English Conversation Lesson: Work, Jobs, and Daily Life

Vanessa: Are you ready  

to immerse yourself in a real  English conversation? Hi,  

I'm Vanessa from speakenglishwithvanessa.com  and today I'm here with my husband, Dan.

Dan: Hello.

Vanessa: And we are going  

to be talking about work, some of our work  experiences, and some experiences that might  

relate to you as well. During this lesson, you're  going to see some key vocabulary appear here,  

but I also want to encourage you, if you want to  understand every single word that we're saying,  

you can click CC to view the full  subtitles for this conversation.

And like always, I have created a free PDF  worksheet, which is here over Dan's face.  

You can download this free worksheet  with all of today's key vocabulary,  

definitions, and sample sentences.  Plus, at the bottom of the worksheet,  

you can answer Vanessa's challenge question  so that you never forget what you've learned.  

You can click on the link in the description  to download that free PDF worksheet today.

All right. Dan, are you ready to get started?

Dan: I'm ready. Let's do it.

Vanessa: Today, I  

have five work-related questions, including  a little quiz about some work vocabulary that  

I don't know if Dan will know. Maybe he  will. Maybe you will know it. We'll see.

Dan: We'll see. We both have non-traditional jobs.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: So we'll see what I know about work vocabulary.

Vanessa: Yep. All  

right. Let's start with our first question.

All right. Dan, my first question is,  tell us about your first job. What was it?

Dan: My first job ever?

Vanessa: Yep.

Dan: Well, my first job was a paper route,  

which is where you take the newspaper and you  go and deliver it to your neighborhood. Now,  

I'm pretty sure that this was probably a  job that my dad said, "Hey, the boys need  

a job. Get them a paper route." I had no say  in this and I was probably... I think I was 12.

Vanessa: Okay.

Dan: 12 or 13,  

so I was kind of young. We didn't do it on  bikes or anything. We weren't able to chuck  

them out. You know how there's people  on a bike and they throw the newspaper?

Vanessa: Oh, yeah. In movies, I've seen that.

Dan: Yeah. We weren't  

allowed to do that. We were supposed  to gently set it on the doorstep.

Vanessa: Oh, that's real life.

Dan: Yeah. I didn't like it,  

though, because I had to wake up really early.  They deliver the newspaper in huge stacks and  

we had to roll each one and put it in a bag, and  then I had to walk the neighborhood really early  

in the morning. My least favorite part by far  was that people's dogs would just jump out and  

scare you. I remember one time I actually kicked a  dog because it scared me so bad and then... Yeah.

Vanessa: It just  

jumped out at you and your reflex was to kick it?

Dan: Right. And it  

was like this big, too, and I felt really  bad afterwards, but it really scared me.

Vanessa: Okay. Okay.

Dan: First job.

Vanessa: Because you were 12 years old, this  

is under the age that you typically work. So were  you paid under the table or how did that work?

Dan: No, I don't  

think we were. I don't remember the details of  getting paid. I remember it was not very much.

Vanessa: Were you motivated  

by money at all at that point like, "Oh, I got a  job. I'll get some money. I can buy some toys"?

Dan: Yes. Yes,  

I was. I do remember that, with  that money, I bought a Nintendo 64.

Vanessa: Oh, really?  

Okay. So you made enough money to  actually buy something pretty big.

Dan: Yes. Yes, I mostly  

bought video games at that point in my life.

Vanessa: Okay. Okay.

Dan: Yeah. Those were the big goals back then.

Vanessa: Okay. Well, I think-

Dan: How about you? What was your first job?

Vanessa: For me, my first job was pretty typical.  

I feel like maybe it's mostly girls, but a lot  of Americans, when you're 13 or 14 years old,  

you start babysitting the neighborhood kids.  So I babysat the neighborhood kids, I think,  

when I was 13 years old, the little girl  across the street who now is probably an  

adult. She was just a baby. Not super little,  maybe one or two years old. I would go over to  

her house when her parents went out on a date  for a couple hours and I just played with her.

I remember when she went to bed, when the baby  went to bed, I guess I somehow helped the baby  

go to bed. I would do the dishes for them. I  cleaned up their playroom. I did some chores  

around the house that the parents didn't ask me to  do. Every single time when the parents came home,  

they were like, "Vanessa, you didn't  need to do this. This is amazing."  

