#290 Top 4 Business English Expressions with Paola (Talaera Talks)

Hello and welcome back once again to the Level Up English podcast. As you may already know, the best place to come to practice the English language. Learn about the British accent and culture and much, much more with me, your host, Michael Lavers. And today I have the great pleasure of talking with... from the Talera Talks podcast and Talera Talks website as well. So we will talk more about what that is in the episode today. I should also say this is a cross-posted episode. So some...

people will be listening to this episode over on the Tolera Talks podcast. And of course, you are listening here on my podcast. So if you like what you hear today, you can go over and check out the Tolera Talks podcast. And if you have... come from their podcast over to my podcast and you're listening for the first time, then a big, big welcome to you. Really hope that you enjoy this episode or other episodes as well. But welcome to everyone today.

Paola is one of the teachers over at Tolera Talks and their podcast has over well over 100 episodes at this point. So if you're looking for another podcast to listen to, it might be a nice one to start with. They focus a lot on business English and helping non-native English learners, maybe like yourself, take your careers, take your jobs to that next level. So it's a great little area to talk about and it's quite different to what I do generally as well.

So in the podcast today, we talk a little bit about work and careers and stuff like that. We talk about what a non-native English speaker can do. Like say, if you want to get a job in an English speaking country, what can you do? That's a question I get asked all the time. So there might be some good advice for you in this episode. We'll also talk about managing stress and work life.

And then we have a really interesting segment all about kind of workplace business idioms. And as usual, these are going to be... Not only relevant for the workplace, but also for general life as well. So if you want to learn some very natural English expressions, idioms, and maybe they'll be good for your work as well in the future. This is a great episode to listen to where we will be challenging each other.

to think about examples and define each idiom and i think it's going to be a lot of fun so i hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed recording it and just one more thing to note that if you do find it challenging to keep up with the of our conversation and maybe paula and and my different accent accents then you might consider becoming a member at level up english where you can read the transcript so that basically highlights all the words that I'm saying, at the same time I'm saying it.

It's a really nice way to train your listening skills and kind of match what you hear to what you're seeing as well in terms of the subtitles, the words. So that's really nice. And of course, as a member, you get... So many more, dozens more benefits as well. Courses, group classes, private podcast episodes, so, so much more. It's a great way to support me and help me continue with this podcast as well.

So if you like my podcast, it's something you might consider doing. But yeah, thank you if you will consider it. I'll leave it here. I'll stop rambling for now. Let's get into our conversation with Paola. I hope you enjoy it. And let's learn more about what she does. Welcome, everyone. My name is Paula from Tellera Talks. And today I am talking to Michael from the Level Up English podcast. Hi, Michael. How are you today?

Hello, I am fantastic. Yes, I'm Michael from Level Up English Podcast, as you said, calling from across the world, right? Thailand and Spain, is that right? That's exactly it. Yeah. So Talera is all the way in New York to add a little bit more diversity to the conversation, but I am based in Spain. Yeah. And super excited to have this conversation with you today.

Me too. Thank you so much. Yes, it's amazing that the internet can connect us in that way. So yeah, I'm glad we could find a time to talk. But yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, of course. Thank you for having me as well. As you know, this episode will be shared both on Tell Your Talks and the Level Up English podcast. So I encourage you to actually check out both because we have...

a bunch of resources and tips to help you communicate with confidence in English. And the topic that we have today is career progression. You'll learn vocabulary, you'll learn tips. But before we get started, Michael, should we just add? you know, share a little bit of an overview of our shows. We can do, of course. Yeah, yeah. So for the Level Up English podcast, we've been going for a few years now and...

The kind of the way that we've done it has changed over the years, but these days it's become very casual and conversational where sometimes it's me on my own. Sometimes it's me with a guest. It depends. A guest like today. What I try to do is pick random topics to talk about and extract some English learning stuff from those topics. Try to make it more enjoyable to listen to rather than just like a grammar lesson.

in a podcast so that's basically what i do and obviously we focus on british english because that is where i'm from and it's a lot of fun how about for you i love it yeah it i actually found out about your podcasts on Instagram, I think you do a fantastic job. So really everyone listening, go check it out. We'll leave all the links later in the description. Yeah. So as for Talera Talks, we...

offer business English communications training. So it's a little bit more specific. It's English for work, whatever you need. We blend language training with soft skills.

