TED2009
Richard St. John: Success is a continuous journey
Richard St. John: "L'èxit és un viatge continu"
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Amb el seu estil típicament sincer, en Richard St. John ens recorda que l'èxit no és una via d'un sol sentit, sinó un viatge constant. Utilitza la història de pujades i baixades del seu negoci per il·lustrar una valuosa lliçó: quan deixem d'intentar-ho, fracassem.
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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Per què tantes persones tenen èxit i després fracassen?
00:23
One of the big reasons is, we think success is a one-way street.
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Una gran raó és perquè creiem que l'èxit és una via d'un sol sentit.
00:27
So we do everything that leads up to success,
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Aleshores fem tot el que ens hi porta.
00:29
but then we get there. We figure we've made it,
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Però llavors hi arribem i pensem que ho hem aconseguit.
00:31
we sit back in our comfort zone,
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Ens acomodem
00:33
and we actually stop doing everything that made us successful.
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i deixem de fer tot allò que ens va donar èxit.
00:36
And it doesn't take long to go downhill.
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I no tarda en decaure.
00:38
And I can tell you this happens,
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I us asseguro que això passa.
00:40
because it happened to me.
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Perquè a mi em va passar.
00:43
Reaching success, I worked hard, I pushed myself.
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Quan perseguia l'èxit vaig treballar dur, em pressionava.
00:46
But then I stopped, because I figured, "Oh, you know, I made it.
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Però llavors vaig parar, perquè vaig dir-me: "Saps què? Ho he aconseguit.
00:49
I can just sit back and relax."
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Puc seure i relaxar-me"
00:51
Reaching success, I always tried to improve and do good work.
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Quan perseguia l'èxit, sempre intentava millorar i fer una bona feina.
00:55
But then I stopped because I figured, "Hey, I'm good enough.
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Però llavors vaig parar perquè vaig pensar: "Ei, soc prou bo,
00:58
I don't need to improve any more."
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no necessito millorar més."
01:00
Reaching success, I was pretty good at coming up with good ideas.
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Quan perseguia l'èxit, tenir bones idees era el meu fort
01:04
Because I did all these simple things that led to ideas.
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perquè feia coses simples que donaven bones idees.
01:07
But then I stopped, because I figured I was this hot-shot guy
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Però llavors vaig parar, perquè em creia un paio brillant
01:10
and I shouldn't have to work at ideas, they should just come like magic.
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i no m'havia d'esforçar per tenir idees. Apareixien per art de màgia.
01:13
And the only thing that came was creative block.
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I l'única cosa que va aparèixer va ser el bloqueig creatiu.
01:15
I couldn't come up with any ideas.
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No se m'acudia cap bona idea.
01:18
Reaching success, I always focused on clients and projects,
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Quan perseguia l'èxit, sempre em centrava en els clients i els projectes,
01:21
and ignored the money. Then all this money started pouring in.
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i no pensava en els diners. I llavors vaig començar a guanyar diners.
01:24
And I got distracted by it.
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I em vaig distraure.
01:26
And suddenly I was on the phone to my stockbroker and my real estate agent,
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I de sobte em vaig trobar parlant per telèfon amb el meu agent de borsa i el meu agent immobiliari,
01:29
when I should have been talking to my clients.
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mentre hauria d'haver estat parlant amb els clients.
01:32
And reaching success, I always did what I loved.
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Quan perseguia l'èxit, vaig fer sempre el que m'agradava.
01:35
But then I got into stuff that I didn't love,
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Però llavors em vaig endinsar en assumptes que no m'agradaven,
01:37
like management. I am the world's worst manager,
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com l'administració. Sóc el pitjor director del món.
01:40
but I figured I should be doing it, because I was, after all,
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Però vaig pensar que havia de fer-ho, perquè, de fet, jo era
01:42
the president of the company.
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el gerent de l'empresa.
01:44
Well, soon a black cloud formed over my head
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Bé, aviat es va tornar tot negre.
01:47
and here I was, outwardly very successful,
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I allà estava jo, aparentment amb èxit
01:49
but inwardly very depressed.
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però deprimit per dintre.
01:51
But I'm a guy; I knew how to fix it.
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Però sóc un home i sabia com solucionar-ho.
01:55
I bought a fast car.
