hello michelle how's everything going with you today everything's good everything is good yeah
guys we are here it is september people are you know getting getting serious again right
maybe they've been on vacation maybe you guys i hope maybe you went somewhere nice right lindsay
totally i know this summer it's been a big summer a good summer but now we are
ready to get back to business as i said before um what does september make you
how does september make you feel michelle how do you usually feel in the month of september
uh i feel kind of fresh i feel you know the seasons are changing i feel like i don't know it's
it's funny because i'm not in school but i teach so i do feel like oh the school year's starting
yes a fun feeling also though it's i i think it's a little bittersweet a little bittersweet
oh the summer's over and not only you know the weather changing but just it is that back to
business like all right yeah back to work which is a good feeling but also yeah a little weird yeah
it's like did i did i have enough camping trips did i do everything i wanted to do in the summer
there is a certain freedom to summer time that we just don't get any other time of year and it's
pretty awesome i mean sandals and hot dogs and the ballpark and barbecues you know i love that stuff
yeah because i also think like every it's kind of me everybody has that feeling and also i think
even at work you know there's it's like people have summer fridays and you know yeah all of these
types of things right it's a nice time it's a nice time so what are we getting into i mean today i
think all of our listeners will be able to relate to this topic yeah yeah so today we are talking
about productivity yeah like get that feeling of going back to work after vacation you might feel a
little funny i mean lindsay i know you always talk about how you don't really feel like like a case
of the mondays as they call it but you must feel funny or the sunday scaries the sunday scary scary
yeah it might feel a little funny when you come back from vacation yeah don't don't get me wrong
i mean it's you know when i come back especially if i've been traveling and i've really been away
from work i feel even just honestly typing on my laptop feels weird yeah it's like where's the key
how do i write this email you know things like that it's amazing how quickly we forget
like very like habitual things that we're used to doing every day
sending an email where's the send button things like that
well but that's a good sign that you even feel that way because that means you like really did
unplug really unplugged yeah for sure but i know it is it is you get a little rusty
yeah rusty that's the word and that's actually a great word for our listeners if anyone is using
the ios and android app and i know a lot of you guys are that app is super popular
um if you are using the app at allersenglish.com app you'll be able to highlight that word and save
it in your personal power list in the transcript yeah that's right absolutely so um yeah it can be
a little bit tough so i i found this article we're going to briefly touch on some of the
things from it but it's a six productivity experts uh six things productivity experts
do when they come back to work after vacation and it says overwhelmed and stressed about returning
to a mess of things to do read these tips guys this is from huffpost.com uh it's from way back in
february 22nd 2022 it's by monica torres you know one thing i always feel that michelle when i come
back is i feel there's a very narrow window of opportunity to completely change the way i work
you know what i mean like there's a because often when i'm burnt out i'm just crossing things off a
list i'm doing too much in the business right um but for me if i said okay i'm just gonna do
certain things that are going to really help us move forward i always feel when
i come back from a trip especially a trip a long vacation i could make that choice in that moment
but then whenever the emails start coming in they come at me like a hurricane
and i have this need to take care of everything right and so that is i have to admit that's my big
achilles heel there's always a window and then it's sometimes i make some improvements in my
workflow but sometimes the window closes and then we're back in the swing right because when you do
come back things snowball very quickly right like everything everything starts coming at you so i i
can see what you mean you have a little window of opportunity yeah it's true it's really interesting
how that works okay so i want to know though what the productivity experts do i'm actually really
curious about this and i bet our listeners are too okay well we're gonna talk about a couple of them
we're not gonna go through all six guys because we can give you the link and you can read the article
but we're gonna we're gonna highlight a few talk about our habits and we're also gonna give you
some expressions to use to talk about this um like things that you do um okay so also we have
episode 959 was what's your productivity style how to talk about it in english so listen to that yeah
good stuff good stuff all right so what do we do michelle i mean all right i'm sorry leaving me
in suspense what do they do all right so one thing they talk about is having a to-do list
done for before you go on vacation oh yes i okay i can get on board with this i can get on board with
this but what kind of to-do list are we talking about goals and visions and exciting things or
are we talking about little tasks uh i don't i i can't remember exactly what they said but i think
that it was something more about like you know the tasks that you have to do when you get back
