Worthy Goals Vocabulary

7/30/2019 Worthy Goals Vocabulary

1/5

Worthy Goals Vocabulary Lesson

www.LearnRealEnglish.com 1 Copyright: Learn Real English, LLC

Welcome to the vocabulary for Worthy Goals. Lets get started with some of this new vocabulary.

In the beginning I say, there I was, trapped in a tiny office, staring at the clock. To be trapped means tobe stuck. It means you cant escape.

Okay, and I mentioned that when Im in this office time seemed to go at a glacial pace. At a glacialpace, that whole phrase means very, very slowly. It seems like time goes very, very slow. It goes at aglacial pace.

Okay, and in the next paragraph I say, day after day I did the same mind-numbing routine.Mind-numbing, numbing means to take away feeling. It comes from the word numb. Numb means youcant feel. So if your hand is numb it means theres no feeling in your hand. Numb means no feeling. Smind-numbing, you can imagine, it means your mind becomes numb. Your mind cannot feel. And whathat phrase means is if your mind iscant feel or think, it means youre bored. Youre so bored that yomind stops working, thats what mind-numbing means. So its a good little slang expression. We use it lot. Oh, my job is mind-numbing. It means its so boring, super boring. And routine, mind-numbingroutine, a routine is something you do again and again and again, maybe every day or every hour.

Alright, I use the word miserable. I say, IBM was the most miserable job I ever had. Miserable means

very, very unhappy, painful sometimes, suffering.

Okay, I use the word inspiring in the next paragraph. I sayI ask a question, Is it possible to make aliving, to make money, in an honest and inspiring way? Something that is inspiring makes you feelexcited. It makes you want to be a better person, want to do a better job, want to do something great.Thats inspiring. And thats the kind of work I want.

Okay, and then in the next sentence I say, is it possible to have freedom and autonomy in ones work lifeAutonomy, autonomyautonomy is close to freedom. Its a similar idea. But autonomy has the idea ofpersonal freedom and also personal power. So its kind of like independence also, autonomy is kind oflike freedom and independence, freedom plus independence equals autonomy.

Alright, and then I ask another question. I say, does work have to be boring and degrading? Degradingis a great word. Its a strong word. If something is degrading, it means it makes you feel weak andpowerless. So you feel weak, you feel powerless. Sometimes you feel embarrassed. Thats degrading

Alright, a little bit later on I use the word sterility. I say, the movie, Office Space, I watched that movieOffice Space, it captured, it showed the sterility and the numbness and the pointlessness perfectly.Sterility, the direct meaning, the literal meaning, it means without life, no life. Now sometimesand it


2/5



comes from the word sterile. Sterile is the adjective. Sterility is the noun. Something that is sterile, itmeans theres no life.

Heartless, I use the word heartless. I say that people who work these kind of jobs too long, you becomeheartless. If you are heartless it means you have no emotion and it also has the idea that you have nokindness.

Later I have a quote from Hakim Bey, an interesting writer. He says work is the most oppressive force wface, the greatest source of misery in our lives. Oppressive, something that is oppressive means it

controls you. It makes you feel weak. So a government can be oppressive. It means the governmentpushes down the people, controls the people too much.

In this sentence I also use the word face, but Im using it as a verb, to face something. It means to meeor to encounter.

Alright, then I say I hated the drab offices at IBM. Drab, drab is another great word. Drab is a little bit liksterile. Drab means without color. No color.

The next paragraph I say, since then, since IBM, I have been on a quest for a better livelihood. A questquest is a search. It means youre looking for something. But it has aits a very strong word, a quest.So a quest is not a normal search. A quest means you are going on a big search looking for somethingvery, very important.

Alright, on the next page of the learning guide, I mentionI use the word administrators. I say as anemployee, an employee means worker, of course, as a worker. And I say as an employee I must still

follow administrators rules. So even though I love teaching English, and I do, working at a school meanI must follow administrators rules. Administrator means boss or manager, really. An administrator is amanager.

Alright, anywaynext I say that as an employee, working for someone else, theres always an element o

humiliation, always a whiff of command and control. Alright, an element of, that little phrase, an elemenof humiliation. An element of means a little bit of or a piece of.

And the next part of that sentence has a similar meaning, always a whiff of, a whiff of command andcontrol. A whiff of, whiff actually comes from smelling. It means you smell something very quickly. Butthe indirect meaning, here, what the meaning, a whiff of something means a little bit of something.


3/5



Command means to tell someone to do something. Its a strong word, its like in the army. The sergean

will command the soldier. Do this. Go here. Shoot that guy. Do some push-ups. Thats a command.

Okay, I use the word principles in that paragraph. I say unless you are your own boss, unless you haveyour own business or work for yourself, you cannot live according to your own principles. Principles aresimilar to rules but its really a deeper meaning. Principles are rules you live by. Theyre very generalrules that you live by. For example, honesty is a principle.

