7) Think back to your vision for yourself

Last but not least, think about your ideal vision. What is your ideal vision for your life? Whenever you get distracted by naysayers, it’s only because you’ve taken your eyes off your goals. If that’s the case, all you need to do is to look back at them. Recall what exactly you want to achieve. Think about what exactly you want to get out of your life. Then ask yourself if it’s worth it to put them on hold because of a couple of naysayers. The answer is always a clear ‘no’ to me.

Don’t deny yourself of the life you should live just because of these people. At the same time, make sure you’re not being a naysayer to others.

Jobs and Employment

Essential Vocabulary

Part I

to work flexi-time; to be on flexi-time; to do shift work; a shift worker; flexible working hours; core hours; to work freelance; to have a nine-to-five job; self-employed; a redeeming feature; to have ambivalent / unambivalent attitude towards sth; to be / feel deeply / highly ambivalent about sth; to be inundated with sth; to be overwhelmed with sth; to be snowed under with work; to be badly / severely hard-hit by the deluge of sth; to be buried under the avalanche of sth; to lose one’s train of thought; to prioritize ruthlessly; to accomplish sth; to anticipate; to schedule one’s tasks; to set oneself rigorous time limits; to meet a deadline; deadline euphoria; to have a heavy workload; to stick behind a desk; to be stuck in a rut; a boring / mundane / dead-end / lousy / mind-numbing job; a cushy job; a glamorous job; a rewarding / challenging job; to do a spectacular job; a job hunter / seeker; to be out of a job; a better-paid job; to be dismissed / sacked from the job; to be made redundant; job opportunities / prospects; highly-paid / well-paid / badly-paid / low-paid / poorly paid (BrE) job; to start one’s working career as a waitress; to choose / launch / embark on / start out on a career (in medicine); to jeopardize / risk / wreck one’s career; to abandon / give up one’s career; to boost / advance one’s career; to advance by leaps and bounds; to move higher up the career ladder; career advancement / development / ladder / path; career opportunities / prospects; throughout one’s career; at the height / peak of one’s career; to blossom; a brilliant / lucrative / turbulent / meteoric career; to face / be facing turbulent seas; to survive the ups and downs; career-threatening; to come to an abrupt end / halt; to come / grind to a halt; to bring sth to a temporary halt; abruptly; out of the blue; on the spur of the moment; at short notice; at the drop of a hat; to take sb by surprise; to crop up = arise (about problems; to get to grips with the problem; to tackle; a daunting / awesome / challenging / formidable / arduous / time-consuming / tough / uphill task; a mundane / routine / tedious task; to accomplish / complete the task;

to achieve one’s goal; the ultimate goal; a daring goal; tremendous / conspicuous / spectacular / outlandish / towering success; amazing / astonishing / stunning/ overwhelming success; modest / moderate success; to achieve success; to attribute one’s success to ; to be vital to one’s success; to be / prove / appear hugely / immensely / remarkably / spectacularly / wildly successful; modestly / marginally successful; to be eventually / ultimately successful in; success does not come overnight; from humble beginnings to worldwide acclaim; from rags to riches;

failure = lack of success: to end in complete / total / abject / humiliating failure; to be doomed to failure; to blame the failure on sb/sth; to attribute one’s failure to sb/sth; a possibility of / risk of failure; a failure = an unsuccessful person or thing : a complete / dismal / conspicuous / total / utter / disastrous / miserable failure; the ultimate failure; apparent failure; to feel like a complete failure; to experience / have failure; to learn from past failures; it’s not all doom and gloom; a sense of impending doom; self-fulfilling prophesy;

to land on one’s feet; a shrinking job market; shrinkage; to snowball; to have a snowball effect on; to mushroom beyond all expectations; job-wise, time-wise, dress-wise; to be on the look-out for sth; to play second fiddle to sb; to be accountable to sb; to encroach upon; lucrative; an unmitigated disaster; not to put a foot wrong; to put one’s best foot forward; to have a stroke of luck; to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth; to exacerbate; to aggravate; to alleviate; to cushion the blow of redundancy; to juggle work and family responsibilities; to miss the boat; to squander one’s chances / opportunities; to gain a toehold; to reach a crossroads in one’s life; to be faced with an acute / appalling / big / difficult dilemma; a no-win situation; a vicious circle; in close proximity to; to beaver away at sth; an eager beaver; a slave driver; a paper-shuffler; a workaholic; a procrastinator; a naysayer; a techno-freak; office plankton; a general dogsbody;

