8 traits of successful people - Richard St. John

翻译人员: Nan Ni 校对人员: YIHUI WU

（背景音乐）

Now, my subject is success,

我的主题是关于成功的，

so people sometimes call me a "motivational speaker."

所以人们有时称呼我为“励志演说家”。

But I want you to know right up front I'm not a motivational speaker.

但是我想让你们明确地知道， 我不是一个励志演说家。

I couldn't pass the height requirement.

（因为）我达不到身高要求，

(Laughter)

And I couldn't motivate anybody.

并且我没法激励任何人。

My employees actually call me a de-motivational speaker.

实际上我的雇员称我是一个“非励志”演说家

(Laughter)

What I try to be is an informational speaker.

我想成为的是一个给大家提供丰富知识的演说家

I went out and found out some information about success,

我去做了一些调查，并且找出了一些关于成功的信息

and I'm just here to pass it on.

今天我在这里的目的就是把我的经验传承下去

And my story started over ten years ago, on a plane.

我的故事开始于十年前的一架飞机上。

I was on my way to the TED conference in California,

我正在前往在加州的TED会议的路上。

and in the seat next to me was a teenage girl,

坐在我旁边的是一个十几岁的女孩儿，

and she came from a really poor family, but she wanted to get somewhere in life.

她来自一个很穷困的家庭，但是她渴望成功的人生

And as I tapped away on my computer, she kept asking me questions,

当我打开我的电脑 她不断地问我问题

and then out of the blue, she asked, "Are you successful?"

之后，她出其不意的问到说：”你成功么“

I said, "No, I'm not successful."

我回答说，“不，我不成功。”

Terry Fox, my hero, now there's a big success.

我的偶像，Terry Fox, 他才是真正的成功

He lost a leg to cancer, then ran thousands of miles

他因为癌症失去了一条腿， 然后跑了几千英里，

and raised millions for cancer research.

为癌症研究筹集了上百万（资金）。

Or Bill Gates, a guy who owns his own plane

或者Bill Gates, 一个拥有自己的飞机的人，

and doesn't have to sit next to some kid asking him questions.

不用坐在一个不停问他问题的孩子旁边。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But then I told her about some of the stuff I'd done.

但是之后我告诉了她我所完成的一些事。

I love communications, and I've won lots of awards in marketing.

我热爱传媒， 并在营销上获奖颇丰。

I love running, and I still sometimes win my age group,

我热爱跑步， 并时常在我的年龄组获胜，

old farts over 60.

60岁以上的老年组。

(Laughter)

My fastest marathon is two hours and 43 minutes

我最快的马拉松成绩是两小时四十三分钟，

to run the 26 miles, or 42 kilometers.

跑完26英里，也就是42千米。

I've run over 50 marathons, in all 7 continents.

我总共在7大洲跑完过50多次马拉松。

这是我和我的妻子

This was a run my wife and I did up the Inca trail to Machu Picchu in Peru.

在通往马丘比丘的印加古道（秘鲁）的一次跑步

And to qualify for the 7 continents,

为了实现在7个大洲跑步的目标

we had to run a marathon in Antarctica.

我们需要在南极洲跑一次马拉松

但是当我们到达那里之后。。。。

But when we got there, it didn't look nice and calm like this,

那里一点都不像图片中的这样美丽安宁

it looked like this.

那里看起来是这样的。。。。

The waves were so high, we couldn't get to shore.

那里风高浪急，我们根本无法靠近岸边

So we sailed 200 miles further south to where the seas were calm

于是我们又向南航行了200里到达了一片风平浪静的海域

and ran the entire 26-mile marathon

然后。。。在船上。。跑完了全程26里的马拉松

on the boat.

422 laps around the deck of that little boat.

在小小的船的甲板上，跑了整整422圈

My wife and I have also climbed two of the world's seven summits,

我的妻子和我还攀爬了世界7大高峰中的两个

分别是在两个大洲上的最高峰

the highest mountains on each continent.

我们攀爬了美洲大陆上的最高峰----阿空加瓜山

We climbed Aconcagua, the highest mountain on the American continent,

and Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa.

还有非洲大陆上的最高峰---乞力马加罗山

Well, to be honest, I puked my way to the top of Kilimanjaro,

呃。。。坦诚的说，我在登顶乞力马加罗山的路上吐了

I got altitude sickness.

我犯了高原反应

然而我并没有从我妻子那里得到同情

I got no sympathy from my wife.

