Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of the BigAppleSchool podcast, where the goal of this show is to help you improve your English listening skills and of course, to expand your vocabulary. So my name is Benjamin and today we have three participants. First participant is.
So welcome back, guys. And this is Ayoub's second episode. So welcome back, Ayoub.
It's good to have you again. So how's it been for you for the
I think the second week. So I learned how to make блинчики.
Yes. So I was very good at it. So, yeah, that's the news for me.
Today's kind of the first cold day, you know, that we actually have snow in one even layer.
It's good, actually. I like this weather. Surprisingly.
For us, it's more or less expected, you know. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm kind of sick of spring and autumn. I like either full summer or full winter.
You get the extremes in Russia. You get...
Many people get surprised when I say I like cold weather, but actually it's really what I like. Like snow and cold, like, I like extreme.
Many people do actually. Many people do like cold weather.
I love the fact that, you know, when it's too hot, you can't really get away with it. Right. But when it's cold, you put on enough layers, it's good. You know, you can enjoy walking. But with the heat, I'm dying.
So you can't get away. Just. You just can't
I mean there are air conditioners, stuff like that.
And also, you can go to the banya.
And you can't do that in the summer, you can but it's a bit hot.
You can. This is a very Russian thing. It's plus 35 outside I'm gonna go to the banya where it's plus 80 just to get fresh.
Is it true that people like go to banya and right after they go to swim in the ice?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it's in winter.
I haven't tried that but I'd love to do.
Yeah. It's like, you know, this sort of contrast shower where you have to, you know, switch from cold to hot water and everything. Pretty good for the body.
I'm not sure. So maybe it's not really good for the blood vessels, you know, because they can kind of break. But I I'm not sure.
Maybe you're right, actually, because I remember as a kid, I always loved going to the Jacuzzis and they always said, If you're under 16, you can't go.
Cause heart issues or something like that.
So maybe you are right about this.
I've read something about it, but I'm not sure. They're like so many facts and they kind of contradict each other.
Yeah, I think it's called temperature shock. Yeah. Like you are in a very hot environment and you're straight. Like after that you go to very cold environment.
Yeah, maybe it's good for the immune system because you kind of you overcome this shock and maybe.
I put it on your to-do list of things to do in Russia.
Actually, a lot of things, a lot of things like some museums,
Well, that we don't have many of but...
Oh, no, there is the new park in Novosibirsk. Well, Заельцовский has just had a huge renovation.
It's really nice actually.
The zoo. We have a nice zoo.
Really good zoo actually.
Well I think it's not time for the zoo now. Right?
Now it is exactly the time before they all go to sleep, you know, while the bears are still awake and they're really funny. So, yeah, now's the time. Just dress warmly and go enjoy your walk.
And the funniest thing is if you go to the monkey section, there are cockroaches everywhere.
Not because it's an infestation, but maybe because.
Exactly. And it's horrible.
I recommend it, check it out. It's really funny.
Monkeys are funny in general. So...
Yeah, it's a great zoo, actually, I will say. Yeah. So welcome, guys. And I just need to mention for our listeners, we have a backstage section, so aftershow party. Well, not party...
An after-party. Yes. An aftershow so you can find more details in the telegram chat and you can hear more of us, and there you can get access to vocabulary lists from this show which is great, of course, if you're learning English. All right, guys. So we also want to say thank you to everyone who is following us and everyone who subscribe to us.
And that includes a new person called Александр Анатольевич. So Mr. Anatolevich, thank you very much. And also we had comments from Анна Воронцова, so thank you very much. We had that on VK. Thank you for sharing your thoughts of us. And also we had a reply from Mr. alexmarali. So thank you for reaching out to us.
And if you have any suggestions for future shows, please do write a comment. We'd love to hear from you. And also, do be sure to check out our different platforms so we have Castbox, VK, Apple Podcasts. And of course, you can reach our podcasts on the BigAppleSchool website www.BigAppleSchool.com. All right, guys. Well, what are we going to talk about today? What's our special topic. Do you hknow?
Time management. Are you punctual people?
I'm looking at Natalya and waiting what she's going to say. I mean, Natalya.
