"Hungry for Success" by English Professionals. EPISODE 1 : Reality

Meet Tim who has always dreamed of being successful but, so far, has never quite made it. But now things could start to change

Transcript

Hungry for success

A BUSINESS STORY

Reality

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO :

Tim had always planned to have an extraordinary life. In fact he believed so strongly that this was his destiny that he had never in his thirty five years on earth, countenanced anything else. During his uneventful childhood he watched action heroes on TV and saw lives similar to how his would turn  out. As he played with his toy soldiers he thought about leading attacks on imaginary enemies and always always, as his valiant troops around him were slaughtered virtually to the last man, he remained standing, able to save the day - with a heroic charge against apparently unassailable defences. 

Little by little his dreams had been chipped away….even if he himself refused to acknowledge it. As he drove to the office on a cold November Monday morning his mind wandered over the events of the previous weekend.   His wife, Rebecca, was not the same as the girl he had married. But, if he was honest with himself which he wasn’t, he too was not the boy that Rebecca had married. Nowadays they also seemed to rub each other up the wrong way. Every moment spent together, every interaction no matter how mundane,  felt like walking on egg shells. When had this happened? Why had this happened? 

Tim turned into the company car park and parked his nondescript family saloon in his normal spot. This too was not comparable to his childhood dreams. A few more dreams chipped away.  As a ten year old he had always driven a BMW or Mercedes - occasionally a Ferrari. His current transportation was practical and economic. Good value for money the dealer had assured them. Tim got out of the car dragging his laptop from the passenger seat. As he closed the car door he heard a voice behind him.

“Ready for something big”?

It was the voice of his boss and  owner of the company, James. 

“Born ready” replied Tim without thinking. It was a kind of mantra Tim had adopted early on in his  career. He thought it made him sound young and cool - “hungry” as his boss had put it when offering him the job at the very first interview.

“I like you Tim” James had said

“You remind me of a young me - hungry. Hungry for success”

The reality however so far had not lived up to Tim’s expectations. Hungry he might have been, hungry he might still be, but so far success had somehow eluded him. Some more dreams chipping away.

“What’s cooking?” Tim asked

James smiled and without answering walked on ahead into the office.

Tim followed, briefly pausing to swipe his ID tag as he passed reception. Linda, the new receptionist, was nowhere to be seen. The reception housed only an empty glass desk. Tim would have admitted had he been the kind of man to admit such things, that it was rather soulless. The glass desk - a recent acquisition by James - had replaced the original solid wood furniture - installed by James’ father when he founded the company thirty years previously). Seeing James striding ahead, Tim tried to adopt what he believed to be the  demeanour of a young, cool… hungry businessman and followed him into the interior of the building past a mural of a lightning bolt on the wall. 

Lightning Systems (hence the lightning bolt plastered across reception) was successful. Although it does depend on your definition of success. James’ father had built the business from scratch - starting from his garage - just like Google and Apple and Microsoft - as James often liked to remark. Unfortunately it was difficult, even for James,  to take the comparisons beyond this. Onsite maintenance and online helpdesk didn’t exactly cut it in Silicon Valley. A little more of Tim’s dreams chipped away.

Perhaps obscured by the growing pile of dust stemming from the steady chipping away of his dreams, Tim had already forgotten what James had said earlier -

“Ready for something big?”

VOCABULARY

Let’s look at some of the vocabulary and expressions used in the story- you can also download a pdf which lists each of them along with the definition.

“Jim had never counternanced anything else” - he had never accepted that anything else would be possible

“How his life would turn out” - means how his life would develop and evolve

Tim refers to his imaginary soldiers as valiant - simply another word for “brave”. Despite their bravery, Tim’s troops were often “slaughtered” which, in the context, means killed in a violent way.  Unassailable defences are defences which cannot be beaten. Tim’s dreams are slowly being chipped away. This means to be gradually made smaller and weaker.

Unfortunately for Tim and his wife their relationship is not good. If someone rubs you the wrong way, it means that seemingly, everything the other person does annoys you. As a result Tim and his wife are very careful in everything they do and say so as not to upset the other - as if there are egg shells on the floor where they are walking and they are trying not to break them as they walk - a very difficult task.

Mantra has origins in Hindu beliefs but nowadays is used to indicate a frequently repeated statement or slogan. Hence Tim’s mantra - I was born ready.  

Tim may or may not in reality be hungry for success but this phrase is used to describe someone who will do almost anything it takes to achieve success - at any cost. Unfortunately, for Tim success has so far “eluded” him - which means he has been unable to find it as if it were hiding from him.

“What’s cooking”? Tim asks. This Is a common phrase meaning what’s going on - implying that something is being planned that you don’t know about.

 Maybe you swipe a card across an electronic reading device to register on your company’s system that you have arrived in the mornings. You can also use your finger on the smartphone screen to swipe - in this case moving your finger across the screen to perform certain actions.

Demeanour refers to the impression which you convey through your actions/ movements/ facial expressions. It enables observers to understand your mood. Tim tries to show the demeanour of a successful person -  perhaps in the way he walks or in his facial expressions.  

In the reception area of Tim’s company, the wall is covered with (or plastered with) a painting of a lightning bolt - a mural being an artwork applied directly to a wall. .

Generally Tim’s life doesn’t cut it when compared to his childhood dreams. If something doesn’t cut it - it means that it’s not good enough - doesn’t reach the standard required.

More from this story in the next chapter “Something big”