a pecking order; perks; holiday entitlement; salary increments; to be allowed maternity leave / paternity leave; to be eligible to apply for maternity / paternity leave; to be overworked and underpaid; to reach / hit a glass ceiling; to be faced with a glass ceiling; to shatter a glass ceiling; a gender pay-gap; male prejudice against women; to verge / border on misogyny; to strike sb as verging on misogyny; to be discriminated against; to be deeply ingrained in; prejudice / attitudes / ideas deeply ingrained / embedded in our culture; deep-seated / deep-rooted / blatant prejudice against sb; to do away with prejudices; lingering stereotypes; to be biased in favour of male candidates; to be deeply / highly prejudiced against sb; to confirm / perpetuate / reinforce stereotypes; to break / challenge / defy / dispel / reject / shatter stereotypes; to conform to / fit the stereotype; common / national / racial / gender / sexual stereotypes; enduring legacy / myth; to be heavily / strongly / inherently biased; heavily biased against / in favour / towards; to have / display / show clear / marked / blatant bias;

to bear the brunt of; to have a gruelling / tight / hectic / tight / busy schedule; to alter / juggle one’s schedule; to work to a tight schedule; to try to fit sth into one’s busy schedule; to slip behind schedule; to run ahead of schedule; to have a tight schedule to keep; a jack-of-all-trades; to rub shoulders with sb; to maintain / develop relationship with a diverse range of clients; a tantalizing choice to make; a justifiable risk to take; to treat sb in an appalling way; a clever / smart / prudent / sensible thing to do; a horrible thing to say; to look bright / good / promising / rosy; to look bleak / grim; to get into a mess / out of control / out of hand; to look down on sb; to face a difficult / hard / stark / tough choice of doing sth; to be faced with a tough choice; to be faced with Hobson’s choice; to have no choice but to do sth; to have little / no option but to do sth; one’s only option; to leave sb with little / no choice but to do sth; a range of available choices; in terms of the options available; a limited range of choices available to sb; to consider / look at the options available; easily / readily / widely available; to change a tremendous amount; to improve vastly /drastically / dramatically / tremendously; a vast / huge / marked / tremendous / tangible improvement; a marginal / modest / slight improvement; to be aimed at improving sth; a considerable / huge / overwhelming / advantage; tangible benefits; to vastly / greatly outweigh the disadvantages; a need for more transparency as regards salaries; a glaring / gross / enormous / huge disparity between;

to the detriment of; to be detrimental to; to be a serious / severe / major handicap to one’s success; to be badly / seriously / severely handicapped by sth; self-handicapper; to impede greatly / seriously / severely / significantly; ; impediment; to hinder greatly / seriously / severely; a hindrance; to hold sb back; a plausible / valid excuse; a flimsy / lame / far-fetched excuse; to find / make up an excuse; to kid / delude oneself into believing / thinking; to sabotage; to undermine; to throw / pour cold water on; to pour a bucket of cold water on;

to adversely impact on sth; to have an adverse / devastating / detrimental / disastrous / dramatic / severe / negative / profound / serious impact on; to have a tremendous / huge / discernible / noticeable / measurable / major / significant impact on sth; to absorb / alleviate / cushion / diminish / lessen / minimize / soften the impact of; a high-impact message; a short-term / long-term / lasting / far-reaching / increasing / broader / wider impact; a negligible impact; to judge / assess the likely impact of sth; to underestimate the impact of sth; to resist / withstand the impact of sth;

mellow; to mellow out; to cope with butterflies in one’s stomach; to take things in one’s stride; to be green with envy; to keep a dog and bark oneself; to delegate the tasks; gluttony; covetousness; the flipside; fabulously / incredibly / obscenely / filthy(infml) rich; to be excruciatingly / painfully / astoundingly / crushingly obvious; to be ravenous for profits / revenues etc; to have a ravenous appetite for; a handsome profit; to have the Midas touch; to seek a lucrative career;

