Keynote Upper Intermediate Tests Transcript

Page 210 Test 4 Track 71

I’m a teacher and I usually work about 70 hours a week. I know that some of the people close
to me are a bit worried because they see how exhausted I am all the time. One of them
suggested I try yoga or meditation, but that’s not really my thing to be honest. They think that
I should be working less, basically, and taking it easy. I’m not sure how I’m going to manage
that and get everything done for school though.

I’ve always worked a lot. Even when I was at school, I preferred reading and studying to
playing football or going out with friends! It seems strange to most people I suppose, but
looking back, my work ethic has helped me to get where I am today. I’m a Chief Market
Analyst at an international bank and I’ve had to work very long hours to make my way up the
career ladder. You really have to let your work take over your life if you want to get on.

I work in customer service, so I sit at my computer all day. My eyes can get really sore.
Recently though, I’ve started going to a yoga class once a week and it does me such a lot of
good. Afterwards, I feel completely refreshed and I’ve forgotten all about the customers
who’ve called me to complain that day. Sometimes, I do a little bit of meditation too. I found
it hard to clear my mind and think of nothing at first, but now that I’ve been doing it for a few
months, it comes much easier to me.

A few months ago, I saw this TED Talk about work–life balance. This guy told a story about
how he had spent an afternoon messing around with his son, and his son told him it had been
the best day of his life. That really made me stop and think. I couldn’t remember the last time
I did something like that with my children. After that, I decided to make an effort to spend
time with my kids at the weekend. We’ve had some really good times together, and now I
make sure that I never work on Saturday or Sunday and I just enjoy spending the whole day
with my children.
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I had always been a career woman. Then my husband and I decided to start a family. I
thought I could take a few months off to be with the baby and then carry on working as I’d
done before. Things didn’t work out quite as I’d planned though. When I was at work, I was
constantly worrying about my daughter. Then when I was with her, I was completely worn
out and constantly checking my phone. That was when I decided to choose my family over
my career, rather than trying to have both at the same time. I feel much happier as a result.