Do you cut corners?

The Story of Nadège, who cut corners at work

Nadège, eager to impress her boss with a quick turnaround, cut corners while preparing the financial report. Rushing through calculations and overlooking details, she submitted it ahead of schedule. However, her haste led to errors. When the discrepancies were discovered during a crucial meeting, her credibility plummeted, and the company’s reputation was tarnished. Nadège learned the hard way that cutting corners might seem like a good idea in the short-term, but it can often result in problems down the road.

Moral: Cutting corners is risky. It is usually best to be thorough and detail-oriented in professional situations.

Cutting Corners has a Negative Connotation

In some cases, even in work situations, we may be required to cut corners, due to a lack of time, money, or ability. To “cut corners” is an idiom that implies skipping important steps in order to get something done in a faster, cheaper, or easier way. The expression generally has a negative connotation, meaning that when people use it, they are usually discussing an undesirable way of working.

Do you Cut Corners?

I have always been a diligent student. I like to be thorough in my work, and I can be a perfectionist at times. For this reason, I rarely cut corners. However, when I was at university, I often found that I had too much homework to apply myself fully in each of my courses. One way I would cut corners would be to skim the first pages of each chapter of a book rather than read the book in its entirety. I would read the back, read reviews, and read just a little bit from each chapter in order to glean the essence of the book. What about you? Do you cut corners? If so, in what circumstance? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

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If you enjoy learning idioms, nuanced vocabulary, and English grammar through sharing thoughts and ideas, please consider taking my English conversation classes. For more information, please write to me. To learn English properly, you don’t want to cut corners!