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O Medium reúne artigos, textos e histórias altamente relevantes de escritores, pensadores e storytellers. Em outras palavras: de qualquer pessoa que tenha conteúdo inteligente sobre temas que interessem às pessoas. A grande maioria é escrita em inglês, o que faz com o que o Medium seja uma fonte riquíssima de conhecimento e de prática de leitura em inglês.

Ao ler em inglês, entramos em contato com estruturas gramaticais e também vocabulário no idioma. Uma oportunidade incrível para consolidar informações e, consequentemente, melhorar sua fluência.

Selecionei um extrato de um dos muitos textos escritos por John McDermott, o qual aborda as características mais comuns dos profissionais considerados de alta performance. Para ajudar ainda mais no estudo do inglês, preparei um exercício com vocabulário. Assim, enquanto você lê, selecione as palavras mais adequadas para completar o texto:

Seven common characteristics found among the high achievers

1. They focus on only a few tasks. Ever office tip will tell you to focus, but they won’t tell you how. Successful people ( ) focus in ( ) focuses in ( ) focuses on ( ) focus on only a few priorities — they go all in working on those. So if you’re a salesperson, for example, you shouldn’t just cold call everyone in the book. You should focus on a few great prospects and work ( ) obsessively hard on ( ) obsessive hardly in ( ) obsessive hardly on those.

2. They create value. Ask yourself, What value can I create in my job that I currently do not? ( ) To create value ( ) Creating value is very different ( ) from hiting ( ) of hiting ( ) from hitting ( ) of hitting your “goals.” If you’re just meeting goals that people don’t care about, and you’re just checking boxes, it’s only a matter of time before someone says, “We don’t need those boxes checked anymore,” and you’re out of a job.

3. They’re always trying to learn. After they establish their priorities, they ( ) constantly try to improve at ( ) try constantly to improve in ( ) constantly try improve in performing them. They’re always thinking about how to improve their ( ) sales pitch ( ) sells pitch ( ) sales peach or to run their meetings more effectively.

4. They have passion and purpose. The great performers care more about the paycheck. They have passion and purpose, which aren’t the same thing, and it’s important to have both. Passion alone is dangerous.

5. They champion their ideas. First, they inspire people. They make their co-workers excited about the work. Then, they persuade ( ) others ( ) other ( ) another people to their ideas, which is being good at playing politics, essentially.

6. They fight and unite. So much work today is ( ) making ( ) done ( ) doing ( ) made in meetings. Too much. Meetings should be held for one reason only: to have a lively debate between the people in the room so you can come to a decision.

7. They don’t collaborate too much. We tend to think the more collaboration, the better. That’s wrong. People over-collaborate at their jobs. What’s better is disciplined collaboration. ( ) Sucessfull ( ) Successful ( ) Successfully workers only agree to a few collaborative projects.

What’s the distinction between accomplishing a goal and creating value?

Goals are arbitrary metrics, like expecting a salesperson to make a certain number of cold calls a day. Take, lawyers. They’re ( ) billed by ( ) billing by ( ) billed for ( ) billing for the number of hours they work, and not the extent to which they solve their clients’ legal problems. Then look at doctors, who are measured by whether they administer the right diagnosis and treatment. The first is a goal. The ( ) latter ( ) ladder ( ) letter is value.

Avalie se essas dicas sobre alta performance fazem sentido para você e também confira seu desempenho na seleção das respostas corretas. Além disso, faça seu perfil do Medium e passe a acompanhar os temas de seu interesse e estude inglês de uma maneira agradável!

Respostas

Seven common characteristics found among the high achievers

1. They focus on only a few tasks. Ever office tip will tell you to focus, but they won’t tell you how. Successful people focus on only a few priorities — they go all in working on those. So if you’re a salesperson, for example, you shouldn’t just cold call everyone in the book. You should focus on a few great prospects and work obsessively hard on those.

2. They create value. Ask yourself, What value can I create in my job that I currently do not? Creating value is very different from hitting your “goals.” If you’re just meeting goals that people don’t care about, and you’re just checking boxes, it’s only a matter of time before someone says, “We don’t need those boxes checked anymore,” and you’re out of a job.

3. They’re always trying to learn. After they establish their priorities, they constantly try to improve at performing them. They’re always thinking about how to improve their sales pitch or to run their meetings more effectively.

4. They have passion and purpose. The great performers care more about the paycheck. They have passion and purpose, which aren’t the same thing, and it’s important to have both. Passion alone is dangerous.

5. They champion their ideas. First, they inspire people. They make their co-workers excited about the work. Then, they persuade other people to their ideas, which is being good at playing politics, essentially.

6. They fight and unite. So much work today is done in meetings. Too much. Meetings should be held for one reason only: to have a lively debate between the people in the room so you can come to a decision.

7. They don’t collaborate too much. We tend to think the more collaboration, the better. That’s wrong. People over-collaborate at their jobs. What’s better is disciplined collaboration. Successful workers only agree to a few collaborative projects.

The distinction between accomplishing a goal and creating value

Goals are arbitrary metrics, like expecting a salesperson to make a certain number of cold calls a day. Take, lawyers. They’re billed by the number of hours they work, and not the extent to which they solve their clients’ legal problems. Then look at doctors, who are measured by whether they administer the right diagnosis and treatment. The first is a goal. The latter is value.

Escrito por Lígia Velozo Crispino e publicado na coluna semanal de inglês da Revista Exame. Editado para o blog da Companhia de Idiomas.

Lígia Velozo Crispino, fundadora e sócia-diretora da Companhia de Idiomas. Graduada em Letras e Tradução pela Unibero. Curso de Business English em Boston pela ELC e extensões na área de Marketing na ESPM, FGV e Insper. Coautora do Guia Corporativo Política de Treinamento para RHs e autora do livro de poemas Fora da Linha. Colunista do portal Vagas Profissões e Revista Exame. Mobilizadora cultural à frente do Sarau Conversar na Livraria Martins Fontes. Quer falar comigo? Meu email é ligia@companhiadeidiomas.com.br e Skype ligiavelozo