Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.
Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 58 of the Listening Time Podcast.
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Okay.
All right.
Well, in today's episode, we're going to talk about success.
This is a great topic to talk about.
I'm sure it's interesting for all of you.
We all want to be successful in life.
So we're going to talk about that today.
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All right, let's get started.
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It's listening time.
Okay, so let's talk about success.
First of all, it's important to note that success means something different to different people okay.
People have different definitions of the word success.
And you could be successful in different areas of your life.
And so success isn't necessarily one overall thing that defines your whole life.
You could be successful in one area, but unsuccessful in another area.
So this is a very broad topic with different categories.
In English, when we say the word broad, we're saying that something is big or wide.
So, for example, if I say he has broad shoulders, I'm saying that his shoulders are very wide, right?
He has a very big frame, a big upper body.
So this topic is very broad.
So let's divide it into three different categories, three different types of success.
First of all, let's talk about career success.
So this is probably one of the most popular ways that today's society defines success, okay?
So of course, this puts a lot of pressure on all of us to have a good career, right?
When you see other people who are doing well in their career and they're moving up, it makes us feel this pressure to also succeed in our professional domain, right.
The word domain in English just refers to an area.
So if I say the professional domain, I'm saying the professional area.
So we can definitely feel pressure to have success in our careers.
And young people really feel this as well.
I remember when I was in high school, I
That everyone told me that it was really important to choose a good career, to choose a good path, because it was going to define the rest of my life.
In English, when I use the word define in this way, it was going to define the rest of my life.
I'm saying that it was going to affect or influence my whole life, okay?
It was going to define the rest of my life.
So I remember the pressure of having to choose a university and and choose a major, knowing that this was a huge decision.
Remember that the word major refers to the subject that you study in college.
So for example, my major was English and writing.
This was the subject that I studied in university.
This was my major.
So I remember the pressure of having to choose major and choose a university because this was going to define my career success in the future, or at least this was going to play a big role in defining my career success.
When something plays a role in something else, this means that it plays a part.
It is something that influences that thing.
So choosing the right major and right university can play a big role in a person's career success.
It can really influence this.
It can play a part.
So I remember feeling that when I was younger.
And then when you're actually in your career, once you've actually entered the workforce and you're working and you're trying to build a career for yourself, you definitely feel a lot of pressure to build a successful career and move up and do great things in your career.
Some of the ways to move up in your career are to get promoted.
For example, this means that you get a higher position that's above your position.
So if you're a junior developer, you can become promoted to senior developer, for example.
So being promoted is one way to move up.
And getting a raise is another way to have more success in your career.
In English, when we say that you get a raise, this means that you earn more money.
So if you get a raise, this means that your boss decides to pay you more, to pay you a higher salary.
So of course, everyone wants a raise.
People want to earn more money.
And you can also be given more benefits or perks if you move up.
So the word perk in English just refers to some benefit or advantage that you have.
So if you get more perks, this means that you get more benefits with your job.
So you can get promoted, you can get a raise, you can get more benefits.
Your boss could also give you a leadership role on your team, for example.
Like you don't necessarily move up and get a higher position, but your boss makes you the leader among your team members.
This could also be a sign that you're advancing in your career and you're having some success.
So these are some of the things that people look for and strive for in their career.
In English, when we say that you strive for something, this means that you try really hard to obtain something.
So if I say he always strives for success, I'm saying that he always tries to obtain success.
He always tries to be successful.
He gives his full effort to do this.
So how can we move up in our career?
How can we attain success in our career?
Well, if you gain more technical skills or if you improve your technical skills, this is one way that you can move up.
For example, I'm an English teacher, and so if I want to move up and become a better teacher and more successful, I can focus on improving my teaching skills, or I can focus on learning more about English and learning more about language learning in general.
So that's a way I could improve my technical skills.
And learning in general is going to help you move up in your career.
If you're constantly reading books and articles about your field of work, this is definitely going to help you move up and be more successful, because it's going to give you useful knowledge in your domain.
And another way that you can move up is to increase your soft skills.
Your soft skills refer to the skills that you have that aren't technical, right?
These are the skills like communication and leadership and things like that.
If you improve your soft skills, this can help you get a higher position or a leadership role and it can help you stand out among your other co-workers.
In English, when we use the phrase stand out, we're saying that someone is different from the other people around them.
Someone is a little bit unique and you notice them because they stand out.
So these are some of the ways that you can move up and achieve success in your career.
Next, let's talk about financial success.
