid job.
I appreciate that.
Hearing this cheered me up after such a stressful morning.
I feel like the connection skill here is really clear, right?
We all have coworkers who do this, who cheer us up, who make us feel better about something like this.
And then we have coworkers that don't for whatever reason.
They don't bother.
They don't think about it.
And it makes such a difference.
Like the relationship you have, the connection you have makes such a difference.
Yeah, I would say, you know, it's great to try and be that person, to try and be the person that is cheering someone up.
Absolutely.
You know, that's huge.
So that'll definitely bring you closer to your colleagues, bring you more success.
Let's go through this.
Yeah.
You said, well, oh, okay, I'm glad you told me.
That really turned my day around.
So you were saying that you were stressed.
I've been stressed.
I have all these concerns.
And you don't have to tell me about that email.
You're certainly not required.
You're like, well, I got an email from Mark.
He said they're really happy with the strategy overall, right?
Mm-hmm.
Some people might not think to share that with me, but that is the human touch, even at work, right?
We are humans.
We care about what other people think.
And if someone is stressed out and you can share with them information that will help, you should.
Yeah, definitely.
And then you said positive feedback from a client always lifts my spirits.
Right.
I get that.
So here you're sharing solidarity.
You're like, I don't I'm I understand that you feel better because I would feel the same.
Yeah, yeah.
And then you said, I appreciate that.
Because you said, I know I said, it sounds like you did a really solid job.
And you said, I appreciate that hearing this cheered me up after such a stressful morning.
So again, something was not feeling so great.
So you can say it cheered me up.
Exactly.
Yes.
And to share part one in case you missed it, it was over on All Ears English.
It was number 2658, English grammar that will make your day.
And this is really interesting these phrases like make my day, make one's day, and some interesting grammar notes that you also need to get the grammar right for some of these phrases.
So, if you missed it, be sure you're following Allers English.
Go check it out so that you have all of these amazing ways to make someone's day better in English.
Yeah, definitely.
Um, so yeah, takeaway for today is we all try and be that person.
Try and be that person that when somebody says Oh, who tends to cheer you up?
See if it can be you, right?
Be, you know that light uh in the in your regular life and your professional life.
It's going to do nothing but help.
Exactly.
Right.
I really wanted you to say me, but I understand why you didn't.
But if anyone answers that I'm the one that cheers them up, what a huge compliment.
That's amazing.
I do want to be.
You do cheer me up, Aubrey.
And I hope for listeners out there.
I hope they also would think that, like Michelle and Aubrey and Lindsay
I hope so too.
I like that.
And I want the same for all of you out there with your co-workers and colleagues.
I agree.
Be that person.
Be that positive light.
The one that they're excited to talk to that cheers them up after a hard day.
It's a good way to live your life.
Very powerful.
All right, Aubrey.
Well, I'm glad that we talked about this today.
Thanks for chatting with me.
And guys, we'll see you next time.
Yes.
Awesome.
Thanks, Michelle.
See you next time.
Bye.
Bye.
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