And I always thought like, "Well, what  else am I supposed to do? You're paying  

me to be here to watch your kid and your  kid's asleep." But now that I'm an adult-

Dan: That's why Vanessa is a good worker.

Vanessa: Now that I'm an adult,  

if I paid a babysitter and my kids were  asleep and I came home to a clean house...

Dan: I would get on  

the floor and bow to this person.  I'd be, "Thank you. I love you."

Vanessa: I know. Whenever  

our parents come and they do the dishes for  us at the end of the day, after we're eating  

dinner and we're giving the kids a bath, it's  so helpful. So those little things I think.

Dan: Yeah. That's my job,  

too, so I would be extra thankful.

Vanessa: Oh, the dishes?

Dan: Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: Yeah. Yeah.  

That was my first job and I think it was pretty  typical. I was just paid in cash under the table,  

nothing official. And I babysat throughout  all of high school, various kids. To me,  

it always seemed like a pretty easy  job. Being a parent is not an easy job,  

but being a babysitter, you're playing  with kids, you're just doing the fun stuff.

Dan: Depending on how many kids.

Vanessa: Yeah. And how nice they were.

Dan: It's get harder with every kid,  

yeah, add to that equation.

Vanessa: I feel like,  

though, parents, when they leave their  small children with a babysitter,  

they really try to... At least the families  I watched, they would be like, "All right.  

Here's all the toys. We have a special snack,"  and it's like a special occasion and Vanessa,  

the babysitter, is coming. It's not real  life. When you're a parent, it's real  

life and you're doing the hard stuff. But as a  babysitter, it was like fun times, party times.

Dan: Yeah. I babysat four a couple times.

Vanessa: Four kids?

Dan: Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: Oh, how'd that go?

Dan: It was pretty crazy, mostly.

Vanessa: Yeah?

Dan: Yeah.

Vanessa: How old were you when you did that?

Dan: 16, 17.

Vanessa: Okay. Okay.

Dan: Yeah. I was a little bit older and-

Vanessa: Was it like...

Dan: ... it's a family friend.

Vanessa: Okay.

Dan: Yeah.

Vanessa: People that you knew?

Dan: Yeah.

Vanessa: All right. Well, let's go on  

to our second question. Our second question is a  little more of a modern question. I want to know,  

would you rather work from home or at  a workplace? The workplace could be an  

office or in a coffee shop or the location that  the job is set at. What would you rather do?

Dan: Well, that really,  

really depends on the workplace, right?  Because a lot of my jobs that I've had,  

I worked at a factory on an assembly  line. I'd rather work from home.

Vanessa: Oh, than that. Yeah.

Dan: Maybe just  

like a standard office job. I kind of like the  idea of I work one day at the office and I work  

the rest of the days at home. I like to get  a little bit of that variety, but in general,  

I think I would choose a workplace just so because  I like to be really active. Like my job now, I'm  

teaching children, elementary kids. So when I'm  in a classroom, I got to be really moving on top  

of it and basically on my A game. At home, I don't  get that same energy. I just kind of fall into...  

Maybe a rut is kind of too dramatic of a word,  but I can more easily get into a rut at home.

Vanessa: So you feel  

more motivated when you're on the location?

Dan: Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: Dan had a  

summer job one time in high  school. Was it in high school?

Dan: What job are you talking about?

Vanessa: When you were working at Sony.

Dan: That was college. Yeah.

Vanessa: Okay, a summer job where you just-

Dan: That was the factory.

Vanessa: ... tapped a TV for 10 hours a day to check it.

Dan: Or move it.  

There were some varieties. Sometimes, we got  to pick up the TV and put it on the table.

Vanessa: Yes, that was a job.

Dan: 10 hours.

Vanessa: Every day.

Dan: Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: Yeah. That's a  

job that really makes you grateful for the other  jobs that you have in life. But this type of job,  

first of all, you'd rather not do, but  also if that's your comparison point,  

you would rather work at home. But in general,  working in the workplace is better for you?

Dan: Yes, for me it's better.  

I mean, in our scenario, we worked together  from home for a while. And because both of  

us were working at home, it really turned  into our entire life is just in this house.

Vanessa: Yeah. Especially because we had-

Dan: It's kind of old.

Vanessa: ... young kids and  

we're working from home, it was really  hard to have a community and get out,  

because to get out with small children is already  tricky and you're working. So I think you working  

at the school now just adds another wonderful  layer to our family where we have a community.  

