This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 305.
How to change your routine to get what you want in English and in your life.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
We believe in connection, not perfection, when it comes to learning English.
Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
Today you'll find out why staying in the same place will never get you where you want to go, and how to make a tiny change and see results fast.
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Maybe you know what you want to say. but you can't always say it naturally.
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Go to allearsenglish.com slash B2.
That's allearsenglish.com slash letter B number two.
Lindsay, how are you?
Michelle, I'm doing very well.
Thank you.
And you?
I'm awesome.
I'm awesome.
Thanks.
Glad to hear it.
Um, yeah.
So, um, today I wanted to share this really cool quote I found.
Are you okay with that?
Absolutely.
Because today is a deep thoughts Thursday and we like to go deep on this show.
We like to think about life, not just learning English.
So let's talk about it.
Okay, awesome.
Okay, so it's kind of mysterious because I actually, the quote is, I don't know who said it.
It's unknown.
Probably a lot of people said it.
Yeah, that's true.
A lot of times, you know, you find a quote and it says, unknown.
And it's like very mysterious.
Who said it?
Maybe it's somebody you know, right?
You never... Maybe.
My next door neighbor.
Maybe like it's your mom or something.
Who knows?
Anyway, well, the quote goes like this.
It's, to get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
So true, right?
Yeah, it's absolutely true.
It's right on target.
Yeah, definitely.
So I don't know.
Do you agree with this quote?
Have you had any?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I think this quote is about pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones, right?
Yeah.
And it's so true.
I mean, there's another one by Tony Robbins, right?
He says, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.
Oh, yeah.
That's along the same lines.
I really like this idea that you have to do something that you haven't done in order to get something that you want, like a new experience or something like that.
And I think that people can relate to this quote in tons of different ways.
Yeah.
I mean, I think part of the problem here Michelle, is that it's so easy to get into a habit.
You know, and I'm guilty of it.
Like habits are so easy.
But then when habits aren't producing results.
We have to change that and we have to kind of reevaluate and step back and think what's working, what's not and what do I need to change.
But sometimes we, almost as humans, we want to go into autopilot and just keep repeating the same habits over and over.
But creatures of habit, creatures of habit.
And then two years later, we wake up and like nothing has improved.
Nothing's changed.
Right.
Because time goes by so fast.
Oh, my God.
It's scary.
Yeah, it really is.
And so all of a sudden you realize you've been doing the same thing for like years and you're like, oh no.
Oh, no.
Yeah, it's true.
It's scary.
That's why it's good to sit down and write out goals.
But...
This quote is about moving outside of our comfort zone.
I think that's good.
And doing something new and something different.
Yeah, yeah.
So again, the quote, it's to get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
And Lindsay, speaking of something you never did...
Speaking of something you've never done before, did you know that you can actually share a podcast?
I know, I know.
We talked about this earlier in the week and I just discovered this.
A few weeks ago.
But guys, you actually can share a podcast.
And we want to take a minute now to let you guys, To give you a chance, if you want, to share All Ears English, this episode, with a friend or someone that you want to help who also might be interested in improving their English in a fun and cool way.
So if you are...
Listening to our show and you see our big photo.
You can go above our photo in iOS and click a rectangle with an upward arrow.
When you click that, you'll see the option to share by text message, by email, by Twitter or by Facebook.
So go ahead and do that now.
We'll do a little countdown like we did earlier this week.
Let's do it, Michelle.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
One.
I had a little trouble with my count.
Blast off.
Like I said, the text messages are going out.
So, guys, let's build our community at All Ears English.
Let's share All Ears English and let's get a friend of yours in on this episode.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
It's always good to share something that's working with you, with someone who you care about like a friend right.
Exactly.
I mean, if this is working for you, if it's helping you to feel more confident with your listening skills and your just general native English, then it's probably going to work for a friend of yours who's at a similar level.
So share the love.
Yeah.
Sounds good.
Definitely.
So you know what this quote made me think of, Lindsay?
What?
My arms.
Your arms?
Are your arms strong or are they weak?
I have such weak arms.
My upper body strength like really stinks.
There's no other way to put it.
I'm kind of okay.
I'm like, I don't know.
I feel like I have strong legs.
And I mean, I'm like, you know, I'm a petite person.
So people always kind of laugh at me.
Oh, you don't need to work.
It's like, it's not true at all.
And it's not about... you know, about like being skinny or slim or anything like that.
But I don't know.
I kind of want to tone up my arms, like have those Michelle Obama arms.
Ah, you want to look like Michelle Obama.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Well no, I think it's a good thing Michelle, because you know, as women in our 20s 30s, we have to build up that muscle because osteoporosis is a real thing.
I mean, I do watch the evening news with Brian Williams.
And unfortunately, most people who watch that are older.
And so I hear about all these things like osteoporosis and all these conditions that come up later in life.
But anyways, we need to build that muscle when we're young.
Yeah.
So I like really, really my upper body is just, you know, it's might as well not be there.
I mean, might as well not be there.
So you mean it's non-existent?
I mean, it's there now.
I'm just joking, of course.
But I mean, it's just I feel like the strength is It's, you know, I'm also I'm left handed.
So sometimes I feel like my right hand is like it has no power, you know.
So that's how I feel about my upper body.
So Michelle, what are you doing differently now to actually build that strength?
What are you doing that you've never done in the past?
Well, so I am trying, keyword trying, to start up an exercise routine.
And actually you know, I think that for me a lot of times I don't do you know enough exercise, because I hate the atmosphere of the gym.
Oh, yeah.
It smells.
Gyms really stink sometimes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, I hate it.
And I hate being on the treadmill.
And I just don't like that stuff.
And I don't like standing in a room with all these different people.
And I kind of like my privacy.
