This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 226, How to Say You Need to Focus at the Office.
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Hey there, Michelle. How's it going today?
Everything's good over here, Lindsay. How are you?
I'm excited. I'm excited to talk about today's episode.
Do you have a question for me to start off the episode today?
I sure do. The question is, what do you do when you really need to focus on something?
Oh, that's a great question. When I really need to focus on something, I do my very best.
I don't know. do i do sometimes i might try to change my location like go to another place where i'm not doing daily tasks like checking email like i have today i have this huge project i need to focus on submitting a questionnaire all about our business to some new people we're working with some new consultants so we're going to be working with this year and they need so they need pages and pages and pages of information about our mission our vision our values everything and I just have to bang it out.
I might go to a cafe just for that one project, just so it's isolated.
And I'm like, I'm here to do this only. So it's like, I declare during this time in this place, I'm going to do this only.
What about you? What's your, what's your method?
Get away from the kids. No, I, I just, I mean, honestly, I don't know.
I mean, I, Like you said, I try my best.
I just try and do it at a time where I can have the least amount of distractions possible.
I think we've talked about this before with music.
I cannot listen to music. I cannot. Dan always says when he would be studying for something, he just listens to music.
I can't have one tiny bit of music on. I'm very...
I'm easily distracted, I guess, by that.
But like, do you I mean, let's say you're working at home.
Do you have maybe like a do not disturb sign or do you silence notifications on your phone?
I mean, what do you do if you're with someone?
And yeah, I would say that I try to do the key work, like the most important work of the day.
I try to do it in the morning first thing, sometimes even without checking my email, because as soon as I get into my email, it's like all these other things are pulling at me.
Right. But if there's one key thing I know has to be done today, I would pull that out right at 8 a.m. when I'm fresh.
I've had breakfast. I've been for a walk.
I'm feeling good. Sunlight. I'm just ready to go bang that out and then go to email and go to the mess of all the things.
So, um, so you sound like you think that the morning is the easiest time to focus.
It's more about timing than about what's going on, like signs on the door or music.
It's more about the time at which I do it, that work.
Yeah. Interesting. What about day of the week?
Do you find there's a day of the week that you focus better than another?
No, I don't. I think I can, I can put in my full effort on any of the days of the week.
Obviously, you know, if there's something that's been on my mind over the weekend, I'm excited to get to it on Monday, but I also have that nagging feeling Monday morning, I have to answer emails.
So then maybe midweek, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is like the golden time to get that work done.
Whereas the bookends of the week, the Monday and Friday are more like administrative things.
There's so many ways you could organize your work day, Michelle.
Yeah. There are, there are. So today we're going to talk about different ways you can express the word focus.
So we're talking about focusing today. And this is, guys, this is so important for business because you can share with someone what that, well, that you need to focus.
Maybe you need them to leave you alone, right?
They need to give you time to focus, whatever it may be. oh my gosh this is something that you know because we work from home we don't have this as much but uh a lot of people when they work in an office they go in every day they really struggle with this how do you communicate especially if you have an open floor plan and people are always just coming over even if you have a cubicle knocking on your cubicle i guess you probably experienced this when you were an intern right yeah how do you Even when I worked, I mean, even not an internship, yeah, I definitely had this where like when you have the open concept and it's great, but it can be hard.
I will admit, like I feel sometimes that looking back on it, there were some tasks that just took me so much longer because I couldn't focus.
Some things I could have just, you know, done, you know, pretty quickly.
And it would just, it always seemed like it would take longer, but it's because, of all the people around the chatter, the distraction.
So I think sometimes, you know, that's one, but some people might have a harder time focusing when they are working from home.
So yeah, I guess it depends on the person.
Well, yeah. Some people in the corporate world, when they're in the office, I think they'll do things to make a gesture to their people at work.
I am focusing now, like if you do have big headphones on, I've seen that people do put a sign actually in their cubicle and say like, this is focus time.
Come back later. Maybe that's what you have to do.
So we all kind of have different work circumstances.
We have to figure out what works for us.
But Michelle, we definitely sometimes have to communicate this.
It's about language sometimes. Yeah. Right.
For sure. For sure. So we're going to give you guys the language to talk about that today.
So the first one is focus. Oh, but before we get into that, sorry, I forgot.
Listen to episode 220. This is you'll learn these business idioms in a blink.
So now let's focus on the work. But the first one is focus.
Lindsay, I feel like that's just I feel like that's probably one of the best ones.
Yeah, I mean, it's standard, right? Everyone knows what this means, right?
I need to focus on this project before I get back to you.
This is being very clear and straightforward.
It's not overly direct. It's not indirect.
It's good. I like it. We approve this word.
We approve this word. The next one is concentrate.
So this one is, you know... basically the same thing.
I will take 10 minutes to concentrate on this report, but then I need to get back to the meeting.
Yes. Very nice. And then the next one, I hear this a lot when it, I feel like I used to hear this a lot, like parents telling their kids to do this, you know, apply yourself, right?
Putting your specific focused effort into something important.
For example, you know, I'm going to apply myself to networking now so I can find a job.
