Transcript - “Listening Time” Episode 97

Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. Hey everybody, this is Conner, and
you're listening to Episode 97 of the Listening Time podcast. I hope you're all doing
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Alright, in today's episode, we're going to talk about minimalism. So, this is a
topic that has become more and more popular recently. And I'm not a minimalist in the
sense that I don't consider myself a minimalist. I've never used this term to describe
myself. I don't subscribe to any philosophy about minimalism or anything like that. And
so, I won't be preaching to you today. I won't be trying to get you to become a
minimalist or anything like that.
I just thought it would be a good topic to talk about because it's become a very
popular idea nowadays. And in some ways, I've realized that I am kind of a minimalist
just by accident. It's not on purpose. Like I mentioned, I never use this label for myself,
but I've realized that I have a lot of these minimalistic tendencies in my life, so I'll talk a
little bit about that in today's episode.
And remember that you have the transcript available. So, that's in the Episode
Description below the episode. Go down and click on that if you need it. And if you like
this podcast, please give it a ve-star rating and write a review, and share it with
anyone else you know who's learning English. Alright, let's get started.
Okay, so let's talk about minimalism. First of all, let's try to get a de nition of this
word. I looked online, and I looked at a few di erent de nitions and I kind of formed my
own here. This won't be a perfect de nition, and some of you might be minimalists,
and you might disagree with this de nition. So, I'm sorry, I'm just going to try to de ne
it to the best of my ability. In English, we can use that phrase, “to the best of your
ability” to say that you're going to do your best on something. You're not going to do it
perfectly, but you're going to try your best.
So, here's a de nition that I kind of formed just based on other de nitions that I
saw. So, minimalism is a philosophy or a lifestyle that promotes reducing or simplifying
your possessions to obtain positive e ects. So, for example, some of these e ects
might be that minimalism helps you focus more on the things that really matter. It might
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 help you feel like you have more freedom. And there can be many other di erent
positive e ects that you might get from following this type of lifestyle.
So, in terms of my life, and how minimalism ts in… like I mentioned, I'm not a
minimalist, I wouldn't say this… but I realized just by accident that I kind of follow
some of these di erent patterns in di erent areas of my life. And so, I want to talk a
little bit about some of those today.
And before I get into the details, I just wanted to mention some of the bene ts
that being a little more minimalistic has brought to my life. So, for example, I've been
able to focus on the really important things in my life or the important things for my
career, or things like that, by not having so much, right? By having less, I'm able to kind
of just focus on the little that I have, the little that is important, right? So, that's one
bene t I've seen.
I've realized that having less has also helped me not get distracted as easily. So,
I can focus more on what I want to do or goals I want to achieve. And I can do that a
little more easily, I think. This has also helped me save money. For me, that’s an
important one. I don't want to waste money on things that I don't need.
And so, there have been a lot of di erent bene ts for me. But again, I'm not a
minimalist. I have to stress that because I know some of you probably are, and there
are a lot of things that I don't really know about minimalism or some bene ts or some
strategies, or things like that. But I've just noticed that having less stu has brought
these bene ts to my life. So, let me talk about some of those di erent areas in which I
have less than maybe the average person.
So, rst of all, in my physical space. So, for example, where I live. The area, the
physical space where I live, tends to be minimalistic no matter where I am. No matter
which apartment I've lived in, which house, or whatever, I tend to have maybe less
furniture and less stu around my space than the average person. And I don't think I
purposefully make this my goal every time I move to a new apartment, but I think it
ends up just happening. It just happens kind of by accident, because this is my
preference.
And so why do I like having less stu , less furniture, things like that? Well, in my
opinion, it makes my space look cleaner. I think that in my experience, the more stu I
have in some space, the more the the more easily it can look disorganized or cluttered.
In English, we can use the adjective “cluttered” to talk about some space that has a lot
of things that aren't very organized. They don't look very nice and clean.
So, for example, if you say that your desk is “cluttered with papers,” this means
that you have di erent papers all over your desk in a disorganized way. So, that's how
my physical space tends to look if I have a lot of stu and a lot of furniture. So, that's
why I think it looks cleaner if I don't have a lot of stu .
