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RichardStJohn_2009U-_成功是一条延续的旅程_
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| Why do so many people reach success and then fail? |
为什么有这么多人在成功以后失败？ |
| One of the big reasons is, we think success is a one-way street. |
最主要的原因之一是,我们把成功当作一条单行道 |
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one-way:adj.单程的;单行道的;单方面的;
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| So we do everything that leads up to success, but then we get there. We figure we've made it, we sit back in our comfort zone , and we actually stop doing everything that made us successful. |
我们尽其所能地达到成功 当我们到达那一步以后,我们觉得我们已经做到了 我们便闲散下来 不再继续那些当初让我们成功的努力 |
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comfort zone:n.舒适区;最佳状态;
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| And it doesn't take long to go downhill . |
用不了太久,事情就开始走下坡 |
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downhill:adv.下坡;向下;每况愈下;adj.下坡的;容易的;n.下坡;滑降;
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| And I can tell you this happens, because it happened to me. |
我可以告诉你这是怎么回事 因为这是我的亲身体验。 |
| Reaching success, I worked hard, I pushed myself. |
为了成功,我努力工作,我鞭策自己 |
| But then I stopped, because I figured, "Oh, you know, I made it. |
但我停了下来,因为我想 我已经做到了 |
| I can just sit back and relax ." |
现在我可以坐着休息了。 |
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relax:v.放松,休息;松懈,松弛;变从容;休养;
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| Reaching success, I always tried to improve and do good work. |
为了成功,我总是试着做到最好,超越自己 |
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improve:v.改进;改善;
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| But then I stopped because I figured, "Hey, I'm good enough. |
我不再这么做是因为我想, 我已经够好了, |
| I don't need to improve any more." |
我不再需要改进了。 |
| Reaching success, I was pretty good at coming up with good ideas. |
为了成功,我总是有很多好的创意。 |
| Because I did all these simple things that led to ideas. |
因为我做了这些让我达到成功的事。 |
| But then I stopped, because I figured I was this hot-shot guy and I shouldn't have to work at ideas, they should just come like magic. |
但我停下来了。因为我想我是个大腕了 我不用再想这些点子。它们会自动出现的。 |
| And the only thing that came was creative block. |
但唯一出现的是灵感障碍 |
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creative:adj.创造性的;
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| I couldn't come up with any ideas. |
我没办法再想出任何点子。 |
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come up with:提出;想出;赶上;
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| Reaching success, I always focused on clients and projects, and ignored the money. Then all this money started pouring in. |
为了成功,我用心地关注我的客户和计划 而不是金钱。但一旦公司开始赚钱 |
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clients:n.委托人;当事人;客户机;(client的复数) ignored:v.忽视;对…不予理会;佯装未见;不予理睬;(ignore的过去分词和过去式) pouring:v.倾倒;倾泻;连续流出;倒出;喷发;(pour的现在分词)
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| And I got distracted by it. |
我就开始分心了 |
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distracted:adj.心烦意乱; v.转移(注意力); (distract的过去分词和过去式)
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| And suddenly I was on the phone to my stockbroker and my real estate agent , when I should have been talking to my clients. |
我发现自己总是在与股票经纪人、地产经纪人讲电话 在我应该花时间关心客户的时候 |
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stockbroker:n.[金融]股票经纪人; real estate agent:n.房地产经纪人;
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| And reaching success, I always did what I loved. |
为了成功,我总是做我最喜欢的事 |
| But then I got into stuff that I didn't love, like management . I am the world's worst manager, but I figured I should be doing it, because I was, after all, the president of the company. |
但不喜欢的事慢慢接踵而来 像管理 － 我是世界上最糟糕的管理者 但当时我觉得这就是我该做的 因为我毕竟是公司的老板 |
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stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本: management:n.管理;管理人员;管理部门;操纵;经营手段;
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| Well, soon a black cloud formed over my head and here I was, outwardly very successful, but inwardly very depressed . |
