SILENT

AMBITION

Warm up

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What would you like to achieve in the next 20 years?

2. Have you told anyone about your goals? Why/Why not?

3. What steps do you think you need to take to achieve your goals?

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Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match the vocabulary to the definitions.

1. acknowledge (v) a. a promise that something will be done in future

2. conventional (adj.) b. the act of using one thing in the place of another

3. substitution (n) c. the desire to do something that is wrong in some way

4. commitment (n) d. the pleasure you get from achieving something or taking
part in an activity that you enjoy
5. temptation (n) e. following what is done by the majority of people in a
society
6. gratification (n) f. the positive feeling you get from having achieved or
completed something
7. satisfaction (n) g. show that you have received and understood a
communication from someone

Part B: Complete the following sentences with a different part of speech from the same word family
as the Part A word in brackets.

1. Charles received a bonus from his company this year as an of his excellent work.
(acknowledge)

2. Having never followed the of society at the time, she was always regarded with
some suspicion by people who met her for the first time. (conventional)

3. He’s playing as a in the game on Saturday and hopes that he will be able to see
some action in the second half. (substitution)

4. His career is extremely important to him, but he’s also deeply to his children.
(commitment)

5. Can I you with dessert? We have hot chocolate fudge cake or apple pie if you
want something warm? (temptation)

6. I’m hoping that if she takes a year off, it will her desire to travel and she’ll return
ready to be serious about getting a job. (gratification)

7. I mostly enjoyed the m but was left feeling quite by the story as it was so predictable.
(satisfaction)

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Listening for details

You are going to watch a short video of someone talking about a strategy that will help you get closer
to your goals. Tick all of the years that you hear mentioned in the talk.

1. 2023

2. 1926

3. 2001

4. 1933

5. 1982

6. 2009

7. 1945

8. 2020

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Understanding the video

Choose the best answer A - C for each of the following questions. Then watch the video again to
check your answers.

1. What does the speaker suggest you do when you have a personal goal?

a. write it down

b. tell a close friend

c. avoid communicating it

2. Why does the speaker suggest this?

a. It will trick you into a false feeling of accomplishment.

b. It will create pressure to follow through with your plans.

c. It will help you visualize the steps you need to take.

3. 3. How many people does the speaker mention who did studies on this?

a. two

b. three

c. four

4. Who completed the 45 minutes of work?

a. people who had planned their path to achievement

b. people who had not voiced their plans

c. people who had stated their intentions

5. What does the speaker suggest for people who want to discuss their plans?

a. Lay them out in a detailed email and then don’t send it.

b. Talk about it with someone who isn’t in the same country as you.

c. Frame it as something you’ve yet to achieve.

6. What does the audience’s reaction at the end of the talk demonstrate?

a. that they weren’t sure how to react

b. that they thought the talk was funny

c. that they had understood the key point

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 Skimming for gist

Complete the gaps 1 - 6 in the article below with one of the nouns from the box. You will not need
to use all the nouns.

classes / hotel / weight / trip / behavior / list / goal / basements

Getting There!
Achieving your goals

A. Should you observe the amount of exercise equipment lying forgotten in people’s garages and 1,

you’ll realize that humans generally can find it difficult to reach their goals. If the prospect of mastering a new
language, reading a set number of books each year, or burning a few pounds of 2 seems daunting
to you, then read on.

B. The first step to securing your new interest as an integrated part of your life, you need to question why you want
to do it. Doing this will automatically bring your motives, and the challenges, into focus. Learning Japanese will
be all the easier if you’re planning a 3 there or it will help you land a promotion. You need to be
able to picture the positive impact that it will have on your life.

C. With the reasons in mind, you then need to look at the steps you could take and space them out into achievable
mini-goals. Maybe you’ll need a week to just research 4 where you can learn Japanese, or source
a course that will work for self-study. Being aware of those barriers to progress is also useful at this point. If
you know going to a Thursday night Japanese class won’t be tempting at that point in the week, see if there’s a
weekend class or a morning class that you could attend. Or maybe arrange to leave work earlier and take yourself
for a coffee ahead of the class. Anything that can ease you into the new 5 will break down your
natural resistance to change.

D. With the goal broken down into a series of smaller achievements, be sure to celebrate them as you progress. Being
self-critical because you haven’t got as far as you’d hoped will do nothing to help you accomplish your aims. With
any 6, getting there is more important than how quickly you do it. Progressing slowly is always
better than giving up.

source: hbr.org

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Reading comprehension

Complete the following sentences with one or two words from the article.

1. When you realize how much is in storage in people’s homes, you

can easily understand that people frequently give up on their goals.

2. Knowing why you want to achieve a particular goal is the you need
to take.

3. When you can the difference an achievement will make to your

life, it will help you to keep going.

4. Rather than just focusing on the main aim, you need to divide your progress into
that will help you stay on track.

5. We all have a desire to avoid changing, so anything you can do to

make it easier will help.

6. Be sure to when you’re successful at each stage as the positive

feeling it gives you will help you stay on track.

7. It doesn’t matter if you find that you’re , that is much better than
stopping entirely.

Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What goals have you tried to achieve in the past and found difficult or given up on?
2. Have you ever had a goal that you kept to yourself? What happened to them?
3. What goals can you think of that would make a really positive difference to your life?
4. What bad habits do you have that you would like to change?
5. Do you think it’s important to keep trying to change yourself, or do you think you just need to
accept your flaws? Why?

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