How To Find Time To Improve Your English, With Pat Brans

Hi guys!

I’m Christina from Speak Better, Feel Great TV, the place to boost your English and boost

your career.

Today we have a very special episode because we’re going to be talking with Pat Brans,

who is an expert in time management.

I know that for a lot of you the biggest problem that you have in learning English and reaching

your goals in English is finding the time to do it.

So that’s why today I’ve brought Pat on to Speak Better, Feel Great TV, and this is

going to be a very different, a very special episode.

It’s a little like an interview, a little like a chat.

It’s very authentic, which means that it’s people like they really speak, so you hear

sometimes the sentences are not always complete, sometimes maybe is not so easy to follow,

which is also why that you’ll find the transcript in the notes below this episode, so that you

can follow along and really benefit from all of the great advice that Pat has to give us.

Now, just to introduce Pat and to tell you a little bit about who he is and why he is

a great guy to listen to.

Pat helps professionals to be more productive and to better manage their time.

That’s his job.

He’s written a book called “Master the Moment.

Fifty CEOs teach you the secrets to time management”.

It’s a very good book.

I highly recommend it.

It’s written in English but it’s quite accessible, is quite easy to read if you have

an intermediate level.

So definitely check that out.

I’ll put the link in the notes below the video as well.

Now, Pat also teaches at the Grenoble École de Management and he’s helped busy CEOs

and corporate executives to find ways to manage their crazy, crazy schedules and to be more

productive.

He really takes productivity to another level and he’s gotta give you the secrets of the

high achievers, because if he can help them, then he can definitely help you to find the

time to boost your English and boost your career.

So, let’s go ahead and let’s get started and I’m just gonna let you to listen to

Pat and all of the fantastic advice that he’s got for you.

- So, Pat, are you ready?

- I’m ready.

- Ok, great.

Ok, now first of all, Pat, how long have you been training people to manage their time

and be more productive?

- It’s been about five years.

- OK, right.

Five years.

And what characteristics do you often see in people who need to manage their time?

- Well, that’s interesting, because the people who need to master time the most usually

think they’re managing their time well.

If I asked 19-year-olds: “do you think you need some help with time management?”, they

say “no, I’m fine, I can manage my time well.

If you ask the busiest people in the world who are very clearly good time managers, like

CEOs, “do you manage time well?”

“Well maybe I do, but I need to improve it”, so the people that need it the most

don’t think they need it the most.

- OK.

So, basically, if someone thinks they are good at managing their time, they probably

need help.

- Right, because you never do - there’s always an improvement you can make and it’s

something you should be conscious of - just simply - one of the things I found that was

common about the people I interviewed, very good time managers, well, it’s that they

are always working on getting better.

- OK, just trying to find a way to optimize and to find five extra minutes in the day,

something, to just get better, in fact.

- Right.

- Yeah.

And what’s their biggest problem, generally?

- Well, I don’t think time management is necessarily finding time in the day and organizing.

I find it more a question of attitude, that is when you think about managing time is all

about actually achieving your goals, so if you don’t set the right set of goals and

you don’t achieve your goals, then your wasting your time.

If you are achieving your goals, then you are doing it right.

- Ok, yeah, that makes sense.

It’s not about finding that extra five minutes, it’s about knowing how to use the time that

you have in the most productive and the best way for your objectives.

- Well, I mean, all that is very natural, what is really important is you set your goals

in a way that is really consistent with what you want and you manage your attitude and

then a lot of it just comes into place.

You have bad days and good days, and there are a few techniques like manage your to-do

lists and things like that, but other than that it’s a lot about your attitude.

- OK, right, right, so yes.

Are you saying, for example, someone who starts the day and they said: “Oh, I have so many

things to do.

I’m not gonna have time”, that’s going to happen, they’re not going to have time.

- Well, that’s a whole different problem, that’s one of the biggest problems in time

management, people feel they are overwhelmed.

And in fact they are using not.

What it is, is that they think they have to do everything at once and they are thinking

about all the different things they have to do at once, rather than writing down what

are the things I am trying to do.

Don’t even think about it except - think about the one thing you working on now.

Do two or three things you gonna do during that day, don’t try to think about all the

different goals.

- OK.