I am punctual when it's about classes, when it's about work. As long as it's not, I don't really care to be honest.
Sometimes we have podcasts like, Where's Natalya. I'm running, I'm running. And Natalya comes in with a cup of coffee like, I'm sorry.
I'm never late. Like, I'm usually like one, two minutes before.
Okay, I'm messing with you. I'm messing with you. I'm a very punctual person. I try my best to be because I hate being late. I just... I do not know. It's physically.
Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah.
For me it's better to like, I always think, like, it's better for me to come earlier than late. Like, it's also a principle for me.
But, you know, it's interesting. For example, I talk to some Canadians and in there they have some sort of golden rule. You know, you cannot be more than, let's say, 10 minutes early. And you should not be late. So the perfect time to arrive, you know, it was like 5 minutes before the, you know, agreed time. This is interesting.
Yeah, to come too early again. It's not really good ether.
So, yeah, I have a friend who recently moved to Kazakhstan. Sasha, hi! And the thing is that every time we agreed to meet with, let's say, one. She would come at 1:30. So at some point we said, okay, let's meet at two, and we would come at 2:30. And very often Sasha was not even there. Like, how is that possible? How come that you're always late? So, yeah, there are just people for whom it's some sort of their personality may be to come late. But, Benjamin, what about you?
Me. I am a complete punctual freak. I'm kind of neurotic about it.
I need to be places on time.
So how do you feel if you can't?
I feel really bad if I don't.
Yeah. Anxiety. Yeah, it's just one of my quirks.
High five, Benjamin. Can't really reach, but, you know.
If I'm going to catch a plane, I need to be there, like, 3 hours early.
Yeah, three hours early. Yeah, it kind of... I think it drives my
But, you know, better safe than sorry.
I totally agree, especially if it's an expensive flight. You don't want to miss the...
For me, I am afraid of the oncoming, you know, like, if I go earlier, it means I'm going to avoid all the problems that might happen, that might happen. For example, one he said about the airport and going there 3 hours before, it's actually a very good idea because maybe you would face, you will be faced with the traffic jam. It would be like any problems. Maybe we forget something and you have to go back. So it's better to go earlier then...
You never know. You never know.
Yeah. Speaking of airports. Yeah, totally agree. But I shall just in August had a situation, so I actually missed a plane. So and it was just the first flight of many others, you know, and I had to buy a new tickets for, like, quite a lot of money, actually.
That was a very expensive...
Exactly. But I've never been late for planes before, so it was my first time.
It's just. It's my nightmare.
It was kind of for me too, this really stressful, but. Yeah.
Yeah, that's why they say time is money.
So where were you flying from again?
I was flying from Novosibirsk to Moscow first, and I go to like the tickets really, really cheaply. I got like for 7000 rubles some like that. But then it was late because of the traffic. Actually, it wasn't my fault really. So. And I had to buy new tickets for like 30k.
Yeah. Novosibirsk to Moscow.
But that's a one way ticket. Yeah.
But still even for two tickets. It's a lot.
So lessons. I like to get to lessons at least like half an hour.
I work online only, so, it's hard to be late them, sorry.
Oh, really? Just online now?
Yeah, I don't work offline. It's only online.
For me, like 65%, probably online now.
So that's why I joined Zoom at exactly the time the lesson
So, yeah. Problem solved.
Yeah. I just like to to meditate and be all relaxed and not have to worry about stuff and. Yeah.
Be early. Yeah. It's a bit neurotic. I know, but whatever. It's
Oh, I can give you one possible reason. Because when people think of time management, they're like, Okay, I'm going to write a plan or what I'm going to do today and let's say during the week. And they overestimate themselves. They write a lot of points on this to do-list. A lot of which would take a lot of time, and it's impossible to do it. And then people look at this plan and they think, Oh, God, I failed. Okay, but I'm going to do it tomorrow.
On top of everything, I plan for tomorrow. And of course, you can't do all of that tomorrow. So it kind of, you know, gets bigger and bigger, and bigger, like a snowball. And then you feel very discouraged and demoralized even, you know, to actually keep going. And so you think, Okay, time managment is just not my thing. You know, I'm just so bad at it. It isn't my strong suit. No, you're just doing it wrong. So I think this is one of the main reasons.