cross-cultural skills and business communication so it's it's it's a little bit more targeted in the sense of you know if you need to um get a job at an international market or you feel like you need to build your confidence and that's where we come in um and we also have guests on our podcast especially lately before we used to have

a bit more of a variety. But today we bring in experts from different fields. And yeah, we have a conversation just like today. Fantastic. Just minus the expert today. I wouldn't say I'm an expert in anything. But yeah. You are. You certainly are. Oh, I mean, yeah, so you've definitely niched down more than I have, right? You've got a more specific area like business English. So I think hopefully it will benefit my audience as well because it's a very common...

question that I get. And it's not something that I'm super familiar with. So I'll be interested to discuss this with you today. Sounds great. So I actually have the first question that we can...

talk about and that is you know one of the most common questions that we often get is all right I am I just got a job in a new industry or I just started a new job

What are some effective ways to learn the ropes? Very nice. What would you say there, Michael? Do you have any thoughts? Yeah, I'm trying to think back to... a job that i had before i think it's always very scary when you first start a new job and you have no idea what you're doing and everyone everyone knows apart from you and it's really scary and

One thing that stuck with me was just not being afraid to ask questions. I feel like when you start a new job, you feel this pressure, like you should know what you're doing, but of course you don't know. In order to learn the ropes, I suppose, just ask questions. There's a saying that I remember from school, which is that there's no such thing as a bad question. Any question is good because it's a chance to learn.

So that's one thing that stuck with me specifically from my time working in restaurants where I didn't really know what I was doing. You're so right. And I love that you started with that. When we start a new job, we feel like we need to, oh, we were hired to do this. So I'm supposed to know this. If I ask a bad question, as you said.

am I going to look like I don't deserve this job? But actually what it shows is that you are proactive. And that is kind of related to the tip that you just shared is I would say seek feedback. Ask. colleagues are ask your manager, how am I doing? How can I be 1% better? And what are some effective ways for me to just do my job? better. So I think that that also works a lot. And I think managers tend to appreciate that a lot as well, because it shows that you're willing to learn and get better.

Yeah, I think I guess the fear that we have is that asking a question or asking for feedback is going to show like a sign of weakness. But I think the opposite is true, like you said, isn't it? They'll be impressed. that you're trying to go to that next level. So it's a nice thing to do. I wonder if you've had any personal experience with this as well in previous jobs, perhaps, like I have.

Yeah, absolutely. So for example, when I started working at Talera, we do, as I said, business English training, and I've been an instructor for almost 15 years, which makes me. Sound older than what I am. And then at some point, I transitioned to a marketing role. And there I... I really had to learn the ropes, right? I had to learn how things worked. I had to learn what the role was even about because I...

I didn't come from a marketing background. And so what I did is I really asked a lot of questions and I keep asking for feedback to my colleagues, my manager. The other thing that I found super helpful has been to ask. to be a fly on the wall. That's another idiom there, a fly on the wall, right? When you ask to observe others during a meeting without participating. And it may sound odd at the beginning, but it's one of my favorite career tips ever.

allows you to observe either a meeting, a presentation, even like day-to-day operations. And you can really get the nuances of communication. You see how things just work. you really understand the dynamics within a team. So yeah, ask to be a fly on the wall. It really helped me. Yeah, fantastic. That's a good tip as well. Fly on the wall.

And I wonder if this is a good time to explain that first expression, like learn the ropes. I wonder if it comes from sailing. I actually don't know. I'm only guessing, but maybe from like being on a ship, like sailing. But it's like learning, you can correct me if I'm a bit wrong, but like learning how to do something when you're very new at doing it.

Is that right? That's exactly it. And it does come from sailing where you need to learn how to use the ropes to actually be able to navigate in this case. a new situation so yeah you're totally right to learn the ropes to understand to learn how things work in especially in a new job yeah absolutely yeah yeah fantastic do you have any more examples or do you want to move on to a another area Yeah. So, you know, I think here we just to recap.

Some of the tips that we shared today on learning the ropes we have, you mentioned asking questions, even if they sound basic or if they sound too obvious to you, ask questions, seek feedback. ask to be a fly on the wall, right? Observe meetings without participating. I would also say if you can... get a mentor, someone who can guide you and share their experience. That is always super helpful.

So yeah, I think that already gives a lot of insights into learning the ropes. Now, the other question that I get is, you know, sometimes...