So it’s not - it’s not necessarily the problem that they have too many things to

do, it’s that they’re trying to do too many things at one time.

- No, they are trying to think about too many things at one time.

Even if they know what they are doing, they feel like - it is like that psychological

experiment where they throw 10 balls to somebody and they’re not even going to catch one.

So if he thinks that you got all these things out there, if you can write them down, if

you have a system to write them down, then you don’t have to think about them anymore.

You know, that’s what you are trying to do, more or less, when you are thinking about

them, and you worry about them.

You worry about things, but just worry about one thing at a time.

- OK.

That makes sense because it frees up your mind to really focus and then you just do

the things that you focus on.

- Exactly.

- OK, that makes sense.

So people, they need to focus on one thing at a time, so that their energy can really

go to achieving that one specific goal.

In this way they don’t become overwhelmed.

So if someone comes to you, for example, and they say, Pat, I really want to improve my

English because I need it for my job but I just don’t have the time, I got too much

work, I’ve got kids, I’ve got family, I don’t have time, what do you say to this

person?

- Well, I think again that it is mostly about your attitude, and one of the things that

causes people to procrastinate - this is a good French word, a new French word for it

has been in the French dictionary for about four years – procrastination means that

you don’t do things that are important, you put them off or you don’t finish them.

Now, one of the problems, one of the reasons people procrastinate is that they didn’t

chose what they’re doing.

They do it because they feel somebody else wants them to do it.

They feel coerced, and coercion can take several forms, it can take the form of a reward, that

means, I’m doing it because somebody’s gonna give me a lot if I do it, or I’m doing

it because – the negative side – I’m doing it because somebody’s gonna punish

me if I don’t do it, right?

So either way, you wind up by not doing it or you do it poorly because you don’t feel

you chose it.

- Okay, right… - …and that is one of the biggest reason

for procrastination…

- …Because it’s not coming from you, it’s not your desire to do it…

- Exactly.

And the other one is – the other reason people procrastinate is that they’re doing

it because they think it says something about their self-worth, they are trying to prove

something, they are trying to say “I’m gonna do this because I am the smartest kid

in class”.

For example, there is a test on Friday and this smart kid in the class goes and gets

drunk on Thursday.

Why did he do that he does it?

He does it because he is self-handicapping, because he’s not really sure if he is really

the smartest kid in the class, he wants to give himself a handicap.

So unconsciously, he goes and gets drunk, so that if he fails the test or doesn’t

do absolutely the best in the test, he will say “oh, but I was drunk”.

And so, there’s things that play tricks on you mind if you’re doing something to

show off, right?

But if you are doing it because it’s something you can learn or you have to do or follow

steps, that’s the best attitude to have.

So, what I would say to people trying to learn English: Evaluate why you want to learn English,

what are the obstacles you see?

A lot of French people have problems, they’re a bit complexed about learning English as

if it was something that other people could do but they can’t do…

- Right, yeah, exactly, they always say yet, the French people know we’re terrible in

English… but it’s –they’re like every other nationality…

- Exactly.

So you simply - it’s simply something you learn a little every day and that’s it.

- That’s an interesting idea then, so for example, you know, a lot of people they say

“oh no, les français on est nul en anglais”, it’s almost like they’re they’re giving

themselves a justification for, you know, if they’re not happy with their level, it’s

like justifying that by saying, “oh no, it’s because I’m French and bad luck for

me, I just can’t, I’m incapable of learning English”.

But in fact no, it’s - they have to really be willing to make the mistakes, to be wrong

and to go about it as a learning experience.

Ok.

So, in fact, one of the big important things to finding the time to reach your goals in

learning English it’s to fix objectives.

So, for someone who wants to learn English but they don’t have time, how important

is it to fix those objectives, how is that going to help them?

- Well, first of all you said you have to evaluate why you wanna learn English, right?

And then you can set - I would recommend studying short-term objectives.

- Ok can you give some examples?

- Yeah.

Well, you could say work on learning the 500 most used words.

- OK, right.

Keep it kind - maybe even smaller than 500 maybe, say, this year I wanna learn 500…

- You can find this list online, the 1000 words most used in English language and learn

everyone of them, that’s not a secret, for example, something like that.