casual attire; to be in tune with one’s personality; to be at odds with; to go to ridiculous / absurd / ludicrous lengths; to follow the rules of thumb; to rely on / use one’s common sense; to be in short supply; to be completely / entirely / totally / utterly devoid of common sense; not to have an ounce of common sense; a notoriously imprecise / vague notion;

to dawdle; to procrastinate; to drag one’s heels / feet over sth; (not) to let the grass grow under one’s feet; to dillydally; to twiddle one’s thumbs; to shirk one’s responsibilities / duties / obligations; to shrink from doing sth; to lounge / laze around; to wriggle out of / worm (your way) out of / weasel (your way) out of doing sth; to be prone to procrastinate / procrastination; to be highly / extremely / notoriously prone to sth; accident-prone; sloth; to have a wet-blanket effect on sth;

outlandish success; to steal sb’s thunder; to get a glimpse of sb’s true colours; a sobering thought; to have a sobering effect on; sobriety; ostensible; ostensibly; to be utterly oblivious to; straightforward; straight-talking;

the daunting prospect; ample / considerable / golden / once-in-a-lifetime / excellent / marvelous opportunity; to provide equal opportunities; to take advantage of / grasp/ seize / take the opportunity; to jump at the chance / opportunity; to grab the chance; to tarnish / damage / ruin one’s reputation; to cast a slur on sb’s reputation; to restore one’s tarnished reputation; to have an infamous / notorious reputation for; impeccable reputation; to risk / stake one’s reputation; live down one’s reputation; to deserve / live up to one’s reputation.

PART 2

high / decent wages; low / meagre wages; annual / daily / weekly / hourly wages; a cut in / a rise in wages; big / generous / handsome / huge / high salary; low / meagre / small / tiny salary; severance pay / salary; business acumen; to mix business with pleasure; a shrewd / astute businessman; slack business; to pick up / boom; booming / profitable / lucrative / thriving / viable business; to pursue one’s aim / career / goal / endeavour; to pursue doggedly / relentlessly; frenetic activity; to rush from job to job at a frenetic pace; to work / perform / function flawlessly; to behave / dress impeccably; excruciatingly embarrassing / obvious / painful / slow; dramatically different;

AGENDA: to have one’s own agenda; to have a hidden / secret agenda; to be at the top of the agenda; to be high on the agenda;

CHANCE: not to have a ghost of a chance; pure / sheer / blind chance; to stand / have a good chance of sth / doing sth; to have a sporting chance of promotion; to grab / grasp / seize / the chance; to jump at the chance / opportunity to do sht / of doing sth; to take the opportunity to do sth / of doing sth; to let sth slip through your fingers; to blow / miss / squander / waste one’s chances of doing sth; to boost / enhance one’s chances; to ruin / jeopardize one’s chances; not a snowball’s chance in hell (infml); not to have a dog’s chance; not to have a prayer of finding a job / doing sth (infml); to be denied an opportunity to do sth; a level playing field; to level the playing field; to stem the tide; to stem the tide of mass youth unemployment; to turn the tide; to swim against / with the tide; to take sth for granted; breathing space to do sth;

to drag one’s feet / heels over sth; (not) to let the grass grow under one’s feet; to get off one’s (lazy) butt / ass (AE spoken not polite); to idle one’s time away; out of idle curiosity; to jump the gun; to jump to conclusions; to jump the shark; to be in limbo / in a state of limbo; to be lukewarm about sth; lukewarm reaction / response / reception / support;

presumptuous / snobbish / conceited / arrogant / complacent / cocky / bigheaded / toffee-nosed; self-opinionated; self-effacing; obnoxious; pigheaded; to render ambiguous; to be deliberately/ intentionally ambiguous; appallingly bad / arrogant;

sheer hypocrisy / stupidity / incompetence / ignorance / pigheadedness;

a tricky endeavour; a fruitless / futile endeavour; a worthwhile endeavour; a remarkably robust approach to sth; to have a robust self-esteem;