很快地,乌云罩顶 我外表看上去成功 但内心非常消沉 |
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outwardly:adv.表面上;向外;外观上地; inwardly:adv.向内地;思想上;在内部; depressed:adj.沮丧的; v.使抑郁; (depress的过去式和过去分词)
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| But I'm a guy; I knew how to fix it. |
但身为一个男人,我知道该怎么解决 |
| I bought a fast car. |
我买了台跑车 |
| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| It didn't help. |
但那没有解决问题 |
| I was faster but just as depressed. |
我拥有了速度但仍然消沉 |
| So I went to my doctor. I said, "Doc, |
于是我去看医生,我说 医生, |
| I can buy anything I want. But I'm not happy. I'm depressed. |
这世界上没有什么是我要而买不到的,但我很不快乐 |
| It's true what they say, and I didn't believe it until it happened to me. |
人们说的都是真的,我以前不相信,直到亲身经历 |
| But money can't buy happiness." |
金钱是买不到快乐的。 |
| He said, "No. But it can buy Prozac ." |
他回答。”但可以买到百忧解。“ |
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Prozac:n.百忧解(一种治疗精神抑郁的药物);
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| And he put me on anti-depressants . |
于是他让我吃抗忧郁药 |
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anti-depressants:n.抗抑郁剂;
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| And yeah, the black cloud faded a little bit, but so did all the work, because I was just floating along. I couldn't care less if clients ever called. |
乌云似乎有点消散了,但工作也是 因为我如坠云中,我根本不在乎客户有没有与我联系 |
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faded:adj.已褪色的;已凋谢的;
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| And clients didn't call. |
事实上也没有。 |
| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| Because they could see I was no longer serving them, |
因为他们知道我已经不再在乎他们 |
| I was only serving myself. |
我只在乎我自己。 |
| So they took their money and their projects to others who would serve them better. |
于是他们带着钱和计划到真正能服务他们的人那里去 |
| Well, it didn't take long for business to drop like a rock. |
很快的,我的事业如坠深渊 |
| My partner and I, Thom, we had to let all our employees go. |
我的合伙人和我只有让我们的员工走路 |
| It was down to just the two of us, and we were about to go under. |
只剩下我们两个,也差不多要完蛋了 |
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were about to:眼看就要;即将;正要;行将;
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| And that was great. |
但突然一切又好了 |
| Because with no employees, there was nobody for me to manage. |
因为没有员工,就不用管理 |
| So I went back to doing the projects I loved. |
我可以回去做我喜欢的计划 |
| I had fun again, I worked harder and, to cut a long story short, did all the things that took me back up to success. |
工作又开始有趣了,我也更努力工作。长话短说 我又开始走回成功的道路 |
| But it wasn't a quick trip. |
但那不是条高速公路 |
| It took seven years. |
它总共花了我七年 |
| But in the end, business grew bigger than ever. |
但现在,我们的公司比之前更强大 |
| And when I went back to following these eight principles , the black cloud over my head disappeared altogether. |
我也继续履行我的八条原则 在我头上的乌云消失了 |
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principles:n.原则;主义;本质;政策;(principle的复数) disappeared:adj.消失的;消失了的;v.消失,失踪;(disappear的过去式和过去分词)
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| And I woke up one day and I said, "I don't need Prozac anymore." |
某天早上我醒来,对自己说 ”我不需要百忧解了。“ |
| And I threw it away and haven't needed it since. |
我把它扔了出去,再也没有碰过 |
| I learned that success isn't a one-way street. |
我学到成功不是一条单行道 |
| It doesn't look like this; it really looks more like this. |
它看起来不像这样,它看起来更像这样 |
| It's a continuous journey . |
是一条持续的长路 |
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continuous:adj.连续的,持续的;继续的;连绵不断的; journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行;
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| And if we want to avoid "success-to-failure-syndrome," |
如果我们不想染上”从成功到失败 症 |
| we just keep following these eight principles, because that is not only how we achieve success, it's how we sustain it. |
只要持续地谨守这八条原则 因为你要的不只是成功 更是保持成功。 |
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sustain:v.支持;支撑;遭受;证实;
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| So here is to your continued success. |
愿我们都继续成功。 |
| Thank you very much. |
非常谢谢各位。 |
| (Applause) |
（掌声） |