This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 446.
Stay grounded with this Business English vocabulary.
Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English.
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For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay Ann Aubrey, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
and money with everything right at your fingertips start your free trial of ship excel from pitney bowes today hello lindsey how are you good aubrey how are you today excellent i have a question for you okay is it easy for you to stay grounded i would say yes i mean you know i grew up in small small town New England.
So that helps, right?
I didn't grow up in Hollywood or anything crazy like that.
Yeah. And I think my friends and family kind of keep me grounded in touch with reality, but I also do like to dream and try to go big with things.
So there's a little bit of a balance, but usually, yes, I would say so.
Yeah. I love that. Well, this is interesting.
In a recent episode, Michelle and I actually recorded about grind, ground, grounds, and we mentioned this, this idiom, stay grounded.
And we promised a follow -up because there are a lot of ways that we say this, especially at work in business English, we use all of these.
So stay to the end.
We'll share. That was an episode on All Ears English so that you can check it out if you missed it.
And today we'll dive into all of these phrases.
Yeah, stay to the end.
And also don't forget to hit the follow button right here on business English.
All right, let's get into this.
This this concept of being grounded.
The first phrase for today is stay grounded, right?
Yes. And that's what you asked me at the top of the show.
And what do we mean by this?
This means to remain humble, realistic, maybe emotionally stable, especially when you are experiencing either stress or change or success, something that would maybe make it more difficult to stay grounded.
Yeah, I think a big secret to life is how do you stay grounded, but not too grounded?
Because for me, when I'm around people that are too realistic, I get bored.
I'm like, where's the dream, Ines?
Where's the, I don't know, the aspirations, the ambition, the magic.
There is magic in life, right?
Yeah. This is really interesting to think about that in some ways, it's good to not be too grounded.
You should dream. You should have goals and be ambitious.
But then if it comes to humility, humility, right?
It's good to stay grounded.
It's good to not get a big head is how we say, like to not get too full of ourselves and think we're just wonderful.
There were so many idioms for that that are, we'll have to do a follow -up on all of the things we have. You're the cat's pajamas is the other one I was thinking.
Good stuff, right? So that is, how can you find that brilliant balance, right?
So here's some examples.
Even with all the pressure of leading the team, he managed to stay grounded and focused on the goal.
Yes. It's also about not getting too anxious or nervous if a lot of things are going.
If you stay grounded, you're staying calm and staying in control of your emotions.
That's so true. Right.
What would be another example?
Yeah. I feel like everyone who works here is really grounded.
So this might be something you say if you're training someone, showing them the ropes and you're letting them know like everyone here seems really grounded.
Yeah. And sometimes I feel like just being in nature helps with this.
I mean, even just on a more practical level, sometimes working online, we can get, me personally, I can get a little spinny, a little cerebral.
Not like a big ego, but just too cerebral, too conceptual, too much in my head.
And if I go for a walk in the woods, like hiking, I'm immediately brought down to the ground level.
You have to touch grass, literally, right?
You have to get out, see nature, and just kind of get a perspective on everything.
Yeah. Yes, exactly.
Exactly. So that's a great one.
Staying grounded. What would be another way of kind of saying the same thing?
Yeah, this is very similar.
We have several ways we say this in English, which is good because you don't have to be too repetitive.
You want lots of options.
So another one is keep your feet on the ground.
So this is like to be realistic, humble, maybe.
And then also to not let success or emotions maybe cloud your judgment.
So a pretty similar meaning.
Here's an example sentence I was impressed that after her brand became so successful she managed to keep her feet on the ground yeah I mean I do wonder how like even politicians do this right how do they stay normal and stay grounded politicians famous actors their actresses or social media people influencers that just kind of blow up right and they do yeah it's interesting because sometimes they don't write we definitely meet or we see in the news media, sometimes celebrities who aren't grounded, who haven't been able to keep their feet on the ground.
And often that has negative consequences, either in how they treat other people, if they feel that they're better than everyone.
So it is vital to keep your feet on the ground when it comes to being humble, realistic.
Everyone's still human, no matter how much money or success you have. Exactly.
And did we read this next one?
So most celebrity influencers seem to have trouble keeping their feet on the ground.
I do agree. Speak of the devil.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I love that. Okay. So that was the next one.
And then remain down to earth would be another way to say this.
Clearly, our culture values this, Aubrey, because we have a lot of ways to say it.
Right. It's interesting.
We have so many ways to say this.
So this is, again, stay practical, humble, unpretentious is another word, right?
Especially when experiencing success or gaining gaining recognition.
