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Worthy Goals - Vocabulary Lesson

OK, Effortless English members welcome to the vocabulary podcast for worthy goals. Let’s 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 to be stuck, it means you can’t escape.

Okay and I mention that when I’m in this office time seems to go at a glacial pace. At a glacial pace, that whole phrase means very very slowly. It seems like time goes very very slow, it goes at a glacial pace.

OK, 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 the word numb, numb means you can’t feel.

So if your hand is numb, it means there’s no feeling in your hand. Numb means no feeling. So mind numbing, you can imagine, it means your mind becomes numb, your mind cannot feel.

And what that phrase means is as if your mind can’t feel or think. It means you’re bored, you’re so bored that your mind stops working. That’s what mind numbing means.

So it’s a good little slang expression. We use it a lot. Oh my job is mind numbing, means it’s so boring, super boring.

And routine, mind numbing routine, 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.

OK, I use the word inspiring in the next paragraph. I say… I ask a question. Is it possible to make a living, to make money in an honest and inspiring way?

Something that is inspiring makes you feel excited, it makes you want to be a better person, want to do a better job, want to do something great. That’s inspiring, that’s the kind of work I want.

OK, and in the next sentence I say, is it possible to have freedom and autonomy, in one’s work life. Autonomy, autonomy, autonomy is close to freedom, it’s a similar idea, but autonomy has the idea of personal freedom and also personal power.

So it’s kind of like independence also. Autonomy is kind of like 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?

Degrading is a great word, is a strong word. If something is degrading, it means it makes you feel weak and powerless.

So If you feel weak and if you feel powerless sometimes you feel embarrassed that’s degrading.

Alright a little bit later on, I I use the word sterility. I say the movie Office Space, I watch that movie Office 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 sometimes it comes from the word sterile. Sterile is an adjective, sterility is the noun. Something that is sterile, it means that there is no life.

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

Later I give, I have a quote from Hakim Bey, an interesting writer. He says: work is the most oppressive force we face, the greatest source of misery in our lives.

Oppressive, somethings that is oppressive means it controls you, it makes you feel weak. So a government can be oppressive. It means the government pushes down the people, controls the people too much.

In this sentence, I also use the word face, but I’m using it as a verb. To face something, it means to meet or to encounter.

Alright, then I say I hated the drab offices at IBM. Drab, drab is another great word. Drab is the little bit like sterile. 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 quest, a quest is a search, it means you’re looking for something, but it has a very strong… it’s 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 something very very important.

Alright, on the next page of the learning guide, uh, I mention… I use the word administrators. I say as an employee, an employee means a 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 school means I must follow administrators’ rules. Administrator means boss or manager really, and administrator is a manager.

Alright anyway, next I say that as an employee, working for someone else, there’s always an element of humiliation, always a whiff of command and control.

Alright, an element of… that little phrase… an element of 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 and control.

A whiff of, whiff actually comes from smelling, it means you smell something very quickly. But the indirect meaning, here, with that meaning, a whiff of something means a little bit of something.

Command means to tell someone to do something. It’s a strong word, it’s like in the army. The Sergeant will command to the soldier: “Do this! Go here! Shoot that guy! Do some push-ups”, that’s a command.

Okay, I use the word principles in that paragraph. I say, unless you are your own boss, unless you have your own business or work for yourself, you cannot live according to your own principles.

Principles are similar to rules, but it’s really a deeper meaning. Principles are rules you live by, thy’re very general rules that you live by. For example, honesty is a principle.

Alright, in the next one I say, I realize suddenly that I had to take the risk.

Risk means chance right? It means you know maybe you will fail, maybe you will succeed, but you don’t know. I say I needed to take the risk and follow my heart.

Follow my heart is a good phrase. It means to follow your deepest feeling, or follow your deepest belief.

Okay, I say finally it’s a little scary when you start to pursue your dream.

To pursue, to pursue means to follow or it means to try to get something, to try to catch something, so to follow and try to catch, that’s pursue.

