TED2009
Richard St. John: Success is a continuous journey
Richard St. John: "Sukses is ’n voortdurende reis"
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In sy kenmerkend opregte styl, herinner Richard St. John ons dat sukses nie ’n eenrigtingstraat is nie, maar ’n voortdurende reis. Hy gebruik die storie van sy besigheid se opkoms en bykanse ondergang om ’n waardevolle les toe te lig -- wanneer ons ophou probeer, misluk ons.
Richard St. John - Marketer, success analyst
A self-described average guy who found success doing what he loved, Richard St. John spent more than a decade researching the lessons of success -- and distilling them into 8 words, 3 minutes and one successful book. Full bio
A self-described average guy who found success doing what he loved, Richard St. John spent more than a decade researching the lessons of success -- and distilling them into 8 words, 3 minutes and one successful book. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:18
Why do so many people reach success and then fail?
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Hoekom bereik so baie mense sukses en dan misluk hulle?
00:23
One of the big reasons is, we think success is a one-way street.
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Een van die groot redes is, ons dink sukses is ’n eenrigtingstraat.
00:27
So we do everything that leads up to success,
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So ons doen alles wat lei tot sukses,
00:29
but then we get there. We figure we've made it,
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maar dan kom ons daar uit. Ons dink ons het dit gemaak,
00:31
we sit back in our comfort zone,
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ons sit terug in ons gemaksone,
00:33
and we actually stop doing everything that made us successful.
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en eintlik hou ons op om alles wat ons suksesvol gemaak het te doen.
00:36
And it doesn't take long to go downhill.
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En dit vat nie lank om afdraand te gaan nie.
00:38
And I can tell you this happens,
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En ek kan julle sê dat dit gebeur,
00:40
because it happened to me.
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want dit het met my gebeur.
00:43
Reaching success, I worked hard, I pushed myself.
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Ek het hard gewerk om sukses te bereik, myself gedruk.
00:46
But then I stopped, because I figured, "Oh, you know, I made it.
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Maar toe stop ek, want ek't gedink: "Julle weet mos, ek't dit gemaak.
00:49
I can just sit back and relax."
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Ek kan net terug sit en ontspan."
00:51
Reaching success, I always tried to improve and do good work.
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Ek het altyd probeer verbeter en om goeie werk te doen om sukses te bereik.
00:55
But then I stopped because I figured, "Hey, I'm good enough.
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Maar toe stop ek, want ek't gedink: "Hey, ek's goed genoeg.
00:58
I don't need to improve any more."
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Ek hoef nie meer te verbeter nie."
01:00
Reaching success, I was pretty good at coming up with good ideas.
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Ek kon met goeie idees voorendag kom om sukses te bereik.
01:04
Because I did all these simple things that led to ideas.
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Want ek't allerhande eenvoudige dinge wat gelei het tot idees gedoen.
01:07
But then I stopped, because I figured I was this hot-shot guy
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Maar toe stop ek, want ek't gedink ek was hierdie grootmeneer
01:10
and I shouldn't have to work at ideas, they should just come like magic.
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en ek hoef nie aan idees te werk nie, hulle moet net vanself kom.
01:13
And the only thing that came was creative block.
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En die enigste ding wat gekom het, was kreatiewe blok.
01:15
I couldn't come up with any ideas.
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Ek kon nie met enige idees opkom nie.
01:18
Reaching success, I always focused on clients and projects,
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Ek het altyd op kliënte en projekte gefokus om sukses te bereik
01:21
and ignored the money. Then all this money started pouring in.
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en die geld geïgnoreer. Toe het al hierdie geld begin invloei.
01:24
And I got distracted by it.
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En dit het my aandag afgelei.
01:26
And suddenly I was on the phone to my stockbroker and my real estate agent,
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En skielik was ek met my makelaar en my eiendomsagent op die foon,
01:29
when I should have been talking to my clients.
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terwyl ek eintlik met my kliënte moes praat.
01:32
And reaching success, I always did what I loved.
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Ek altyd gedoen waarvoor ek lief was om sukses te bereik.
01:35
But then I got into stuff that I didn't love,
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Maar toe kry ek myself in dinge waarvan ek nie hou nie,
01:37
like management. I am the world's worst manager,
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soos bestuur. Ek is die wêreld se swakste bestuurder,
01:40
but I figured I should be doing it, because I was, after all,
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maar ek't gedink dis my werk, want ek was tog
01:42
the president of the company.
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die president van die maatskappy.
01:44
Well, soon a black cloud formed over my head
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Wel, ’n swart wolk het gou om my kop gevorm
01:47
and here I was, outwardly very successful,
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en hier was ek, uiterlik baie suksesvol,
01:49
but inwardly very depressed.
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maar innerlik baie depressief.
01:51
But I'm a guy; I knew how to fix it.
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Maar ek's ’n man; ek kon die saak beredder.
01:55
I bought a fast car.
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Ek't ’n vinnige kar gekoop.
01:57
(Laughter)
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(Gelag)
02:00
It didn't help.
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Dit het nie gehelp nie.
02:02
I was faster but just as depressed.
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Ek was vinniger, maar net so depressief.
