How Do You Define Success?
2023-10-22
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1And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
2We all want to be a success in life.
3But success can look different from person to person.
4Perhaps the key to success is really knowing yourself.
5What do you want? What are your skills and strong suits?
6What are you really good at and what are you not?
7Climbing the ladder of success also requires different strategies in different industries.
8If want to be a success in a traditional corporate environment, you may have to wear business clothing like a suit.
9As they say, you may have to dress for success.
10If want a creative job, you may need to wear the latest fashions.
11Again, English has a common expression about clothes and future job goals:
12"Dress for the job you want, not the one you have."
13However, success takes more than just the right clothes.
14It also takes hard work.
15Oftentimes others do not see all the hard work that goes into a project.
16They think success comes suddenly, for example overnight.
17Let's say an unknown writer makes it big with her first book.
18People may call her an overnight success.
19But they do not know about the many years she spent studying and writing.
20Another ingredient in the recipe for success is a plan.
21To reach your goal, you need to get organized and break the goal down into doable steps.
22You know what they say - if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
23Many English phrases make the road to success sound like a real physical path -- something we could find on a map.
24Real roads are paved with materials such as asphalt.
25But when we talk about success, the roads to it are paved with different materials.
26Sometimes we say the roads are paved with gold.
27This suggests a place where success, especially financial wealth, is easy to come by.
28For some people the road to success is paved with hard work or luck.
29Others may find their road to success is paved with failures.
30Learning from their failures taught them how to succeed.
31Often if you follow the right road, you can achieve your goal.
32Then, life is filled with the sweet smell of success.
33You have the world at your feet.
34You are riding high.
35You've got it made and are killing it.
36You are golden.
37As you can see, we have many expressions describing success.
38But make sure that you do not lose sight of what really makes you happy and successful.
39Some people become a victim of their own success.
40This means you start having problems because of your success.
41And that explains our final popular English saying, a gentle warning:
42Be careful what you wish for: you just might get it.
43And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories.
44How would you define success for your English studies?
45And do you have a plan to reach it?
46Go to our website and comment on the story.
47Or you can send us an email to this address: LearningEnglish@voanews.com.
48In the subject line, write Words and Their Stories and "success."
49Until next time ... I'm Anna Matteo.
1And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English. 2We all want to be a success in life. But success can look different from person to person. Perhaps the key to success is really knowing yourself. What do you want? What are your skills and strong suits? What are you really good at and what are you not? 3Climbing the ladder of success also requires different strategies in different industries. If want to be a success in a traditional corporate environment, you may have to wear business clothing like a suit. As they say, you may have to dress for success. 4If want a creative job, you may need to wear the latest fashions. Again, English has a common expression about clothes and future job goals: "Dress for the job you want, not the one you have." 5However, success takes more than just the right clothes. It also takes hard work. Oftentimes others do not see all the hard work that goes into a project. They think success comes suddenly, for example overnight. Let's say an unknown writer makes it big with her first book. People may call her an overnight success. But they do not know about the many years she spent studying and writing. 6Another ingredient in the recipe for success is a plan. To reach your goal, you need to get organized and break the goal down into doable steps. You know what they say - if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. 7Many English phrases make the road to success sound like a real physical path -- something we could find on a map. 8Real roads are paved with materials such as asphalt. But when we talk about success, the roads to it are paved with different materials. Sometimes we say the roads are paved with gold. This suggests a place where success, especially financial wealth, is easy to come by. 9For some people the road to success is paved with hard work or luck. Others may find their road to success is paved with failures. Learning from their failures taught them how to succeed. 10Often if you follow the right road, you can achieve your goal. Then, life is filled with the sweet smell of success. You have the world at your feet. You are riding high. You've got it made and are killing it. You are golden. As you can see, we have many expressions describing success. 11But make sure that you do not lose sight of what really makes you happy and successful. Some people become a victim of their own success. This means you start having problems because of your success. And that explains our final popular English saying, a gentle warning: Be careful what you wish for: you just might get it. 12And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. 13How would you define success for your English studies? And do you have a plan to reach it? Go to our website and comment on the story. Or you can send us an email to this address: LearningEnglish@voanews.com. 14In the subject line, write Words and Their Stories and "success." 15Until next time ... I'm Anna Matteo. 16Anna Matteo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 17________________________________________________ 18Words in This Story 19strong suit - n. something in which one excels 20strategy - n. a careful plan or method 21fashion - n. a common style especially of dress during a particular time or among a certain group 22ingredient - n. something that enters into a compound or is a component part of any combination or mixture 23recipe - n. a set of instructions for making something (as a food dish) from various things 24paved - n. to lay or cover with material (such as asphalt or concrete) that forms a firm level surface for travel 25asphalt - n. any of various compositions of asphalt having different uses (as for pavement or for waterproof cement or paint) 26We want to hear from you. Do you have a similar expressions in your language? In the Comments section, you can also practice using any of the expressions from the story. 27Our comment policy is here.