8 traits of successful people - Richard St. John

成功者的八種特質 - 理查．聖約翰

譯者: 冠媜 王 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

Now, my subject is success,

我要講的主題是成功

因此有人稱我為"勵志演說家"

so people sometimes call me a "motivational speaker."

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

但我得先讓你們知道

我不認為我是一個勵志的講者

I couldn't pass the height requirement.

因為我達不到身高限制

(Laughter)

And I couldn't motivate anybody.

所以我無法激勵任何人

My employees actually call me a de-motivational speaker.

我的員工反而覺得

我像勵志絕緣體

(Laughter)

What I try to be is an informational speaker.

但我希望觀眾 能因為我的演講有所收穫

I went out and found out some information about success,

我四處尋找成功的秘訣

and I'm just here to pass it on.

而現在，我把它交付到你們手上

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

這得追朔到十年前 我在飛機上的一個小故事

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

那時我正前往加州參加TED大會

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

坐在我旁邊的是一個青少女

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

她來自貧困的家庭

但她渴望能闖出一片屬於自己的天空

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

而當我在用電腦的時候 她不停地問我問題

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

忽然地，她問：「你成功嗎？」

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

我回答：「我並不成功。」

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

我的偶像，泰瑞福克斯

他才算得上是成功

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

因為癌症失去一條腿的他 跑遍數千英哩

and raised millions for cancer research.

並為癌症研究籌得百萬募款

Or Bill Gates, a guy who owns his own plane

又或者是比爾蓋茲

擁有私人飛機的他

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

根本不需要坐在 某個小孩旁邊接受提問

(Laughter)

但之後，我和她分享了一些我的經歷

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

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

我樂於與人接觸

為此在行銷領域上得過很多獎

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

我熱愛跑步

有時候甚至跑贏所有和我同年齡層的人

old farts over 60.

雖然全都是超過六十歲的老屁股

(Laughter)

My fastest marathon is two hours and 43 minutes

我最快的紀錄是在2小時43分內

to run the 26 miles, or 42 kilometers.

跑完26英哩，可以換算成42公里

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

我參加過50場以上的 馬拉松比賽 ，跑遍七大洲

這是我和妻子在秘魯參加的馬拉松

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

以馬丘比丘為終點，途經印加路線所拍的照片

And to qualify for the 7 continents,

為了爭取我們符合跑七大洲的資格

we had to run a marathon in Antarctica.

我們必須先參加南極洲的馬拉松

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

但當我們抵達的時候

並不如照片中所呈現的風平浪靜

it looked like this.

而是像這樣，海浪高到我們無法靠岸

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

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

所以，我們往南駛到 兩百公尺以外平靜的海面上

and ran the entire 26-mile marathon

並開始全程26英哩的馬拉松

on the boat.

就在船上跑

422 laps around the deck of that little boat.

在小船上的甲板上 來回跑了422圈

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

除此之外，我和妻子也爬過 世界七大高峰的其中兩座

the highest mountains on each continent.

其中一座是美洲最高的阿空加瓜峰

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

另一座是非洲之最的吉力馬扎羅山

and Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa.

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

我得向你們坦白

其實我在爬吉力馬札羅山的途中

I got altitude sickness.

就因為高山症吐得亂七八糟

I got no sympathy from my wife.

我的妻子卻無情撇下我

She passed me and did a lap around the top

在我痛苦得不得了時， 她已經在山頂上跑了一圈

while I was still struggling up there.

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

儘管如此，我們仍然在一起

而且正邁向第36週年

(Applause)

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

以現在來看，我認為這些也是一種成功

So I said to the girl,

所以，我對這個女孩說： 「我想我是有些成功的。」

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

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

然後她說：「是嗎，所以你很有錢囉?」

(Laughter)

Now, I didn't know what to say,

這下子可問倒我了

因為我從小被教導，談錢是沒有禮貌的

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

但我認為據實以答或許比較好

But I figured I'd better be honest,

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

所以我說：「是阿，我有

But I don't know how it happened.

但我不太清楚怎麼成為一個富翁

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

因為錢從來不是我追求的目標

我不認為它有那麼重要

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

她說：「也許你覺得不算什麼，

但錢對我來說卻很重要

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

因為我不想要一生貧窮

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

我想要突破現狀走出自己的路

可是... 它是不會實現的。」

I said, "Well, why not?"

我說：「為什麼不呢?」

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

她說：「因為我不夠聰明， 在學校表現得也不夠亮眼。」

I'm not doing great in school."

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

我說：「那又如何？ 我也不聰明，高中還差點畢不了業

I had absolutely nothing going for me.

我根本沒有指望

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

沒有半個人認為我會成名或成功

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

我從幾乎是絕望的起點開始

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

但現在的我，也還算過得去

所以如果我可以，你也可以。」

And then she asked me the big question:

然後她問了一個終極問題

"Okay, so what really leads to success?"