She passed me and did a lap around the top

当我在那里挣扎的时候

她径自超过了我然后在山顶兜了一圈风

while I was still struggling up there.

In spite of that, we're still together and have been for over 35 years.

尽管如此，我们还是共同度过了超过35个春秋

(Applause)

【鼓掌】

I'd say that's a success these days.

我不得我说这在当今时代也算是成功了吧

So I said to the girl,

我对那个女孩儿说，

"Well, you know, I guess I have had some success."

“好吧，我猜也许我获得了一些成功。”

And then she said, "Okay, so are you a millionaire?"

然后她问， “好吧，那你是一个百万富翁吗？”

(Laughter)

【大家都笑了笑】

现在，我也不知道该说什么了

Now, I didn't know what to say,

因为从小长到大我就对谈论钱没什么好态度

because when I grew up, it was bad manners to talk about money.

但是我认为我应该实话实说

But I figured I'd better be honest,

and I said, "Yeah. I'm a millionaire.

我说，“是的，我是一个百万富翁。

But I don't know how it happened.

但是我不自己都不知道那是怎么发生的

I never went after the money, and it's not that important to me."

我从未追逐过金钱

并且它对我来说并不那么重要。“

She said, "Maybe not to you, but it is to me.

她说， “也许对你来说不重要，但它对我来说很重要。

I don't want to be poor all my life.

我不想一辈子都贫穷度日。

I want to get somewhere, but it's never going to happen."

我希望能在我的人生中做成点事

可惜我永远都不能做到了

I said, "Well, why not?"

我问，“何以见得呢？“

She said, "Well, you know, I'm not very smart.

她说， 好吧，我并不聪明

I'm not doing great in school."

我的学业并不出色。“

I said, "So what? I'm not smart. I barely passed high school.

我说，“那又怎样呢？我也不聪明。 我勉强才从高中毕业。

I had absolutely nothing going for me.

我没有任何优势与天赋

I was never voted most popular or most likely to succeed.

我从未被当作最受欢迎或最容易成功的人。

我开始了一个全新的领域，一个有很大可能失败的领域

I started a whole new category -- most likely to fail.

But in the end, I did okay. So if I can do it, you can do it."

但是最后我做得还行。所以如果我能做到的话，你也可以

之后，她问了我一个更复杂的问题，是什么导致你能成功

And then she asked me the big question:

"Okay, so what really leads to success?"

I said, "Jeez, sorry. I don't know.

我说，“天哪，对不起，我不知道。

I guess somehow I did it. I don't know how I did it."

我猜不知怎的我做到了，但是我不知道我是如何做到的

So I get off the plane and go to the TED conference,

于是之后我下了飞机，去参加了TED会议，

and I'm standing in a room full of extraordinarily successful people

我站在一屋子杰出的成功人士中间，

in many fields -- business, science, arts,

各种领域的人都有，商业界，科学界，艺术界

health, technology, the environment --

健康领域，科技领域，环境领域

when it hit me:

Why don't I ask them what helped them succeed,

当轮到我的时候

为什么我不去问问他们，是什么导致了他们的成功呢

and find out what really leads to success for everyone?

这样的话，我就能够知道

到底是什么真正决定了每个人能否成功呢

So I was all excited to get out there and start talking to these great people,

所以我很激动我能够有机会参加这次会议

能够和那些杰出的人才交流

when the self-doubt set in.

但是，呃。。。为什么那些人会愿意和我谈话呢？

I mean, why would people want to talk to me?

I'm not a famous journalist. I'm not even a journalist.

我不是什么著名的新闻人士，我甚至都算不上是新闻人士

So I was ready to stop the project before it even began,

所以其实在我开始讲我的话题之前，我就准备好中止了

when who comes walking towards me but Ben Cohen,

当本.科恩走向我的时候，就是那个著名的　　　“本和杰瑞冰激凌”创始人

the famous co-founder of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

I figured it was now or never.

我意识到机不可失，失不再来

I pushed through the self-doubt,

于是我克服了自我怀疑

jumped out in front of him, and said,

跳出来站到他面前说道

本，我正在做一个研究项目

"Ben, I'm working on this project.

I don't even know what to ask you,

我甚至不知道问你些什么

but can you tell me what helped you succeed?"

但是你可以告诉我，是什么导致了你的成功么

He said, "Yeah, sure, come on. Let's go for a coffee."

他说到，嗯，当然，让我们去喝杯咖啡聊聊吧

And over coffee and ice cream, Ben told me his story.

