Advanced Vocabulary for Articulating Goals and Self-Development
Nouns
Telos - The ultimate purpose or end goal; the principle objective.
Exigency - An urgent need or demand that often requires immediate action or adaptation.
Edification - The process of intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement.
Paradigm - A typical example, pattern, or model of thinking about something.
Vicissitude (often plural: vicissitudes) - A change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.
Austerity - Sternness or severity of manner or practice; often referring to rigorous self-discipline.
Quintessence - The most perfect or typical example of a quality or class; the purest essence.
Antecedent - A thing or event that existed before or logically precedes another, often influencing it.
Precipitant - An agent or cause that initiates a process or event, often hastily.
Metamorphosis - A profound or complete transformation in form, structure, or character.
Verbs
To ingrain - To firmly fix or establish (a habit, belief, or attitude) so it becomes ingrained.
To galvanize - To shock or excite someone into taking action; to spur.
To circumscribe - To restrict something within limits; to define narrowly.
To transmute - To change in form, nature, or substance, especially to a higher form.
To ossify - To become rigid, fixed, or inflexible in habits, attitudes, or opinions.
To expedite - To make an action or process happen sooner or be accomplished more quickly.
To reconstitute - To change the form or organization of something; to rebuild or reconstruct.
To extrapolate - To extend the application of a method or conclusion to an unknown situation by assuming existing trends will continue.
Adjectives
Sisyphean - (Of a task) endless and futile, akin to the punishment of Sisyphus in Greek myth.
Tenable - Able to be maintained or defended against challenge or objection (e.g., a tenable plan).
Untenable - Not able to be maintained or defended; unsustainable.
Corollary - Following as a natural or logical consequence; resultant.
Provisional - Arranged or existing for the present, possibly to be changed later; temporary.
Salient - Most noticeable, important, or prominent.
Iterative - Involving repetition of a process or set of operations to achieve a desired outcome.
Useful Phrases and Conceptual Terms
Delayed gratification - The act of resisting an immediate reward in favor of a larger, later reward.
Cognitive dissonance - The mental discomfort experienced when holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas, often leading to a change in attitude or behavior to reduce the discomfort.
Zero-sum game - A situation in which one person's gain is equivalent to another's loss, implying no net benefit.
Existential reflection - Serious contemplation about one's purpose, freedom, and place in the world.
Feedback loop - A process in which the output of a system is circled back and used as input, influencing future outputs (can be reinforcing or balancing).
Precommitment strategy - A technique to lock oneself into a course of action in advance to overcome a predicted lack of future willpower.
Path dependency - The concept that past decisions or historical events heavily constrain present and future options.
Diminishing returns - A point at which the level of profits or benefits gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested.
