📘 Part 3: Success

This episode's vocabulary

Disciplined (adj.) - behaving in a very controlled way.

Driven (adj.) - someone who is driven is so determined to achieve something or be successful that all of their behaviour is directed towards this aim.

To accumulate (verb) - to collect a large number of things over a long period of time.

Monetary (adj.) - relating to money or in the form of money.

Fulfilling (adj.) - making you feel happy and satisfied.

To overlook (verb) - to fail to notice or consider something or someone.

Binary (adj.) - relating to or consisting of two things, in which everything is either one thing or the other.

Milquetoast (adj.) - shy, nervous and with a weak character.

To pay off (phrasal verb) - if something you have done pays off, it is successful.

Learned (adj.) - a learned person has studied for a long time and has a lot of knowledge.

The be-all and end-all - the most important thing.

Trait (noun) - a particular characteristic that can produce a particular type of behaviour.

Superiority (noun) - the fact that one person or thing is better, stronger, etc. than another.

Self-belief (noun) - trust in your own abilities.

Impulse (noun) - a sudden strong wish to do something.

High achiever (noun) - a person who achieves more than the average person in their work.

To conform (verb) - to behave according to the usual standards of behaviour that are expected by a group or society.

Bound (adj.) - certain or extremely likely to happen.

Universally (adverb) - in a way that exists everywhere, or involves everyone.

Buy now, pay later - an alternative payment method that allows customers to purchase products and services without having to commit to the full payment amount up front.

Line of credit (noun) - an amount of money a person or company is allowed to borrow during a particular period of time from one or more financial organizations.

Enhanced (adj.) - better than before.

Connectivity (noun) - the ability of a computer, program, device, or system to connect with one or more others.

Questions and Answers

M: How do people assess the success of others?

R: Well, financially speaking people definitely judge others by how much money they have. Obviously, that's not the best measure of success, but it is the easiest and most obvious to pick. It gives you a reasonable idea of how disciplined and driven someone is. Because otherwise, how would they have accumulated this much wealth? Although it's not a great way of assessing their character.

M: And is money the only measure of success in your country?

R: Oh, absolutely not. Like I said, it's just the most obvious. People can be successful personally and socially. And not just in monetary terms. So they might have lots of friends and a very happy life with a fulfilling job without having money or a lot of money. But that's not so easily observed. So it gets overlooked.

M: But why do some people associate success with money?

R: Because like you can see the results immediately. So you see before you have any other experience. So that's the reason.

M: In your opinion, is success more about luck or hard work?

R: In philosophical terms, I don't see why it has to be a binary choice. I mean, can you measure how much someone's... How much chance plays a role in someone's success? The same goes for the amount of effort made, now think about it. How do you actually measure that? However, if you want a milquetoast answer, I'd like to think that hard work pays off. After all, the pyramids didn't just happen by accident, did they?

M: How important is education in achieving success?

R: In terms of finances, it definitely plays a role. For example, a university diploma can be a key that unlocks a lot of doors more easily, though, it's expensive, morally or personally, you don't need to be overly clever or learn to be successful. I mean, Richard Branson's school life was a disaster, and he turned out fine.

M: So do you think that a university education is not necessary to become successful in life?

R: It's not the be-all and end-all. It could be useful. But if you don't have it, then it's not like the end of the world.

M: How do people achieve success?

R: Oh, I've watched a presentation on this once. From a psychological point of view, there are three traits all high achievers share. So a superiority complex, massive insecurity, and impulse control. So they all have self-belief, something to prove, and the focus to see it through. That's about success and achievement, though, not about happiness.

M: But these are all like negative traits. What about something positive?

R: I mean, if you have impulse control, surely that's a positive trait. No?

M: Why?

R: Because if you're in control of yourself, then you can focus on what needs to be done.

M: And if a person doesn't have a superiority complex, for example, they can't achieve success?

R: No, it's just I was talking about high achievers.

M: What are some of the factors which influence success at school?