And I kind of like to do... Because I...
I'm not very good at this stuff and I'm not that strong.
So I like to be by myself, at least in the beginning.
So what I've been doing is I go... actually on my TV, and I can connect YouTube to my TV.
And I've been finding different exercise videos specifically for arms.
I can imagine you in your living room with arms.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And what I have is I have a resistance band.
Do you know what that is?
Yeah, it's that kind of like a big rubber band.
Yeah, yeah.
My mom had one lying around.
So she gave it to me.
And I'm thinking, okay, I'm gonna go with this.
And so I look up resistance band workouts and they're kind of fun.
And I mean, I'm trying to focus on my arms.
But yeah, I'm thinking for this quote.
I thought, if you you know, to get something I never had, which is like toned arms.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have to do something I never did.
So I'm trying resistance bands.
I'm trying to, you know, really focus on something that I want to have and to focus on results.
Right.
Yeah.
Focus on it.
So the point is you're doing something different.
And what time of day are you setting a specific time of day to do that?
Are you just doing it goes kind of willy nilly, as we say, whenever you want?
Yeah.
I would say I'm still in the willy-nilly stages.
And to be honest, I've been slacking off a little bit.
Oh my gosh, Michelle, you're not supposed to say that on air.
Just kidding.
I know you should put a big picture of me with like big bodybuilder arms.
Yeah, I can imagine.
And I don't want that.
I don't want that.
I just want, you know, a little tone.
Yeah, exactly.
Like think Michelle Obama.
If I could take her arms, that would be great.
She's famous for her amazing arms.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
She's done a lot of work in the health space.
I think the political space around health for children in school like good you know, healthy school lunches.
And that's another topic that we could talk about another day how our school lunches are so bad for kids you know.
Definitely need to change that.
So, just like that applies to this quote also like those schools, if they want to get something different, like healthy kids, they need to put out a new kind of food.
So, Michelle, I've also been experimenting with this idea this spring.
You know, I have a meditation practice, as I think our listeners know.
And, you know, I've been wanting to go deeper into my practice, like get more benefits from it.
And until January I had been only meditating for about 20 minutes in the morning and then jumping up and going to my desk to start working.
And that just wasn't helping me to deepen my practice.
So now, every morning I go, I walk down to my meditation center which luckily, is only a few blocks from my home.
And I meditate, you know, in front of the shrine for 45 minutes.
Wow.
So that's really I'm seeing benefits, real benefits.
I mean, I start my work, I come home and I start my work an hour later, but I feel so much more clear headed now.
That's good.
So like in the long run, you know, it takes more time.
But in the long run, it sounds like it's better and makes you more productive.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So I'm doing something different.
If I had continued just sitting in my room and meditating for 20 minutes, kind of on the surface, I never would have felt this change in these benefits.
Right.
That's amazing.
Well, thank you.
Yeah.
I'm going to continue with that.
It's working.
So, Michelle, what does this mean for our listeners?
Oh, well, yeah.
I think that our listeners can definitely relate to this in many ways.
I mean, you know, with English learning, right?
You can't stick with what you've always done and think that you're going to have different results, right?
So, like...
Right, Lindsay?
Yeah, totally.
And as you guys know, you can get that tutor on italki.
If you go to allearsenglish.com slash I-T-A-L-K-I, you'll get 10 US dollars off your second lesson.
You get a free second lesson.
So try that.
Give it a try.
Do something different or get a language exchange.
I know that on italki, you can also find a free language exchange.
Yeah, definitely.
Oh, I like that idea.
Yeah.
I mean, what else could you do?
You could actually go abroad, right?
You could really just completely go for it.
Come here, come to New York, come to Boston, right?
Yeah, and that's not possible for everyone.
It's possible for some people.
But if it's not possible for you guys, think about this in micro terms, like tiny little changes that you can make in your daily routine.
Maybe you start one new conversation in English with someone new every day.
Or maybe you, I don't know, you flip on, you look at one YouTube video in English.
You listen to one additional episode of All Ears English or another show, right?
Right.
Just add something that's a little bit different.
I mean, one thing you could do, I mean, we talked about sharing the show, right?
You could actually listen to a specific episode with a friend and then talk about it with them, right?
And practice with your friend, right?
And so you're kind of in it together as a team.
Totally.
That's it.
So it doesn't have to be a huge change like going abroad.
I mean that is great if you can do that, if you have the budget, but we know that not everyone does.
But little tiny changes that you can make, you know, for me going to my meditation center.
It was enough of a change to actually be slightly – to feel a little bit inconvenient in the beginning.
But the benefits have turned out to be way larger than the drawbacks.
Yeah, that's great.
That's great.
And now I'm inspired about my arms.
And Michelle, we're looking forward to seeing your new muscles on YouTube at some point.
It will flex your muscles for us.
Yeah, yeah.
We'll see how it goes, Lindsay.
I'm...
I'm trying alright cool.
So Michelle, let's read the quote one more time.
Okay?
So the quote is to get something you never had.
You have to do something you never did.
I like that.
I like that.
And the one by Tony Robbins was if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.
So let that sink in right, guys.
Yeah, I mean, just think about how you can apply this to your life, whether it's to your English language learning or to something else.
And you or maybe you also want Michelle Obama arms.
I don't know.
But whatever it is, yeah, I think that this is a really inspiring quote.
You have to change something.
You have to make a change.
So come back to our blog, right?
So come back to allearsenglish.com slash 305 and tell us what change you're going to make.
Yes, definitely.
I can't wait to hear about it.
I'll see you on the blog.
Okay, cool.
All right.
Thanks, Michelle.
Thanks for hanging out today.
Thanks, Lindsay.
Have a great day.
Okay, bye.
Bye.
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