You have coworkers. There's more... Yeah, it's  also a nice community. It's a nice workplace.

Dan: Yes.

Vanessa: Some workplaces are not nice.

Dan: That makes a big difference, for sure.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: And how about you? Yes.

Vanessa: I think, for me, because  

I work for myself, I have my own  business teaching you English,  

Speak English with Vanessa, I'm going to answer  neither. I don't want to work at home and I  

also don't want to work in a workplace.  This is my ideal scenario. Are you ready?

Dan: 

She wants to be totally independent.  She wants to work in space.

Vanessa: I want to work in a  

castle overlooking a kingdom. No, I want to, and  I can probably do this in another couple years,  

work for my business, great, but not at home.  Last year when I was pregnant with my baby,  

I worked at a coworking space. These exist all  around the world. Maybe you've heard of them,  

maybe you haven't, but it's like a really fun  office. They try to make it cool because they  

want you to go there and everyone is working  just on their laptops for their own jobs.

Dan: Freelancers.

Vanessa: Freelancers or maybe they're working for-

Dan: Or people like you.

Vanessa: ... various companies  

or maybe they run a company. There's  events, there's food, there's food trucks,  

there's things going on. It's like  the fun place to be. This is, I think,  

my ideal where I'm working at the job that I  want to work at to, being your English teacher,  

and also in a location where I'm around other  people. Working from home is so convenient with  

small children. My baby's napping in the other  room right now. I can nurse her. I can help my  

kids. I can do those types of things. But when  they're a little bit older, I'm out. I want to  

go and be out in a coworking space. This type of  environment, I think, is really healthy for me.

Dan: If you couldn't tell, she is a people person.

Vanessa: I like to be  

around other people, but I know some people  can work, for example, in a coffee shop or  

this busy environment. I cannot. If it's  an absolute necessity, like a requirement-

Dan: A public place.

Vanessa: ... we have no  

internet at home and I have  to get something done, yes,  

I can go to a coffee shop and get some work  done, but that is not my ideal environment.

Dan: I'm not productive in that environment either.

Vanessa: Yeah. Some people are. Some people thrive with the  

chaos and lots of stuff going on, but that's not  my jam. All right. Now, are you ready for a quiz?

Dan: Oh, to the quiz?

Vanessa: The next section is a quiz.

Dan: Yes.

Vanessa: All right.  

These are some office acronyms  and an acronym for example is BRB,  

be right back. You might write this in a text  message. You might write this in an email.  

These are specifically things that you would  write in an email in the office. Are you ready?

Dan: I already  

think I'm not going to be very  good at this, but let's do it.

Vanessa: The first  

one is WFH. I'll give you a sample sentence.

Dan: Okay.

Vanessa: This is a W-

Dan: Work from home.

Vanessa: Yeah. This is a WFH position, or I'm looking  

for a WFH position. This is work from home, which  is increasingly more common since the pandemic.  

Yes, work from home. You got it. All  right. The next one. You might see  

this at the bottom of an email, OOO.  This is the letter, not the number.

Dan: Ooh.

Vanessa: Ooh.

Dan: OOO?

Vanessa: If you saw OOO...

Dan: Orange, ostriches, orangutans, united.

Vanessa: Yes, you got it. No, this is out of office.

Dan: OOO.

Vanessa: 

When someone is going to be gone during usual  business days, let's say you have a vacation  

Monday through Wednesday, in your email system,  you might write an automated message that goes  

out to everyone. That's your OOO, your out  of office message that says, "I am sitting  

on a beach right now. Ha-ha, you're at the office.  I'll see you on Thursday," or something like this

Dan: For our school in our chat,  

there's the little red dot in the corner  that says they're out or not available.

Vanessa: Oh, okay. Same idea.

Dan: We use Google  

Workplace, so you might be familiar, too.

Vanessa: Yeah. Yeah. OOO is  

a common... There's some really funny out of  office messages I've seen out there. Anyway,  

you can look this up another  time. All right. The last one is-

Dan: Only three?

Vanessa: There's only three. The last quiz is-

Dan: OOO.

Vanessa: ... EOD.

Dan: EOD?

Vanessa: Would you like a sample sentence?

Dan: Sure.

Vanessa: Okay.

Dan: EOD.