We're working in international environments and we feel like it's too much. We're overwhelmed and we feel like throwing in the towel. Have you ever felt like that? I know everything you've done, Michael, with the podcast and your... different social media channels. It really is impressive, but have you ever felt like throwing in the towel? We will be right back to the Level Up English podcast after a short break.

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as well as pronunciation and accent feedback. So this is the most exclusive Level Up English tier that will allow me to give you a lot more of my attention. Before the launch of level three, you can apply for an early bird discount. So if you want to get 60% off your first month, enter your email and apply for that coupon there. Just tap the link. in the podcast description to find out more. Coming August 25th, 2025. Very good question.

Well, I've certainly felt that way with previous jobs I've had. With the current stuff that I do, like the podcast and everything, I would never go so far as to say I've wanted to throw in the towel. However, there have been times where I've, I think this is quite relatable, where I've thought how nice it would be not to have to

be so connected to the internet, not to worry about social media and always checking emails and updating things. Because whenever I have some time away from that, it's always so relaxing. You know, I'm just in the forest going for a hike.

why am i going to go back to social media after this what's the purpose but then somehow i always do i guess there's some benefit there for me but i have i thought about throwing throwing in the napkin not not the full towel maybe just like like it's crossed my mind but i would never i don't think i would ever give up because i i enjoy it too much But how about you? That's awesome. Yeah. You know, I, I fell.

like that when I started with marketing, just what I shared before. I have a background in, as I said, business communication, communication in general, also psychology. So at first it did feel like, oh, it is a nice blend of... skills um but after some time and especially last year was really intense and

global market. And I don't know if our listeners may feel that way, but it did feel much slower than usual. And there were times where maybe it did cross my mind that maybe it was time to throw in the towel. But then, you know, I evaluated my situation and I thought, well, I have a lot of opportunities, you know, for growth and I love my job and there's...

I feel a sense of purpose and I feel like those are some of the elements that tell you, okay, go on, keep going. Don't throw in the towel. Maybe now we can briefly explain what we actually mean by. throwing in the towel yeah i think it's good to explain it a little bit later isn't it so people can think about it maybe they can guess what it means before we tell them that could be a good way of of learning

But yeah, again, I can try this one. Maybe I'll let you go next time. But I think it just means giving up, basically, to stop doing what you're doing. Give up on your task. And I wonder if it... comes from you might know this already is it wrestling or boxing or something like that that's exactly yeah yeah when you it's i think it comes from boxing where

Those who throw in the towel. So usually you have a towel and then when you throw it in on the floor, then it just means I give up. I don't want to go on fighting. I'm done. I give up. I throw in the towel. Yeah. And it's usually this feeling of being defeated. You just can't continue any longer. I guess there have been some times where I've thrown in the towel on specific areas of my work.

uh was it last year or two years ago i stopped doing private lessons uh just because i found i was doing the podcast and everything else and it was way too much for me and it was you know i was starting to burn out so i kind of threw in the towel on on the private lessons but you know i could always pick it back up again in the future couldn't i exactly exactly i feel like that with german learning german i feel like it's one of those that i've tried a couple of times and

I threw in the towel. It was too much for me. But as you said, maybe at some point I could, you know, try again. Yeah. Yeah. Never say never. Yeah. Never say never. Never give up forever. Love it. Yeah. Great example.

Great. So we're talking about career development. We talked about ways to learn the ropes. Also, when you want to throw in the towel, really think about your situation and the opportunities that you have for growth and development. whether it aligns with your values. Have you ever... So the other thing that I also hear, you know, some of the questions that we get is I...

want to invest in career development, and I want to get better. But I feel like it's always the same. And I am a little bit stuck. And sometimes I tell people, well, you should think outside the box when it comes to career. development um have you ever had to think outside the box in your professional development for example this is a really tough one but a great expression

And I think it's probably very common for entrepreneurs and people doing their own business where in order to succeed, you might have to do something a little bit different. Think outside the box.

come up with some new creative ways to get something done. And when have I done that? I'm not sure if this really counts, but I don't want to... spend too long thinking about it but when i first started the podcast i i don't know if you were the same but i i was like copying other people's style a lot because i didn't really know

how to do a podcast so i was heavily getting inspiration from other people maybe the topics they spoke about or the kind of format that they did the podcast in and over time after a few weeks or months

I eventually got my own style and I kind of decided to go my own way a little bit more. And I guess there's an element of thinking outside the box here, which is not following what everyone else is doing and trying to do something in your own way and being a bit creative with it um trying to think of an example of what that could be like what do i do differently