在享用完咖啡和冰激凌后，本告诉了我他的故事

Now here we are over 10 years later,

１０年之后的现在我们在这里

在我面对面的采访了５００多名成功人士

and I've interviewed over 500 successful people

face-to-face, and collected thousands of other success stories.

并且收集了上千个关于成功的故事之后

I wanted to find the common factors for success in all fields,

我想找出一些普遍的能让人们在各行各业成功的因素

so I had to interview people in careers ranging from A to Z.

于是我需要采访在各行各业工作的人们

These are just the careers I interviewed beginning with the letter A,

这些只是我采访的那些字母Ａ开头的职业

and in most cases more than one person.

大多数情况下每个行业都不止一个人

I interviewed six successful accountants,

我采访了６个成功的会计师

５个企业审计和五个曾经去到过太空的宇航员

five corporate auditors, five astronauts who had been into space,

four actors who had won the Academy Award for Best Actor,

４个曾经曾经获得过专业最佳表演者奖项的演员

three of the world's top astrophysicists,

３个世界顶级的天体物理学家

six of the world's leading architects

６个世界建筑界的领军人物

and, oh yeah, four Nobel Prize winners.

对，还要４个诺贝尔奖获得者

Yeah, I know it doesn't start with A, but it's kind of cool.

呃。。。我知道这个不是Ａ开头的，但是也蛮炫酷的～

(Laughter)

哈哈哈哈哈

And I want to say a sincere thanks

然后呢，我要说一声真诚的谢谢

to all the great people that I've interviewed over the years.

对那些我在这些年采访过的伟大的人们

This really is their story; I'm just the messenger.

我不生产故事，我只是他们的搬运工～

The really big job was taking all the interviews

进行这些采访是个有着巨大工程量的活

and analyzing them, word by word, line by line,

然后一字一句的进行分析

and sorting them into all the factors that people said helped them succeed.

然后把他们的经验分类成为一个个影响他们成功的因素

然后你就开始能够看出那些令大部分人成功的决定因素了

And then you start to see the big factors that are common to most people's success.

Altogether, I analyzed and sorted millions of words.

算在一起，我应该也分析总结了数以百万计的文字了

Do you know how much work that is?

你们知道那是多大的工作量么

That's all I do, day and night -- sort and analyze.

我一个人做完了全部的分析总结，不分昼夜的工作着

I'll tell you, if I ever get my hands on that kid on the plane --

我跟你们讲，如果那个飞机上的孩子再被我碰上。。。

(Laughter)

哈哈哈哈

Actually, if I do, I'll thank her.

其实，如果我有这个机会，我会感谢她的

Because I've never had so much fun and met so many interesting people.

因为我从来没有开心过，从没有见过这么多有趣的人

And now, I can answer her question.

而且现在，我终于可以回答她的问题了

I discovered the 8 traits successful people have in common,

我终于探究出了８个成功人士共有的特点

或是８个成功必要素

or the 8 to be great:

Love what you do; work really hard;

１.热爱你所做的，尽你所能的努力工作

focus on one thing, not everything;

２.专注一件事，而不是所有事

keep pushing yourself; come up with good ideas;

３.不断地鞭策自己，让自己想出更好的点子来

keep improving yourself and what you do;

４.不断地提升自己和自己的事业

serve others something of value, because success isn't just about me, me, me;

５.造福大家，为别人做些有用的事， 因为成功不是一个人的事

and persist, because there's no overnight success.

６.然后坚持下去，因为一口吃不成胖子 （没有一夜之间的成功）

Why did I pick these?

至于为什么我要选择这些？

Because when I added up all the comments in my interviews,

因为当我添加所有的评论到我的采访中时

more people said those 8 things helped them

大多数人说这８个因素是帮助他们最多的

than anything else.

比其他的都多

The eight traits are really the heart of success, the foundation,

这８个特性是成功的真谛与基石

and then on top we build the specific skills

在他们之上，我们再发展我们的具体本领

that we need for our particular field or career.

那些我们在各种不同的行业中所需要的不同的技能

Technical skills, analytical skills, people skills, creative skills --

技术能力，理解能力，人际关系和创造能力

有很多能力是我们建筑在那些特性之上的

lots of other skills we can add on top,

depending on our field.

取决于我们各自的领域

But no matter what field we're in,

但是无论我们身处哪种领域之中

these eight traits will be at the heart of our success.

这八个特性都是成功的核心与真谛

(Applause)

【鼓掌】