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Vaig comprar un cotxe ràpid.
01:57
(Laughter)
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(Riure)
02:00
It didn't help.
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No em va ajudar.
02:02
I was faster but just as depressed.
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Anava més ràpid però seguia deprimit.
02:04
So I went to my doctor. I said, "Doc,
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Així doncs, vaig anar al metge i li vaig dir: "Doctor,
02:07
I can buy anything I want. But I'm not happy. I'm depressed.
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puc comprar el que vulgui, però no sóc feliç. Estic trist.
02:11
It's true what they say, and I didn't believe it until it happened to me.
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És cert el que diuen, i no m'ho vaig creure fins que no em va passar a mi.
02:14
But money can't buy happiness."
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Els diners no poden comprar la felicitat."
02:17
He said, "No. But it can buy Prozac."
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Ell va dir: "No, però poden comprar Prozac."
02:20
And he put me on anti-depressants.
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I em va receptar antidepressius.
02:22
And yeah, the black cloud faded a little bit, but so did all the work,
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I la negror es va dissipar una mica. I també la feina.
02:26
because I was just floating along. I couldn't care less if clients ever called.
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Perquè estava pels núvols. No m'importava si els clients trucaven.
02:30
(Laughter)
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(Riure)
02:33
And clients didn't call.
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I els clients no van trucar.
02:35
(Laughter)
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(Riure)
02:36
Because they could see I was no longer serving them,
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Perquè van veure que ja no els prestava servei a ells,
02:38
I was only serving myself.
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sinó que em servia només a mi mateix.
02:40
So they took their money and their projects to others who would serve them better.
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De manera que van dur els diners i els projectes a d'altres que els donessin un servei millor.
02:43
Well, it didn't take long for business to drop like a rock.
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El negoci no va tardar gaire en enfondrar-se.
02:47
My partner and I, Thom, we had to let all our employees go.
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El meu soci, en Thom, i jo van haver d'acomiadar els empleats.
02:51
It was down to just the two of us, and we were about to go under.
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Es va reduir tan sols a nosaltres dos, i estàvem a punt de fer fallida.
02:53
And that was great.
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I va ser genial.
02:55
Because with no employees, there was nobody for me to manage.
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Perquè sense empleats no hi havia ningú a qui pogués dirigir.
02:59
So I went back to doing the projects I loved.
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I vaig tornar als projectes que m'agradaven.
03:02
I had fun again, I worked harder and, to cut a long story short,
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I em vaig tornar a divertir. Vaig treballar més dur. En resum:
03:06
did all the things that took me back up to success.
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vaig fer tot allò que em va portar de nou a l'èxit.
03:09
But it wasn't a quick trip.
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Però no va ser un trajecte ràpid.
03:11
It took seven years.
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Va durar set anys.
03:13
But in the end, business grew bigger than ever.
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Però al final, l'empresa va créixer més que mai.
03:16
And when I went back to following these eight principles,
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I quan vaig tornar a seguir aquests vuit principis,
03:19
the black cloud over my head disappeared altogether.
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la negror es va esvair del tot.
03:22
And I woke up one day and I said,
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Un dia em vaig llevar i vaig dir-me:
03:24
"I don't need Prozac anymore."
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"Ja no necessito més Prozac."
03:26
And I threw it away and haven't needed it since.
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El vaig llençar, i no l'he necessitat des de llavors.
03:28
I learned that success isn't a one-way street.
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Vaig aprendre que l'èxit no és una via d'un sol sentit.
03:31
It doesn't look like this; it really looks more like this.
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No ho sembla, però és així en realitat.
03:34
It's a continuous journey.
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És un viatge continu.
03:36
And if we want to avoid "success-to-failure-syndrome,"
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I si volem evitar la "síndrome de l'èxit del fracàs"
03:39
we just keep following these eight principles,
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només hem de seguir aquests vuit principis.
03:41
because that is not only how we achieve success,
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Perquè no és només la forma a través de la qual arribem a l'èxit
03:44
it's how we sustain it.
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sinó com el mantenim.
03:46
So here is to your continued success.
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Així que aquí teniu el vostre èxit continu.
03:48
Thank you very much.
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Moltes gràcies.
03:50
(Applause)
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(Aplaudiments)
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