ATTIRE : to have a strict dress code; to comply with dress code; to show utter / complete / total / blatant / flagrant disregard for; flagrant disregard of the rules; to break / infringe / violate dress code; to impose constraints on; to impinge on one’s personal freedom; to flagrantly / blatantly violate sb/s rights; blatant / flagrant violation of sb’s rights; to be deprived / stripped of; to be dressed up like a dog’s dinner; to be dressed (up) to the nines; to dress immaculately / impeccably / smartly/ shabbily / improperly / inappropriately / ostentatiously / flamboyantly; to dress formally / casually; to emphasize one’s femininity; to be keen to emphasize sth; to be given to / prone to exaggeration; it’s no exaggeration to say that …;

the height of fashion; to do sth in a haphazard / random / leisurely fashion; in a bizarre fashion; in a haphazard fashion / manner / way;

ample / strong / abundant / overwhelming / compelling evidence; to embark on a precarious / hazardous journey; a precarious situation / position;

BENEFIT: child / maternity / disability benefit; lush / generous benefits; to be entitled to / eligible for benefit; to qualify for / claim benefit; clear / obvious / tangible benefit; considerable / huge / tremendous benefit; to sb’s mutual benefit; to enjoy the benefits; to reap the benefits; to bring / yield considerable benefits to sb; to benefit from;

HAMMER: to hammer sth home (to sb); to hammer out / to thrash out a problem / a plan / an agreement; ; to be hammered by sth; to be hammered for sth; to hammer away at sth;

a crushing / severe / bitter blow; to come as a blow to sb; to strike / deal a fatal blow ; to soften / cushion the blow; a shot in the eye; a shot in the arm;

to hinge / be hinged on ; a dog-eat-dog world; a cut-throat world / competition / business; fierce competition; the rat race; to quit / get out of the rate race; to be trapped by dogmas; a lopsided grin / smile; lopsided earnings; to have a lopsided view of things;

PEOPLE IN THE WORKPLACE: an eager beaver; a slave driver; a paper-shuffler; a workaholic; a procrastinator; a naysayer; a techno-freak; office plankton; a general dogsbody; a perfectionist; a wet-blanket; a gossip; office plankton; a loudmouth; a yes-man; a watchdog; a rough diamond; a nosy Parker; a dark horse; to rub shoulders with sb; to steer clear of; an ostentatious display of wealth; to be appalled by; to be exasperated by; to resent; to feel resentful of; to be utterly repellent to sb; to be notoriously prone to / susceptible to sth; to strike sb as downright / utterly ridiculous; to have a short fuse; down-to-earth;

to shrink; shrinking holiday / vacation syndrome; holiday deprivation; shrinking population;

a turbulent week; an ostentatious lifestyle / house ; to be remarkably free from ostentation; the ostentation and idleness of the rich; in no ostentatious way; to be risk-averse; aversion to; to keep up with the Joneses; flamboyant clothes / appearance / leadership / style / character / personality; a flamboyant businessman /tycoon; a flamboyant red dress; gaudy colour / jewelry; garish colour; to be a stepping stone to; to regard sth as a stepping stone to; to strike sb as overly male-centric; to be inundated with calls / offers / messages; to be swamped by / with complaints / applications / calls; all that jazz (spoken); to jazz sth up (infml); excruciatingly familiar; to be caught in a vicious circle;

by the skin of one’s teeth (if you do something by the skin of your teeth, you only just succeed in doing it, and very nearly failed to do it) ; to survive by the skin of one’s teeth; to barely avoid / manage / merit / notice / recognize / survive / understand; barely aware / capable / conscious / feasible / discernible / profitable / worth; to narrowly avoid / miss / escape / win / fail / defeat; to narrow / bridge the gap; to narrow considerably / significantly / dramatically / sharply; a close shave; to have a narrow escape; a silver lining (from every cloud has a silver lining); to look on the bright side of things; to be pushed for time / money (BrE infml); jam tomorrow (BrE infml); money down the drain; to bear fruit; the jet set; the big guns; to get wind of sth (infml): to reprimand sb for doing sth; to reprimand severely; to tell sb off; to scold sb for doing sth; to get a severe scolding; to rebuke sb for; to have a bone to pick with sb; a scathing comment; to give sb a piece of your mind; to pay tribute to; to speak highly of; to heap / lavish praise on; to rave about (infml); to sing sb’s praises; to be full of praise for; to flatter; to butter sb up; to shower sb with compliments; to pay sb a compliment; to pass the buck to ; to shift the blame onto;