Actually, yeah. I think you're going to say something.
But okay. Yeah. There is a psychological phenomenon when, you know, people overestimate their abilities. So and when they plan, they're being too optimistic. So, for example, there was a research and students were asked like how much time it would take them to do some kind of an assignment. And they would said two days or again, two hours, something like that. And usually almost all the times it was like twice as much.
That's why they say when you estimate the time - double it.
If you do it earlier, that is good. But what if you don't? .
Yeah. For me, it's more about laziness. It fails because of laziness also. I know it's a simple word, but it's. It's actually really like.
Can we talk about laziness right now?
So I agree with those psychologists who say it does not exist. There is no such thing as lazy because if you don't do something, you say, Oh, no, I'm lazy. I don't want to do it. That just means there is a reason why you don't want to do it. Ask yourself, why don't I want to do it?
Because I'm too tired. Because you maybe subconsciously do not see this as priority right now. So, you know, maybe it's not laziness, but more of selective participation of setting subconsciously your priorities. So I don't believe in lazy. There's no such thing as lazy.
Well, I think it comes down to motivation. Really. If you have a good, strong reason to do something, you're going to do it.
Yeah, no matter how tired you are, no matter how.
I guess laziness and fear are connected to each other.
Exactly. That's what I was going to say actually.
So, yeah. Sometimes you are too scared and you can't get yourself to do it actually. And, yeah, well.
Well, I guess the other extreme is that you're so scared that you're like a rabbit in the headlights. Or a deer in the headlights.
Oh, yeah. It just frozen, and you kind of procrastinate all
That's another side, yeah.
Yes, I believe we talked about procrastination before, didn't we?
Of course feeling we did.
Yeah, kind of feel like we did. But let's talk a bit about
Lack of motivation again, as you just said.
You know, there might be some reasons. Sometimes there is even no reason. So. Okay. I have to admit, there is one email I have to answer. I know for sure it's going to take literally a minute. I've been putting it off for three weeks now. I feel so bad and I know I have no idea why I'm putting this off.
Although I have a theory that oh, by replying to that email, I'm going to like put a stop to like things that we discuss and everything. Maybe I subconsciously do not want to do this, yada yada yada. But, yeah, so I literally know it's going to take a minute or two. Why? God knows.
For me, procrastination. It depends on which procrastination we are speaking about. Because sometimes people can be like this, like in their daily life or during work. And, like, there are many, like, effects from this, of course, in their daily life. So, let's say, someone is working, okay?
Because I saw this example in my country where there are some people who work and if they get in a problem with their bosses, so they do this like as a revenge. So they procrastinate. Like when the boss is not there, the boss is not there. They just go undressed and they say when he, when he comes, Oh, I can do this tomorrow, I can do this tomorrow. So you can see this is something different from the procrastination as we know it.
And sometimes in your daily life, your own daily life, like people like to rest a lot. So when resting becomes like your priority or top priority, you would always procrastinate on doing your stuff because they didn't prioritize the activity that you wanted to do.
There's one more possible reason why people procrastinate. When you, let's say, put something on your to do list or you know, you need to do something, but it's too big. So let's say do this project, but it sounds so big and you just don't know how to start it. And so you just put it off because you like, I don't know where to start. I don't know how to start.
Break it down into doable steps. And then it's kind of easier to overcome this procrastination. Let's say you need to do some project, put a point in your to-do list, like do the first slide of the presentation. It's easy, right? Just the first slide. You're not going to do more. But then once you start doing it, you're like, Okay, I can do the second one. And then you're like, Okay, I have time. I can do the third one. So you kind of get involved already, so you just get going.
Guys, what do you think which season is most productive for you?
Yeah, I'd say winter. Yeah. For sure. Because you're inside most of the time.
Exactly. In summer you just walk outside.
Try to spend more time. Really?
Absolutely not. I hate the summer.
So you don't spend time outside at all?