I could see like a father telling his son, you need to apply yourself at school, right?
It just feels like kind of a mentor-mentee kind of thing to say.
Yeah, right. I think that this one might be a little bit more of a big picture focus, right?
Focus and concentrate could be used for big picture, like, oh, I need to focus on my job search.
I need to, you know, but I feel like apply myself.
I wouldn't necessarily like say, oh, Lindsay, hold on.
I need to apply myself to my work. You know, it's right.
I feel like in general, in general, it's a little bit more big picture.
I agree. I agree. So, for example, what would be an example before we take a quick break here?
What would be an example of a big picture, Michelle?
I mean, I think one would be applying to colleges if you're a teenager.
Come on, you know, a college application period is coming next year.
It's time to apply yourself. Right. Or applying yourself to networking.
I'm going to apply myself to networking now so I can find a job soon.
Yeah. And be careful, guys, because we're not saying apply to the jobs or apply to apply to these colleges.
We're saying apply oneself. Yeah. To a cast.
Apply myself, you know, in an area of like endeavor.
Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Interesting. OK, so guys, write that one down.
That might be new, but it's another tool that you're going to have in your toolbox at the end of today's episode.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, good, Michelle.
What else? What else? Okay, we're going to do one more.
It is direct one's attention. Okay. So she directed all of her attention to her work, but on the weekends, she let herself relax.
Yeah. And you got to do that, right? You got to do that.
There's just no way we can be super human.
You know, we can't be all on a hundred percent of the time.
We have to give ourselves the weekends at least to relax and just have fun.
Like play, play is so important. There's articles and there's books about how important play is even for adults, whether that's getting outside in the, in the, in nature, hanging out with your pet, these things matter.
Right. Yeah, absolutely. For sure. So, Lindsay, just a couple questions.
Do you take breaks when you work? Do I take breaks when I work?
I should take more breaks. I should be better about this.
But I do sometimes. Yes. Like if my spouse is working from home, we'll chat together or hang out for a little while.
Or my best kind of break is if I'm working on an idea, I'll go for a walk and try to think through it.
I guess it's not exactly a break because I'm still kind of working, but we go get coffee or something.
Yeah. That is, I mean, it's a, Yeah, it's a different kind of a break.
Different environment. Or we'll go together and get coffee sometimes down at the coffee shop.
That's a little bit of a break. You know, just walk, come back, put the coffee in hand, that sort of thing.
Yeah. Do you, Sean? Do you take breaks? I think...
I also should take more breaks, but I feel like I get such like concentrated periods where I, right.
I have to get things done, but like, yeah, I had a little bit of a lighter schedule, um, past couple of weeks.
Cause one of my schools was on break. So I was able to, like, I did do exercise and things like that.
So I tried, it's hard for me. It's, it is.
I I'm one of those people where it's hard for me to take a break.
Cause I'm like, i have to get it done now and um yes yes yeah my husband doesn't uh work from home so he's he's not there to distract but that's good but like it's sometimes i'm when i hear oh that you you know sometimes go out for coffee or hang out a little bit and i have friends who their spouse uh you know they both work from home and it's like oh they eat lunch together i'm like oh that's the rosy side of things right the hard part is when you're both on the wi-fi and you and i are recording video here and then my partner is on a really important presentation meeting and the wi-fi get slower for both of us that kind of thing so there's positives and negatives but yeah i mean would you say michelle in terms of your mind how long do you think you can concentrate before your mind begins to wander like how long is your attention span what i'm just joking um um i would It's a hard question to answer.
Yeah, it is a hard question. I think it depends on the task.
Like, I mean, honestly, like sometimes if I'm planning episodes, sometimes it's hard.
Sometimes I'll get into a little bit of a, okay, what am I going to do next?
And I'll kind of switch gears. So instead of maybe planning all the episodes, I'll say, no, I'm just going to make a list of all the ideas I have.
That's good. you know next time okay i'm just gonna focus on filling in the information um or maybe i'm more in the mood to just work on a couple episodes fully so so i think it depends on where my mindset is that day and what the task is um but like i i tend to be one of those people that's more like um Oh, I can do one more.
I'm going to try for one more. Yeah, for sure.
I think it's smart to chunk up your work.
If your mind's just not hooking on to the task at hand, maybe there's a chunk of the task that can be done today and then the other chunk of it can be done later.
And now I'm kind of, it's like a different way of workshopping.
So you're separating out the kind of work you're doing.
You can go deeper into that idea generation.
Today, I'm just going to do idea generation.
Right. Right. And that and that kind of takes, you know, for next time that I know, OK, well, I don't have to do that.
Like I have all the ideas. Right. Right.
Right. So it depends. Yeah. But Lindsay, do you last question?
Does your meditation practice help you focus more easily when working?
Do you think that's helpful? No. No. That's not why I meditate.
No, no, it doesn't help me with that. Maybe I'm not like deep enough into it or something, but yeah, there is a part of meditation that they call like a concentration practice, but I'm not there.
And that's not, yeah, that's not the way I see meditation as much.
