📘 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.