Look at me. Half an hour outside and I'm burnt. I got a sunburn, so I'm staying inside most of the time or like, you know, running to a coffee shop from coffee shop. So, yeah, no, I come outside, like, in the evening or in the morning before the sun's out.
You should get one of those parasols.
I have SPF 100 with me at all time.
I use 50. And I'm just...It's enough.
I mean, I've got the skin of someone who has been dead for a week. Come on. I'm, like, yeah, no, but winter. You know, I think that for me, summer's actually more productive if you think about it now, because in winter it's all about New Year's coming. And I want to go and search for gifts and everything. I'm already in the mood. I'm sorry. I know. It's like November.
Well, speaking of buying gifts, that's another big stress. Like, I have to think, what am I going to do? It's another time management thing.
Ask me for help. I'll be glad.
Do you have a strategy for buying gifts? Or do you just go shopping and say, Oh, okay?
No, I have, I usually, so you, okay, don't laugh at me, please. But I start thinking in October. I make a list of things I want to give to my family, to my friends and everything. So then I make a list of where exactly I need to buy this if I need to order anything. Because if you order to Russia, sometimes it's going to take time, you know, several weeks maybe.
So I write a list of what I need to buy, what I need to order and everything. So, yeah, it's usually, you know, slow process. Sometimes I get an idea, you know, just randomly, like I need to put it down, you know? But also I'm the kind of person who notices what people say. So sometimes, let's say, you know, my sister says something in June.
Make a mental note. This is gonna be a good gift for New Year.
So, yeah, if you need ideas, I'm always happy to help with ideas for New Year gifts. Birthdays not so good, but New Year. I'm your guy.
Well, listeners, definitely ask Katya for suggestions. You'd be happy to help.
If you guys are from Novosibirsk, I can even name places for you to go to. Like really where to get this. So, yeah. Don't hesitate to reach out. I love this.
So, Ayoub, how do you buy presents for people?
For me, I am a last minute buyer. Actually, yes. So it's the truth. For me I don't like to stress myself a lot about it. I just go and buy like I know what that person loves and, you know.
So you're going to stress yourself out the last day.
Not stressed. Like I already know what I have to buy, but I don't do it like as a like a to-do list. All right. But I don't have actually a lot of people that I know. So I can just pick what they desire and I know what they desire because I ask them like before. So they will not even expect it at the end.
I just go and buy it and that's it.
I mean, I always love when people give me gifts, but I don't want people to.
Go through the stress of.
Giving me gifts. Like, it's just I don't want to stress out. I don't want to stress out other people.
For me, it's like pure joy. I've learned to wrap it all. So I usually get the gifts, all gifts wrapped.
If it's joy then that's nice. Receiving a gift. But if it's for other people in the kind of hustling around a supermarket, looking for a present, then I don't want people to stress out.
I love giving and getting presents. But the problem is, I don't know. I always kind of stress out about what I can get other people. But it seems to me other people don't bother so much, actually.
Well, yeah. And it's kind of sad, you know, like. Yeah. So
Oh, where is the Christmas spirit? Oh, by the way, I'm sorry, while...
Come on, Christmas spirit, it's too early.
We're on the topic. Yeah, it's still, it's still the beginning of
It's not even Halloween time. Yeah.
Oh, shush. You know, do you know, Ayoub, that in Russia, maybe you, guys. Well, Natasha certainly knows that every year in Russia they choose New Year capital. So the city which is going to have extra funding from the federal budget for New Year decorations. This year this is Novosibirsk. I've seen the photos of the plan what is going to happen on Lenina street.
They're going to have and hang thousands of little lights. So it's going to be like, you know, like a corridor full of light. They're going to make an arch.
Yeah, but it's not just, you know, light, but it's going to be like hanging in one wall, basically. But I'll show you pictures.
They want to make, like an arch as well out of lights as an entrance. It's going to become a pedestrian street. And they've already actually put up the first Christmas decorations in the city.
Already, yeah. I was kind of...
So, yeah, we had this year we are the new year capital. So
I feel lucky because, like I had an experience like this and this is the second time that is happening to me. When I was in Turkey, I went to city and this city, they are fanatic about football. Okay? Their team didn't win the tournament for 30 years. When I was like the year I went there, they won.