Okay, I say there are no guarantees. A guarantee is when someone tells you, you will succeed one hundred percent. It’s kind of like a promise, a promise to succeed.

But there are no guarantees when you start your own business, you might fail, right? It’s not a hundred percent.

Okay, and I mention that, the specter of failure always hangs over you.

Specter means ghost, so I’m using it… it’s a little bit like a poetry, like image. I’m not… it’s not a direct meaning. But I say the specter of failure, it means the ghost of failure.

Okay, And I say it always hangs over you. Hangs over you means follows you. If something hangs over you, it means it’s always above you, it’s always with you, you, it never goes away, never goes away, it’s always there.

So if the fear of failure hangs over you, it means you’re always afraid to fail. It’s hanging over you.

Okay finally, I use the… from the title here, I say I once read that a worthy goal should both terrify and inspire you.

Worthy means good enough, honest, noble, great, something worth doing, something you should do.

So it has… if something is worthy, it has the idea, that okay, it’s something you should do. If it’s not worthy, it means it’s not good enough, it’s not good enough for you to do.

So a worthy goal is a good goal. It’s a goal you should follow, a goal you should try to get.

And then the word, of course a goal is something that you try to get, like you say, I will lose ten pounds this month. That’s a goal. It’s something you plan to do. Something you want to do. That’s a goal.

Alright, I say that a worthy goal should terrify you.

To terrify means to scare you, to scare a lot. It’s much stronger than scare. Scare is ,you know, kind of a normal word, but terrify means scare a lot, super scared, right? So if a goal terrifies you, it makes you really really really scared, terrify, to terrify.

Alright, finally I, I use a phrase called asking out. I say… I give some examples of dreams people have. Some people want a great adventure.

An adventure is an exciting experience, sometimes adventure has the idea of a trip, you know, taking a journey, taking a trip. But not always, it can just be any experience that’s very exciting, maybe a little dangerous, that’s an adventure.

Another example I say, asking out a girl or a guy, this little phrase asking out.

If you use asking out with a girl or a guy or a man or a woman, then it means you ask them for a date. You say, oh I like you, would you go to the restaurant with me? Would you go to dinner with me? Would you go to see a movie with me? That’s to ask out.

So you say oh, I want to ask out that girl, or she asked out that guy, it means ask them for a date.

Then I say another example, studying abroad. Abroad means outside your country. So if an American studies abroad, then he or she will study in Asia or South America.

So that’s abroad. Abroad means outside your country, your own country.

Then I say perhaps you hesitated, perhaps you hesitated to try your dream, because you’re terrified or scared.

To hesitate means to stop or to wait or to pause. Means you don’t do something, you wait, you know you should do it, maybe you start to do it and then you stop because you’re worried. So that’s 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 accept something, it means you don’t fight against it.

It means you say Okay I understand, I’m not fighting against this.

So if you’re afraid, you can try to fight against it. You say no no no, I’m not afraid, I’m not 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 don’t fight against it. You don’t say it’s not true. You say yes, this is true and it’s okay.

That’s accept, to accept something. It’s just to say, this is okay.

Alright, so I say you should accept your fear. Don’t fight it and don’t deny it. You have it, it’s okay. I say accept your fear, but don’t give up.

To give up is to quit, so give up. You say I… uh, the past tense is gave up. You say I gave up, it means you stop trying, you quit.

I gave up on that job. I quit that job. I stop trying at that job. So you… it’s a common phrase, a common thing to say. Don’t give up means don’t stop, don’t quit, you can do it.

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. It’s kind of like medicine, medicine for poison. So if a snake bites you, a cobra or a rattlesnake, a poisonous snake, something bites you, ooh you’re 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 are afraid. You’re terrified. So the medicine for fear is action. The best antidote for fear is action.

Alright, so that’s antidote. Antidote is kind of a medicine, or a cure for something poisonous, for something bad.

That’s it for today’s vocabulary podcast. Okay, I’ll see you next time. Good luck and finally, don’t forget the forums, write in the forums.

Okay, see you next time. Bye-bye