「那成功的條件到底是什麼?」

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

我回答：「哎呀，不好意思，我不知道

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

我想我是以某種方式做到了

但我不知道我是怎麼做到的。」

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

於是，我下了飛機去參加TED大會

當時站在我周圍的， 都是各個領域的成功人士

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

in many fields -- business, science, arts,

有商業、科學、藝術 醫療、科技、環境等

health, technology, the environment --

when it hit me:

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

我突然靈機一動

我何不問問那些人 幫助他們成功的是什麼

and find out what really leads to success for everyone?

或許能從中找出任何人 都能適用的成功條件

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

我滿腔熱血得正想加入 這些偉大的人高談闊論一番時

when the self-doubt set in.

我遲疑了一下

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

跟他們比起來... 我算哪根蔥阿?

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

我並不是名記者， 而且根本連記者都稱不上

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

還沒開始我就已經打退堂鼓了

when who comes walking towards me but Ben Cohen,

這時，猜猜誰走過來了？

Ben Cohen

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

班傑瑞冰淇淋的的知名共同創始人

I figured it was now or never.

此時不待，更待何時?

I pushed through the self-doubt,

我把所有疑慮拋諸腦後來到他面前

jumped out in front of him, and said,

我說：「班，我正在致力於這個研究

"Ben, I'm working on this project.

I don't even know what to ask you,

但我不知道該問你什麼

but can you tell me what helped you succeed?"

可以告訴我你是怎麼成功的嗎?」

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

他說：「當然可以，走，我們去喝杯咖啡吧！」

一盞茶的時間裡，班分享了他的故事

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

Now here we are over 10 years later,

現在，十年過去了

我已經訪談過五百位以上的成功人士

and I've interviewed over 500 successful people

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

蒐集了上千個成功的故事

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

我試圖找出各種領域中成功的共通點

為此我必須與各個領域的人 依序進行面談

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

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

這些字首為A的職稱是我已訪問過的

and in most cases more than one person.

而且大部分訪問過的不只一人

I interviewed six successful accountants,

包括六位成功的會計師、 五位公司稽核人員、

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

五位出過任務的太空人

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

四位曾得過奧斯卡 最佳演員獎項的演員

three of the world's top astrophysicists,

三位頂尖的天體物理學家、 六位首席建築師

six of the world's leading architects

and, oh yeah, four Nobel Prize winners.

喔，還有四位諾貝爾獎得主

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

我知道它不是A開頭，但你不覺得很酷嗎

(Laughter)

And I want to say a sincere thanks

在此，我想對過去幾年 所有受訪的成功人士表達感謝

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

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

這其實是屬於他們的故事

而我只是說故事的人

The really big job was taking all the interviews

要一字一句分析所有訪談紀錄是最難的事

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

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

然後將他們的成功要素分門別類

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

你會注意到大部份成功的人

會有某些要素是經常重複的

Altogether, I analyzed and sorted millions of words.

我分析並分類了總共上百萬字

Do you know how much work that is?

你知道工程有多浩大嗎?

分類再分類，分析再分析，日以繼夜

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

那就是我一直在做的事情

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

我告訴你

如果我能夠再遇見飛機上的那個小女孩

(Laughter)

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

我說認真的，我會向她說聲謝謝

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

如果沒有她，我不會體會到前所未有的樂趣

不會遇見這麼多有趣的人

And now, I can answer her question.

而現在的我，能夠回答她的問題了

I discovered the 8 traits successful people have in common,

我在這些成功人士中

找到了八項他們共同的人格特質

or the 8 to be great:

也可以說是，八項促使你成功的因素

Love what you do; work really hard;

對你所做的事情懷抱熱情，並致力於其中

focus on one thing, not everything;

專心於一件事，人不是萬能

keep pushing yourself; come up with good ideas;

鞭策自己、激發新點子

keep improving yourself and what you do;

精進自己，盡力而為

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

我為人人，因為單打獨鬥是無法成功的

and persist, because there's no overnight success.

最後是堅持到底

成功不會從天上掉下來

Why did I pick these?

為什麼我會挑這八個呢

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

在我把所有訪談內容統整完後發現

more people said those 8 things helped them

大多數的人都說這八項特質

遠比其他特質來的更有幫助

than anything else.

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

這八項特質是成功的基礎

and then on top we build the specific skills

再來我們就能針對 自己特定的領域或專業

that we need for our particular field or career.

培養所需的技能

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

專業技術、分析能力、 人際關係、創造力

lots of other skills we can add on top,

根據領域的不同

我們可以發展出更多相應的能力

depending on our field.

But no matter what field we're in,

無論我們置身何種領域

這八項特質都將會是 我們成功路上的基石

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

(Applause)

(掌聲)