Like when I came to Russia. And now you are saying that it is
So you bring some kind of funding or some kind of luck, yeah.
I kind of hope that it makes you luck everything even more,
It's going to get beautiful.
Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You mentioned New Year, and I'm already like, Yes, yes, yes. Let's turn this time management into...
I'm trying to get a Halloween mood, you know, like I'm trying really hard, so.
Okay, time management. My bad.
Well, we are discussing time management. We're talking about how to manage your Christmas presents, how to manage what else do we need to manage in our daily lives?
Do you have a schedule for chores? Well, we talked about cleaning.
Well, actually, one of our previous podcast, what about was about cleaning. So make sure to check this out. But well, see, unlike you, guys, I work online, so it's kind of easier for me to juggle, you know, the personal life and the work life. I have one hour break between classes. I can easily do my laundry, do the dishes, you know, make lunch. Done. And then go back to work. So it's kind of easy to get everything done.
I would like to say quotes that I read yesterday. It's from Anna Dillard. She is a writer. She said, "The way we spend our days is, of course, the way we spend our lives". So what do you think about this quote?
Yeah, obviously. Yeah. If you live without planning every day. So basically you're going to leave all the life like that. Probably.
But also, if you have like every day in a very hectic way.
Then your life is going to get all, like, hectic and crazy.
So it's important to have some sort of balance. So then your life will be in balance.
Yeah, but what is that balance? How can we know how much is too, too much planning?
And it's different, it's different for each person. The same with, like, work life balance. For some people it's okay to spend 10, 12 hours a day working. For some is going to be only four. So we're all, we're all different. So...
And also different cultures have different expectations of time managment, like Germany, for instance, people I've heard that people love to plan everything. Meeting friends. They like to open their diary and say, Okay, let's meet at 5 o'clock on Sunday.
I mean, come on. It's not about mentality, even, you know, now it's more about being an adult.
When you're a teenager, you're like, Hey, let's hang out today. Yeah, sure. Now it's, Okay, let's meet. Okay, I have Thursday, 3 p.m., Friday from 6 to 7, Saturday from 7 to 9, for example, because we are adults, we have so much on our plate these days. We've got work, we've got hobbies, we've got other things. You know, very often we have side hustles. So, yeah, it's not, very often it's just about age.
So do you have a diary? Well I can see Katya right in front of me. You have. Is that a planner?
It is a planner so I can show you. So this is my work planner. So I have my schedule, my monthly schedule with all the subscriptions.
Important appointments, meetings, then my...
Yeah, I use stickers because I'm 30 years old and I love stickers, of course. So and this is my workly planner. So nothing, nothing else goes here. So work or some big meetings and appointments. That's it. So, yeah.
So you prefer to write it down?
Oh, yeah. I'm not a fan of digital calendars and everything. I can't.
I use both. You know, I usually write plans like, I don't know, for example, I have to do this and this, and this every day, but it can be any piece of paper. I just need to go to write it down. But also I have Google calendar of course. Yeah.
Oh, actually, can we keep it for the aftershow? Because I'm going to talk about different tips and everything, and we're going to discuss this.
Pieces of paper and everything.
All right, guys, you know where to find the aftershow. So find the link in the telegram chat. So stay tuned for more later. Yes. Okay. So moving on from that. Is it always necessary to be productive, or is it okay to be lazy sometimes?
Again, yeah. As I've said, yeah. It's impossible to be productive all the time.
Of course not. You don't need to.
I think productivity has nothing to do with laziness, because sometimes like, you don't have to take a long time to achieve something if you are smart. All right. There are people who take time to do something, and there are people who can do it in short time and they can be lazy for the rest of the day. But of course, not about work, about other things. I saw the example of Elon Musk. He doesn't rest, he doesn't have vacation, he is always productive. So what do you think about this?
Well, I think he has the incentive to always be productive because he can see the direct correlation between what he does and the results. Whereas if you work, I dunno, in a restaurant or something maybe you're not going to see that kind of result. Maybe might get a little more tips. It's not guaranteed. But Elon Musk is dealing with a lot of money.
