It’s probably not a big surprise that luck is often other people; luck is created by other people helping us out,

人们并不意外 运气就是指别人 别人帮助我们摆脱困境 这就是运气

and sociologists have that wonderful term of “weak ties”, which means that it’s the people who you aren’t necessarily closest to who often can do the most for you.

社会学家有一个很好的术语 叫做“弱关系” 意思是说那些你并不一定亲密的人才是可能为你做得最多的人

Your very close friends, your family members tend to know the same people that you do, they know the same opportunities that you do.

你的好朋友 家人所认识的人 所知道的机遇都和你一样

But it’s that next circle, that slightly wider circle that’s likely to bring in new opportunities for you.

但是另一层圈子 稍微宽一点的圈子才有可能给你带来新机遇

I’m not talking about Facebook friends here, I’m talking about having colleagues and friends of friends,

我这里说的并不是脸书上的朋友 而是同事以及朋友的朋友

who you meet, who you talk to, who you bring into your circle, and who are very likely then to help you find other opportunities.

你能遇到的人 可以说话的人 会带进你的圈子的人 他们最有可能帮你找到其他机遇

One thing we found is that often people who cross over in different categories,

我们发现通常是那些横跨不同领域的人

in different social classes, in different economic classes—like fitness trainers or hairdressers—

来自不同的社会阶级 不同的经济背景——比如健身教练或理发师——

tend to be really interesting people for bringing luck, because they know so many different people from so many different categories.

他们往往是给人带来运气的很有趣的人 因为他们认识很多来自不同领域的人

So it may be a surprise that while you’re there trying to improve your biceps you happen to mention a job you'd like

或许你在锻炼二头肌的时候 正巧提到了你想要的工作

and the guy who is helping you hold the weights happens to know somebody who might be able to help.

而帮你举重的人恰好又知道可以帮得上忙的人 这可能会很惊喜

Again, what’s really important as you build those bigger circles, as you build those luck circles, is to know very specifically what you’re looking for.

再说一次 你建立这些更大的圈 建立这些运气圈的时候 很重要的一点是要明确知道自己想要什么

Because if you put out that general idea it’s not going to go anywhere,

如果你连大方向都没有 那就不会有任何结果

but if you can be very specific about what you’re wanting sometimes those weak ties really can lead to something very unexpected and very important.

但是如果你能具体说出自己想要什么 有时候这些弱关系真的会给你带来出乎意料又很重要的惊喜

In the book I talk about Charlize Theron, the Academy Award-winning actress,

在书中我说到了女星查理兹·塞隆 奥斯卡奖得主

who came to America when she was about 19, and she came after a series of unfortunate events in South Africa.

她大约19岁的时候来到美国 并且在南非有过一段很不幸的经历

She had a pretty traumatic and difficult childhood growing up, including her mother murdering her father,

她的童年有很大的创伤 过的很艰难 还经历了母亲谋杀父亲这种事

and she went to Italy first, she wanted to be a dancer, and then her knees gave out.

她先去了意大利 想成为一名舞者 但是她的膝盖出问题了

It’s just one piece of bad luck after another in a life, but Charlize knew what she wanted to do,

生命中的噩运接二连三 但查理兹知道自己想做什么

and she came to America, she came to Los Angeles to give herself one last chance to put herself in the place where luck could find her.

于是她来到了美国 她来到洛杉矶孤注一掷 把自己放在运气可能会找上门来的地方

Well, it wasn’t doing such a great job at finding her—she was in a bank,

运气找到她的时候做的并不好——她那时候在一家银行里

the teller wouldn’t cash a check that her mom had sent from South Africa, and she had a meltdown and a fit.

收纳员不给她兑现她妈妈从南非寄过来的一张支票 她当时万念俱灰 出现了痉挛

Well, guess what?

猜猜接下来发生了什么？

Somebody who was standing near her in the bank happened to be a talent agent, handed her his card, and the rest is Oscar-winning history.

银行里站在她身边的人恰好是一名人才猎头 他递给她一张名片 剩下的就是一路走向奥斯卡的成名之路了

Now I’m not suggesting that you should have a fit in a bank in order to become lucky,

我并不是说你应该在银行里发作痉挛 让自己成为幸运儿

but I think some of the elements of what Charlize did actually show that we do make that luck happen: she did push on.

我是想说查理兹所做的事表明我们可以制造运气：她确实有努力前进

She did decide to come to Los Angeles. She knew what she wanted.

她决定到洛杉矶 她知道自己想要什么

She was focused on what she wanted.

她一心追求自己的梦想

And when that talent agent handed her the card she called him, and she had the talent and the tenacity to go ahead and make that happen again.

当那位人才猎头给她名片后 她打电话了 她有才能 她也有努力向前让这再一次发生的坚韧

So yes, again, there is that random moment that somebody happened to be standing in the bank,

所以没错 再一次 某个时刻 有人正好站在银行里

but you have to think that when somebody has put so much effort into something,

但你得想 当某人对某件事投入如此大的精力

has put so much thought into something that there’s a good chance that if it wasn’t that bank

对某件事深思熟虑 很有可能如果不是那家银行

it was going to be a different situation where somebody noticed her and somebody recognized her.

那情况就完全不一样了 别人会注意到她并认出她

You have to put yourself in the place for good things to happen, and that’s what she did.

你得让自己置身于会发生好事的环境中 她就是这么做的