📘 Part 3: Time management

This episode's vocabulary

Oil rig (noun) - a large structure with equipment for removing oil from under the ground, especially from under the ocean.

High-flying (adj.) - extremely successful.

Retainer (noun) - an amount of money that you pay to someone so as to be sure that that person can work for you when you need them to.

To perceive (verb) - to come to an opinion about something, or have a belief about something.

To-do list (noun) - a list of the tasks that you have to do, or things that you want to do.

To prioritise (verb) - to decide which of a group of things are the most important so that you can deal with them first.

On behalf of someone (idiom) - done for another person’s benefit or support, or because you are representing the interests of that person.

To keep track (of someone/something) - to continue to be informed or know about someone or something.

To expend (verb) - to use or spend time, effort, or money.

Side effect (noun) - an unexpected result of a situation.

Hangover (noun) - a feeling of illness after drinking too much alcohol.

Hungover (adj.) - feeling sick with a bad pain in the head and often wanting to vomit after having drunk too much alcohol.

Industrious (adj.) - an industrious person works hard.

Happy-go-lucky (adj.) - A happy-go-lucky person does not plan much and accepts what happens without becoming worried.

Personable (adj.) - having a pleasant appearance and character.

Time sink (noun) - a task that takes a long time or wastes someone's time.

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Questions and Answers

M: What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a stressful job?

R: Generally, the higher the risk and stress, the higher the pay or the additional benefits. For example, people who work on oil rigs are paid in proportion to the amount of danger they put themselves in. And high-flying lawyers are on call 24 seven, and they're paid nice retainers for that. Other than the pay and the job security, since no one wants to do them, I really don't perceive any other plus sites, now that I think about it.

M: And do people with stressful jobs usually manage their time well?

R: Well, they'd have to. I mean, I don't think they have another choice, to be honest with you.

M: How do highly effective people manage their time?

R: Not very well, evidently. In more detail, there's always some sort of schedule with to-do lists on which different tasks are prioritised. Many of them also have secretaries and PAs to help out with that sort of thing, especially with big events. Sometimes they even do their, well the PAs and secretaries that is, they do their chores on behalf of their employers. I mean, if you had someone like that working for you, it's easy to see how they free up time for their bosses to fit in more work.

M: What can people do to manage their time effectively?

R: Other than what I mentioned already? I suppose you could have a calendar on your email or just your wall. I wear a watch to keep track of the time. Which is similar to managing it. And of course, you can always get more done if you drink a lot of caffeine.

M: What do people do to save time?

R: I don't think you can save time, actually. I just think you can use it more effectively because it's going to be spent or expended regardless of what you do. Although I think what they do is they try to avoid wasting time, which is a bit different.

M: And this is another question how can we avoid wasting time?

R: Well, by prioritising, so you understand what's important and what's not. So, for example, you don't spend too much time, like doing things with negative side effects. So if you know that drinking too much alcohol is going to give you a hangover and you won't be very effective the next day, then you'll drink less, and that avoids you wasting time being hungover in bed so that you could be spending doing something like reading or spending time with your children. And if you don't have either of those, then you could spend it on work or some other leisure time activity.

M: And is it important to manage your time effectively?

R: That depends on the kind of person you are. I mean, if you're a particularly industrious person or ambitious and you want to go places, then you do have to manage your time effectively. If you're happy-go-lucky and don't really care about that kind of thing, then you don't need to. I don't think one is better than the other, since you'll need both type of, both types of person to get by in the world. But I think most people consider it to be important, at least partially so, in order to be effective.

M: Do you think deadlines are necessary?

R: Again, that will depend on the kind of person you are. Some people would just get the task and they do it straight away and other people need more time to think and put together materials. And some projects are more complicated than others. So it's all very context-specific and context-dependent.

M: Should parents help children to manage their time?

R: If that's what's relevant to the culture that they're in then yes, but if it's not, then no. It so much depends on how people see the purpose of life and what a good life looks like. So some people are quite happy to just let things happen and not plan, whereas other people are extremely ambitious and have great designs for their children and high expectations. So then they would want to help them manage their time more effectively.

M: Would you agree that today success mainly depends on being able to manage time effectively?

R: That's part of it in certain situations. Although to be honest, being successful probably relies more on being creative and kind, or at least being able to be personable and establish connections with the right people. Because managing your time effectively is you as one person. However, people that are successful manage lots of other projects involving multiple different people. So really having good social skills and being creative with it are of equal, if not greater importance than time management in this day and age.

M: Do you think technology can help us to manage our time effectively?

R: Well, it can with the right training. I mean, you need to know how to set an alarm function or set an event on a calendar. But technology is not just used for that. It's used for entertainment purposes. And that can be a huge time sink as well. So all of this is contingent entirely on what you're doing with the technology.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers! Hopefully, we haven't wasted your time!

R: Ho-ho-ho. Hopefully, it was an effective use of time!

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Discussion

M: "Time management" was one of the Speaking part 1 topics. We did talk about the time and I think time management. Yeah. So dear listener, you can go ahead and listen to us in Speaking part 1. And now " Time management" is in Speaking part 3. So we started off with the advantages and drawbacks of having a stressful job. Surprise, surprise. Yep. And Rory said that, for example, people who work on oil rigs. So a very specific word, an oil rig. So this thing where they work, when they want to take oil from Earth.

