hey there Michelle what's shagin hey Lindsay everything is good everything is good just
trying to prioritize a lot of things lately you know I feel like the kids get to sleep and then
there's always some sort of assignment something that needs to be done and you always have to say
oh what's the priority for tonight um yes how do you how do you prioritize things you need to do
like with your work life or your personal life are you good at doing that I know that feeling
by the way yeah good question Michelle I know what you mean that feeling of like there's always some
assignment like there's some project I don't even have kids yet and I feel in our lives that's the
case like there's some renovation thing some work guy we got a call to come over schedule
a contract or some vet appointment we have to array there's always right thing it's like oh my
gosh when did I start adulting so much it's true though it's true there's always like what's on
the schedule for tonight like tonight we need to talk about like like what we're getting you know
um so there's there's always something it just seems like more and more more and more yeah I
think this is the messy middle of life right getting into our 30s or 40s this is this is
the messiest part of life but in some ways the best because you have your kids you're building
your home I mean it's beautiful and I think it is where a lot of our listeners are too in their
life so they're really going to relate you guys are really going to relate to this today but your
question is do I prioritize well I don't think I do a very good I think I get stressed out I
don't do a very good job prioritizing Michelle no and there's no it would work and personal life or
one more try to prioritize with work but it feels with work it feels like everything's
urgent and important right like it's very hard for me to be like this is more important than that
um it all feels important which ends up Weighing on my mind a lot yes well that makes me think of
a conversation we had last week because we were trying to figure out we have a few meetings that
we were scheduling but we also have to record and I remember we were talking about you know the
priority like in the schedule how we were going to schedule things and you said okay so like the
first priority would be this you know like so what kind of takes precedent that's a good expression
like what does that mean what takes it again it's the most important thing and I think we did that
pretty pretty well that was very clean we said this matters the most and this is second this
is third um that was pretty obvious to me at that moment there are other times when things are not
as obvious right and I get a little paralyzed like oh my gosh it all matters right right so it can
be tricky and today we're going to talk about an expression a kind of cool casual expression that
you can use to talk about your priorities and what's the most important thing um so this is
a very casual sounding expression but it's very useful Lindsay what is it oh this is great it's
fun I have it's really I have been bigger fish to fry yeah do you like fried fish do you do
you like how do you take your fish in general would you go for fried or grilled or you know
um what's the not Grill not fried or grilled I like seared but also what's like the one where
it's just like very seasoned very well um baked baked no no um oh I just had fruits like this
grilled marinated no I get it uh I already said that uh I can't think of it chefs in the audience
that are just going crazy right now but I like a lot of fish I mean you know not all the time
but you know I do like I like seared I do like seared um how about you I Love Sushi if it's fresh
um it depends on the fish right but I tend to like salmon more than like a white fish but sometimes
it's fun when you go down south like we went to Alabama we went to Arkansas last summer in 2021
and uh had some fried fish it's very Southern right that's why I'm wondering where this
expression comes from I have a feeling it does come from Southern Southern Culture yeah so guys
head on over to aller's English episodes 1712 and that was animal idioms the bird Edition So today
we're talking about fish not not a completely but uh we just wanted to give you another fun
episode to listen to and guys make sure that you hit follow wherever you were listening to all ears
English because we come out with four episodes a week and you don't want to miss any of them yep
100 focused on connection So today we're going to teach you how to really use this super fun
expression to build connection have some fun in English and show what matters to you okay right
that's right so Lindsay what does it mean when we didn't talk about it yet what does that mean
bigger fish to fry we have I have bigger Fisher fryer we have bigger fish to fry yeah this is the
loose expression it's fun it's casual right so I wouldn't say this in a very serious business
conversation where we're prioritizing oh no it's more just like hey other things matter more than
this this is by far not the most important thing to me right now oh maybe it's like
if you're not going to maybe you don't like what someone said but you're not going to worry about
it you're not going to call them out on it because there's just more things you could
do with your energy yeah something else is more important something else is a higher
a priority like we shouldn't worry about one thing because we have to focus on something
else and some people are better at this than others I mean there are some there are people
especially at work that can stay very high level and I struggle with that I I it's really hard to
stay high level and not worry about the details sometimes you know but you have to to get things
done yeah right right it's true it's true so um so you know don't worry about one thing
because we gotta Focus so how when can we use this one okay well first of all you can use it
to talk about tasks you can use it at work I would just be careful it's pretty casual
um so I would see it being used more uh like after work at a happy hour when you're talking
about the project with your colleagues not so much with your boss where your boss was like
why isn't this done I have bigger fish tanks oh no Well you certainly you don't want to do that
right right or in school you know prioritizing this exam prep over this project this paper maybe
yeah right right right yeah your personal life um decisions changes things like that
um that you know might be going on Lindsay do you use this expression I like this expression
I think it's fun I think it is a little Zippy we love that word Zippy Zippy back again that word
um sure I'll use it now that we're talking about it I'll probably remember it and use it today it's
funny how sometimes these expressions like they'll come to us through the show and either it either
works in one way like you know we we think of an expression from our real life Implement episode
about it or then we have an episode and then it seeps into our real life I think yeah exactly
I mean I did of it yeah it's true like Michelle here's a question are you the kind of person this
