BE 625: You Have No Idea How Useful These Phrases Are!

This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 625. You have no idea how useful these phrases are. Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.

For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Aubrey and Michelle, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA.

Hello, Michelle. How are you today? I'm doing well, Aubrey. Aubrey, when you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Oh, man, I didn't really have anything specific in mind when I was a kid.

I remember when I was in high school, I had this careers class and I had to choose and I chose computer programmer because computers were sort of new and exciting at the time. That's how old I am.

But even then, like I got over that really quick and I just was never the kid who like knew what I wanted to be from when I was really little. What about you, Michelle? Yeah, well, actually, I wanted to be a lot of I had a lot of things in mind. Actually, now that I think about it, I remember I wanted to be a teacher that was definitely because I would, I would play with my dolls.

And I had a little grade book and but you know why I wanted to be a teacher when I was younger? Why? Because I wanted to write on the overhead. Remember the overhead?

Oh, yes. That was so fun with the little... The markers. I always loved how it looked. And I actually would buy transparencies and overhead markers and use that to play with.

It's interesting because that's all been replaced now with like white boards. But when Michelle and I were younger and in school, I'm curious if listeners out there are familiar. It was a lit up projection. It was like a projector that they would put this transparent paper, you know, plastic paper on and then they would write on that with a Sharpie and then wipe it off.

And that would be projected up onto the wall or the blackboard. And I remember being sort of enamored with that too. It was like... Right. Something about the softness of the pen writing on it and all the colors.

But the problem is I'm left handed. And so that's always been an issue with any of those. Yeah. So but that's why I wanted to be a teacher. But that's not why I became a teacher.

But then I had other things in mind, like I wanted to be a singer and an actress and all these things. And so but here we are today. Yes. And you might have noticed we're talking about this phrase, have in mind.

This was prompted by a student mistake that we hear sometimes. And recently, I heard someone say, I didn't have in mind how risky it would be to switch careers. And so, of course, I understood what they meant. But this is kind of an interesting construction to have something in mind.

We use it in sort of a specific way. So we're going to explain, you know, sort of why this sounded strange and how you can use this phrase in English.

Exactly, exactly. So this is going to be really interesting. So guys, make sure you hit the follow button wherever you're listening to the Business English podcast so that you don't miss anything from us. Yeah, so let's dive into this.

Why can't you say, you know, I didn't have in mind how risky it would be to switch careers? Well, we don't normally use have in mind with things related to like awareness or understanding or the degree of something. Exactly right. This sentence is about being aware or understanding risks.

And it's also talking about the degree of that risk. So the tricky thing is how often comes before the degree of something, right? We might say, how risky. I didn't understand how risky this would be.

How difficult. I had no idea how difficult that would be or how expensive. I was shocked at how expensive this was. Right, right. Yeah. So if you have how and then an adjective or an adverb, it will probably sound strange with have in mind.

Exactly. So when can we use have in mind? Because this is a great phrase. We hear it a lot at work. We use it. And we want you to be able to share what you had in mind, whether that's about a project at work, what you had planned, or

Or the conversation we had, right? What you had in mind to be when you grew up. And this is more for specific ideas or plans that you already have in your head, right?

Right. Yeah. So have plus your idea or plan and then in mind, right? So for example, I have a few marketing ideas in mind for next quarter. Yeah, which sort of means the same as I have a few things I'm thinking about.

I have a few plans, right? This is another great way to say that. You might say we had a different strategy in mind before the budget cuts. Oh, that can change everything.

Yes. And, you know, it's interesting. I just realized with this other example, I have a few marketing ideas in mind. We don't say it like we would say in mind more than in my mind.

Right. And that's really what we mean. Right. But for some reason, we don't. I wouldn't say I have a few marketing ideas in my mind. Right. This is a chunk.

Right. To have in mind. What you have in mind. And we drop that my. We don't need the possessive pronoun. I guess because it's sort of understood that you're talking about your own mind.

Or maybe to shorten. But we use this as a chunk. Have in mind. That's a good point. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And then we could use it for thinking about a specific person or a place.

place. So for example, you would say, have plus the person or place plus in mind. So for example, did you have anyone in mind for the management role? So anyone that you're thinking about hiring for that role?

Exactly. This is such a native natural way to say that instead of who are you thinking about hiring, right? To say, do you have anyone in mind? Who are you considering is what that means.

Or I already have a venue in mind for the conference. Yeah, it means one that I'm already considering. And really to say I have one in mind sort of means I've decided on it. I'm pretty set.

Yeah, true. And then this is interesting. So a common question that you might hear is, what did you have in mind? And this could be used for asking about someone's idea.

So for example, what exactly did you have in mind for the redesign? Or it could be used for asking someone's preferences. Like you said, we should celebrate. What did you have in mind?

Or what did you have in mind for the business lunch? And Yeah. I mean, I mean, it could even be as something as casual as Aubrey and I are deciding to get lunch.

And you said you could say, oh, where should we go? And I might say, oh, well, what did you have in mind? Right. This is such a polite construction. It's very respectful.

I think that's why we hear it a lot at work in business English. Right. Because the alternative is like, where do you want to go? Where do you want to go for lunch?

What are you thinking for the redesign? Right. Which is not the end of the world, but this adds a little bit of politeness, a little level of respect.