I think the idea is there, even if I don't have an example to back it up. But am I making sense? Do you know what I'm talking about? Absolutely. Yeah. So I love what you said, you know, from going to mirroring. other styles that you liked to actually saying, okay, what do I want my style to be? What do I want my show to feel like? And that's where exactly that's where you.

had to think outside the box and say, okay, I'm just going to be creative. I'm going to be, you know, my own creator of my own show. And, and I think it makes total sense for sure. yeah yeah yeah instead of following someone else's path you you do your own and you just do what you think is best and sometimes that involves being really creative and not yeah not not copying someone else but

I wish my brain was working better to think of some examples. But I don't know if you have any examples that you could help me with. So I have a very recent example. I went back to university. This is about career development. And I went back to university last year to study clinical psychology. And I had a lot of exams and I really didn't have time to study, but I thought it was important for my career development. And so what I did is I fed.

ChatGPT, I trained a ChatGPT to read all the course textbooks and to actually know what it was about. And then I trained it to test me on the different concepts with questions that would really force me to think creatively. So it was not just, this is the concept and here's the definition, but more of a... here's a practical example. How would you apply the theory to this example? And it really, really helped. It helped me pass the exams that I...

I had. And it was with minimal time investment because I couldn't just afford to really read through all the documents and textbooks.

Maybe it's not the best way to learn, but it really felt like I had to think outside the box to actually get it done. That's a really good example. I like that. So I guess lots of people are using... chat gpt and language models like that now so that's not that uh unique in itself but i think you can be really creative and think outside the box and how you use it so if you have like a deadline you've got to read a book or something um

you know by tomorrow one person could just read the book really quickly stay up all night reading it maybe if you're thinking outside the box you might put it in chat gpt and say give me a summary and that will be more efficient maybe yeah exactly exactly or like for example it can be really small examples um i love reading but i also don't have time to read as much as i would like and so i have

books as text and then I also have audiobooks and they help me really get all that knowledge while I do other things like maybe cooking or just tidying up the house and I am listening to those books that I like. So I know it's not super creative, but for me, it was a little bit of a, you know, how can I think outside the box to really achieve my goals?

Yeah. And sometimes it's those small things that make a big impact on your life, right? And save you time and give you happiness. But I don't know, maybe it's your turn to help define this expression this time. Yeah, I'll give it a try. So I'm not sure about the origin of thinking outside the box, but the meaning is to think creatively.

to just come up with original ways to solve a problem. So instead of going the traditional way of doing things, then you think outside the box, you think creatively and come up with original ways to go about it. Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, I also have no idea where it could come from. But if you imagine the box and going outside, it kind of visually makes sense, doesn't it? So yeah, it's a great one to use. Great. Awesome. Great.

What else do we have on the topic of career progression? Career progression. We could talk about when things don't go right, perhaps. and you have to go back to the drawing board either it could be a big thing or a small thing right i wonder if you've had any setbacks in your life in your career, perhaps you don't have to get too personal, I suppose, but where you've had to go back to the drawing board and rethink what direction you're going in life. Yeah, maybe in a way. So I...

I lived in Vietnam for three years and I was teaching English in different companies, just helping professionals communicate in English with confidence. And then I decided to move to Europe. I moved to Berlin. And when I got there... The school year usually starts in Europe. It usually starts in September. And I got there in October. All the schools were all covered, fully covered with...

All the teachers, they need it. So it was really, really hard to actually find a job. I did get some, but it was like smaller private classes here and there. And so I... i felt like okay i i need to go back to the joint board maybe this is not my place this is not my job, at least for this year. So what am I going to do? And I had never, this was many years ago. And so I felt like I had to reassess my skills and the options that I had.

I actually started to look online, which now feels very obvious. So if you cannot teach at different schools, then why don't you teach online? But back then, this was like maybe 10 years ago. It was really not such a thing. And maybe that was also... my way of thinking outside the box but it did feel like i had to go back to drawing board and i i did um continue to

teach, but I did find an online job. I had also done a little bit of translation work, and so I felt, okay, now it is the moment to actually complement what I do with translating again. So yeah, that would be, I think, the time where I really thought, right, time to go back to the drawing board. Yeah, I like how you use both expressions there too. That's really good. Great, great idea.

it also reminded me of something a bit similar for me i guess there's so many things i could i could match it to here but one like it could be a really big thing or a small thing like a really big thing for me was uh for several years i used to work as a gardener That was my main job. I was planting flowers and cutting grass every day. And then I just kind of got not quite burnt out. I just got bored, I suppose. So then I went back to the drawing board on that career.

that career progression and I went traveling and I really consciously thought about what I wanted to do and I decided that I love languages, I love traveling. So why not get a job where I can try to combine them and do some traveling while I teach languages? So that was my motivation to start this work many years ago. And yes, I went back to the drawing board and I...

