雙語財經新聞 第89期:夢想無價
Did you ever have a dream? I’m not talking about a dream you have when you sleep. I’m talking about a conscious dream where you would like to see a new future, a different choice of employment, and a business of you own. How many times have you wished that you could be living a different existence than the one you are currently experiencing?
Dreams. No doubt we’ve all had them from time to time in our lives. Did you fulfill your dream? If not, why not? Did you start on your way to fulfilling a dream only to be derailed by letting other life’s events get in the way? Did you make some initial first steps only to find roadblocks in your way that convinced you to give up? Or, if you fulfilled some aspects of your dream, did you find that you had limited success, and, therefore gave in to a negative view that you weren’t meant to succeed?
去夢想吧！毫無疑問，在生活中,我們時常都會有夢想。你實現過自己的夢 想嗎？如果沒有實現過，爲什麼呢？你是否曾在開始實現自己夢想的時候，只因 生活中其他事情的阻撓而半途而廢呢？你是否曾邁出了實現夢想的最初腳步, 卻只因在前路上遇到障礙而放棄了夢想呢？或者，你是否曾在已經實現了部分 夢想的情況下，卻因爲發現自己只取得了有限的成就,從而產生消極想法,認 爲自己不可能成功呢？Several years ago, I had a dream about inventing a board game that would change my life’s fortunes. Along with a partner, who also had a similar dream, those dreams were turned into goals that were translated to action steps. After many long hours and many revisions, a board game was developed. Then came issues of financing. Not to be defeated by this obstacle, a plan was developed and carried out that saw shares being offered, all sold to a group of supporters, and a real live company created. Then, came marketing strategies, T.V. appearances, newspaper articles, trade show attendance, weekend promotional appearances, magazine advertising, and spot radio commercials.
幾年前，我曾有過發明一種棋盤遊戲的夢想，那將能改變我一生的命運o 我一直與一個和我有同樣夢想的夥伴合作,這個夢想就是我們的目標,而且我 們已經將其轉變爲實際行動。經過漫長的研究及無數次的修改之後，一種新的 棋盤遊戲面世了。然後就是籌措資金的問題。要想戰勝這個困難，必須制訂一個能從中看到利潤的計劃,尋找一個願意投資合作的集團，並創辦一個實體公 司。然後就該制訂市場戰略了——電視宣傳、報紙介紹、貿易展覽、週末促銷、 雜誌廣告以及電臺廣告等。
It was an exciting time. The one time dream seemed to take off with sales starting to accumulate, a potential sale to a large and established game board company, and inroads1 to large chain stores. Then, it happened. Introduced to the board game market came one of the biggest hits never seen before- In short, their sales blew us out of the water, our distributor failed to pay us, and the business, once dreamed of, came to a screeching halt.
那真是一個令人興奮的時刻。隨着銷售量開始累積、暢銷的可能性、棋盤 遊戲公司的建立，以及進一步發展成爲連鎖公司，這個昔日的夢想正在成爲現 實。就在這時，不幸的事發生了。又有一種新的棋盤遊戲進軍市場,它取得了史 無前例的銷售成績。簡而言之，他們在市場上把我們打得落花流水，我們的銷 售商已經沒有能力向我們付款;我們的生意和夢想就這樣戛然而止。To make a long story short, the company was dissolved having dashed our dreams, and those of our shareholders. How devastating after all the hours of work, the hours of marketing, promotion, not to mention the loss of our own financial investment.
長話短說,公司的解散使我們和我們的那些股東的夢想都化爲了泡影。耗 費無數精力和時間的研究、生產、銷售、宣傳都毀於一旦,更別提投入的資金的 損失了。Is that the end of the story? Well, it was for one of the game developers; the negative emotions, “it never was meant to be” thoughts dominated any future dreams of a different life. This person returned to the daily grind of a nine to five job always cynical2, always jealous of those who had succeeded.
這個故事就這樣結束了嗎？對於一個遊戲研究者來說,”永遠也不能成功了”的消極思想的確能夠支配一個人對未來生活的夢想。這個人很可能會回到 日復一日的朝九晚五的工作之中，他會永遠處於一種憤世嫉俗的情緒之中,會 對那些功成名就的人充滿嫉妒。But，did it mean being unsuccessful to me? I didn’t succeed to the level I wanted or desired, but, to me, at the very least I lived my dream by turning it into a reality. If I had never turned my dream into goals and then to action, I would have always wondered - what if. Was it than a failure? No, it won t. Was it the flaming success I’d hoped for — no. But, there were valuable lessons to be learned. After all, how many successful business people, inventors, authors, artists^ etc. had immediate success in their first attempt? Probably none. Failure is our greatest teacher as long as the experience is viewed as lessons, and those lessons are internalized to provide fruits for greater achievements later.
然而,對我來說，它也意味着失敗嗎？我的確沒有達到我所渴望的成功高 度,但對我來說,至少我曾使自己的夢想變成了現實。如果我從來沒有把夢想 當作目標，並去採取行動，那我就會一直在想——如果……會怎麼樣。那麼,這 算是失敗嗎？不，並不是。那麼，它是我所希望的那神驚人的成功嗎？——也不是是;但我卻從中學到了非常有價值 的教訓。畢竟，有多少成功的商人、 發明家、作家、藝術家等是在他們 初次嘗試的時候就立即取得成功 了呢？很可能一個都沒有。失敗其 實是最好的老師，將爲日後取得更 大的成功打下了堅實的基礎。It may take a few more attempts, of many attempts but success is only achieved, once dreams me put into action, where failure becomes the launching pad for smarter choices, or better action plans in future endeavors. Will success come on the next adventure, or the next one after that, or will it take many more? Who is to say? The important point here is that success only comes by turning dreams into reality and realizing that obstacles3 are only stepping-stones to final success.
也許需要更多的嘗試,或者在多次嘗試之後才能取得一次成功,但一旦將夢想轉變爲行動，失敗就會成爲更明智的選擇的起飛臺，或者成爲未來的努力中更好的行動 計劃。成功會在下一次,或再下一次,或更多次冒險之後到來嗎？誰敢說不會呢？關 鍵在於，只有將夢想轉變爲實際行動，才能取得成功；並且知道障礙只是通往最終成功的跳板而已。For those who are wondering about my own eventual success, I’ll tell you this.
對於那些對我的最終成功感到好奇的人,我要說的就是這些。After many attempts, many failures, many lessons, and many false starts, success arrived but only through believing in what I’ve said earlier. Learn valuable lessons from failure; turn dreams into action plans, and don’t let a dream only be that — a dream!
在經過無數次的嘗試、失敗、教訓和錯誤的開始之後,只有相信我在前面所說的，成功纔會到來。要從失敗中吸取寶貴的經驗,將夢想轉變爲實際行動，不要讓夢 想只是一個夢想！