And I want to give an example of Theresa Daytner, who is a head of a product, what is it, a construction company with a seven figure revenue. Just so, you know. So it's millions. So and she has this company. She's the CEO. She's the founder. She's a mom of six. She has six kids. She has a family. And she sleeps 7 hours a day.
And she was interviewed by Laura Vanderkam, who's a writer of the book "168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think". Amazing book about time management. So and the thing is that when Laura, the author, tried to reach out to Theresa, she couldn't reach out because Theresa was on a hike. And later, when they met, she's like, Wait, you go on hikes and she's like, I go and hikes. I do yoga, I coach soccer team, I bake things for my kids. I spend time with my kids. I go with my dog.
At the same time, we remember, right? Seven Figure Revenue Company. Mom of six. And obviously, you know, Laura asked, like, How do you do that? And she just said, Time management. Because my life and my kids are a priority. So I always find time to spend, you know, to spend with them. So but does that mean that she's not productive if she is going on a hike with the dog?
How many hours does she sleep?
At least seven hours. She had a meeting with Barack Obama and even he was impressed. He's like, How do you do all that? So but, yeah, but she says that, you know, her family and her job both are priority, but she's never going to miss the time...
She delegates a lot, I guess.
But still, you know, it's more about. So Benjamin asked, like, Is it okay not to be productive? But would you say she's not productive when she spends time with her family? It's still being productive. You still do what is important for you.
Yeah, she's raising her family.
Yeah, it's a question, actually. So what is productivity like
I think productivity has to do with tasks, achievements. Now you have a goal and you have to achieve it.
Yeah, but what are the tasks? For example, yesterday I wanted to go through a course like watch a couple of lectures, but instead I watched a horror movie. So and it was nice. It wasn't probably productive, but I enjoyed it a lot. And I think it was good for me seriously.
What I meant is, for example, let's take the example of two students or learners, okay? So we give them one month to learn something. So one of them respects time, and he has good time management. Okay. And the other one. He's not, all right? Or she's not. So this is productivity.
He wants to produce what he learned at the end of the month. When you face him as a teacher, you want to see his productivity. So you will see that the other students who didn't respect time. He's in a lower, very lower level than the other students. So this is productivity for me, because you want to achieve a goal, you have to reach that goal. That's your productivity. You produce something from your respecting time and everything.
Yeah, definitely. As long as a student isn't really stressed about it.
I guess I used to have several students and they were, like, really stressing out about whether they can do things or not, whether they are, like, on the schedule. So they're trying to, like, do a lot of things at once. And, like, most of them burnt out because, again...
Thist is like a negative, possible negative effect of, you know, all this time management and everything. Overachievement, burn out and, you know, lack of work life balance. If you take it to the extreme.
It's quite a philosophical question as well. Like what is the meaning of life? If there's a meaning of life, then, yeah, you have an incentive to produce things. Whereas if you are if you have a more nihilistic world worldview, then meaning that you think everything is predetermined, then you don't need to do anything. And you can just sit there and let God take care of everything. Depends what you, what you believe.
Yeah, it depends on your goals as well. If you're here just to enjoy basically.
Yeah. Hedonism. Yeah, exactly. Well, can you remember what a lot of people achieved? I don't know, a hundred years ago? Do you know your great, great, great grand parents? We talked about this before.
Yeah, we talked about it.
Oh, I remember. I was so glad I was not on that podcast.
My family tree's unknown. Yeah. It's like full mystery for all of us in the family anyhow. But, yeah. So if we think about 100 years ago, what were the main goals, let's say, in a woman's life? Give birth to as many children as possible, keep them alive.
Okay, maybe 100 years ago, it wasn't probably as much as that. Guess there were, you know, like...
So live in Siberia, I'm pretty sure it's like, okay, don't have much time.
I don't know, actually. Okay, 100 years ago, probably.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just after the revolution. Oh...
Actually, no, I've just read an article about, you know, 1920s, just the beginning of the Soviet Union, and it was chaos, actually. Like they weren't any rules. I mean, people just lived in, I don't know, multi, in kind of camps, like, you know, for people.
It was a very difficult time for our country.