Again, maybe I thought outside the box to think about something a little bit different that none of my friends were doing at the time, especially much more rare before COVID. People weren't doing so much. of this kind of stuff i suppose and yeah so i guess a little bit similar to you as well i look i always love to hear stories about career changes and how you ended up where you are so thank you for sharing that

Love it. Yeah, me too. Whenever someone tells me they've just quit their job, my first word is always, ah, congratulations. Because for some people, it's a bad thing. But I think it's usually a sign of a good change. You're making a big change in your life, which is scary. hopefully hopefully good i couldn't agree more i i always really i love change people are

often reluctant to change, but I kind of like it. Even if it hurts a little at the beginning, it always brings in so many opportunities for growth and it forces you to really think, okay. what now? And I feel like we often don't ask that to ourselves, right? We don't stop and think, okay, what do I want? What is going to be my next step? So yeah, I agree with you.

Yeah, very nice. Glad we agree. Awesome. And did we explain this one? No, we didn't really talk about this one, did we? Go back to the drawing board. I suppose this comes from a drawing board. It's like making a plan or something, isn't it? You're writing on a board, I guess.

But it really means to start from scratch, start from the beginning. So you're progressing on some plan and then something goes wrong and you have to start from the beginning again. So you're back to the drawing board, back to the original planning stage. Right. Yeah, that's exactly it. I always imagine, you know, creating or building a building. And then at the beginning, you have to like kind of do the little drawing. And then, of course, it becomes.

something big and robust. But at the beginning, you're just coming up with the main idea, you're coming up with the outline. And that is exactly as you said, the planning stage. And sometimes you start building that.

that structure and it's not working so you actually have to go back to the drawing board you have to go back to the beginning and rethink your strategy yeah yeah i love it i think all of these expressions are so common as well they're not just like random ones that we never use they're

They're like everyday expressions, especially in business English. So they're all good. Absolutely. I can't believe how often they're used, I think, in life in general. But if you join an international company, then you'll realize, wow, they're... They're used all the time, truly all the time. So for sure. And, you know, our audience is mostly non-native English learners. And a lot of them may be wondering, all right.

Great. I would love to get a job in an English company. How do I do that? I feel like I can understand what perhaps I'm sure they understand what we are talking about. Their English might be.

Okay. But from your English being okay to feeling like you can actually get a job at an international company, there's sometimes a bit of a stretch. Do you have any... thoughts any advice for those of us listening um to us and who are in that situation this is a huge topic but i'll see what i can come up with I do get this question a lot, and I've been actually meaning to get a guest on the podcast to talk about this topic alone. So I don't know if maybe we'll talk again in the future.

Yeah, I don't have the best experience because I've never been in that situation trying to get a job in another country. But of course, I guess the first step would be improving your English, especially for...

the job interview stage, because that's going to be where you get, you're giving your first impression, you're trying to make a good impression on the company, on the managers. So if you can... really nail that job interview get it really do it really well then that's going to make a big difference so that might include just improving your english generally um

learning some useful expressions like we're doing today that could be relevant in a job interview and also a little bit away from language just learning how interviews are often done in that culture because if it's not in your home country it may be different to how it's done in where you live so i think that's something to consider too um yeah we we recently did an episode about

job interviews in English on my podcast and it's fresh in my mind. So it was a fun one to talk about. That's awesome. We'll definitely have to link that to this episode as well. Loved what you said about, so certainly improve your English and learn how to do interviews. But there was a phrase that you said where you added the cultural component. You said, learn how it's done in different cultures or different countries. And that would be also my next tip. And that is to increase your...

CQ or cultural intelligence. And that is something we talk about a lot at Talera or Talera Talks. And it really is about understanding how other cultures communicate. how they understand reality, how you can navigate situations that are different from what you're used to, and also how to be okay when you don't have an answer, when you don't know how things work.