R: Well, as far as the education system is concerned, it's about how much you conform to certain standards and requirements in order to receive the grades associated with them, and not suffer the consequences of not conforming. So it's a system designed to allow for standards and success in mass education.

M: What influences students' grades at school?

R: Well, in educational terms, what I just said, is conformity, but in human terms, it's also about relationship quality between teachers and students. And the student's relationship to the subject. You don't really get good grades in a subject or a process you don't like. And a teacher isn't an objective person either. They're bound to be influenced by whether they like a student or not, for example.

M: What skills do you think are most important for someone who wants to succeed in business?

R: As far as companies are concerned, they probably want people who are focused on the job. At least the job they are paid to do. Being able to delay gratification and stay on task is a real skill that not many people have. It's also the only universally applicable one. All the other skills will be determined by the nature of the company and the product.

M: How has technology changed the way people do business in recent years?

R: Oh, a great deal. Financially speaking. There's a greater range of ways to pay including buy now, pay later. Lines of credit can be set up more easily because you can check people's credit scores just at the touch of a button. And progress is easy to measure with interconnected systems via the internet. So all this enhanced connectivity has really exploded the number of possibilities.

M: Hey! What a success! Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: Hopefully they were successful.

Discussion

M: So first of all, we can assess success. So assess? Like assessment. Like in IELTS, IELTS assessment. Are you band nine, band eight, band 7. Assessment. So here we can assess success. And usually, we use money to say that some people are successful or not. So we judge others by how much money they have. Okay? So we assess or judge others by the amount of money.

R: Usually.

M: Which is not the best measure of success? So we measure success, we assess success, and it's not the best measure. And it's better to see how disciplined. Discipline? Disciplined. Focused. Or driven a person is. Driven means like, they have motivation, something drives them to work, to achieve more, and they're disciplined, they have certain discipline. Yeah? Focus. So money might seem the most obvious measure of success. So people can be successful personally and socially. Not in monetary terms. So if you use money as a measure of success, you can say in monetary terms. Monetary? Like money terms. In terms of money, we can say a person is successful or not, or in monetary terms. And then Rory explains what it means to be successful personally and socially. So what did you say about socially?

R: What did I say about socially? Hold on. Where is it? Oh, yes, they could have lots of friends and a very happy life and a fulfilling job. Although that's not to do with being socially successful. Unless you like the people at your job.

M: But it's like personal.

R: Yeah.

M: To be successful personally, you are happy, you have a happy life. A fulfilling job. A job which makes you happy, which is meaningful, okay? Not just something that you hate. And lots of friends. So you're successful socially. Here, we can get philosophical. So you say in philosophical terms, it's about luck and hard work. And Rory told us, I don't see why it has to be a binary choice. What was...

R: Yeah, why must it be one or the other? And I don't know how you can say it's one or the other. I don't know how you measure luck or hard work. Like what do you do? Rely on what people say? But of course, people are going to say, yes, it was all about my hard work. That's what it was. That's what did it.

M: So, dear listener, if you want to say it's both and you can, so is it luck or hard work? Actually, it's both. So you can say, I don't see why it has to be a binary choice. You see? Very bad nine. So it's about the amount of effort. So the amount of work. And also, it could be about luck. Rory, you said like, if you want something toast answer. A toast? I'm thinking about breakfast.

R: Well, a milquetoast answer. That's just like the middle of the road, not controversial, not questioning the status quo too much answer. So here, I would just say I think hard work pays off because it's the easiest one to talk about because you can see hard work in the world. Whereas you can't really see luck in the world.

M: I checked it up. Milquetoast. In Cambridge online dictionary. And it says that it's mainly US, informal. So it's American English. And this means shy, nervous, and a weak character, like a milquetoast girl.

R: Yeah. That's what the answer is, though. It's weak. It doesn't really challenge anything. It doesn't say it's not actually these two things. It is in fact, neither of them because you cannot prove which one it is.

M: So you can say hard work pays off. So when a person works hard, they will get something in the end. Yeah?