So it's interesting how it's easy to stay humble when, you know, you're not successful.
You're not, not a ton of things are happening, but once you start receiving recognition, becoming more successful at work, that's the test. Can you stay grounded?
Can you remain down to earth?
Yeah. Or at the level of celebrity, I think what happens or even politicians, they end up getting surrounded by their cabinet or their staff, their agents, you know, their cabinet members, and they have this echo chamber where they're no longer connected with the people they're serving or just the ground at all.
And so that's how it happens.
And coworkers as well.
I've definitely talked to people who are working at a company and someone will be promoted.
Imagine if you were coworkers at the same level and someone became the CEO, if they could remain down to earth, stay grounded, you could still work together.
It'd be fine. If not, that would be very difficult.
That would be weird. Yeah, for sure.
Especially depending on how they act.
Do they start acting pretentious and better than you, then it would be difficult because at one time you were Pierce.
Right. Very awkward. Tricky.
Very awkward. What else do we need here?
Yes. Another good example here is if you're describing someone.
I think this happens a lot when I've been in positions at work when I'm training someone else and they're asking, you know, about people and like maybe even if it's the CEO or the VP and they're like, you could say, oh, you'll like her.
She's very down to earth.
All of these phrases today are great ways to describe someone who isn't pretentious and full of themselves, right?
If they're pretty down to earth, this is a really good thing to say about someone.
Yeah, for sure. And what about being level -headed or staying level -headed?
Does that mean the same thing?
Yeah, right. Again, this is our fourth and final one.
It's remain calm, think clearly, especially when things are stressful or emotional.
So it's a tiny bit different here.
It's not so much about becoming full of oneself after receiving accolades and more about remaining calm under pressure, staying level -headed.
And there are definitely certain professions that really need this.
Right now, I'm reading a book about a nurse in World War Two who was in the Vietnam War.
And she was over there and she is operating under extreme combat situations, mass casualties and people coming in, you know, every minute that she has to operate on.
That's one of the, you know, ER doctors really need to stay level headed.
Right. Right. Because that's the thing.
They're under a lot of stress, right?
These high stress situations.
Imagine a surgeon having to keep their hands calm and still.
They have to really stay level headed no matter what's going on around them.
Yes, exactly. So here's a sample.
During the emergency, sorry, emergency, she stayed level headed and called for help immediately.
Nice. Right. So she stayed calm under pressure.
We'll say they stayed level headed.
Or you might say, I think we'll be able to come to an agreement.
This client seems very level headed.
That means they're reasonable.
They're going to be easy to...
You'll be able to come up with some kind of agreement.
Always good to have that person, especially in an emergency that stays level -headed, that doesn't panic.
Aubrey, are you someone that tends to panic in a kind of, I don't know, emergency situation or are you good at staying level -headed?
Because I think I probably panic.
Do you panic? I stay level -headed, I think.
Something happened yesterday where my son was trying to climb through a barbed wire fence.
He did not realize it was barbed wire and his leg got all cut up really badly.
And I like these fences out in Idaho are rusty, right?
So there's a risk of tetanus and he had these huge gashes, but I was calm and I stayed really level headed.
And a lot of moms I think would panic and go into this like crazy mode.
So yeah. All right.
That's useful. Good to know.
Good to know. You kind of have to, as a mom, There's things going wrong all the time.
Yeah. Love that. So good.
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down to earth i know i respect people more when they're humble and level -headed nice yeah this actually makes me think uh i'm wondering what you think about this aubry a quick quick topic um some people think that the landscape of the american west versus the landscape of the east coast can lead to like humility in the in the west because Because people see the wide open spaces and they realize how small they are versus in the east. You actually don't see those open spaces.
All you see is trees around you or buildings, big urban spaces like New York.
What are your thoughts on that?
Is there any truth to that?
I think so. I think that really makes sense.
When I drove from Phoenix to Idaho, it's a 15 -hour drive.
And so much of it is just open, empty, not even farmlands.
just like prairie still that's totally undeveloped and and then these huge red cliffs as you come through utah this is vast and it really does keep a perspective of how big everything is and how small i am in comparison so i do think there's something to that yeah that's really fascinating and i think i would say also i've lived in both places in the west and the east and i would say being humble this is probably a broad generalization but from my experience it's kind of more praised humility in the West than on the East Coast, because on the East Coast, everyone's chasing their career.
I mean, you've lived in New York, people are chasing their career.
They're looking to get big, get famous, make it big.
So I don't think that humility is praised in the same way as well.