So, yeah, really investing in increasing your cultural intelligence, cultural awareness. How do things work in different contexts? So, yeah.

I think it's useful. I mean, language is so much more than just words. Also, in language learning, generally, culture plays a big role. So it's always good to learn that. But I feel like, I mean, you already said that you've worked in Vietnam and probably other... countries too so do you have any more direct experience with this that you could advise on that maybe i wouldn't know so much about

Yeah, so one big difference for me, the biggest culture shock that I've had when living in different countries is that finding out that yes and no have different meanings around the world. And the way I found out is sometimes I would use very direct questions, right? I would ask very direct questions. Do you like this? Will this be ready tomorrow? Are we going out?

next week. So those are yes, no questions. And sometimes I would get a yes for an answer. And then a yes wouldn't actually happen. And I was like, well, is it that they... You know, like I didn't, was my question not clear enough or is it a language barrier? Is it a cultural barrier? And I realized that for some cultures, it is very important to save.

face or to make sure that they keep harmony, they maintain the harmony within the relationship. So building relationships is so much more important in some cultures then. others in a way. And for some people, and this was the case in Vietnam, for example, and I know it is the case in some other Asian countries, saying no in certain situations can feel almost painful. And then they would try as hard as they can to give you a different answer that is not a no.

And that was a little frustrating for me at the beginning. And one of the tips that I started applying across the board and that I always recommend our listeners and our students is ask open-ended questions at work. And in life in general. So instead of saying, do you like this? You could say, what do you think about this? Instead of saying, is this going to be ready tomorrow? When is this going to be ready? And so just.

That super small change actually made a huge difference in my life in general abroad. I don't know if you've ever felt or lived a similar experience. For sure. I think that's such a fantastic practical tip. That's really cool. Yeah, I mean, I'm quite familiar with in Japan, for example. I don't know if you know, but it's just the same. Like they basically in Japanese never say the word no.

The only time you really say no is when you're rejecting a compliment. Like, oh, you're so good. No, no, no, no, no. Apart from that, you never say no. If you don't want to do something, you'll just be like, I'm not sure.

hedge around it a little bit and i i also what came to mind is uh i feel like it's more british uh british culture i don't know how familiar you are with uh British English and British culture, but I think it's very indirect compared to the more American way of doing things where what we say doesn't always match what we mean.

we might say something like in an interview for example it might be like okay so your cv doesn't look doesn't look too bad and it sounds like okay maybe that means it looks good But really, it means it looks terrible or something like that. There's a lot of hidden meaning behind the words where we're not really showing how we truly feel. Or a really common thing is underplaying everything because I think British people are not very expressive.

So if someone's having a really happy day, you don't really say, yeah, I'm so happy. You'll just say like, yeah, I could be worse. It sounds like they're quite sad, but actually they're really happy. It's really hard to truly understand what you mean in the UK. I love that example that you shared. Absolutely. It's also interesting, right? Because right now we're comparing the US with the UK culture. And actually what this is is...

There's no right or wrong. There's no black or white. And there isn't a direct culture and an indirect culture is just what we compare it to. Because the UK, I totally agree with you, is perhaps more indirect. than American culture. But when we put Japan in the equation, then we realize that people in the UK are actually much more direct than potentially people in Japan. So I love that you brought that up. And for sure, it's...

At first, it can be a little hard to really understand, okay, should I interpret this message based on the context, based on the culture, or should I just take the words for what they are? So yes, a lot of... training comes into play here for sure yeah it could be seen as like a massive headache something really annoying to learn or if you're a bit more optimistic and positive maybe it's quite interesting to learn about all these differences but yeah there's a lot of them for sure

Absolutely. Absolutely. So we're talking about, right, helping non-native English speakers get a job. English-speaking company or a global company. You mentioned improving your English and really practicing your interviewing skills. I mentioned really understanding the culture, increasing your cultural intelligence as well. I would say the other tip that's worked for me in the past, and I know some of our learners have also applied this, is to network.

Networking can mean very different things. For me, the first step would be to connect with current employees of that company on LinkedIn that can really help you understand what... They look for what type of people they hire. Maybe you can even ask them for tips. What worked for you in your interview process to get a job at this company?