R: Maybe.

M: Well, usually. Right?

R: What do you mean usually? Where does hard work begin and luck end? I mean, we're all lucky to be alive. So does all of our hard work then depend on the luck that we had to be born who we are?

M: Rory's getting philosophical, dear listener. And then he finishes off with the pyramids didn't just happen by accident.

R: Well, people had to work hard to build the pyramids. They didn't just happen. They're not just there just because.

M: Yeah, using machines.

R: Or aliens did it.

M: Alines. Yeah, the giant did it.

R: That's what it was.

M: Yes, so the pyramids didn't just happen by accident. Is it an idiom or it's not an idiom? It's not a set phrase?

R: It's a metaphor. I think.

M: It's a metaphor. But is it the set phrase?

R: The pyramids didn't just happen by accident. It would be like x didn't just happen by accident. You could replace it with anything, you could say like the Kremlin didn't happen by accident, or the Empire State Building didn't happen by accident. All of these things took hard work to create for sure.

M: Yeah, something like something big. Something that took a lot of time to build, to create didn't just happen by accident. We achieve success. Yeah? We have success, we achieve success, we have our achievements. And education is important. So in terms of finances education plays a role. So a university diploma could give you more money. Yeah?

R: Well, it could get you access to places that will get you more money.

M: Yeah. But again, it's not a rule. Yeah. It's not always the case. Yeah, because we know people. Like you said, like, for example, Richard Branson, but he has a university degree.

R: Does he? Well, I'm pretty sure that his school life was a disaster anyway. And if he's a billionaire or a millionaire, it doesn't really matter.

M: So millionaires without a degree. Mark Zuckerberg, there we go. Richard Branson doesn't have a degree, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs. If we say that money is the measure of success, then there you go. A good phrase is a university diploma or a university degree can be a key, a key that unlocks a lot of doors. So your education could unlock a lot of doors.

R: Of course, it could also be a massive stumbling block as well.

M: Why? You could be over-educated or what?

R: No, you could have spent like a huge amount of money on it. And it would have been a complete waste of time. So you have all of this debt and no way of paying it back.

M: Oh, yeah. Okay, true. And also you used this phrase... Or something like that.

R: Oh, not the be-all and end-all. So yeah, having a university education is not the be-all and end-all. It's not the most important thing in the world.

M: Not the be... Say it again.

R: The be-all and end-all.

M: Could you use it in a sentence?

R: Well, yeah, money isn't the be-all and end-all. It's not the most important thing in the world.

M: Or money is the be-all and end-all of human existence. It is the most important part of something. Well, if you think money is the most important.

R: If you believe that. What a sad life to live if you believe that.

M: How do people achieve success? Rory watched a presentation about this. Okay? So he's educated. And then we go from a psychological point of view, psychological speaking. And he names three traits, character traits of high achievers. So here we mean people on top. Like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, like, really, the movers and shakers of this world. Not just somebody who is successful, like a director of a company of a local business. They are successful. Yes. But if we mean very high achievers. So Rory mentioned a superiority complex.

R: But that's just thinking you're better than people.

M: Massive insecurity. Okay?

R: So being insecure about something a lot.

M: And impulse control.

R: Being in control of yourself.

M: Yes. So you control your mind, your emotions, your body, everyone around you, yourself. So everything.

R: Well, no, just your impulses.

M: Ah, okay. So you control your impulses, like your reactions, right? Or your emotions.

R: You don't get distracted easily.

M: Right. So you stay focused, okay? On the business of your life. Success at school is about conforming and conformity. So when you conform to certain standards. Conform is a negative word, dear listener.

R: Usually.

M: Yeah. Sometimes disapproving. So it's usually negative, behave according to the usual standards of behaviour that are expected by a group or society. So at school, you are required to conform, you're required to wear a uniform, for example. You're required to behave in a particular way. And if you don't, then you, well, get punished. You are naughty and you are a rebel. So the same is true for universities. Right? So you are expected to conform. And Rory talked about conformity. Conformity is a noun from the verb conform. So to achieve success, children have to conform to certain standards, they have to conform to certain requirements.

