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一如果生活给了你柠檬，那就拿来做柠檬汁吧！ ——无名氏
I first learned of Clement Stone1 in 1977, when I attended Interlochen Arts Academy2 for my senior year of high school. Mr. Stone had given money to the school to fund some scholarships, and I was one of the recipients of his generosity. After I graduated from high school, I decided to write and thank Mr. Stone for enabling me to attend this prestigious academy my last year of high school. I was quite surprised to receive a lengthy handwritten response from him, in which he thanked me for taking the time to write and encouraged me to follow my dreams.
Clement Stone was a self-made3 man. He was selling newspapers on street corners at the age of 6. By the time he was 13 years old he had his own newsstand4. He started selling insurance at the age of 16. He dropped out5 of school to work full time, finishing high school in night classes. During the Depression, when others believed that insurance would be impossible to sell, Stone saw tremendous untapped possibilities.6 Soon he signed up salespeople to work for him, eventually building his own company. By 1979, Stone's insurance company exceeded $1 billion in assets.
I recently heard a story that paralleled7 Stone's own success story. As the story goes, two shoe salesmen were sent to Africa. The first reported a problem -all of the natives went barefoot -and thus he believed that there was no market in Africa for shoes. The second salesman reported an opportunity -all of the natives went barefoot -and thus he believed that Africa held a tremendous untapped market for shoes.
对现状的不满是不断进步的首要因素。 ——托马斯·爱迪生
Problems vs. Opportunities
We live in an unusual time with corporate downsizing, restructuring, and the increase in global competition. Some view these times as problematic; others see the incredible opportunities created by such change.
In the last decade there has been a huge growth in home-based and service-industry businesses.8 These businesses have been started by individuals with the courage to pursue their dreams. Yet, for every idea that is implemented, thousands of ideas never get beyond the conceptual stage... from the imagination to a plan of action.
What holds people back from pursuing their dreams and acting on their great ideas? I believe it's fear of failure. Someone once said \"there are a lot of ways to become a failure, but never taking a chance is the most successful way.9\" I've also heard it said that \"people don't plan to fail... they fail to plan.\"
Companies these days must be willing and able to change constantly. Sometimes companies change course to survive, and sometimes they do so because an opportunity is too good to resist. I know of a small company that provided a messenger service several years ago. A sudden major increase in corporate use of fax machines nearly put this small company out of business. Fortunately, the owner of the company was astute enough to realize other global corporate trends happening at the same time.10 As those companies were acquiring fax machines, square footage of office space was decreasing, generating a need for more offsite storage space.11 The owner shifted gears from offering a messenger service to providing an offsite records storage service, and soon business was booming once again.
It all comes down to perspective.12 When there was a downturn in the economy, some people could say to themselves, \"This is terrible! With the downturn in the economy, nobody will have a budget for my services.\" OR... while others thought, \"This is great! With the tightening of budgets and the loss of support staff13, there's an even greater need for executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs to be more productive and effective, which is precisely what I'm here to help them do!\"
As important as positive mental attitude14 is, Stone says that \"there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.\"
我不相信造化弄人，在这个世界上，出人头地的人都是运筹帷幄、主动找寻自己想要的环境。要是遍寻不获，他们就自己创造一个。
——萧伯纳
Seizing the Opportunity
Timing certainly plays a factor in our successes and failures, but action is ultimately required. Most of us are exposed to many opportunities, yet few recognize the opportunities when they come along. Even fewer actually act on them. One good idea implemented is worth 1,000 that are just talked about.
Have you ever had a great idea, and several years later you saw that idea show up in the marketplace? Was that person \"lucky\" to be in the right place at the right time? Or did they create the \"luck\" for themselves by translating their idea into a plan of action?
Are you ready to seize your own opportunities? Ask yourself: 1. Do I have a clear vision? Am I clear about what my product or service looks like and who my target market is? 2. Do I have passion for working to get this idea to take flight? Does my idea encompass15 a mission that matters to me? 3. Do I have an action plan that will move me toward making this vision become a reality? What's the next step I choose to take?
1．Clement Stone：克里曼特·斯通（1902-2002），美国联合保险公司的创始人，也是畅销励志书《利用积极的人生观走向成功的方法》的作者之一。
2．Interlochen Arts Academy：英特拉根艺术学院，位于美国密歇根州。
3． self-made：靠自己奋斗的，白手起家的。
4． newsstand：报摊。
5． drop out： 退学。
6． 大萧条期间，别人都觉得保险根本卖不出去，而他却看到了其中蕴藏着的巨大潜力。the (Great) Depression: 大萧条（指1929年到20世纪30年代早期的世界性严重经济萧条）；untapped: 未开发的，未利用的。
7． parallel：与……相似，比得上。
8． 过去十年间，个体企业和服务行业企业大量涌现。
9． 导致失败的途径有很多种，而任由机会流失则是其中最为奏效的一个。
10. 幸运的是，这家公司的老板敏锐地注意到了与此同时出现的另外一些国际商业潮流。astute：敏锐的，精明的。
11. 在那些公司有了传真机的同时，办公室的面积也在缩小，从而就需要更多办公室外的储存空间。
12. 这一切都取决于（自己的）看法。come down to：可归结为。
13. support staff：辅助人员。
14. positive mental attitude：简称PMA，即“乐观、积极的心态”，是克里曼特·斯通倡导的重要的成功法则之一，他的原话是：Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve with PMA.
15. encompass：包含，包括。 |
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发表于 2005-3-5 14:39:25