So I think that's something that maybe doesn't come to mind when you're trying to get a job, but it's something that can truly help. Yeah, connections are important, aren't they? Although, could I give a... Maybe not quite a counterpoint, but perhaps a case where you can go too far. Because I meet a few people here, and it's happened to me before, where when someone is trying to network or they're trying to...

meet people to benefit them in their business or their career. If that is the main reason why they're talking to me, I can always tell from the very first couple sentences and it seems really... It's something about them. It just seems like fake or transactional. I can tell that they don't really want to talk to me. They just want to make new business connections, which for me doesn't feel very good. So I guess the thing I would add to that is...

If you are meeting people or networking in real life, I think it's always nice if you can first take a genuine interest in someone and connecting with someone. And maybe that could benefit you later down the line in a... in a career or business way but if not that's also fine you've made a connection so that would be my view on that in-person networking you're totally right i we've i think we've all had this experience where someone would

reach out to us and we could feel that it was for a very specific reason and not so much for who we are and for building that connection. So I totally agree with you. Take the time to invest in.

building that relationship even if it if it's an online linkedin connection it's good to feel like the relationship flows both ways and you're not just trying to grab something from them without giving anything away kind of kind of like how we first connected right when we first got in touch with each other it was a bit like that it was us both doing something together and not like

hey, how can you make my thing better? It wasn't a one-sided thing. So yeah, it works in all situations. Yeah, right. I like that. You're totally right. That's right.

Do we have any other tips for not native language? I feel this could be already an episode on its own, right? Helping not native English learners get a job in an English speaking company. But is there anything else that you would like to share for today? I mean, it definitely could. I think I'll definitely come back to it, that topic in the future. But I guess the final thing is something that I think about very frequently, which is...

It could be called work-life balance or what's the other phrase? Work-life. There's another one where it's like they're together. I forget what that's called. It's like a merging of work and life where there's no balance. It's just they're kind of one in the same thing. But there's different kind of ways you can do this. But it's something that I think a lot of us are thinking about these days with the...

The ease of working from home and the boundaries between work and your life are less defined, less clear than they used to be. So it's very easy to come home from work. and continue working or maybe some of us a bit like me are working from home anyway so you know where do you set those boundaries so do you have any thoughts on a work-life balance for yourself or others it's

It's a great question and something I'm working on and I'm sure many of our listeners are still working on. I'm not sure if what you meant is... work-life integration maybe that could be that sounds like a good phrase yes I feel sometimes my life is more about at work-life integration more than work-life balance but one of the

tips that has worked for me in the past. And I also have the added challenge of being away from my team. I'm based in Spain. Everyone else is based in the US, some of it on the East Coast. some on the West Coast. So the time difference is really hard. So for me to really weave work into my actual life is pretty hard.

The tip that I would share is when you build your schedule, and I would build my schedule ahead of time. So on Sunday, Sunday evening, I would sit down and think, okay, this is what my week is like. And when I design that schedule, I make sure that I put in my hobbies as part of my schedule. They're like part of my job. So I love to work out and I decided, all right, when is the time where I make sure that I have time for my workout?

And that happens to be 6 a.m. So now I make sure that at 6 a.m. I work out every day and nothing can happen to prevent that other than me needing some more time to sleep. But it does really help to have that time in there to think, all right, this is the time when this is going to happen. And also trying to decide ahead of time, what time is my day ending?

today and i think this helps people like you and me where we don't really have a sad schedule where we work from home and where the lines between as you said work and life can get a little blurry or less defined but i don't know what what works for you i was like smiling inside and out then because i feel like you it's interesting how we both came to the same

uh conclusions without talking about it before so i i do exactly the same thing i always make sure to set uh to schedule fun things into my calendar and make sure i'm doing that and i think it's so easy and so common just to be like i'm gonna do this work today and yeah i'll go for a walk i'll go to the gym if i if i have time if i finish early but no i think it's it's nice as you said to put it in the calendar and treat it just as

important as the other things which is exactly what i do as well and yeah finishing i always try and do that even if i've still got work to do like i think today i'm going to finish in a an hour or so but i don't think i can finish everything i wanted to But I'm still going to cut myself off and okay, I'll do it tomorrow. No big deal. So yeah, I just want to echo what you said, first of all. And is there anything else I do? I think it's...

It is important. I mean, there's inevitably, unavoidably merging of work and life when you are working online a lot. But I do think it is also important to have some time where you completely step away, whether that's like a holiday every now and then or ideally one or two days a week that you just don't do anything.