Vanessa: The sample sentence is,  

"I need this finished by EOD," or  "I will have this finished by EOD."

Dan: Earliest. Earliest? No. Even?

Vanessa: No.

Dan: EOD?

Vanessa: Uh-huh. Can you have  

this finished by EOD? And you would not say this,  you would write this in an email or in a text.

Dan: End of date.

Vanessa: Oh, close. End of...

Dan: Day.

Vanessa: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Dan: End of day. End of day.

Vanessa: Can you  

have this finished by EOD? Can you  have this finished by end of day?

Dan: Oh.

Vanessa: This is just  

talking about deadlines and you might see this  in an email. You might see this in a group chat,  

like Dan was saying, with your coworkers. There's  

Google Workplaces kind of chat about EOD.  Great work. What, you got two out of three?

Dan: Got two out of three.

Vanessa: Two out of three,  

great work. All right, let's go on to our-

Dan: And I'm not an office-y kind of guy, so...

Vanessa: Well,  

let's go on to our next question, which has to do  with being on the other side. Not just working but  

being someone who is in charge of hiring other  people. At various times, we've each had to hire  

people. I want to know, for you, tell us kind of  the circumstance of why you were hiring someone,  

but also what were some of the key reasons why  you hired someone or the character traits that  

you were looking for in those people and what  happened? Yeah, tell us about hiring people.

Dan: When I hired people,  

I was working at a coffee shop in Downtown  Asheville. I got the manager's position there,  

so I was kind of like middle management, we  would say, where there was somebody above me.  

Not so fun, especially this guy. But then I had a  team working the coffee shop and so I had to hire  

basically baristas. The criteria I mainly looked  for was were they cheerful and presentable and did  

they seem with it? As in would they be on time?  Can they follow directions and orders? And then,  

of course, I always ask them about their  previous experience. And usually with the  

most recent job they had, I kind of ask  like, "Why did you leave that job," to  

get their... You want to hear what their story  is and then pick up all those little signals  

that they're given out. So, yeah, I  actually thought hiring was really fun.

Vanessa: If someone said,  

"Oh, I left my last job because  the manager was awful," and they  

say bad things about their manager,  then would you hire that person?

Dan: No. No,  

of course not. And I thought it was  fun, too, because it was kind of like,  

"Ooh, I get to curate my team. These  are the people I want to work with."

Vanessa: Oh, yeah.  

Yeah. And the people who you hired also  had to work well with the people who  

were currently working there, because  when you're working in a coffee shop,  

everyone is working behind the counter.  It's a very tight space physically.

Dan: Yeah. You're public,  

but you're also in that setting. You're  front-facing, you're seeing everybody,  

and you have to be cheerful. But then when  people walk out, you're also... A lot of times,  

a lot of gossip builds up in these situations,  so you want to find people who are low drama,  

which can be difficult in the  coffee barista industry, I will say.

Vanessa: But you did it.

Dan: I did.

Vanessa: Tell us about the  

people you hired. Did it work out? How did it go,  without saying any names in case they're watching?

Dan: I think all  

but maybe one of my hires were pretty good.  Some of them were like slam dunks, I thought.

Vanessa: Oh, okay. Okay. And what made them-

Dan: Just vary with the people.

Vanessa: They were with it?

Dan: One of them was the manager when  

I left. Some of them were kind of high strung,  but that meant they were with it, you know?

Vanessa: Yeah. Okay.

Dan: Yeah. And then  

also for that coffee shop, most of the  people who worked there were women. And  

so I had to kind of be a little careful  who... That made actually hiring guys  

harder just because a lot of times if you get a  guy who's single and giving off these signals,  

then it just ends up building this kind of  tension and drama. I was like the married  

guy there and Dan's taken, it doesn't matter,  whatever. I gave them relationship advice, but...

Vanessa: You wanted to hire someone who wasn't-

Dan: From the married guy perspective.

Vanessa: You didn't want someone who was  

just going to flirt with the coworkers the whole  time? You wanted a good environment for everybody?

Dan: Yeah. Because guys would come in from  

other shops and flirt with the girls there, so it  was like they're already messing up the jive, men.

Vanessa: Yeah. I think an important part about  

hiring someone is that, if you have to work with  a team, that they work well together. That was  

actually something I was going to say about the  people who I've hired. I've hired several people  

to work for Speak English with Vanessa, because  one person cannot make all of this magic happen  

by themselves. I'd say one of the key things that  I look for now... I've had some not completely  

failed hiring experiences, but ones that didn't  work out as well. One of the things that I've  

learned from that is if somebody can understand  what you're asking for and then either ask the  

right questions so that they can do it correctly  or do it correctly the first time, that is huge.

when I'm asking someone, for example, to help  write some sample sentences for an English course,  

well, I can tell them, "Here's the vocabulary. Can  you write two sample sentences per vocabulary word  

with a definition?" I can give them simple, small  instructions like that and see what happens. And  

if they do it perfectly the first time, okay. If  they don't, I don't really care. It's that they  

ask the right questions like, "Oh, do you want a  long definition or a short definition," or "Would  

you like it to be double space? Single space?" If  somebody is thinking about those types of things,  

I think that, like you said, being with  it and on it... Great vocabulary words,  

but those are the most important because you can  teach the other things oftentimes in various jobs.

Dan: So an openness to learning-

Vanessa: Yeah, openness to learning.

Dan: ... and asking questions.

Vanessa: Yeah. And when you give corrections like,  

"Oh, I would prefer if you did it like this," or  "Can you change this to be like this," the next  

time they also do that. So kind of the various  changes that you'd like and being able to do that.

Dan: I know you've  

had somebody who didn't do that well.

Vanessa: Yeah, I think-

Dan: I remember some conversations.

Vanessa: 

It's really tricky to hire someone,  especially for me because I've never...

Dan: It's kind of blind, really, to meet them.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: I do talk to them I presume.

Vanessa: Well, I talk to them on Zoom and  

stuff but I've never really hired people. A lot of  these positions that I'm hiring people for, it's  

the first time I've ever hired someone for that  position. So I'm learning what exactly is the job  

position, what exactly do I need? It's not this  company with a big long process for hiring various  

people in the same position, so I'm kind of  learning from scratch each time. But I think it's  

a good skill, being able to hire the right people  and have a good situation. There is something  

interesting that you did not mention and I didn't  mention about hiring people. Their qualifications.

Dan: Oh, their qualifications.

Vanessa: So if you are a graphic designer, if you're,  

of course, a doctor or something like this, you  need some specific job-related qualifications.

Dan: Yeah. That was always  

a little lower on the list  for what I was hiring for.

Vanessa: That's interesting.  

Yeah. And I feel like, for me, when I hired,  for example, a writer, I want someone who has  

writing experience, but I didn't care if they  had a certificate or a degree. It was more,  

can they do a good job? And I feel like this is a  little bit more of a modern hiring process. Lots  

of traditional jobs still want you to have this  certificate, this degree, this qualification.

Dan: Well, it depends on the  

technicality. My dad is an engineer and he  works in a... What would you even call it? Not a  

factory. A workshop with metals and big machinery  and stuff. And if he's going to hire an engineer,  

they need a certain kind of expertise to  even have a baseline knowledge. Because  

if I walked in there, I'd be like, "I  don't even understand what is happening."

Vanessa: You would not be hired.

Dan: Right, exactly.

Vanessa: Yeah. For certain jobs,  

of course, you need some kind of experience  with the job itself, but I think a lot of jobs  

nowadays, they are looking for character  traits, especially if you're young,  

more than specific experiences. But there are so  many jobs out there, these many different things.

Dan: Yeah. Totally depends on the field.

Vanessa: Yeah. All  

right. Are you ready for our  final question of the day?

Dan: Sure.

Vanessa: All right. I wrote it out here. Our final question  

is one that many students have asked, maybe  hundreds of thousands, maybe bajillions of times.

Dan: Bajillions.

Vanessa: Oftentimes,  

this question is asked to me, but I think it  can relate to both of us. How can you have a  

work-life balance with so much going on in your  life? We both work, we have three children,  

we have two cats and nine chickens and a  house and a big garden, and, yes, all of this.

Dan: Boy, that garden.

Vanessa: I'm just saying right now it's pretty busy.

Dan: It does take a lot of work.

Vanessa: Yeah. So how can  

you personally have a work-life  balance? Then I can answer.

Dan: Yeah. For me, because we both work,  

it's important for me not to really get, at  this point in my life, a full-time job. So  

I have pretty much the perfect situation for me  because it's professional but it's not strict in  

its hours. That really helps because I was able  to negotiate getting Fridays off all the time.

