BE 412: Are Your Business Goals Ambitious?
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 412. Are your business goals ambitious?

Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Aubrey, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.

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Hello, Aubrey. I have a question for you. Oh, let's hear it. Do you prefer when it comes to setting your goals, would you rather make lofty goals or more like achievable short-term goals? How do you think when it comes to goal setting? Interesting.

If I had to choose one or the other, I would choose short-term goals because if I'm making ambitious goals, then it would just stress me out to not have small benchmarks that I could check off, right? So I do both for sure, right? If I make an ambitious goal, then I'm making short-term goals that I can achieve more quickly. But if I had to choose one or the other...

What about you? I'm kind of the opposite a little. I really like the big ones to make a big goal and imagine a big thing I could do or create or a difference I can make in the world, right? But then sometimes maybe I fail to create those short-term goals, which means the lofty goal doesn't get achieved. Or at least takes a lot longer than it maybe would, right? Those benchmarks really make a difference. Yeah. So I guess we kind of need both, don't we, Aubrey? Definitely. I think so. Well, we got a great question about this.

I'll go ahead and share it. It was, let's see, thanks to all the team for these amazing podcasts. I listened to all three of them. Wow. As you should. Everybody out there, if you're not listening to all three podcasts, you should be.

For sure. All right. What else did the listener say? They said, could you please give me some native and natural vocabulary to talk about dreams that I have in life? Because I've kind of overused the expression pipe dream. I threw it out four times in a month in conversations that I had with the same person. And I kind of felt it was too much by the way they looked at me.

Okay. So this is a really interesting question. I responded to this list. I actually got this as an email and I responded right away that like pipe dream, pipe, pipe dream actually has a very different meaning. And so then we kind of had a little bit of a back and forth. So we'll share what pipe dream means and then some vocabulary for what this listener intended to say. Hmm.

I love that. Guys, go ahead and hit that follow button. We talk about all kinds of work-related topics as we see them with English. We're going to give you those tools that you need to succeed at work. So hit the follow button right now. But Aubrey, we want to announce a poll result.

Yeah, this was good. This was an episode that you and Michelle recorded here, Business English 394. What's your daily routine morning edition? And the poll question was, what is the most important thing you have to do to wake up in the morning? We got a lot of responses on this. So a lot of you felt very passionate, passionately. And the winner by a landslide was what, Lindsay? Drink.

I love this. 65% of you said you need to drink coffee. That is fascinating, right? So it's really what we're consuming that we need that wakes us up. I get it, right? The other options were shower, which was 17%, and exercise, which was also 17%. Some people dive right into that without coffee. But a lot of us are like, let me just have a cup of coffee, and then I'll think about showering or exercising. Honestly, I feel like I need all three. I don't know how to...

Like this morning we had open conversation club, so I actually didn't go out and walk, but I feel like now my body's a little bit like I need to walk, right? I need all three of those things. So it's quite a routine, a wind up routine. - For sure. And I'm guessing everyone who answered this poll also like needs all three, but the question is the order. What is it you do first? - Yeah, it's a good question. All right, so guys, remember in order to participate in these polls, and we have a question after every episode, you need to be listening in Spotify.

So go and check us out on Spotify to participate. Okay? Yes. Awesome. We love seeing the results of those polls and sharing the results here. So definitely go and answer the polls on Spotify. All right. So I have a feeling why you and the student had a bit of a back and forth because the word pipe dream, I have a feeling maybe the student was using it wrongly.

Is that what was happening? Yes, exactly. Right. They just meant to say, you know, a lofty or aspirational goal or dream. Right. That's not what pipe dream means. It means an unattainable or fanciful hope or plan. So, for example, maybe your friend's son wants to go to Harvard and you're like, oh, I'm afraid that with his grades, that might be a pipe dream. You're saying it's an unattainable goal. Yeah, I can see now what was happening and why the student was receiving strange looks. Right. Yeah.

Oh, no. Right. Those looks weren't that they think you can't achieve your goals. It was that you were using this expression of pipe dream, which didn't which means something different. Kind of a negative connotation. Right. It can't be achieved. So I'm going to share our students response when I let them know what pipe dreams means. They said, OMG, I didn't know that pipe dream meant that. I thought it was for a possible, very desirable dream that could come true. Thank you for making.

clear because I've heard this expression back in the day and I've used it so many times in the wrong. That's okay. That's okay. English and French. I'll think something means a certain thing and I'm using it incorrectly. I remember avertissement for a long time in French thinking it meant advertisement. False cognate, a false friend. It means warning. And I used it so many times in the wrong way before someone finally corrected me. So you were going around saying, look at

Look at that warning. Oh, I like this warning. I might buy that. I think that's so funny. It looks like the word advertisement in French, so you can understand why I would make that mistake.

