📕 Part 1: Making plans

Do you like making plans?

Yeah, I love a plan. Maybe not the execution so much, but I like organising everything and putting it in place, so well, everything is ready. It makes me feel safe knowing everything has been accounted for.

Do you always make plans?

I try to, yeah. Sometimes it's fun to have a random day trip or something like that. But for the most part, I like to know what I'm doing and when, since I'm a very orderly person.

And what do you usually plan?

Oh, I think I have a plan for everything. I plan my day so that it goes as productively as possible. And I plan my lessons so they're effective and efficient. And I like making plans for my finances and things like that. So I always have money to do what I want to do.

What are the benefits of making plans?

I mean, well, they're pretty much endless. Financially speaking, if you have a plan, then you can use your money effectively than just spending it on the go or as it comes in. Then there's the almost psychological security of having everything in order. I think those are the two that stand out the most for me when I'm putting plans together.

So, dear listener, we make plans. Remember, we talked about making lists? So make a list and make a plan. Plan out your life. And Rory is the most organised person on this planet. Definitely the most organised person I know.

I try to be. It doesn't always work, unfortunately.

So you can say, I love a plan. So I just love making plans or I dislike making plans. We make a plan and then we execute a plan. So here the execution means how your plan works in real life. So the execution, it's not about the killing in this context, but the act of doing something that you've planned out. So, the execution of my plan.

You put the plan into action.

Yeah, and the verb would be: execute my plan. Put it into action. You can say that I like organising everything. I like putting everything in place. Synonyms for making plans, organising - putting things in place. And I enjoy getting everything ready. It makes me feel safe. It makes me less nervous. It makes me feel less anxious. So usually we're anxious when we don't know what's going to happen. I tend to always make plans, or you can say I usually make plans. I don't make plans for everything, but for most things, I do have a plan. And sometimes I'm spontaneous. So I enjoy having a random day trip, which hasn't been planned. So, just like I enjoy a random trip once in a while. I plan everything, or I plan only my working affairs. Or you plan your trips, or I plan my day. I plan every day of my life. I plan my holidays. What do you plan, dear listener? I plan my shopping. I have a plan of my life. So I plan my day because I want it to be productive. And I plan my work to be effective and efficient. So when we make plans, we are efficient because we do stuff. We are productive.

I feel like that's the only thing that we can say about the reasons why we make plans. It's either about being productive or effective and efficient. I can't think of anything else.

Yeah, but also it's our emotional stability. As you've told us, a plan makes us feel safe. So it kind of removes our anxiety and nervousness. So if you have a plan, you're more confident and tend to be less worried. We make plans for something. So, usually people make plans for their finances. And you can say that I like making plans for my finances. So to plan out my finances, to plan out my budget, where I spend money, or on what. The benefits of making plans are endless, right, dear listener? There are endless benefits of making plans. Financially speaking, if you plan out your finances, then you can use your money effectively. Yay! If you don't have a plan for your money, you will spend money on the go. You will spend money spontaneously. Like, bam, you bought five books on Amazon, and all books are by Rory. Or bam, you bought our podcast without any ads. Then bam, you bought our phrasal verbs course. Bam, you bought Rory's classes.

All of these, of course, are purchases you should be making.

Yeah, yeah, you should make a plan for these purchases. Then there's psychological security, dear listener. Okay, so when you have everything in order, psychologically, it's better for you. When you put plans together, Rory, so like to make a plan or put a plan together, is it the same thing?

Yeah, I think so. When we put a plan together, we make a plan. Maybe when we put things in order, that's about organising the actual material itself.

And Rory, you write down plans in your diary, right? So like a book of your life.

Yeah, or you write down plans in a planner.

Yeah, in a planner, yeah, but it's like offline. I mean, you don't write online, but you use an actual book.

Yes, that's right. But it could be called a diary or a diary planner or a scheduler. There are so many names for this.

Yeah, and Rory, Rory, tell me, like, when did you start planning out your life? Because I know you plan out pretty much everything. Like, have you always been like this? Or like you started at some point in your life? Because, dear listener, like Rory, seriously, he plans every day of his life. He plans everything. He plans a plan to plan.

I think I started doing this in a written form. Oh, boy, it must have been at least as far back as 2012, just from my work. This is before I was a teacher.

Oh, before you were a teacher. What did you do before you were a teacher? I thought you've always been a teacher.

I worked in publishing.

Wow.

I always wanted to be a teacher, but I worked in publishing before.

Hmm, OK, so you published books?

Well, I, not quite. I have published books since I became a teacher. But I worked in a publishing house at a very low-paying job. So I didn't make any of the big decisions.

Dear listener, Rory's secret life before teaching. What did Rory do?

I don't think it was much of a life, to be honest with you.

Wow, interesting. And you lived in Scotland, right?

Yes. At that point.

Yeah. And now it's an interview. Rory, tell us more about your life.

Because we have nothing to say about plans.

Yeah, plans is kind of like, yeah, like you plan out your life. That's it.

Make a plan, put it into action.

Yeah, that's all. No, like the execution of a plan. This one is a good one. Yeah, this part is pretty fast. So the examiner usually asks you like four questions, three or four questions. You use phrasal verbs, synonyms. You lie. You tell the truth. You use the “financially speaking”, you know. I'm a very orderly person. Oh, yeah. We forgot that Rory is a very orderly person. And if you are orderly, you are super organised. And dear listener, we'll wrap it up with a joke.

How can I be a joke about making plans?

Oh, yeah, I found one. And I found a good one. Uh, so Rory, first of all, some pre-teaching. So, what do you call this creature who lives in a haunted castle? This… like scary on Halloween. What do you talk about? Something that…

I, I, I, it could be anything. It could be a ghost or a vampire. I don't know.

Yeah, a ghost. Yeah, I was looking for a ghost. So, dear listener, a ghost, you know, the spirit of a dead person, a ghost. So the joke is about ghosts. So here is how does a ghost plan his day? How does a ghost plan his day? He makes a taboo list. Funny, huh? So did you get it, dear listener? So what does a ghost usually say? The ghost says, like, boo, boo. And the person is scared. So how does a ghost plan his day? The ghost makes a toboo list. Toboo.

Thank you very much for listening.

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