Here's my question, because I've always thought of it as more of a small town thing.
So I think in like rural areas, small towns, humility is really a very cherished value.
And if someone is bragging, everyone's uncomfortable.
Like that's really really avoided.
Whereas being humble, even the richest person in this small town where I'm from would stay really humble.
Right. So would you say you've been to a lot of small towns in the East?
Would you say like in rural small town areas, people are humble still on the East Coast?
I don't know. I feel.
Yeah, I think I think you're right.
I think it is a small town versus a big city.
I mean, Los Angeles is a city that I would not say is known for people being grounded at all.
all. It's the opposite.
It's in the West. But it might be a little bit of both.
It might be a bit of the geography.
Maybe something about the westward movement of pioneers brought the praising of...
I don't know. It's just a thought experiment that our listeners could think about.
And in their countries, how does geography affect your mindset and your concept of yourself and your place in the world?
Yeah, because I've definitely seen that in other countries, too.
I visited a friend's parents in a very rural area of the Netherlands and amazing, humble people.
And I would venture to guess that humility was a strong value for them as well, as opposed to the people I was meeting in Brussels, Belgium, which is a big city.
So it's interesting.
I'd love to know. And I'm curious, but that's probably the same all over the world.
Yeah. Maybe we'll have a Spotify poll question on that topic.
So be sure to check out the poll and listen to this podcast in Spotify so that you can vote and make your voice heard. I guess we have to go through the role play, Aubrey.
Yeah, let's do it. I first said, remember to stay grounded through all this.
And it was interesting as I was thinking about the role play.
I'm like, most of these, I'm going to have someone say about themselves, like, okay, I know I should do this.
Because what about you?
You tell me, Lindsay, would you ever tell someone to remember to stay grounded?
No, it's a little condescending.
It means you don't think they're going to, right?
You're sort of assuming they won't, right?
It's like a judgment before they even have a chance.
It's an insult. Yeah.
Yeah. So I had that so that I could say one of them, but then even as we were reading it, I'm like, I don't think I would say that to anyone.
No, I really don't think so either.
So yeah. So maybe you say it to yourself.
I need to, I need to stay grounded.
Right. I need to get out and hike more often.
Maybe I could have changed it and said it about myself.
Like you deserve it with how hard you've been working.
You know, I wish something like that could happen for me, but I probably better that it doesn't.
Cause I probably couldn't stay grounded.
Maybe I could say it about myself there.
Referring to yourself.
Sure, sure. And then the next one is also referring to myself.
You're right. I'm trying to keep my feet on the ground and I'm just really excited.
Okay. And then again, you said, I know it's important to stay down to earth.
I always respect people more when they're humble and level headed.
So all of these, this brings up an important note that these are interesting to talk about and think about and refer to yourself, but you probably probably wouldn't give someone advice to stay grounded or tell someone they're not grounded or level -headed.
These are very harsh judgments and not kind.
No one would like to hear that.
Not really. Maybe a very close friend, if they come to you and they say, why is my life such a mess?
Maybe because you - If they're really looking for advice and they're not grounded.
But yeah, I'd say unsolicited, I probably wouldn't go around saying stay grounded.
You're not grounded right now probably not yeah right it's more something would compliment someone that we've noticed they have stayed grounded sure really good at staying down -to -earth in spite of their success so that you could definitely do as a compliment yes Aubrey what is that other episode that we mentioned we were gonna share the number of yes if you missed it on the allers English podcast episode 24 34 was vocabulary to help with your English grind this was really interesting a student had asked about why they hear or the verb grind used by native English speakers as both grinded and ground in the past. So don't
miss it. And if you did miss it, you might not be following the Allers English podcast. So be sure to follow Allers English for all of our great episodes over there as well.
All right. And for a takeaway, I mean, a huge part of business success really is personality and rapport poor relationships.
And sometimes that can be linked to how humble, how relatable are you, right?
Absolutely. Right. And another vital takeaway that we discovered, it's important that we, these types of phrases that can be offensive, we're pretty specific about how we use them referring to ourselves, complimenting someone who is able to stay grounded, but we wouldn't want to accidentally, you know, be offensive and accuse someone of not being grounded or give them advice to stay grounded, I would avoid that.
Yeah. So the way to connect, there are certain caveats around these phrases today that will help you connect if you pay attention to the caveats as well as the words and phrases, right?
Absolutely. Yes. So good.
All right. Aubrey, I'll see you back here very soon.
Have a good rest of your day.
Awesome. See you next time.
Bye -bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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