This is the other type of success that we hear a lot about in today's society.
And for many people, this is the most important type of success.
So people compare themselves to others based on how much money they have and how financially successful they are.
And this puts a lot of pressure on people.
So this is definitely a big way that people define success in their lives.
I don't necessarily define my success this way, but of course, a lot of people do.
And this is a way that people can show if they're achieving a lot in their career, if they're doing well with their investments, and things like that.
So I think that a lot of people chase financial success with all of their energy.
In English, when we say that you chase something, this means that you go after something, you follow it and try to catch it.
So a lot of people chase financial success with all of their energy and all of their effort.
And a lot of people want to get rich quick.
And this just simply doesn't happen most of the time.
There really is no good way to get rich really fast in a legal way.
So if you're trying to get rich quick, you're probably going to fail.
So I think that if you chase money, if you chase financial success and want to get rich quick, you're probably not going to attain it.
But, for example, if you don't view money as the goal, if you just view money as the tool that's going to help you achieve your goal, then you actually might make more money, right?
I think our mindset plays a big role on how successful we are financially.
If you have a mindset where you just want money.
You need money now, you want to be rich now.
If you think like this, you're probably not going to attain this goal.
But if you have the right mindset when it comes to money, if you view money as a tool, if you view it as a good resource, but not your overall goal in life, this is probably going to help you out a lot.
So what are some ways that people make more money and achieve financial success?
Of course, if you do well in your career, you're probably going to make more money.
If you move up and get promoted and get raises, you're obviously going to have a bigger salary.
And you're going to earn more.
So that's the most obvious way to earn more money.
Of course, there are many investments that you can make that could also help you make more money.
So a lot of people have gotten really rich because they've invested their money very well.
And so if you make the right investments, then this can also lead to financial success.
And one of the most important ways to be successful financially that most people don't really talk about is having good money management skills.
So I learned recently that, according to some studies, a lot of rich people don't actually spend a lot more money than middle class people, for example.
So we tend to think of rich people as people who constantly spend money on a ton of different things.
And some rich people do this.
But many rich people don't just spend money left and right on things that they don't need.
In English, when we say that you do something left and right, this just means that you do it all the time.
You do it in many different situations.
So rich people don't always spend money left and right on things they don't need.
They might actually try to spend money only on things that they really need.
And if they have this type of habit, they're probably going to save a lot of money and this is going to help them grow their wealth.
So having good money management skills is important for all of us.
If we all manage our money better, we're all going to have better financial success.
Okay, lastly, let's talk about the most important type of success, in my opinion.
This is personal success.
So I think that this is the most important type of success, because this success can actually make you happy and can actually fulfill you.
In English, when we say that something fulfills you, it means that it makes you satisfied.
So if you have personal success, this is going to fulfill you.
It's going to make you feel satisfied.
If you only have career success or financial success, you're probably not going to be happy.
It's important to have success in your personal life.
So for example, it's important to set goals for yourself and to work to achieve these goals.
It's very satisfying.
It's very rewarding to set a personal goal and work towards it and achieve that goal.
This makes you feel very good.
It makes you feel like you're accomplishing things better.
And it just helps you become a better person, a more well-rounded person.
In English, when we say that something is well-rounded, we're saying that overall it's good.
It's good and balanced.
So becoming a well-rounded person could mean that you achieve your personal desires, your personal goals for your life.
It could mean that you feel good emotionally, that you have a good emotional state.
It could mean that you're achieving your spiritual goals as well.
It could also mean that you're learning a lot of new things and increasing in knowledge.
These are all different types of personal goals that could help make you happier and more well-rounded and make you feel successful personally.
Another way that you can achieve personal success is in your relationships.
If you have good relationships with your family members, your wife, your husband, your kids, And if you have good relationships with your friends and your community.
This can also help you feel successful personally.
So this is a very important type of success, because no one is going to be happy if, If they have an amazing career, they have all the money in the world, but they have no relationships and everyone around them hates them.
For example, this is not going to make you happy.
It's important to have good relationships and to make sure that you're achieving those personal goals.
And so I think that personal success is the type of success that actually breeds happiness and confidence in our lives.
In English, when we use the word breed, we're saying that something produces something.
It results in something else.
So this type of success breeds happiness and confidence.
It means that this type of success results in happiness and confidence in our lives.
So I think that this is the type of success that we want to strive for the most, more so than career success or financial success.
All right, why don't we stop there for today?
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All right.
Thank you for listening to this episode and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