No, 100%. This has happened to us all in our second languages and in English as well. Right? So good stuff. Good stuff. Thanks for sharing that story. I'm glad we could help this listener, right? Imagine the misunderstandings if you accidentally refer to someone else's dreams or ambitions as a pipe dream. You don't mean to say that. You don't mean to imply that. It would be terrible. Oh my gosh, terrible. Yeah. So we're clearing things up today. But we have some other vocab that...

might have come out of the conversations this student was having with other people. And we hope our listeners can use it too to talk about their dreams. Yes, we're going to give you alternatives for what this student should have said, meant to say, right? Because there are good ways to talk about these bigger goals, these more ambitious long-term goals. So what's the first one, Lindsay?

So this is what I asked you at the top of the show, lofty goals. These are ambitious objectives that will be challenging to achieve. We're going to have to dedicate ourselves and persevere to get them. Okay. Exactly. So I might say, I've set a lofty goal this year to never drink alcohol. That would be a very lofty goal for me. Potentially unattainable. Right, right. For sure. Or someone might say, you know, I'm going to run a marathon and they never really run before. Right. That could be a very lofty goal.

and doesn't mean you can't do it. And I think lofty actually has a positive connotation, don't you think? Definitely. I agree. I would never think that someone would have some kind of goal that is unattainable or too difficult and call it lofty. It just means like ambitious. It means it's going to take some work, some effort, but definitely attainable. Yeah. And I think people respect

when people set lofty goals, right? Especially if you're a doer, you actually go after those goals too. People respect big thinking, right? So it's good to comment on that by using the word lofty goal. And then it's just like you said, Lindsay, that at that point, it's about setting those short-term goals so that you can reach these steps as you get there to make it more attainable.

100%. So that's where, well, ambitious goals is the next one. Very similar, right? Yes. Similar means something challenging. It'll be a significant objective that pushes you beyond your comfort zone. It might require considerable effort. But yeah, it's interesting to think about the subtle difference between a word like lofty and a word like ambitious. First of all, lofty is collocated a lot more with goals.

right? Whereas you could call a person ambitious, like he's ambitious, but you wouldn't say he's lofty. It's really an adjective just for goals and ambitions. Yeah. Super interesting. So here's a sample sentence. I know this is an ambitious goal, but I'm planning to complete a PhD next year. Okay. Nice. Or I'm impressed you've set such ambitious goals. And this is positive as well, right? It just means you have ambition. You're thinking long-term, you're thinking big picture.

I love it. And then you could also, our listener could have also used the word aspirational goals. I like this word aspirational. You know, something is aspirational. It also just means bold, ambitious, big, reaching high, right? This idea. Yeah, I love this as well. And I do feel like it has just the slightest different meaning of something that is

even bigger picture, right? So I have my ambitious goals, but they're very attainable. And then I have my aspirational goals, things that I sort of just aspire to be able to do one day. Sort of feels like even a bigger level of love. Yeah, I suppose that makes sense, right? Your aspirations is a little wistful.

At the same time? Yeah, a little bit. Right. And these can be sort of interchangeable depending on the person and their meaning, right? These are certainly not set in stone, these meanings. But if I think about, you know, if I go to describe some of my goals and I'm saying this one's ambitious, this one's aspirational, I'm thinking of that as sort of like further in the future, more of like a, not a pipe dream, but like it's going to be harder or further down the line.

Nice. So how would this look in a sentence, Aubrey? What's an example? Maybe I'm impressed that this company sets such aspirational goals. Definitely thinking about the big picture. Yes, for sure. And here's another example. I have some aspirational goals, but I need to set benchmarks that I can more easily achieve for some quick wins. And quick wins, maybe we'll add that as the fourth bonus, right? Quick wins. I love that term. I do too. I say this a lot. It rolls right off your tongue, right?

Yeah. And also just the fact that if you think about human psychology, I studied psychology undergrad. And I know we know as human beings with a brain that we need quick wins in order to stay motivated, right? We need to check the box. We need these little tiny rewards that make us feel like we're getting close to our goal. Absolutely. That's definitely the case for me. If all I have is the aspirational goal, the ambitious goal and no quick wins, then

I probably am going to give up and never get to the ambitious goal. Yeah, so think about in your work, you know, what are some of the things that allow you to have quick wins? And if there aren't any, how can you restructure what you're doing to get those quick wins, right? Is that creating a sense of burnout maybe? And what do you need? Maybe talk with your manager to see what you can adjust, okay? Yes, what could you achieve more short-term to give you those quick wins and keep you motivated?