Vanessa: Today.

Dan: Yes. And it's  

a non-traditional school, so they already  kind of do something different on Friday  

anyway. Just their flexibility for scheduling  was really perfect for our situation. While  

it's not as great for making money, it's good  for work-life balance, so there's always costs  

and benefits. I'm not making as much money,  but I get to spend more time with my family.

Vanessa: 

And you get the same vacations as  our children because you have the  

same schedule and all of that, so you take the  kids to school and manage their school life,  

which, as parents know, managing your  children's school life is a big deal.

Dan: Yeah,  

that's something that I kind of take  for granted because I take Theo to  

school with me. Nobody has to drop him off or  anything because he just goes with me, so...

Vanessa: And soon Freddie, too.

Dan: As far as a general tip, that's not really  

going to work for a lot of people because this  very particular situation... But, yeah, I would  

say that to accomplish work-life balance, you need  to either have both people working a little less  

or one person working dramatically less to be able  to take care of all the stuff around the house.  

That's why it's common for the husband to work  and the woman not to work, not to work because-

Vanessa: Not to make money.

Dan: Yeah, not to make the money because well then you  

might be able to get a better work-life balance.  Although for each person, it's out of balance.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: I don't know. It's actually pretty tricky.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: I think we do it,  

but we are able to do it because we have  flexible jobs that we've sought out. We've  

also gone through a lot of transitions in  our life where, "Oh, this isn't working.  

This is terrible," then you're reworking  stuff and then you get into a better place.

Vanessa: Yeah, I do feel like-

Dan: You got to be able to  

be willing to change directions like that as well.

Vanessa: Yeah. Our  

parents had the very traditional husband  works outside the home, makes the money,  

the wife stays home and takes care  of the kids. Both of those are very-

Dan: It's an easy answer.

Vanessa: Both of those are very difficult jobs, but I feel  

like between their generation and our generation,  there was a shift of both people working full-time  

and now we're kind of switching to... I feel  like a lot of Millennials, which is what we are-

Dan: How can we work less?

Vanessa: ... trying to kind of do what  

we're doing. I do think there's a lot of people,  a lot of my friends who are our age in the US,  

they're both the wife and the husband are  kind of mixing these traditional roles  

and not working both full-time jobs or just  trying to do things a little bit more outside  

the box. I imagine our kids when they're  adults and the next generations are just  

going to be constantly evolving and shifting  and trying to make things even more balanced.

Because for me, I work from home at the  moment, and technically my job could be  

never-ending. I could always be coming up  with new courses and new lessons and new  

ideas. The way that my brain works, I always  have new ideas. I swear, every single time-

Dan: She never stops.

Vanessa: ... that I take a walk  

or I'm alone with my thoughts, I have a million  ideas. Dan's favorite thing is when I come to  

him and say, "Hey, hun, I had an idea." His eyes  go, "Oh." But I always have new ideas, but it's  

not always healthy for me to be outputting a lot  of work all the time because I have other things,  

other people, my children especially, in my life  that bring me joy and need a lot of attention.

I think the key for me, and I don't do this  perfectly so I don't know if I'm the best person  

to answer this... I don't think there is a best  person to answer this, but I think the thing that  

works for me is to be 100% present with whatever  I'm doing. If I'm working, I am in this room, this  

is our little office, the door is closed, I am  focused on work, nothing else is going on. Maybe  

the kids are playing with someone else, they're  always here, but they're with somebody else.  

Or if my kids come in here, I have to  stop what I'm working on and look at them,  

work on whatever I'm doing with them, say hi to  them, and then when they leave, continue working.

Just the other day, they were doing something else  and I was doing some work. And they busted in the  

room, "Mommy, you're on the computer. Wow, I want  to sit on your lap." There were two children on  

my lap and I was halfway through finishing an  email that I really wanted to finish. There  

is no way that you can do that if you have  ever tried to do that, so in my mind, I say,  

"I'm not going to do that right now. I will wait  5 minutes, 10 minutes. It's going to be okay."

Dan: 10 hours.

Vanessa: 10 hours,  

it's okay. And focus on just whatever  they need at that second, and then I  

can get back to it. Because I think if you  try to check your emails while you're also  

talking to your kids or doing something  else, your brain is going to go crazy.

