Johns Keys to Success Idiomatic Story

John's Keys to Success Idiomatic Story Here is a story about an accomplished businessman and happily gave advice to young people whom he mentored. Youll find idiom definitions and a short quiz on some of the expressions at the end of the story.  Try reading the story one time to understand the gist without using the idiom definitions. On your second reading, use the definitions to help you understand the text while learning new idioms. Johns Keys to Success John is an incredibly accomplished and successful businessman. As such, he is quite popular as a mentor. He enjoys showing young professionals the ropes. The first thing he says is that his career has certainly not always been smooth sailing. In fact, he learned a number of lessons along the way. First and foremost, John said, dont believe that success is ever mana from heaven. He said that everyone he had met had a similar rags to riches story, and that a lot of hard work had gone into the success. John believes in hard work, but also in recognizing the right opportunities. Its absolutely essential to never spread yourself too thin John advised. If you have too many irons in the fire, youll certainly miss out on real opportunity he continued. Ive seen people as busy as a bee who never really seem to do anything he pointed out. The more I thought about this advice, the more I understood what he was saying. If you put on your thinking cap, youll realize that its impossible to really concentrate if you have to worry about fifty different things. Another important lesson was that its important to know which side your bread is buttered on and make sure to give that activity your full attention. In other words, you need to ride the gravy train. Dont start looking for new challenges if everything is working out for the best! John stressed that the most important ability of any successful entrepreneur was to have the presence of mind to not only take advantage of an opportunity but also to keep your eye on the ball. Some people are quick on the uptake, but then they get bored. Its important to be consistent, but not spread yourself too thin. Finally, make sure to never show your hand to your opponents. In any case, thats how to be successful according to John. Idioms Used in the Story smooth sailing an easy life with no problemsknow which side ones bread is buttered on to understand what is most important for oneselfride the gravy train to make money by doing something that is already proven to be successfulkeep ones eye on the ball to concentrate and continue doing wellmana from heaven surprise richesfrom rags to riches from poor to richshow someone the ropes to explain and show by example how something is done properlyas busy as a bee very busy (also busy as a beaver)work out for the best to end with the best possible resultquick on the uptake to understand very quicklyhave the presence of mind to do something to be aware and able to grasp an opportunityshow ones hand to show others what advantages you have in a situationput on ones thinking cap to concentratespread oneself too thin to do too many thingshave too many irons in the fire to do too many things Idioms Quiz My friend is as ________________ these days. He never gets time to relax.Weve been lucky in life. Its been _____________ since the very beginning.  Im sure the situation will improve. It will _________________.You need to ____________________ for this problem. It requires a lot of concentration.Alan ___________________ during the negotiations for the business deal.Franklin went from ________________ in his life. He started with nothing and ended up a very rich person.Some artists are lucky and have a huge hit early in life. Then they ______________________ for many years afterwards.My boss _________ me ______________ at work because it was my first week. Quiz Answers busy as a beesmooth sailingwork out for the bestput on your thinking capshowed his handrags to richesride the gravy trainshowed me the ropes More Idioms and Expressions in Context Stories Learn more expressions using stories with one or more of these further  idioms in context stories with quizzes. Its important to learn and use idioms in context. Of course, idioms are not always easy to understand. There are  idiom and expression resources  that can help with definitions, but reading them in short stories can also provide context that make them come more alive.