And having less in my physical space also helps me feel better. I think when I
walk into a room that doesn't have so many things in it, I tend to feel a little more at
ease when I'm in a space like that. In English, when we say that you're “at ease," this
means that you're at peace, you feel calm, etc. So, I feel more at ease when I'm in a
space that doesn't have too many things all around. But that's just me. That's my
personal preference, so you might not agree with that.
And then, one other thing that is really good about not having so many things or
furniture in my physical space, is that it allows me to have just more room to do things.
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 So, for example, I have a baby who likes to crawl and walk and run all around the
physical space where we are. And he can do this a lot more easily if I don't have so
much furniture, and I can also move around with him and play with him in this space
without all of that extra stu . So, that kind of helps us out as well.
How about with clothes? Let's talk about minimalism with clothes. So, I'm
de nitely more of a minimalist when it comes to clothes. Like I said, I don't use this
label for myself. I never even think about it. But I think almost anyone would say that
I'm a minimalist when it comes to clothes, because I don't wear a lot of di erent
clothes. I don't have a huge variety. And I'm a little embarrassed to say, but I wear
some shirts, for example, that I bought 10 years ago or 12 years ago, even.
I know that sounds pretty crazy to some of you, but I think for me, it doesn't
matter too much, to be honest. If the shirt is still okay, if it's still in good condition, then
I'll still wear it even if it's really old. So, I think that you can see here that I'm de nitely
more of a minimalist when it comes to clothes.
I think this will be di erent for everyone depending on how much they like
fashion. I don't think it's necessary for everyone to try to reduce the amount of clothes
that they have, because maybe you're someone that really gets pleasure from having
some di erent items of di erent colors that match with other articles of clothing. And
that is something that you're interested in.
By the way, in English, we can use the word “article” when talking about clothing
to talk about one item or one piece of clothing. So, for example, a shirt is an article of
clothing. If I have one shirt in my hand, I'm holding one article of clothing. So, if you're
really into fashion, then minimalism in terms of clothes probably won't be very relevant
for you.
But for me, if but for me, someone who doesn't care at all about fashion, it
makes sense to be more minimalistic in this area of my life so that I don't have to
spend money unnecessarily and so that I have more space in my closet, for example,
and I just don't have to worry about all that. So, for me this is a very natural one. I just
don't go shopping for clothes that often.
And another area in which I'm a little bit minimalistic probably is in the area of
electronics. I wouldn't say that I'm the most minimalistic person in this area because
for example, I have a pretty good computer and a decent phone. But I would say that I
don't have a lot of di erent electronics. And I would say that I try not to buy new
electronics if I don't need to.
So, for example, recently, my computer was having a lot of issues. I had
problems just working normally with it. And so, I had to buy a new computer. And I
bought a pretty decent computer because I didn't want to have to buy another
computer anytime soon. And so, I think that's more of my philosophy when it comes to
electronics. I just buy the ones that I need, and I try to buy a pretty good one in each
category, like phone or computer, so that it will last me years, so that I won't need to
buy another one anytime soon.
I think I'm a little minimalistic in this category because I don't buy new
electronics if my old electronics still work perfectly. So, I'll never be tempted to buy a
new iPhone if my current phone works just ne, right? So, I think in that sense, I'm a
little minimalistic in this category. I think that maybe a good philosophy when it comes
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 to trying to be more minimalistic with electronics is… have and buy electronic devices
that add some value to your life.
So, maybe if you're spending money on electronics that you don't really need
and you're probably not going to use much and they're unnecessary, well, maybe you
can decide to save that money or do something else with that money. That might be a
that might be a helpful tip for people that maybe want to be a little more minimalistic in
that area.
And then, another area is children's toys. This one is also going to depend on
the parent. I de nitely don't want to say that one way is better than other ways when it
comes to children's toys and how many toys they should have. There is no magic
number. Notice that in English, we can use the phrase a “magic number” to talk about
the perfect number of something. Right? So, if I say there's no magic number, I'm
saying there's no exact perfect number. Okay?
So, there's no magic number when it comes to children's toys. I think some kids
will do well with more toys, and some kids will do well with fewer toys. But I think that
one interesting thing about kids toys is that kids tend to be more creative if they have
to play with the same toy for a longer amount of time, and they don't have other
options of other toys.