No, it wasn't actually in the beginning. It was kind of totally
I would say the whole 20/21 century is a very difficult time for this place. But anyhow, yeah. Time management.
We're talking about the 1920s. How do people... What was a typical day in the life of someone from the 1920s?
Okay. Let's take Russia, for example.
No, but Russia. Where in Russia?
Oh, okay. Let's just say Moscow.
Again, I think it depends on like whether they were...
Rich, poor. Who are you? Do you need to go milk your cow or, you know, try to get a job or something? Oh, are you rich? You know?
Yeah. Well, a lot of things had to take a lot from your day. For instance, cleaning your house. It is not just turn on the robo cleaner.
There you go. Now, we have a lot of technology in a kind of.
Oh, God, I love this age when people say, you know, if you had a time machine...
Really is. Because, you know, sometimes people say, if I had a time machine, I would love to go to like Paris in the 18th century. I love the 21st century. Thank you very much. I enjoy all the achievements we've had.
I mean, for a week I would go probably, you know.
I would die within this week, 100 percent.
I have an opinion on this. I think people in the past, even though you said, like we have these technologies and such things, I think people in the past, of course, they spent a huge amount of energy, but they were, I think, happier.
Like psychologically speaking now we don't consume a lot of energy and we think we have all the time, but we don't. We,like, when in that free time, sometimes people really get like serious psychological problems, stress, depression, you know? So I think the human body needs some movement, needs to spend energy. It's healthy for your body and your mind. So, yeah, this is what I think.
People were busier probably. We can ask them to think about mental issues.
Exactly. When I ask my mom, my grandma. They were happy in the past. They did a lot of things, they were happy for in Algeria, I mean.
Now people are not happy. Like you can see, like many people
It doesn't mean they aren't happy.
Yeah, we do have like a very high stress generation, whereas previously the stress was more like a life and death kind of thing.
Made more peace with that. Whereas now we all get
We have more expectations of us.
And more comparison, I would say, like, for example...
So, yeah, that's true, that's true. Our life is kind of stressful right now.
It was more complicated, I'd say, because back in the day, it's like.
Of course, we cannot say that like, you know, it's more difficult for us now than it was for our like, grandparents or somebody who had to like build a house and everything. But it's just different type of stress. Sure. That's a good point. Yeah.
Neurotic stress in the 21st century.
You want to achieve more. I guess. Again, you see other people on social media and they're like, they're having perfectly happy lives. And you compare until like, Okay, maybe I need to work more, I need to study more, I need more and more, and more, you know, so, and.
That's not true actually, because, uh, like those people who look happy on social media.
I look pretty happy on social media.
Okay. For you. But I mean... Yeah. Yeah, like, I watched some documentaries about this and Jordan Peterson if you know him.
He spoke about this, about this topic. It's very like serious
He talked to people who post...
It's kind of bored of him to say 12 rules of life.
The guy's pretty clever. He really is. He is.
Yeah, he is. So he spoke about this topic and he had, when you say you are happy, okay, and you post, it's okay.
I don't know again, what is happiness?
You are an example, like you are an example, okay? But there are other people with other examples and they made the study statistics that most of people who post on social media, they are sad actually and they just want to draw attention and you know. That's it.
But not all of people, like I said, majority.
Also, you know, maybe, for example, I can feel sad then I post a picture of myself smiling or being, I know, looking happy and it kind of makes me feel better, not because other people appreciate me, but because I'm looking.
You are correct. Yeah, the act of smiling releases.
Well, if you feel sad, another thing you can do is listen to sad music. And then you get so sick of being sad and then you're like, Oh, I'm happy now.
I want to be happy a little bit. Yeah.
Well, coming back to time management. Okay. So we talked
Theresa Daytner. We mentioned Elon Musk. Is there anyone else we can think of who has impeccable time management skills?
I can't think of many people, to be honest, but I would expect successful people to be good at time management because they know how to allocate time. They know that time is money. And very often I think what makes them successful is that they value their time and they know how to say no. We very often say yes to some
So I think in general, successful people are good at time management.
What about say no? I mean...