um so so guys read the article correct me if i'm wrong but you know tasks that maybe you
have to get done and so you before you leave you already have that so when you get back
you you know what you're doing yeah i was doing this in the airport um but it was more about goals
and ideas for alder's english but i was doing this in the airport before i went to germany and it was
actually quite therapeutic because i had all these ideas that were unresolved and that we hadn't done
yet in 2021 and we're going for the new year to germany as like i'm going to write this down and
we'll take care of it in 2022 right so there is something to that it's somewhat therapeutic what
do you think michelle i think that's a good idea about like the big ideas kind of it can get you
excited about some things get yeah organized in your head yeah um but i think um i mean
as far as the task list does that do you think that like it makes things more stressful or
do you think it can help you get like do you think it's more stressful to do that or less
stressful i actually think if if the problem is if you're gonna go on vacation and you're gonna
be constantly thinking these are all the things i have to do then you should definitely write
it down because that just puts it's on the list and also i want to just make a note we are such a
task-based culture you know what i mean we jessica and i were talking about this on a bonus episode a
few months ago um we are so obsessed with our tasks as a culture that's how we are educated
um that's just what american culture is about is getting things done so i'm not sure if our
listeners would feel the same way i'm curious yeah yeah that's an interesting question yeah
so i don't know i i've never tried doing this but i almost wonder if it would stretch if it
would stress me out more yeah just be like oh like this is already here like i already
know what i have to do but in some ways i could see how it'd be relaxing i guess
i guess everybody's different um on that but another thing they mentioned was doing like
when you get back um doing the like things that starting on your list and getting the momentum
started by kind of like beginning with the shorter things that okay like oh things that
are only going to take a couple minutes you know and that kind of makes you feel like
okay i'm getting things done and i already did this and this and this what do you think
oh i'm totally on board with this this is a principle right of i can't remember what it's
called but there is a psychological there's been research on this that when people get stuff done
it's like um you know the progress bar effect right if you see you've already done this much
you're motivated to do more absolutely this is not just after vacation too right anytime yeah
right right that's true that's true um i i i definitely think that's good to get things you
know just cross things off the list we've talked about this before lindsay how we each have like
actual lists and yeah mine is always just like open in an email doc unfortunately right now i
have a ton of stuff yeah definitely work things but uh oh yeah i know you do and you're like
so i'm looking forward to crossing off some of those things but um another thing that um they
talked about and this is a quote it says um they take the you know the productivity
experts an extra day of vacation just to switch their mindset oh interesting so are we saying for
example if you have like a 10-day break you come back on saturday not sunday so you're preparing on
something that's how i understood it that's what that's what i took it to me from the article that
like yeah do you because sometimes when i'm booking a vacation yeah i can be so excited
and like i want it to last from the very second it can possibly start to the very second it can
possibly end and then you get back and you're like i could really use a different extra day
yeah i totally know what you mean and sometimes honestly the vacation i don't want to say this
um but sometimes it can feel too long right if you do that you're like friday afternoon we're
at the airport and then sunday night we're touching down right touching down by the way
could be a bonus phrase for today michelle meaning when your flight lands in your city right we're
touching down in laguardia or jfk right no but uh the truth is sometimes you can get bored on a trip
too and you can say we're done with this place um and i actually needed that extra day to do
some laundry get some groceries so i'm set up for the week i do like that um although if it's just
a weekend i think it's good to make sure you try to maximize your time maximize as much as possible
um so it just depends on how much time you have off right yeah it is it's it's very it's very
interesting like because i i definitely that that is one of the harder things for me to
be like okay no let's come let's come back on a saturday because i just want to soak up the whole
yeah i mean fair enough right you can always get groceries on tuesday night it's not gonna you know
no one's gonna die like you know it's also like if there's jet lag like true you know if it's if it's
a larger trip then you gotta give yourself time and i'm i'm definitely guilty of not doing that
and i think it depends on your week too you have a big presentation that monday morning
then obviously you want to come back saturday but the orc is it just little things you're going to
be catching up on and you know you can be a little tired right right right right so i mean lindsay
uh what else do you do is there anything you do specifically to prepare for coming back from a
vacation at work or maybe even at your home like how clean does your home have to be before you