R: Yes.

M: If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just go to Google Images and Google Image oil rigs. Rigs. Oil rigs. High-flying lawyers.

R: But that's just another way of saying like lawyers that are extremely successful and very busy.

M: High-flying lawyers. Can I be a high-flying teacher?

R: You can, if you work hard enough.

M: Yeah. High-flying doctor. Yeah. And then we can mention job security. Right? So a stressful job could give us a good pay and job security. So we are sure that we will not get fired, for example. We manage our time effectively. We spend our time on different things. And also we can waste our time doing something and we prioritise tasks.

R: I think any discussion about time management is going to use the word prioritisation, to be honest.

M: Yeah, prioritisation is important. Or we can use it as a verb to prioritise tasks. And how can we save time? By prioritising. Prioritise? So what should I do, this or that? What's more important? And also in this, you know, self-help books about time management, they also, okay, so you should decide, does it help you to achieve your goal or it doesn't? If it doesn't, you just don't spend your time doing this. Then there are different methods of how to manage your time. You can have a schedule or a schedule with to-do lists. You can keep a calendar on your email or just your wall. Do you think like people have calendars on the walls? I think everything is on the phones today.

R: Well, we've got a calendar on the wall in our house.

M: Really? Why?

R: Why not?

M: Ah, okay. Why not? All right.

R: No, I guess just because my parents are older, so they do it less often.

M: So they just write to-do lists on this calendar and they write things, like tasks, like daily tasks. How do they use these?

R: Yeah, or just major events.

Speaker 2 M: And then Rory wears a watch to keep track of time.

R: Only at work.

M: Only at work. Oh, wow. Okay. So in real life, you just don't care. So the work is like, yes, I wear a watch, but outside of work, no.

R: No. My watch isn't very fashionable, so I don't know why I would wear it outside of work.

M: So you can keep a calendar, you can wear a watch to keep track of time, right? To manage it well. And you can get more things done if you drink a lot of caffeine. Right? So Coca-Cola, coffee, energy drinks. So yeah. And you get things done, right? So you get everything done. Yes. And I'm sure that we did discuss time management in IELTS speaking part one. So this would be a nice addition to this episode. Just go and listen to our Speaking part 1 episode. I think it was last year or maybe two years ago. This podcast is already what? Three years old.

R: I was thinking about that. Someone asked me how long I've been doing this the other day and I was like three years. I can't believe it's been three years.

M: Not to waste our time, we should avoid doing things with negative side effects. For example, if you drink too much alcohol, you're going to have a hangover. Or Rory, could you please tell us what's up with this word? So to be hung over. To have a hangover. So is it hangover, hungover?

R: What, you have a hangover, but you feel hung over.

M: Right. So you see. So a noun is a hangover. I have got a hangover, but an adjective is to be hungover. Hungover. So if you're hungover, you feel bad. So basically you should avoid drinking too much alcohol to avoid being hungover. So this is an activity with negative side effects. And also there are time sinks, time sinks like Netflix, for example.

R: It depends how much you like Netflix, but yes, time sinks are just something where you get involved in it and you lose track of time and then you wonder where all the time went.

M: Yeah, exactly. Netflix. You start watching and then you just keep you going and keep going and keep going and okay, it's 7 a.m. in the morning.

R: And you've done nothing.

M: And you've done nothing. Yeah. It's kind of from 12 to 7 a.m. in the morning it's just nothing and you haven't even slept. You know... So this is an activity with negative side effects because then, yeah, you are tired. You know the story, yeah? Industrious people. Hardworking people, industrious people could manage their time really well. And there are other people. And Rory called them happy-go-lucky people. In one word? Happy go lucky?

R: Yeah. They just don't really have a plan. They just see what happens to them.

M: Happy-go-lucky people. Right? Yeah, just don't care. Right? So there are Zen. Zen. So, yeah.

R: I don't know if Zen people are happy-go-lucky. I think zen people are like centred and don't, like they have a direction to go in, but they don't panic.

M: Really?

R: Yeah, I think happy-go-lucky is a lot more bright and cheerful and positive. Whereas Zen is just, like, neutral.

M: Hmm.

R: Or they aim for it. I mean, I had imagined that Zen people have their moments of panic as well.

M: Moments of panic. Can you imagine, like a Buddhist monk panicking?

R: They probably do. They probably do panic about some things. Like they probably, something happens to them and they're like... So I don't think Buddhist people are like the embodiment of perfection. They're just aiming for it and doing a good job.

M: So dear listener, if you're not sure what to say, it doesn't matter what the question is. So the examiner asks you a question. You have no idea what to say. You say it's all very context-specific.

R: It is.

M: Yeah. So it depends on the context. It depends on the country. It depends on the people, depends on the age. It depends on everything and everything and everything. So, does it matter what the question is? It's all very context-specific. Do we need deadlines? It's all very context-specific, you know, and you surely remember the strategy. I'm not an expert, but if I were to guess, I'd say that yes, deadlines are essential.

R: I think we've reached the deadline for the end of this episode. What do you think?

M: I think so. Dear listener, thank you very much for being with us! Hopefully, you are managing your time well or maybe not well. We kiss you, we hug you. We're sending you good management, time management vibes. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Bye!

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

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