I've seen that they've done studies about this, where they only allow kids to
have limited number of toys, and then they compare that kid, or those kids, to other
kids that have more options in front of them. And they observed that the kids that had
fewer options in front of them, they tended to be more creative when they played with
their toys.
So again, this isn't a rule, and if your kid has a lot of toys, that's ne. I'm just
talking about something I thought was interesting… that I think we often overestimate
how many toys our kids really need. And so, I noticed that when I provide my son with
a lot of toys, he kind of just goes from one to the next one and that just gets tired of
them. But if he only has that one toy with him, he kind of has to do more with it. Right?
He has to try to think of other ways to have fun with it.
And I can think of one example of this. Sometimes I'll play with my son with
these little car toys that he has. And these cars can't do that much. You just roll them
on the ground. And so, of course, kids might get bored with them pretty easily. But
what I did was I put his other toys away, and so we only had these, like, four cars. And
I just wanted him to play with these toys.
And so, I started doing something a little di erent with them. I started stacking
them on top of each other. In English, when we say that you “stack” things, we're
saying that you put one thing on top of another thing, and that you put another one on
top of that one, etc. So, we're putting things on top of each other to kind of create a
little tower. So, that's what we did with these cars.
And then, my son found that pretty interesting. And then, he realized he could
knock it over by hitting it or kicking it. And he thought this was really funny. And that
was kind of a new game that we invented with these cars. And so now, he still asks me
to play this game with him. And so, he liked that creative way of using these toys.
And I think that this shows that there are a lot of di erent opportunities, a lot of
di erent options, of how to play with just one toy, for example. So, I think that's pretty
cool, and that shows that even if you don't have the money to spend on a lot of toys, I
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think it's okay because kids can be creative, and you can nd other ways to help
entertain them with just one toy, for example. So, I thought that was pretty cool.
And another thing is that you can pull out old toys that your son or daughter has
forgotten about, and then you can reintroduce that toy to them, and it's almost as if it
were a new toy. So, that's kind of like a cool way to rotate between all the toys, is you
kind of hide some of the older ones. And then, maybe next month, you pull those ones
out of the closet, and then your kid can enjoy them all over again.
In English, when we say that you do something “all over again,” this just means
that you do it again. It's just another way of saying that you do something again,
another time. So, that's how we're a little bit minimalistic with our son's toys. But
again, we didn't try to do that. It just kind of happened. And we realized that it works
for us. And if that doesn't work for you, that's okay. I'm not preaching to you here.
And then lastly, one other area in which I'm a little minimalistic is with apps on
my phone. So, this one is a little bit di erent because it's not a physical item that you're
holding. These are just little things on your phone screen. But I found that for me, if I
delete apps that I don't use, or if I just don't download apps that I don't need, it helps
me out. It helps me not get distracted during my day.
And it helps me feel better when I unlock my phone screen and I don't see so
many things, and I forget where di erent apps are. I don't like that feeling. So, for me I
like just having a little bit there when I open up my phone. And if some app doesn't add
any value to my life, I just delete it. And even things like social media, if I feel like it's
not adding something to my life, or if it has a negative e ect, then I simply delete that
app or I just hide it, and never open it.
So, that's kind of my personal preference. But I know for a lot of other people,
this wouldn't work. They like to have all these apps all these tools at their disposal. So,
that's okay if you don't agree with me on that one. But I wanted to mention it because
people usually notice that when they see my phone screen.
Alright, why don't we stop there for today? I hope this episode was interesting
for you, and I hope it was good practice for your listening. If these episodes have
become easy for you, then make sure to become a Listening Time Family Member or
VIP, and you'll get two new advanced episodes every month. So, sign up today if you
want that. And if you want to ask me questions regarding English or language learning,
then become a Listening Time VIP, and you can ask me questions every week and I'll
answer them in a Q&A session.
And of course, you have the transcript for this episode. So, just click on that if
you need it. And repeat this episode as many times as you need until you can
eventually understand everything I'm saying without using the transcript. And if you like
this podcast, please give it a ve-star rating and write a review, and share it with
anyone else you know who's learning English. Alright, thank you for listening to this
episode, and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
*Click on this link to access my Q&A Sessions, Advanced Podcast Episodes, Bonus
Episodes, and Listening Practice Seminars: www.patreon.com/listeningtime
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