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Okay, role play Aubrey. Our listeners love our signature role plays. So let's do it. So here we have just met at a conference about achieving goals. Oh, the conference is about achieving goals. Love it. Yes, I would like to go to that conference. I want to go to a conference about setting and achieving goals. Imagine how motivated you'd be like through the roof at the end of the conference. You'd be so motivated. For sure. Going to space, you know. All right, I'll start us out. So we just met. Hi, I'm Aubrey. Nice to meet you. Likewise. I'm Lindsay.

I made a goal to introduce myself to someone between sessions. So here we are. I'm the lucky winner. Yes. That last presentation was so motivational. I'm excited to sit down and think about some ambitious goals. Same. I'm not bad at setting short-term goals, but I don't always think about the bigger picture. I need to think about some aspirational goals that will take more time to accomplish. Exactly. And so what industry do you work in?

Nice. I love this conversation. Yeah. And that's a nice pivot point where we transition into deepening the connection. And yeah, thinking about going, because usually when I go to conferences, I already come out feeling very motivated. And then imagine a conference about goals. It would be insane. Right. That's super motivating. Absolutely. But this is great. So if we go through this

We use some of this vocabulary. You said, I'm excited to sit down and think about some ambitious goals, right? Because you would. Leaving a conference like that, I'd be like, all right, I want to be more ambitious about my goals. I want to think about the bigger picture and set some lofty goals. Yes. And then you added on to that and you said, I need to think about some aspirational goal goals.

that might take more time to accomplish or achieve. Right. I had said, I'm not bad at setting short-term goals, maybe going for those quick wins, but I don't always think about the bigger picture. I need to think about some aspirational goals. So using this vocab here, but it's interesting. We just met, right? We're recognizing like, okay, one of my goals is to meet someone. Hi, nice to meet you. Yeah. I'm diving into this vocab right away because it's appropriate, right? This is what the conference is about. We've just come out of a talk about this.

Yep. You're in kind of a safe space where everyone's working towards sort of the same things. You have that shared understanding that you are going out on a limb and introducing yourself, right? Love it. Exactly. Yeah. It was sort of inspired writing this role play from our business course. We interviewed a

CEO and entrepreneur James Greaves and one of his recommendations for networking and socializing is to do this, to like name it, to be like, so we're supposed to introduce ourselves to three people. So I'm introducing myself to you. It just really removes the awkwardness and I loved that advice. Oh, James had some great advice. So anyone who is in our business English course, go back to that lesson and refresh your mind on that lesson because he had a lot of good tips, right? Absolutely.

Great. Aubrey, what's another episode our listeners can go to right now to keep the learning going? Yeah. Business English 408 was amazing. How to throw out your ideas in a brainstorming session. So it's great. That phrasal verb throw out. Just I'm going to throw out anything I think of and then we'll go from there. Right. So don't miss that one. So

So I'm really curious now about our listeners and the way they set goals, right? Because this tells us a lot about how you think. There could be a cultural aspect here too. There could be an economic aspect here too. Like what kind of economy do you live in? What is rewarded in your economy? There's a lot there.

here. Gender, language. Okay, I can't wait. Aubrey, what's the question for our poll for today? Yeah. So come and let us know which of these describes your goals. Ambitious, moderate, or unchallenging. This is going to cause you to reflect a little bit, right? Have I set ambitious goals or are my goals really pretty easy, quick wins, and I'm not thinking about the bigger picture?

Yeah. And also you could go one level deeper for our deep thinkers on the show. As you look at those three words, what is your reaction to each of them? That tells you a lot about your cultural scripts, what you've learned from your family, what we've learned from our society as to how should we be in the world?

Right? Oh, so interesting. Super interesting. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I am excited for you guys. You could break a connection if you accidentally call someone's goal a pipe dream or just cause confusion. If you mean to say ambitious goal and you say pipe dream, right? That has a very different meaning. It means unattainable. So instead, use today's vocabulary to talk about ambitious and lofty goals.

And I loved your story today, Aubrey, going around. There's warnings everywhere, right? So we all do this kind of thing, right? Totally, absolutely. But we learn from it every time and we come back stronger and of course, more connected. All right, good stuff. All right, Aubrey, we'll talk to you very soon. Awesome, see you next time. All right, take care. Bye. Bye.

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