Well, see, for example, somebody asked like, Hey, I'm sorry, can you please help me like with that? And you like, Oh, dear, I can't really say no, it's my friend. So you're like, Yeah, of course, yeah, I'll help you. And then you spend let's see. Even if it's like half an hour or doing something else or somebody starts talking to you and sometimes you're too polite to say, I'm sorry, I don't really want to talk right now. I have things to do. I have places to be. So talk to you next time. So we are polite creatures, let's say, and very often we do not know how to say no.
I think it takes like a kind of, I guess you could say you have to distance yourself from the consequences of some, of some of saying no to someone. If someone is going to get really angry at you for saying no, then, like what's the point knowing them anyway.
So like if someone, Ah, please, can you help me and you say, No I have homework to mark, I have things to do. I'm so sorry. I really want to help you, but I can't. And if they freak out on you, then...
There are not true people in your life.
May I just quickly share you a story?
So it was back in 2015 maybe. I was strolling in a bookshop and I saw a book "How to wake up early every day and do everything you planned". 2015 me was a stupid one. Okay, so that was that was seven years ago. I was a different person. Anyhow, I thought, well, I want to wake up early every day and do everything I planned. I mean, you know, so I just scroll the book. I was like, Okay, you know, kind of sounds interesting. So I bought the book. Only to later found out when you opened the first page to see the the name in the original, which was "5 A.M. Miracle".
Yeah, I've read this book. I mean, I started.
Which basically says, yeah, wake up at 5 pm, go for a jog, drink a smoothie, like do something, drink a smoothie. I'm like, Dude, I live in Siberia with nine months of winter. If I drink a smoothie and go for a jog in winter, I'll be dead. Like, No, I need something more substantial. So which is kind of, you know, sometimes of these time management's tips. And all these, like, wake up at 5 am are good if you're a rich guy in California. But not if you're a working person in Siberia.
Yeah. They don't take into consideration that there are other places and difference.
If you can fall asleep at 9:00 o'clock, then it's okay. But most people don't have the...
Or till 9 pm and still you know.
Yeah. I mean I would love to wake up at 5 am. It would be really cool to be able to...
Just to see the shocked faces.
I'm an early bird, I've got so many worms. You have no worms.
Yeah. Early bird gets the worms.
In August, like about what she said, in August I went to my country and it was so hot. Okay? Like, it was like 35 degrees, 40 degrees. So I spent there three months until I came here. So I didn't have any job in that time because I was coming here to work. So I was just like, relax in there, you know?
But every day I wake up at 6:00. Automatically without any alarm. Nothing. I go out for a walk because it was warm. Then I go back home, you know, like spend the day with the family. But since I came to Novosibirsk, I wake up around nine, eight, you know?
It's kind of like London.
Just speaking about, yeah, maybe the weather can affect your
I mean, yeah, it's kind of hard in here to wake up at six, because sometimes, you know, I'm naive enough to set an alarm for, like, 6 am or something like that, but then you wake up and it's just so dark and the sun rises at like 9:30 am, and she's like, Oh my God, I got to wake up. And it's just so difficult.
Do you think, do you think time management can be affected by weather?
Well, yeah, yeah, of course. And like we were saying. Yeah, about seasons. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Rainy weather makes me more productive.
I think, yeah. Again, surprisingly. Yeah, it was a little bit of sun maybe, and just occasionally.
If it's too sunny, like my eyes hurt and I just don't want to
Well, if you look at Northern Europe, Southern Europe, well it has a much more relaxed culture. And Southern Europe because it's really hot. And in some ways it's more preferable to be there, as in Northern Europe, people, like produce, produce, produce.
But then again, Scandinavian culture is kind of an exception
Because in Scandinavia you have this whole philosophy of working 4 hours a day.
Oh, which we discussed in our podcast of the happiness.
But generally colder countries seem to be more focused on industriousness and maybe they're more depressed. I dunno. Maybe I'm wrong.
Vitamin D, stuff like that. Yeah.
Generally speaking. Yeah.
Oh, the child that we talked about.
Exactly, because first ones...
Check it out really. The podcast.
Yeah, it's really good, actually. Yeah.
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