02:04
So I went to my doctor. I said, "Doc,
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Toe gaan ek dokter toe. Ek sê: "Dokter,
02:07
I can buy anything I want. But I'm not happy. I'm depressed.
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ek kan als koop wat ek wil hê. Maar ek's nie gelukkig nie. Ek's depressief.
02:11
It's true what they say, and I didn't believe it until it happened to me.
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Dis waar wat hul sê, en ek't dit nie geglo tot dit met my gebeur het nie.
02:14
But money can't buy happiness."
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Maar geld kan nie geluk koop nie."
02:17
He said, "No. But it can buy Prozac."
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Hy sê toe: "Nee. Maar dit kan Prozac koop."
02:20
And he put me on anti-depressants.
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En hy sit my op antidepressante.
02:22
And yeah, the black cloud faded a little bit, but so did all the work,
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En ja, die swart wolk het ’n bietjie gelig, maar so ook al die werk,
02:26
because I was just floating along. I couldn't care less if clients ever called.
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want ek het net saam gedryf. Ek kon nie minder omgee of kliënte ooit bel nie.
02:30
(Laughter)
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(Gelag)
02:33
And clients didn't call.
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En kliënte het nie gebel nie.
02:35
(Laughter)
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(Gelag)
02:36
Because they could see I was no longer serving them,
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Want hulle kon sien dat ek hulle nie meer dien nie,
02:38
I was only serving myself.
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ek het net myself gedien.
02:40
So they took their money and their projects to others who would serve them better.
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Toe vat hulle hul geld en projekte na ander mense toe, wat hulle beter kon dien.
02:43
Well, it didn't take long for business to drop like a rock.
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Wel, dit het nie lank gevat vir besigheid om soos ’n rots te val nie.
02:47
My partner and I, Thom, we had to let all our employees go.
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Ek en my vennoot, Thom, moes al ons werknemers laat gaan.
02:51
It was down to just the two of us, and we were about to go under.
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Dit was net ons twee, op die punt om onder te gaan.
02:53
And that was great.
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En dit was puik.
02:55
Because with no employees, there was nobody for me to manage.
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Want met geen werknemers, was daar niemand vir my om te bestuur nie.
02:59
So I went back to doing the projects I loved.
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Toe keer ek terug na projekte waarvoor ek lief was.
03:02
I had fun again, I worked harder and, to cut a long story short,
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Ek het weer pret gehad, harder gewerk en, om ’n lang storie kort te maak,
03:06
did all the things that took me back up to success.
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al die dinge wat my teruggeneem het na sukses gedoen.
03:09
But it wasn't a quick trip.
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Maar dit was nie ’n pretstappie nie.
03:11
It took seven years.
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Dit het sewe jare gevat.
03:13
But in the end, business grew bigger than ever.
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Maar uiteindelik het besigheid groter as ooit gegroei.
03:16
And when I went back to following these eight principles,
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En toe ek weer hierdie agt beginsels gevolg het,
03:19
the black cloud over my head disappeared altogether.
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het die swart wolk oor my kop heeltemal verdwyn.
03:22
And I woke up one day and I said,
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Toe word ek eendag wakker en sê:
03:24
"I don't need Prozac anymore."
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"Ek het nie meer Prozac nodig nie."
03:26
And I threw it away and haven't needed it since.
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En ek het dit weggegooi en nooit weer nodig gehad nie.
03:28
I learned that success isn't a one-way street.
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Ek het geleer dat sukses nie ’n eenrigtingstraat is nie.
03:31
It doesn't look like this; it really looks more like this.
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Dit lyk nie só nie; dit lyk eintlik meer só.
03:34
It's a continuous journey.
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Dit is ’n voortdurende reis.
03:36
And if we want to avoid "success-to-failure-syndrome,"
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En as ons "sukses-na-mislukkingsindroom" wil vermy,
03:39
we just keep following these eight principles,
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hou ons net aan om hierdie agt beginsels te volg,
03:41
because that is not only how we achieve success,
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want dis nie net hoe ons sukses bereik nie,
03:44
it's how we sustain it.
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dis hoe ons dit volhou.
03:46
So here is to your continued success.
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So op julle voortdurende sukses.
03:48
Thank you very much.
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Baie dankie.
03:50
(Applause)
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(Applous)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Richard St. John - Marketer, success analystA self-described average guy who found success doing what he loved, Richard St. John spent more than a decade researching the lessons of success -- and distilling them into 8 words, 3 minutes and one successful book.
Why you should listen
Richard St. John was on his way to the TED conference when a girl on the plane asked him, "What really leads to success?" Even though he had achieved some success, he couldn't explain how he did it. So he spent the next ten years researching success and asking over 500 extraordinarily successful people in many fields what helped them succeed. After analyzing, sorting, and correlating millions of words of research, and building one of the most organized databases on the subject of success, he discovered "The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common" and wrote the bestseller 8 To Be Great.
In his books and talks,he shares a wealth of wisdom from the world's most successful people -- knowledge that can help others succeed in their own way, whether it's escaping poverty, building a business, raising a family, or changing the world.
Richard St. John | Speaker | TED.com