I'm not sure if this example is the best example but we're getting close to the concept are you the
person that when you fly you spend time arranging the perfect seat I mean maybe it depends on the
the flight length um but do you spend time like talking to who you're flying with okay let's
get seats three and four it'll be perfect blah blah blah or do you just say like okay I don't
care where I sit I mean do you do you mean like ahead of time when you're like do I like to like
do I like to book it uh yeah I do I do because because um I don't like I like to have an aisle
seat because I'm like I like worried about having to get up and go to the bathroom and bother people
um so I do like that like um yeah that so I I do I do like it what about you it depends on
the flight length for me um when I'm flying like with uh friends or family I'm always in the middle
because I'm a small person so they put me right in the middle so that's not a choice I have if
it's an overnight flight or anything longer than three hours I will but I won't spend like hours on
the phone with customer service trying to get the best seat some people will so oh no no no I don't
think I would spend hours doing it I think if I no if it were something like that but sometimes
it's easy you know you can just select yeah um yeah sure so and then I try and select but no
I would not unless it was like really that you know with my kids or something I mean right uh
you know then and then I don't think I would do that but uh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah but uh yeah
um I think you know there's uh this can be a very useful expression so let's give a couple examples
of how it could be used Lindsay what's the first one all right so here we go okay let's put this
to the side for a moment because we have bigger fish to fry our presentation is in two days great
example of you're not talking to your boss and saying why you're probably it's more like you're
talking with your teammates on that project right right right right right right exactly
this is the most important the presentation yeah what about a parties yeah you could say you could
say forget about the birthday party decision we have bigger fish to fry Jason just got suspended
yeah so that's kind of something very important is happening we have immediately we have other
things to do to pay attention to right right right right exactly there's a problem so we're
forgetting about the party for now um and what's the next song or I'd like to buy a new car but I
have bigger fish to fry right now meaning maybe you have to pay her more mortgage or you have
other like debts that you have to pay in a way to before you're going to go and buy a car and take
out a car loan right right right exactly yeah this is a can be used a lot with uh with money
and deciding what to spend things on yeah for sure what does it express to people what's the
feeling when we use this Michelle what'd you say yeah well I think it shows people what's
important to you right or what may be important to them or what should be important to them
um and I think you know it's it's it can bring about connection too because it shows what is
important what matters 100 that is connection when people know you and what you care about you are
connected to them right all right Michelle are there other things like maybe less kind
of idiomatic ways that we could say this yes well this first one I really I like this one
um okay it's pressing I like this because this could translate I think a little better in the
work workplace yes right fish to fry Hey it you can use it at work but I think it's
more for personal life at home right friends you know I like this new one pressing right
more I have more pressing issues I have more pressing problems we have some more pressing
concerns to talk about right now okay um yeah I like this one as well so then the next one is get
someone's priorities straight right so you could say let's get our priorities straight and focus
yeah or I you know urgent matter this is an urgent matter right and yeah we could talk about you know
in the business world and time management uh and circles people talk about the difference between
urgent versus important right um and as you move up into your organization you have to figure out
the difference make sure you're spending time on the important things not always the urgent things
ah but Michelle that's another conversation for another day maybe for the business English podcast
right yes that would be a good one I like it I like it so should we do a role play let's do it so
here we are friends we're talking about an issue that we've been dealing with um when planning a
party so here we go you ready well I think if we send the invites tomorrow it'll be fine one second
oh we have bigger fish to fry the band just backed out oh no this is an urgent matter seriously so
let's get our priorities straight yeah we have to figure this out now that we have more pressing
issues maybe we can assign the invites to Tracy okay I'll talk to her yeah so a lot of times in
business you know things happen and all of a sudden everything falls into a new priority
uh level right it's crazy yeah right right this is that's true like something happens and all
of a sudden the priorities get shuffled right totally and that's part of being a professional
is being able to keep up with that and constantly re-prioritize things that's right that's right
yeah so we say you said one second we have bigger fish to fry so maybe you just got a text message
in that in that moment right um the band just backed out okay and then you said oh no this is an
urgent matter and then you said seriously so let's get our priorities straight yep and then you said
now that we have more pressing issues maybe we can assign the invites to Tracy so you're trying to
kind of like redistribute tasks here um delegate things uh because we have to deal with something
more important yeah 100 stressful situation maybe they want to cancel the party if there's no band
I don't know I might totally put the party in Jeopardy itself right oh no oh god well
I hope the party can still go on I really hope so Michelle all right where do we want to leave
our listeners today this is a big topic I think we should come back to prioritizing especially
in business another time right right yeah this it's very useful to talk about your priorities
to Signal what's important to tell someone uh to remind yourself what's important so it's good for
um you know we talked about Expressions that might be better for the business World better
for personal life but this is a good one for today to try out especially in your personal life to
Signal what's really important in that moment I love it good stuff Michelle and guys don't forget
we also have the business English podcast and I think we'll revisit like I said this concept of
urgent versus important over there we'll talk about that how that applies to business yeah
all right love it all right Michelle take care have a good day okay you too bye bye
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