Or you say that you wanna work by written skills, you just cut it up into chunks…

- OK.

So, yeah, small objectives, mini objectives.

OK, sure, sure, yes, …so that’s really good advice.

I think that’s the way that - when I have a big project to work on that’s - I look

at how can I divide it, and even if the project lasts three months then I have I know what

I’m doing each week to make it manageable in fact.

Because if I have this giant project like learning a language, that’s an impossible

objective, you have to do it in small bits, yeah.

OK, now, what about another case, someone who starts a program to, for example, improve

their English and everything goes fine for a few days or a few weeks, but then they just

abandon.

Is there anything that you can give to these people to help them stay with their program

and stay with their objectives?

- Well, again, they have to re-evaluate why they’re doing it.

Are they doing it because they think it’s their parents that want them to do it?

Or they think it is because the employer wants them to do it?

Or are they doing it because they really want to do it?

Intrinsically, they like doing it.

They think it’s a good idea.

They have to be honest about why you’re doing what you do.

That’s the number one thing.

Because you’re gonna snap-back, if you can tune in what you wanna do, then you will get

it done.

- OK, yes.

So they really -I mean, yeah-, they really have to want it for themselves not just because

the boss wants them to or, OK that makes sense, okay?

And then, finally, just to finish up for today, to close, what’s the one best piece of advice

that you would give to someone who is motivated, they know that they want to learn English

for themselves, but they just feel like they can’t find the time?

What do you say to this poor person?

- Well, I would say, one very easy tip is to start using the top five list, OK.

Five is a number of things you can think about pretty easily during the day, right?

- Top five list, you mean five things on your to-do list.

- Yeah, maybe.

It doesn’t actually be specific actions, it can also be just a subject area, so you

say, work on English, that’s number one; go run, it’s number two; number three is

to spend time with my son, something like that, five things like that, and you put them

– no more than five, it can be fewer than five, and those are the five most important

things for you that day, and it doesn’t mean to do it right away, it just means you

put it on the list in a sheet and put it in your pocket, and during the day you pull that

sheet and remind yourself what was I trying to do today.

And don’t beat yourself up over not accomplishing in things in that list, because you won’t.

There’s a lot of times you want to accomplish everything.

So, during the day you got different things to do, you can remember what is it that you

really want to do, what is important to you.

That’s it.

- That’s a really good idea.

Instead of making like a to do list of your tasks for that day, you think what do I want

to do before the day finishes and you keep that very short, very manageable list, just

with you all day and look at it to remind yourself: “I need to do these things to

have a good day”.

That’s good advice, that’s really good advice and I like the idea of putting work

on my English, that’s a very good piece of advice.

- That’s right.

- OK, so thank you so very much, Pat, for talking to the people at the Speak Better,

Feel Great community.

I’m sure that they are going to have a lot of good ideas, a lot of good advice from this

video and for you guys out at Speak Better, Feel Great, if you found these tips interesting

and if you want to really find a lot more tips and to really go deep with this time

management, I really do recommend Pat’s book “Master the Moment.

Fifty CEO’s teach you the secrets of time management”.

It’s a really great book, it’s very accessible if you’ve got an intermediate level of English

and I’ll send you a link in the notes below this video, so that you can look at the book

and check that out because it’s very much worth the investment for you, for your objectives,

your time and for your English as well.

So, thanks a lot, Pat, for talking to us today and else will send some people over to see

you if they need some real help with their time management.

- OK, thank you Chris.

- All right, thanks a lot, Pat.

Bye And so, that’s all for today.

I hope that you found Pat’s advise and his information very interesting and especially

very useful to help you to fix your goals, to manage your time and to really just feel

good about improving your English.

Now, before we finish, I would love to hear from you.

Today’s video it was all about time management and objectives but, what about you?

How do you manage your time?

What techniques or what tools do you use to manage your busy day and your crazy schedule?

I have my own tools and I’m sure you have yours and I would love to hear about them

so, in the comments below, share your tips, share your techniques and everyone in the

Speak Better, Feel Great community, I’m sure that you can help them and I’m sure

you can get lots of good ideas as well.

So thanks a lot for watching this interview, I would love your feedback and I will see

you next time on the next Speak Better, Feel Great video.

Thanks!

See you next time!