I don't think it helps. Maybe it doesn't.
I don't, I'm not aware of it, but I don't think so. yeah interesting i just wondered if some of it overlapped like it made you better at focusing overall but i don't think so i mean also make you more present so i guess in that sense yes but um it's a constant uh coming back to the breath michelle you know always just getting better so Yeah.
So I want to remind our listeners, guys, we're going to go into a role play now because we know that you love role plays.
We're going to show you how to use these terms, apply myself, concentrate in a role play.
But Michelle, what should our listeners do right now before we start?
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Here we go. All right, Michelle. Role play time here.
All right. I'm calling you. So am I calling you on the phone then?
Yeah. Yes. And I'm at work. All right. And we are friends.
Here we go. All right. Here we go. Hi, Michelle.
I have to tell you what happened to me yesterday.
Hi, Lindsay. Sorry, I really need to focus on my work right now.
It's busy season. Can I call you later? Oops, yes.
Oh, it's just that Jerry called me after all these years.
Oh, wow. Can you believe it? No, no, I can't.
Listen, I need to concentrate on this project right now.
I'm so sorry. Right, right. Direct your attention to your work.
I get it. Yes, apply myself. I have a deadline.
Right, but I can't wait to tell you all about it.
Okay, gotta go. Bye. So maybe we would have made plans to have a drink together or something, for example, right?
But the way to prevent this- You're bothering me.
I'm bothering you. I know. I think you probably would have wanted to just put your phone on silent or something.
But yeah, so you said, hi, Lindsay. Oh, I'm sorry, but I really need to focus on my work right now.
So we said that that is a great word to use in these cases, guys, to tell people you're just busy.
Right. Yeah, exactly. And then I said, I need to concentrate on this project right now.
Right. And then you said, OK, direct your attention to your work.
I get it. Right. Yeah. And I also feel like direct your attention to might be used by like a presenter giving a presentation.
Please direct your attention to that slide.
Right. Yes. Right. Right. that would and then yeah oh sorry go ahead i just i think it'd be more likely to see it there rather than a conversation like this this is good because we're giving you guys different ways to say this but this tends to be used more in a more formal format direct your attention to please direct your attention to the front of the room i'd like to introduce our speaker that kind of focus, right?
That could be good. Yep, absolutely. And then I said, yes, apply myself.
So we talked about how apply myself is usually for bigger picture kinds of things.
But it sounds like here I'm getting a little irritated at you.
Yeah, you're trying to distract me. So I might just be throwing out things like, yep, need to apply myself, you know, so but again, we talked about the way that it might be used more frequently. i just want to share when um when my mom my mom is retired now but i used to call her and bother her when she was at work and i always knew when it was busy season we still joke about this today because she would answer the phone and she would go yes michelle like and i would always know like okay i gotta go she'll go yes michelle like oh like that's hilarious talk to you later bye oh that's funny yeah i mean i mean if you are i don't know your mom Did, but I know like if you're a tax accountant, okay.
For tax accountants, this is getting into the time of year where they're just crazy.
Yeah, things get insane, especially because tax deadline is April 15th.
And then I think maybe corporations go into the summer.
I'm not exactly sure. But anyways, they're busy right now for sure.
Yeah. I do wanna say a bonus here for our listeners.
When you said, you said, yes, apply myself.
I have a deadline. You even mentioned it really quickly.
Our high level listeners will have caught that.
What is the beginning of that phrase that you're kind of taking out?
Ah, I would be like, yes, I need to apply myself.
Right. Yeah. So that's really interesting for our listeners, guys, to move up to that 99% fluent level, the C1, C2 level.
What she's really saying here is I need to do X. I need to apply myself.
But instead, you're just saying, yes, apply myself.
I have a deadline. It's kind of hinting at you've had these conversations with yourself, maybe with someone else.
It's hinting at a little bit more context there.
Wouldn't you say? Exactly. Yeah, absolutely.
I think so. I think this is a really advanced way to use this vocabulary.
Just an interesting structure just to cut out some words that you, once you feel confident, to actually cut out words.
I wonder if that would actually make, and here's an idea for your ideas list for the ideas document that we have, Michelle.
I wonder if we could do another episode, maybe over on All Ears English, about that structure.
The talking to yourself structure. no right you know yes uh exercise more or right like what the things we say to ourselves and what is that structure what does that look like interesting that could be super interesting for a listener for next time yes yeah talk to yourself yes all right any takeaway for today real quick Yeah, well, these are good for your for business also for personal life, of course.
But we were really doing a focus on business today because this is a business English podcast.
So try these out today. And yeah, thank you for listening.
And I also think important point, don't be afraid to speak up, especially if you are at the office and people are coming over distracting you, they may not know that you need that time to focus.
So come up with some kind of method, whether it's putting headphones on and people know you're busy or a sign if you have to, if your company culture supports that, or just get these words, use these words, speak up.
You have to say it so people know what you need.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. I love it. Well, this was a lot of fun, Lindsay.
And now let's go focus on the next episode.
See you there, Michelle. Take care. Bye.
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