Dan: Well,  

a lot of parents probably hand their  kids like an iPad or turn on the TV  

or something. That's an option, but  probably not great for your kids.

Vanessa: Yeah. For me,  

usually I only do work whenever the kids are at  school, sleeping, or with someone else. They don't  

really watch that much TV, so that's not really  an option for our family, but trying to focus  

100%. And that's also something I recommend with  English is when you are really studying English,  

if you're listening to a song in English, if  you're listening to a podcast in English, that's  

fun stuff, right? That's great. You're immersing  yourself. But if you are studying vocabulary,  

you are writing out those sentences, you are  practicing your pronunciation, focus on that.

Try to focus 100% of your attention and you'll  do your best at it and you'll actually improve.  

If you're trying to do a million things at  the same time, at the end you're just going  

to feel frustrated. At least that's how  I feel, like I got nothing done because I  

was trying to do everything at the same time.  So I'm constantly trying to simplify my life  

because there's lots going on. Anyway, that's the  roundabout answer for this very tricky question.

Dan: Yeah. In  

other words, you just got  to figure it out somehow.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: There's not a one-size-fit-all answer.

Vanessa: Absolutely, not a one-size-fit-all.  

I think if your goal is to really have a work-life  balance... I think for most people it is,  

but if that's something that you really want  to prioritize, like Dan said, I think you need  

to dump out the bucket of all the things you have  going on and decide what is absolutely necessary.

Dan: That's a good strategy.

Vanessa: What can we cut?  

What expenses can we cut so we can work less?  What trips can we cut? What work trips? What  

commitments? All of these things so that we can  get down to just the basics. And then you can  

kind of build it up from there. But I think, a  lot of times, I know some people that feel like,  

"Well, I have to do this. I have to do this." And,  yes, sometimes you have to do things, but overall  

trying to really cut back and decide, "What do I  need to purchase? What expenses are necessary?"

Dan: Hobbies, too.

Vanessa: What hobbies do I absolutely have to do?

Dan: Some of them might  

be painful. I recently stopped watching  hockey, which is my favorite sport. That  

kind of brought a little tear to my eye,  but I just don't have time for it anymore.

Vanessa: 

And maybe at another point in  your life you'll have more.

Dan: I can watch all the hockey games I want.

Vanessa: You'll have more figurative bandwidth,  

but for now, maybe in your life, if you're feeling  really stressed by this work-life balance, lay  

everything out on the table. What is necessary?  How can I cut back so that I feel more balanced  

and happy? I think you owe it to yourself, you  owe it to your family, and you'll just be a better  

person for it. But I'm still working on that,  Dan's still working on that, so take it with a  

grain of salt. All right. Well, thank you so much,  Dan, for joining me for this work conversation.

Dan: Yes, you're welcome.

Vanessa: Yes, we made it. Thank you so much for immersing  

yourself in English. These types of conversations  are excellent for improving your vocabulary,  

all the words you saw down here. But something  even better about these conversations is that it  

has been absolutely proven. The best way to learn  a language is through immersion and acquisition.  

This means that you don't really even know you're  learning. You're just picking up on all of the  

rules and the nuances and the ideas of English  while you're listening to these conversations,  

so you're welcome. I hope that you enjoyed this  lesson, you learned a lot. Feel free to watch it  

as many times as you want. Also, please download  the free PDF worksheets over Dan's face right here  

with all of today's vocabulary, sample sentences,  ideas. You can answer Vanessa's challenge question  

so that you never forget what you've learned and  you can click on the link in the description to  

download that free PDF worksheet today. It is  my gift to you. So thank you so much, dear.

Dan: You're welcome.

Vanessa: I appreciate  

you joining me for this conversation. These  are absolutely beneficial to our students.

Dan: It's my pleasure.

Vanessa: And it's  

fun to talk with you about these types of things.

Dan: Yes, indeed. Thank you.

Vanessa: You're welcome. Well,  

thanks so much for learning English with  me. And let me know in the comments,  

what is your job? Tell us  in the comments of your job.

Dan: Do you have work-life balance?

Vanessa: Do you have work-life balance and tips for the  

rest of us? And we'll see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.

Dan: Bye.

Vanessa: But wait, do you want more? I recommend  

watching this video next, where Dan and I will  talk about our daily routines, including something  

that Dan does every morning and I never do. What  is it? Well, I'll see you there to find out.