📙 Part 2: Describe something you do that can help you concentrate on workstudy

This episode's vocabulary

To eliminate (verb) - to remove or take away someone or something.

Distraction (noun) - something that prevents someone from giving their attention to something else.

To focus (verb) - to give your full attention to what you are doing or to what is happening.

Solely (adj.) - being one only; single.

To interact (verb) - to communicate with or react to.

To distil (verb) - to get or show only the most important part of something.

Nebulous (adj.) - (especially of ideas) not clear and having no form.

Vague (adj.) - not clearly expressed, known, described, or decided.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory here is going to say what it is, how it helps him to concentrate when he does it, and he's going to explain how he feels about it. Rory? Rory, focus, focus, Rory. Concentrate. Stay with me. Come on. Pull yourself together. All right. Off you go.

R: I don't think there's any great secret to focusing on something. I just usually eliminate or cancel out any distractions and naturally focus solely on the text or thing I'm supposed to be interacting with. In my case, this is rather easy since I'm a teacher, and if I'm not paying attention, then I'm not really doing my job. Moreover, since I usually teach young people these days, they sort of naturally demand this attention with the amount of chaos and noise they generate, or rather the amount of chaos and noise they would generate otherwise. There are times when I'm not working, though, when I have to plan or do research. So I just get a notebook and take notes to distil the main points of a text or presentation. If it's a text, then I might have the TV on for some background noise or let my brain relax when I'm planning. Actually, I often think about what I would do if there wasn't easily accessible entertainment like this online and what I would do then. I think I would probably struggle a great deal more if that weren't available. But who's to say? It's difficult to describe my personal feelings about it because it's also nebulous and vague. I'm glad I can easily set these conditions up and focus in when the occasion calls for it. But I wouldn't say it's a superpower or anything. I just know it works for me and seems to have done the job up until this point. If it didn't, then I wouldn't be getting good marks for lessons and essays, and that would be a big issue to deal with. So all in all, while it seems to be a natural ability, if you just distil it down to its main points, it would be just cancelling out what's there, either by focusing in or by using things that block these distractors out. And that seems to have worked for me so far, and hopefully, it will continue to work for me into the future.

M: And what about your friends? Do they do something of the sort?

R: We haven't really discussed it. I doubt they're as focused as I am, but I'm, who's to say.

M: Rory, you should go and discuss it with your friends. Ask them about mirrors. Ask them about sitting, what their favourite chair is. Did they use to sit on the floor?

R: Get a life.

M: Ask them about happiness.

R: Get a life.

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Discussion

M: Right, so what a story. Okay, not water story, but what a story.

R: It's not really a story. Like that was hard.

M: It was hard. Yeah. So describe something that you do that helps you concentrate on work or study. So Rory told us about the fact that he eliminates all the distractions, right?

R: Yeah. But to be honest with you, that is just concentrating. It's not a great, it's not a brilliant solution to the problem. Most people, what do they do? They listen to music. If I listened to music when I was trying to concentrate, I would probably go insane. I don't know what other people do. Meditate, maybe?

M: Hmm. So you can talk about meditation that helps you focus on work or study. Right? So during like, you're studying and then during the lecture, you start humm... You close your eyes. You start breathing, meditating?

R: Is that what people do when they meditate? I don't think it's about the humming, surely.

M: Oh, well, no. But they close their eyes, they relax. They kind of feel their body. You feel your breath, you breathe, breathe in, breathe out. You know, you close one nostril. Nostril like your nose has two nostrils. Nostrils. You close one, you breathe in with one of your nostrils and breathe out through the other nostril. So this kind of like this. I'm sorry, dear listener, if you are into meditation and I'm talking nonsense, I'm sorry.

R: Then you'll just have to deal with it.

M: Yes. Yeah. This is what we did yesterday during this group meditation at the gym. You know, I joined the gym for the first time in my life?

R: Oh, yeah. How is that going?

M: Oh, yeah. It's going pretty, pretty well. My body's in pain, so.

R: No, no, no. That's a very Russian way of looking at exercise. You don't need to be in pain to be making progress.

M: It's pain.

R: There is pain - there is no victory.

M: Yes, dear listener, we know that the topic is about concentration and we are going off on a tangent.

R: We are not so concentrated right now.

M: We are not concentrated on the topic of concentration. So what else you can talk about? Yeah, listening to music, meditation. Then again, you remove all the distractors. You switch on your phone. Also, for example, some people take short breaks. So when you work, you know, for like 2 hours, then you take a short break for like 10 minutes and then you continue working. Right? I actually do that when I grade papers nonstop. So I do that and it helps me to focus. Yeah, really. Maybe a five-minute break or a ten-minute break, you see, so you can talk about this, but make sure that you choose a topic that you can talk about. And this is something easy, even if you don't do it. But you would like to do it. You can imagine. Oh, I am doing it already. Yeah? You can always copycat Rory's topic and just use all his ideas as if they were yours.