Exactly. All right. So let's jump back to the student mistake. You know, what can you say instead of, I didn't have in mind how risky it would be to switch careers?

How would we say this instead? Okay. Well, when you're talking about awareness or understanding or degree of something, you could say something like, had no idea. So, again, this goes along with this how, which is important.

Really, this is a really, like, very useful phrase. So for example, I had no idea how risky it would be to switch careers. So that would sound much more natural and conversational. And it does show that surprise like we talked about with how.

So another example would be, I had no idea how competitive the industry would be, or we had no idea how much time the project would require. Exactly. That is a great way to say that instead. Instead of I didn't have in mind what would happen, you'd say I had no idea.

And then you can finish that with anything, how risky this would be, how difficult this would be. Another thing you could say is had no clue. I had no clue how risky it would be to switch careers, right? This is more informal than had no idea.

It's very conversational. I might say I had no clue how difficult managing a remote team would be. This is the kind of thing you're like, well, I expected it to be pretty easy. I had no clue that it would end up being so tough.

Right. Or they had no clue how expensive expansion would become. So, yeah, I feel like this was really good for especially somebody who's starting a business. Maybe I had no clue how hard it would be or something like that.

Yeah. And then here's another one. Didn't realize. So this one you would do. I didn't realize how risky it would be to switch careers. And this is the most natural and professional option, right?

Sounds very buttoned up. She didn't realize how demanding the role would be. And what else could you say? We didn't realize how long the implementation would take.

So yes, exactly. To say you had no clue or had no idea, these are much more informal, friendly, conversational. If you are wanting to sound more polished and professional, maybe in a meeting or a presentation, a job interview, it would be optimal to use, I didn't realize.

Yes, exactly. So these are a bunch of really good options of what else you could say. Should we do a role play? Yeah, let's do it. You and I are work friends here.

I just got promoted to a management position and you are already a manager of another department. Okay. You want to start us out? I will start out. Here we go.

Welcome to the management team. So how's it going in your department? It's going okay. Honestly, I had no idea how much coordination it would involve.

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize how demanding it can be. It's definitely worthy of that pay raise. True. I also had no clue how many late meetings I'd have every week.

It's been a bit overwhelming, but I think I'll get the hang of it. I gotcha. So when you accepted the promotion, what did you have in mind? I thought it would be more on strategy and leadership.

I didn't realize how much time I'd spend solving day-to-day problems. Yes. This, I think, is a very common conversation at work, right? We often have this idea of how things will go, whether how simple it would be, how easy everyone will be to work with.

And then it's not always how it goes, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Life is full of surprises. It's true. You know, it keeps us on our toes, keeps things interesting.

Exactly. All right. So first you said, I had no idea how much coordination it would involve. So you were surprised. Yeah. And this is such a good connection skill, right?

You're saying like, how's it going? I could just say fine and move on. Right. But instead, I care about the relationship with you as a coworker. I'm being honest here.

I'm sharing with you. It's more challenging than I expected. And it's great to have the phrases to do that. This is actually really important for connection at work.

Yeah, definitely. And then you said a lot of people don't realize how demanding it can be, right? This is a very professional way to say this. You know, of course, you can say no clue.

We're clearly good enough friends that we can use these more informal phrases. I had no clue. I had no idea. But this would be perfect for any business scenario.

Yes, exactly. And what was the next one? I said, I also had no clue how many late meetings I'd have every week. I feel like I've had this conversation with people depending on where they work.

You often just can't foresee how things work at a certain company, right? In some places, all the meetings are in the morning. And then you go somewhere else. Wow, we have all these meetings later in the afternoon.

I had no clue. That's going to take some getting used to. right um yeah like always always a surprise um and then um it's we said uh so when you accepted the promotion what did you have in mind so it's kind of like what did you think it would be yeah but this is you can see how depending on the tone this might sound flippant or accusatory critical right it's like well it's like when you what did you have in mind it's like what did you expect yeah And that would be, it's interesting, the difference there.

That is a more blunt, critical way to say it. What did you expect? But when you say this more formal construction, what did you have in mind? It is more respectful.

It's more polite, just kind of like, what were your expectations, but without the criticism. Right. Yeah. So it all matters how you say something. Right.

And then lastly, you said, I didn't realize how much time I'd spend solving day-to-day problems. And that, again, is the most, you know, acceptable or appropriate, rather, for every work scenario. It's polished, it's professional, just to say I didn't realize.

I didn't realize. Yep. All right. So check out episode 623 of the Business English Podcast. Couldn't help but overhear what to do now. So definitely check that episode out.

That was a fun episode. Scroll up if you missed it and be sure to hit follow if you missed it because you're probably missing some amazing episodes. Wherever you find your podcasts, hit follow on the Business English Podcast.

Yes. Any takeaways for today, Aubrey? Yes, I think this is so important for connection, right? Instead of saying, yeah, fine, everything's fine. If, if, you know, things are different than you expected, share it, use today's vocabulary and say, you know, I had no clue it would be and then whatever was unexpected.

This is a great way to connect with coworkers. Yeah. Love it. Perfect. All right. Aubrey, this was fun and very informative and talk to you later. Awesome.

See you guys next time. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional. Want more from All Ears English?

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