Alright, and the next one I say I realized suddenly that I had to take the risk, risk means chance, right?

means, yknow, maybe you will fail, maybe you will succeed, but you dont know. I said I needed to takethe risk and follow my heart. Follow my heart is a good phrase. It means to follow your deepest feeling

follow your deepest belief.

Okay, I say finally its a little scary when you start to pursue your dream. To pursue, to pursue means tofollow or it means to try to get something, to try to catch something, so to follow and try to catch, thatspursue.

Okay, I say there are no guarantees. A guarantee is when someone tells you you will succeed, 100%.Its kind of like a promise, a promise to succeed. But there are no guarantees when you start your own

business. You might fail, right? Its not 100%.

Okay, and I mentioned that the specter of failure always hangs over you. Specter means ghost, so Imusing, its a little bit like poetry. Its an image. Im notits not a direct meaning. But I say the specter ofailure, it means the ghost of failure, okay. And I say it always hangs over you. Hangs over you meansfollows you. If something hangs over you it means its always above you. Its always with you. It nevergoes away. It never goes away, its always there. So if the fear of failure hangs over you, it means youalways afraid to fail. Its hanging over you.

Okay, finally, I use thefrom the title hear, I said I once read that a worthy goal should both terrify andinspire you. Worthy means good enough, honest, noble, great, something worth doing, something you

should do. So it hasif something is worthy it has the idea that, okay, its something you should do. Ifits not worthy, it means its not good enough. Its not good enough for you to do. So a worthy goal is agood goal. Its a goal you should follow, a goal you should try to get.

And thenof course, a goal is something that you try to get. Like you say I will lose ten pounds thismonth. Thats a goal. Its something you plan to do, something you want to do. Thats a goal.


4/5



Alright, I say that a worthy goal should terrify you. To terrify means to scare you, to scare a lot. Its muc

stronger than scare. Scare is, yknow, kind of a normal word. But terrify means scare a lot, super-scare

right? So if a goal terrifies you, it makes you really, really, really scared, terrify, to terrify.

Alright, finally, I use thea phrase called asking out. I say, I give some examples of dreams peoplehave. Some people want a great adventure. An adventure is an exciting experience. Sometimesadventure has the idea of a trip, yknow, taking a journey, taking a trip. But not always, it can just be anexperience thats very exciting, maybe a little dangerous. Thats an adventure.

Another example, I say asking out a girl or a guy. This little phrase, asking out, if you use asking out witgirl or guy or man or woman, then it means you ask them for a date. You say, oh, I like you. Would you

go to a restaurant with me? Would you go to dinner with me? Would you go see a movie with me?Thats to ask out. So you say, oh, I want to ask out that girl. Or she asked out that guy. Okay, it meansask them for a date.

And then I say another example, studying abroad, abroad means outside your country. So if I, anAmerican, if an American studies abroad then he or she will study in Europe or in Asia or South AmericaSo thats abroad. Abroad means outside your country, your own country.

And I say perhaps you hesitated, perhaps you hesitated to try your dream because youre terrified.Youre scared. To hesitate means to stop or to wait or to pause. It means you dont do something. Youwait. You know you should do it. Maybe you start to do it and then you stop because youre worried. Sthats hesitate, the verb is hesitate, to hesitate, the past tense hesitated.

Alright, finally, in the very last part, I say my best advice to you is to accept your fear. If you acceptsomething it means you dont fight against it. It means you say okay, I understand, Im not fightingagainst this. So if youre afraid, you can try to fight against it. You can say, no, no, no, Im not afraid, Imnot afraid. Or you can try to run away, you can try to avoid your fear. But you can also accept it. It just

means you say yes, I am afraid. You dont fight against it. You dont say its not true. You say yes, thistrue and its okay. Thats accept, to accept something is to just say this is okay.

Alright, so I say you should accept your fear, dont fight it and dont deny it. You have it, its okay. I sayaccept your fear but dont give up. To give up is to quit. So give up, so, oh Iand the past tense is gavup. You say I gave up. It means you stopped trying, you quit. I gave up on that job. I quit that job. Istopped trying at that job. So, its a common phrase, a common thing to say. Dont give up. It meansdont stop, dont quit, you can do it.


5/5



And finally, in the last sentence, the last vocabulary word for today, antidote. I say the best antidote to

fear is action. An antidote is a cure. Its kind of like medicine, medicine for poison. So if a snake bites

you, a cobra or a rattlesnake, a poisonous snake, something bites you. Youre going to die. The doctor

will give you an antidote. An antidote is medicine for poison. So in this case, the poison is fear. You arafraid, youre terrified. So the medicine for fear is action. The best antidote for fear is action. Alright, sothats antidote. Antidote is kind of a medicine or a cure for something poisonous or something bad.

Thats it for todays vocabulary. Okay, Ill see you next time. Good luck, and finally, dont forget theforums, write in the forums. Okay, see you next time. Bye-bye.

Documents

Worthy Goals Vocabulary