R: Maybe not in this case. I just basically said it happens naturally.

M: Do you have any copyright for your ideas? Can our listener use you ideas?

R: Not this one. Do you what you like with this. That was a terrible answer.

M: Yeah, but still, it's, it's fine. It's fine. As long as it's on the topic and it's logical, the examiner understands you. That's fine. It could be very silly and stupid and nonsense and lies. So. Yeah. Okay. So concentrate, our synonym is focus, right? Focus on something. And Rory goes, I usually just eliminate any distractions, eliminate or cancel any distractions.

R: Or get rid of.

M: Get rid off distractions.

R: Cancel out. There's a phrasal verb.

M: Oh yes, cancel out. Yeah, you said cancel out. So I just eliminate, get rid of, I cancel out any distractions. And I focus solely. Solely. How do you say it? Solely?

R: Solely.

M: Solely. No, it's not solely. It's solely.

R: Solely.

M: Yes. On the text. Yeah? So pretty much I focus only on the text if you can't pronounce this "s" word. "S" word. And then Rory surely goes like, I'm a teacher, so if I'm not paying attention, then I'm not really doing my job. So pay attention. Also, you can use it as a synonym to focus. I'm not paying attention. I pay attention. You can also say that I usually eliminate the amount of chaos and noise when I work or study.

R: It doesn't have to be with children. There's always chaos and noise going on.

M: Oh yeah. Right. Background noise. We might have the TV on for some background noise. Right? Background noise can help you focus on your job, can help you concentrate. Some people have this mellow music or meditation music and yeah, let my brain relax. I let my brain relax when I plan.

R: Can we talk about grammar?

M: Yeah.

R: Is there a conditional structure there? What I would do if there was an easily accessible entertainment.

M: Yeah, nice one. And also you use this like if it didn't, I wouldn't. So if it didn't work, I wouldn't be getting. Oh, actually it's a mixed condition.

R: Oh my.

M: Because Rory said oh yeah, that's really, we are flying high in the sky. So Rory was talking like this ability to focus is not like a superpower or anything. I just know it works for me that getting rid of all the distractions. So it seems to have done the job up until this point. If it didn't. So if it didn't do the job, if it didn't help me, but actually it does help me. So we're imagining in the present then I wouldn't be getting good marks now, so you see, I wouldn't be getting good marks, but now Rory is getting good M: marks. So I say it's a mixed conditional. Is it?

R: It's a conditional.

M: It's a conditional. Yeah. It doesn't matter. Yeah that's a, that's a hard one. Yeah. But it's a good one because it's continuous so I wouldn't be getting good marks now. Yeah. What helped you organize your answer?

R: Well, the bullet points did because I basically moved from one of them to the other. When it came to what it is like, I didn't say, I would like to tell you about something I do. It was just I don't think there's any great secret and then went into a bit more detail and then talking about how it helps me concentrate. Well, it's just there is no distractions so I can get on with what I'm doing. I talked about when I did it because I mentioned my work and then I talked about, I can also do it when I'm planning or researching. Then I explained how I felt about it. I just said, well, I didn't really describe my feelings about it because it's just like it's very nebulous and vague and I don't really know what to think about my feelings about it. So and actually, indeed, you could probably say that. Just say and, for anything, it's all very nebulous and vague. It's difficult to describe my emotions about it right now.

M: Yes, so nebulous means the same as vague. So we kind of have a very unclear idea. Nebulous, it's like, all like space. Like in space, this nebulous. Also, there's a word which is connected to space. Nebula. Yeah?

R: Yeah, it means it's without a clearly defined shape.

M: Mm-hmm. So if, for example, the question, the bullet point is, explain how you feel about the last time you helped a stranger. How did you feel about it? Hmm?

R: Ha, well, I don't know, it was all very nebulous and vague, really. Because it was so long ago.

M: Yeah, you see. Yeah. Or, for example, the question is about. Describe an occasion when you lost something. How did you feel about it when you lost that thing? How did you feel about it?

R: It was all so long ago. It's all very nebulous and vague now.

M: You see, this is a nice strategy. Yeah, I like it. It's all so nebulous and vague. I can't really remember. Well, you can just say, as for my personal feelings, I felt or I feel. Yeah, I feel great about it. I feel it's helpful, it's useful. It works for me. So whatever you do to help you focus, right? It does the job. Yeah, so I'm pleased, satisfied, right? Or I'm angry because it doesn't work the way I want it to work. Dear listener, do you know what you're going to be talking about? Do you? Good.

R: Don't be nebulous and vague. Bye!

M: Thank you very much for listening! And we'll see you in the next section about concentration. Bye!

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