R: Well, they have to, to achieve success easily, they have to do that.

M: Yeah.

R: If you choose to go another path, it's not gonna be nearly as easy, but it might be a lot more fun.

M: Yeah. And then you can speak about how school kills creativity. Usually when children are too creative, when they think outside the box, they are told to conform. So like, do this task as I tell you to do it, right? In a traditional way, but not in a creative way. We talk about grades or marks children receive or get at school. Or the influence, what influences student's grades or marks at school, or what has an influence on their grades. What affects their grades? And again Rory told us about conformity. Conformity affects the grades.

R: Yeah.

M: And also the relationship between teachers and students. Yes, so true about relationships. Yeah? If the teacher likes you, they will give you higher scores, and higher marks.

R: Well, they're more likely to give you a higher score.

M: Yeah, but psychologically, that's true. Yeah. Like if I like the person, I will give this person more. But if I dislike somebody then like, no, no, no.

R: Well, it probably also depends on why you like them. I mean, if you like them, because they're conforming to the standard, and your job is to enforce the standards and give grades that do that, then you would probably end up giving them higher marks anyway.

M: Yeah. And usually, dear listener, when you like something, you tend to get good grades. Or you're likely to get good grades in this subject.

R: Did you like English at school?

M: No.

R: And yet here we are.

M: Succeed in business. So how to be successful in a business? What skills should we have? And you should be focused on the job. So to stay focused, right? On something that you do as a job. So stay on task.

R: Yeah, don't get distracted. The next question was how has technology changed the way people do business? Like, how is that related to success?

M: I have an idea. It's like IELTS speaking part three questions. Crazy. Maybe like technology... Like, does technology make business more successful? I don't know. Something like technology and business and success.

R: But that wasn't the question.

M: Yeah. But it could be about something like technology, success and business. So be prepared, dear listener, for this. And coming back, what did you mean, when you said being able to delay gratification?

R: Just being able to stop yourself from being distracted by getting immediate rewards.

M: So delay gratification, so your awards will come later. Not immediately. And about technology, you can say that there is a greater range of ways to pay. Like when we do business, we ask people to pay us. So there is a greater range, there is a greater variety of ways to pay including buy now pay later. Yeah? Lines of credit. When you get a product, and you don't give them any money, but you pay later. And also enhanced connectivity. What did you mean by this enhanced connectivity?

R: Just there's more connection between people and businesses. So there's more that you can do. If more people are connected to your business, then you can contact them in a variety of ways.

M: So better connection enhanced system. Yeah? Enhanced connectivity. Wow. Can you use it in a sentence? This connectivity word.

R: Well, the Internet gives people greater connectivity. There are more ways to connect with different things.

M: And enhanced is a nice word. Like we usually use it about systems, enhanced systems. What else can be enhanced?

R: Oh, everything can be enhanced.

M: Not everything. Software on your phone can be enhanced.

R: Yes, everything can be enhanced.

M: So, dear listener, do you feel successful? Do you feel like you need a pizza? Good. Because I do feel I need a pizza. So I'm gonna go for a margarita or maybe two pizzas.

R: But before you go for your margarita, we need to talk about... Last time there were comment adverbs but this time we've had comment adverbs and adverbials for perspective. So things like, financially speaking, personally and socially, in philosophical terms. In terms of finances, from a psychological point of view, as far as the education system is concerned, in educational terms, as far as companies are concerned, and financially speaking at the end, all of these are ways of showing the perspective you're taking on the matter. And to help you practice that. I have some practice exercises for you. But you will need to contact us on Instagram in order to get them, unless you're Maria in which case I will send them.

M: Yes, our Instagram is @successwithielts on Instagram. So yeah. Sweet. Very good phrases. Thank you very much for listening, dear listener! Let's have some pizza time!

R: Pizza time.

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff:

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi

Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi