333\. What is Success? (English Vocabulary Lesson)
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THINK85 to get amazing discounts. Thanks for supporting the show and happy learning with ELSA Speak. Hello, I'm Tom Wilkinson and welcome to the Thinking in English podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced level learners of English. Today, I want to talk about success. I want to discuss what it means to be successful. Is success about wealth, power or recognition?

Or is it something more personal and evolving? In this episode, I'll challenge traditional definitions of success and explore what truly matters, whether in life, careers or language learning. Let's rethink success together. You can find a full and free transcript for this episode on Spotify, Apple and on my website,

You can also find ad and commercial free episodes of Thinking in English on Patreon. It's exclusive to my Patreon subscribers. All levels of Patreon can listen to ad free episodes and you're also able to listen on Spotify or whatever podcasting platform you like without ads. Here is today's vocabulary list. Accomplishments. Accomplishments. Things that have been achieved successfully.

For example, his accomplishments in the field of science were recognised by numerous awards. Tangible. Tangible. Capable of being touched or physically measured. As in, the artist's work had a tangible quality that made it feel real. Growth. Growth. The process of developing or maturing physically, mentally and emotionally.

For example, her personal growth over the past year has been remarkable. Subjective. Subjective. Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes or opinions. As in, the review was highly subjective as it reflected the critic's personal preferences. Objective.

Objective – not influenced by personal feelings or opinions, based on facts. As in, the judge was expected to provide an objective assessment of the evidence presented in court. Fulfilment – the achievement of something desired, promised or predicted.

as in finding fulfilment in her work has been her primary goal since she started her career. External. External. Relating to or located on the outside. For example, the external appearance of the building was as important as the design of the interior.

At the end of 2024, I released an episode talking about my accomplishments last year and setting myself goals for this year. Since recording that episode, I have spent a lot of time thinking about success. I have been thinking about what it means to be a successful podcaster, what it means to be a successful business person.

and what it means to be successful in other parts of my life. The problem I'm having is that I see myself as successful in one part of my life and not that successful in other parts. My podcast can be successful in terms of listener numbers, but it's not necessarily financially successful. And this causes me a lot of anxiety and stress.

Another example is that while I have a wonderful relationship with my wife, I don't have that many friends or much of a social life where I live at the moment. I live in the countryside of Japan. As I've been thinking about this topic of success over the past few months, I thought I would share some of my thoughts and opinions with you guys.

And I'd like to ask you a question right now, at the beginning of this episode. Do you consider yourself successful? I'd like you to comment on Spotify or YouTube or wherever you listen, your answer to this question and share your reasons. I think it would give motivation and perspective to many other people who may be a little lost in terms of success, including myself.

Success is one of those concepts that seems universally understood, but when you try to define it, it becomes clear that it's subjective. What you think success means might be different to what I think success means. I think many people associate success with tangible or external accomplishments. Tangible means something you can touch or measure.

So in this sense, things that people can easily measure or see are used to define success. For example, it is really common to define success in terms of financial wealth, career accomplishments or your academic excellence. These are the type of accomplishments that are most obvious to the wider world.

If you graduated from one of the best universities in the world, people would see you as successful. If you were the CEO or director of a company, people would see you as successful. Or if you had a lot of money, people may see you as successful. I think the financial point is a big one in success.

I have spent my whole life saying to people that I don't really care about money. I just want to do something I'm passionate about. Increasingly though, I'm becoming more and more anxious about money. And I'm starting to measure my podcast success financially rather than in terms of the quality of the podcast itself, which is something I don't want to do. It's just unconsciously happening.

I think a lot of this is connected to social media. I see people displaying their wealth and their lifestyles as a symbol of success, and like everyone, I get jealous. There are other definitions of success though. I constantly remind myself that while I may not be super successful in some areas, I am successful in a lot of other ways.

For example, we could define success in terms of happiness and fulfillment. The other day I was telling my wife that I find so much enjoyment in making a cup of coffee in the morning, walking in the sunshine and then writing a few podcast episodes and replying to my listeners' messages on Instagram. Every day I'm so happy that I get to do this as a job.

I have friends who have such great relationships, strong friendships and passions for their hobbies that they can be happy without ever thinking about money or careers. Another definition of success is in terms of growth and improvement. Rather than measuring success in a defined term like earning $100,000 a year,

I think it's better to measure success relatively. Are you in a better position than the past? Are you happier? Are you enjoying your job more? I have grown so much since starting thinking in English. In late 2020, I was working at a supermarket four days a week, teaching English online five or six days a week, and then creating thinking in English episodes that only five or six people would listen to.

Now I do this as my full-time job and that is success. Another definition of success is to think about the positive impact that you have on society as a whole. I think about this a lot. The CEO of an oil company is one of the most financially successful people in the world but they are responsible for destroying the planet. A person high up in a corporate job

probably has a role that does nothing for the rest of society. They spend most of their day sending emails or conducting meetings about marketing campaigns. Their contribution to the world or the good of the world is very little.

nurses, teachers and charity workers may be lower paid, but they will be making a better impact on the world. So you can measure success not just in career or financial terms, but in terms of the impact you have on everything else. I think it should be clear that success is relative and changing. It's not a fixed concept.