leave yeah unless i have been late like packing at last minute and i was late for my flight i do like
to tidy up the house before i leave i don't like to come back to a total mess and it's like a storm
so i like to have things in place and now dishes are clean that kind of thing that's the ideal
it doesn't always happen exactly like that but i try to do that just because for me it's like
mindfulness you know things are not chaotic it makes me feel yeah yeah preparing yourself for
when you get back when you get back yes you're tired and you're a little sad it's a favor it's
a favor you're doing to yourself yourself exactly you're like i value you and how you're gonna feel
when you walk back in the door and i'm gonna plan for that and here's what i'm gonna do right
prepare my home yeah exactly exactly so lindsay we're just going to give a couple uh expressions
that you can use yeah to talk about this so the first one is i make it a habit to blank before
i go on vacation so it could be like i make it a habit to make a to-do list before on vacation
or empty the dishwasher or put away the dishes things like that
um guys write those that phrase down and here comes the next one i'm so much more relaxed
if i get x done before i go on vacation right i'm so much more relaxed if i get laundry done
there's always going to be more laundry when you come back so that one i might wait on that's right
that's true oh man um or the last one is if i don't blank before i go away it makes me blank
yeah and you know what it's interesting i think another day we can do an episode on go away versus
getaway um i bet our high level listeners know what that is that difference but we could talk
about it for all of our listeners another day um but just real quick what is it michelle before i
get away before i go away uh i actually i'm not off the top of my head uh trying to think of
exactly what it is yeah get away well you know um southwest has that wanna get away uh trademarked
phrase right they always use that uh get away is the idea that makes me think you're really it's
you're escaping something i gotta get away right i want to get away i gotta get away go to hawaii or
something you're trying to escape your life but go away is more neutral okay thank you lindsay
you were too quick for me yeah that's true i i i understand we all learn things on this show it's
okay we do we do we teach each other um so very good so should we do a little role play before we
head off yes let's do it michelle here we go okay all right so lindsay you are going on vacation and
i'm talking to you okay about it okay are you excited oh yeah but i have a ton to get done
first i make it a habit to do a deep cleaning before i go on vacation oh wow i never do that
but i'm so much more relaxed if i get my big projects done before i go on vacation
oh yeah if i don't get a to-do list on my dry erase board before i get away it makes me anxious
good yes okay so first i said i make it a habit to do something right guys that's the
construction for today so i make it a habit to do a deep cleaning before i go on vacation
oh man i don't know about a deep cleaning for me it's just tight just tidy up tidy up right right
just make sure nothing's gonna smell when you get back right exactly take out the garbage that kind
of thing right yes exactly yeah it's always like when you take out the garbage and then you like
take it out too early and then there's something else oh i hate that yes i hate them yeah uh you
like don't want to have anything in that garbage yeah yeah for sure i think our listeners know
they know yeah exactly and then i said i'm so much more relaxed if i get my big projects done before
i go on vacation yeah so again and guys this is a really common conversation you might be having
with a colleague right they're talking they're they want to know about your upcoming trip you
know how are you preparing really common business english conversation right that's right that's
right and then the last thing i said was oh yeah if i don't get a to-do list on my dry erase board
uh before i go away it makes me anxious so if i don't get x before i go away it makes
me feel blank and then fill in the blank with lots of creative adjectives there right anxious
what else could we say nervous nervous uh uneasy uneasy or it puts me on edge that's a good one too
lots of things there yeah so yeah lindsay i mean the takeaway for today is well we were we were
talking about this article we got a few tips from the article but guys you can check it out
yourselves um but we were talking about what do you do on a before a big trip like what's
we went over our styles yeah we talked about the article um but this is a good connection
topic as you can see with this role play because everybody can talk about that feeling of you're
going on a trip like what are like what kinds of things do you do to make yourself more relaxed and
make things easier on yourself especially for when you return i think that's the key is what
you said here michelle everyone can relate yeah this is not glamorous talking about taking out
the trash it's not glamorous it's not the things we dream about but actually it's the things that
everyone does so these are the things at the right moment that will connect you to
your colleagues right when you're having these conversations or your native speaking friends
talking about your trip and adding this piece it'll connect you to them so go for it guys
all right guys well i hope you get to go on vacation soon or you just came back
from a great vacation and uh don't forget to empty the trash we're gonna empty the trash
all right all right good stuff michelle i'll talk to you in the next one all right bye