I'll have some days like Sunday, for example, where I will do emails and very simple stuff, but not much. But I think it's really important. I have Saturday every week where I do absolutely nothing work related. I don't open my emails all day. I don't do anything. So Saturday is just for fun. And that really helps me. And even if you're working a kind of a more standard nine to five job, hopefully that's still possible for you where you can say after this time or on this day.

I'm not going to open my emails or respond to my boss. They can wait until Monday or whatever. Hopefully you can do that. Yeah, I've really tried and I totally agree with you that having a day, ideally two days a week would be perfect where you just relax and focus on other things other than work. I've had to actually, and this has helped me a lot, I've had to delete my Slack app from my phone because I cannot physically not check whether I have new messages.

Throughout the weekend. So my, my, I guess strategy was, all right, I'll just delete the app and that'll force me or that'll prevent me from checking it every hour. Yeah. I love that. Yeah, I think that's another great tip is just think about what apps you don't need on your phone. Like I don't have the Instagram app on my phone.

Because, you know, I check my messages, but I just do it like once a day on my computer because if it was on my phone, then I would be checking all the time. So think about what apps that you don't really need on your phone that you could just go to your laptop or whatever. I think that's a great tip. That's great, for sure. And the last tip that I wanted to share in terms of...

ensuring work-life balance, work-life balance is to set priorities. So as I said, I would sit down on a Sunday and if you don't have time to do this every week to plan ahead, at least do that the day before and think, what? what are my priorities for this day? What, if I only had to pick three things that I want to make sure I finish, what would that be? And that's helped me a lot.

Because sometimes I feel like, or I used to feel like I had been working for hours and hours and hours. But when I thought about, okay, what have I accomplished today? I felt a sense of nothingness. I feel like I've been working, but nothing really meaningful has really happened. So when you are at the designer of your day, where you really think, okay, these are my priorities, and this is what I want to focus on.

It really helps you get rid of all the minor tasks or less impactful tasks that we feel are urgent and we need to get done, but don't really contribute that much to your goals. That's fantastic. Yeah, I have to admit, I don't really do like a weekly plan, although I think it would really benefit me. I do a daily one the night before the next day, which really helps. But yeah, you're right. I think we call it busy work, right? Where you're just...

You're doing things, you're keeping yourself busy, but it's not really benefiting you in a big way. Like you might be, I'm going to clean the kitchen. I'm going to reply to this email, but you're not focusing on the big projects that you need to get done. So I think making a plan for the week would be beneficial. And maybe I'll start doing that from now on. Awesome. But even the day before, I think you're already doing so much more than most people.

Creating that plan the day before really helps you stay focused and make sure that the work you're doing is not just busy work, but actual meaningful work. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic.

Maybe that's it, but hopefully people have maybe learned something new, like an expression, and maybe they're feeling motivated or they want to make a change in their career or job. Lifestyle now, I don't know, but hopefully... they took something away from this absolutely i really hope so as well so as we wrap up what are the next steps um How can people learn more from you, Michael? What can you offer to our listeners today? Oh, well, thank you. Well, as we said at the beginning...

For your listeners, I host the Level Up English podcast. So please, you're welcome to come and listen episodes once a week on random topics on any podcast app, also on YouTube as well. And if you want to connect more or learn more, I also have a website where I do group classes and there's many other courses like IELTS exam training, vocabulary writing courses, all this kind of stuff.

on there as well. So always very busy. How about you? Maybe you could share for my audience. Absolutely. So yes, Talera Talks is a podcast. by Talera. And what we do is we offer business English training. And that really goes from the foundations of English, so grammar, vocabulary, and things like that, all the way to really understanding how to speak in a medium.

how to give a presentation, how to talk to clients from other countries and other cultures. And we do that through a combination of one-on-one classes with mentors and instructors, group courses, workshops. webinars as well. We have monthly webinars. that are totally free for everyone to join. And we also have a platform where you can just learn on your own with courses and you also have access to a speaking club to improve your fluency. So there's a bunch of different resources.

I would recommend starting by listening to Thalera Talks. And yeah, I hope everyone listening today did learn a thing or two. I'm sure they did. I think I probably did as well, to be fair. But thank you so much, though. It's been really nice to chat. I hope we can do it again. Thank you. I look forward to it as well. You have been listening to the Level Up English podcast. Thank you. Thank you.

That's levelupenglish.school slash podcast. And I'll answer your question on a future episode. Thanks for listening.