When you're 10 years old, success might be about getting the best grades, winning a sports competition, or being the most popular kid at school. When you become an adult, the things that seemed like success at age 10 become insignificant or irrelevant.

And this continues through life. As we gain new experiences, our goals and our sense of what it means to be successful also change. Success in middle age might be about finding work-life balance or raising children. In older age, success might revolve around spending time with loved ones or feeling fulfilled in retirement.

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A key psychological concept related to success is the arrival fallacy. This is the belief that once we reach a specific goal or achievement, particular level of success, we will experience lasting happiness and fulfillment. Many people believe that once they achieve a major goal, like buying a house or making a certain amount of money,

Everything else will fall into place and they will finally be satisfied. In other words, they will finally feel successful. The problem is that the feeling is usually temporary. And this is the arrival fallacy. Once we reach a goal, we often set new ones, believing that the next achievement will bring us happiness.

This cycle of goal setting and goal chasing can create an endless loop where we never truly feel at peace. For example, you may believe that getting a promotion will finally make you feel successful and happy. But after reaching that goal, you might immediately begin aiming for the next promotion or a higher salary. You will never fully appreciate the achievement you've just reached.

This is why I think seeing things in terms of growth and improvement is a better definition of success and enjoying the progress you make as you grow and improve. One thing that connects all thinking and English listeners is that you are learning or maintaining the English language. So I think it would be useful to think about what it means to be a successful language learner.

In language learning, success is also subjective and based on your own personal goals. For some of you, success might mean being able to hold a conversation in English without feeling embarrassed. For others, it might involve passing IELTS or TOEFL with a high grade. The definition of success shifts based on personal or individual circumstances.

And as your language level improves, your definition of success probably changes too. I think the arrival fallacy I mentioned previous is really common in language students. People feel like once they reach a certain level or they pass a certain exam, they will finally be a fluent English speaker. The problem is that there is never an end point to language learning.

There is always another thing to learn. If you define your success on specific goals, you'll never be content. Instead, we should see success through our progress. The fact you are doing better than you were in the past, you are enjoying the studying, you are becoming more comfortable in using English, you are getting better in certain areas –

All of this is being successful, more than reaching a certain level. In the context of language learning, success is often tied to patience and consistency. Success as a language learner isn't about sudden breakthroughs, but about the daily efforts to improve. So here is today's final thought. This episode has reflected my personal thoughts over recent months.

Traditionally, success has been defined by external things like wealth and accomplishments. These can be measured through your material possessions, job titles or awards. However, I think we should be redefining what it means to be successful. Perhaps we should measure success on our own values rather than measuring success on the external things that people can see.

we should measure based on our own ideas and values. A good demonstration of this is to think about material objects. If you saw a man driving a new Lamborghini, wearing a handmade Italian suit and a gold Rolex watch on his wrist, stood next to a man in jeans and a t-shirt with a cheap $20 watch, who is more successful?

What if the man with jeans and a cheap watch has his own company doing something he is very passionate about? He spends every evening and weekend with his family and is always helping out his neighbours. What if the person with the nice car and suit has leased that car, bought his clothes and watches on credit cards and spends all of their money looking successful?

We can't judge success on those external factors. We can't judge success on salaries or job titles or academic achievements. Why? Because we don't know where people started. We don't know how people feel. We don't know what that person is doing to achieve those qualifications or those jobs or those salaries. Who is more successful?

A person who graduates from Harvard University after being privately educated at the best schools with wealthy parents? Or a low-income person from a neighbourhood with terrible schools who managed to graduate from a mid-level university?

I would probably think the low-income person who, against all odds, got to university, compared to the wealthy, privately educated person who was supposed to go to university and graduate. I think success should be about purpose and continuous growth. It should be about the small steps that make your life better than it was in the past.

When it comes to English learning, it's improving consistently, consistently studying and noticing that you're getting better. It's not about being a C2 level English speaker. It's about being better than you were one year ago. And you can only do that through regular practice. And it's the same with life.

When I look back at my life four years ago, sleeping in my parents house, working two minimum wage jobs, making a podcast in the middle of the night, I was not very successful. Now I have my own apartment with a wonderful wife, I can do this full time and finally, first time in my life, I can save some money. I think I'm much more successful than I used to be and hopefully the future

holds more success. Hopefully I can keep improving and I can keep growing as a person, as a podcaster, as a business owner. But what do you think? What does success mean to you? Do you consider yourself successful? Let me know by leaving a comment. You can comment on Spotify, YouTube, or if you're a Patreon subscriber, leave a comment on Patreon or on Discord.

In fact, I encourage you all to become Patreon subscribers. You'll be supporting the podcast, but more than that, you'll get some great benefits. For £5 a month, you can access ad-free episodes, bonus episodes every Friday, interactive transcripts, study packs and some other great benefits.

and then for an extra five pounds for 10 pounds a month you can join my conversation clubs in fact we'll be discussing this topic on success next week so the week after this episode is released we will be having a discussion on success in our conversation clubs there'll be six conversation clubs a week and yeah come and join us click the link in the description go to patreon for more details

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