For decades, sociologists have been trying to understand why certain people rise to the top of their fields. A number of theories have emerged, so if you're struggling on the path of success, perhaps these will give you some new insight.

几十年以来，社会学家一直在尝试着弄明白，为什么有些人可以成为他们所在领域的佼佼者，一系列的理论学说也由此产生。因此，如果你正在通往成功的道路上挣扎，那么以下所述也许可以刷新你对“成功”的看法。

10. Being an Underdog Can be Advantageous

10. 弱者也能占上风

You're probably familiar with Malcolm Gladwell, who writes and researches on the topic of success. In his book David and Goliath, he examines the concept of the underdog and argues that they actually have a greater advantage than the so-called “Goliaths.” When the Goliaths win, it's often because the underdog is playing by Goliath's rules. However, if “David” looks at the situation from a completely different angle and approaches it with their own unique take, then the underdog has a better chance at winning. According to Gladwell, the underdog can substitute effort for ability under the right conditions.

大家应该很熟悉马尔科姆·格拉德威尓（Malcolm Gladwell),他致力于研究成功学，并以此为主题写作。在其《大卫与歌利亚》（David and Goliath）一书中，他重新审视了弱者理论，并且提出了争锋相对的反驳意见。他认为，弱者实际上要比那些所谓的“歌利亚”（译注：“大卫”和“歌利亚”分别指代的是弱者和强者）更有优势。强者之所以取得胜利，通常是因为弱者被他们的规则玩弄了。如果“大卫”们从一个全新的角度来看待现实情况，并用自己独特的方式扭转劣势，那么接下来，他们就会有更大的把握获得成功。正如格拉德威尓所言，在适当的情境下，弱者可以用努力来弥补自身能力的不足。

Using the titular biblical example, Goliath was expecting hand-to-hand combat. David approached it differently and used a sling to fire a stone at Goliath's head. David essentially brought a gun to a fistfight. This wasn't against the rules, and David won because he didn't go along with Goliath's expectations. For an additional example, see that famous sword “fight” scene in Indiana Jones.

以一个圣经故事——歌利亚和大卫的战争——为例。歌利亚原本以为此战会是一场肉搏战（译注：此处指歌利亚所代表的非利士人同大卫所代表的以色列人的战争）。而大卫的做法却完全出乎了歌利亚的意料——他用投石弹弓打中了歌利亚的头。其实大卫本来也是带着一把枪准备搏斗的，但大卫投石的做法并不违规，也正是因为不按常理出牌，他才赢得了胜利。还有一个例子就是《夺宝奇兵》中那场著名的剑战。

History is full of underdogs beating the favored opponent simply because they were innovative. The Spartans held off the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae, and T. E. Lawrence led the Bedouins across the desert to fight the Turks. Innovation and thinking outside the box can be more advantageous than being skillful. So if the odds are against you, perhaps you just need to stop playing by everyone else's rules and embrace your strengths.

历史上弱者出奇制胜打败强者的例子随处可见。斯巴达人在温泉关战役（the Battle of Thermopylae）中战胜了波斯人以及托马斯·爱德华·劳伦斯（T.E.Lawrence，译注：英国军官，因在1916年至1918年的阿拉伯起义中作为英国联络官的角色而出名，被阿拉伯人看作民间英雄）带领贝多因人（Bedouins，译注：一个居无定所的阿拉伯游牧民族）翻越沙漠抗击土耳其人……别出心裁的想法往往比出众的能力更具优势。所以如果遇到劲敌，你所要做的大概就是跳出常规的牢笼并使出杀手锏来打败对方。

9. Society Has Built-in Obstacles

9.社会总是存障碍

There are certain obstacles in our lives that are hard to overcome. It can be as simple as when and where you're born — in Malcolm Gladwell's popular book, Outliers, he gives the example of hockey players that are drafted to the NHL.

在我们的生活中，有很多难以克服的障碍，即使是生于何时何地这样简单的问题都有可能成为一个人发展的拦路石——对此，马尔科姆·格拉德威尓（Malcolm Gladwell，译注：《纽约客》特约撰稿人）在他的著作《异类》（Outliers）中，给出了北美国家冰上曲棍球联盟（NHL, National Hockey League）征招曲棍球员的例子。

As children, all hockey players who are born in the same year play in the same division. However, if you compare an eight year old who was born on January 1 to a player who was born December 31, there are drastic differences. The player born in January has had almost a whole extra year to grow and develop, meaning they could be faster, stronger and simply better than a player born in December. Then when it comes time to pick players for more competitive teams, the older and more developed children will have an advantage. They're more likely to be chosen to go on for more training and play against other elite players. That cycle will continue, and the players born in December will always be playing catch up. Between 1980 and 2007, 36% of players drafted into the NHL were born in the first quarter of the year, while only 14.5% of the players that were drafted were born in the last quarter of the year.

所有同年出生的曲棍球运动员在孩提时期就开始为同一支队伍效力。但是，如果把两个同为八岁，但分别出生在1月1日和12月31日的队员进行比较的话，你就会发现巨大的不同。1月出生的队员几乎多出一年的时间来成长和发展，这也就意味着他们动作会更敏捷，身体会更强壮，因而轻而易举就能把12月出生的队员给比下去。到了为更具竞争力的队伍挑选队员时，发展得更好的年长队员就占据了优势。他们似乎更容易被选出来接受更多的训练，并和其他精英球员对赛。这种循环会持续下去，12月出生的球员会被不断赶超。从1980到2007年间，36%被招进NHL球员都是在第一季度出生的，而出生在最后一个季度的入选球员仅仅只占到14.5%的比例。

This shows that there are always going to be challenges in life, but it also presents an interesting idea. What would happen if youth hockey had one league for children born in the first six months and one for children born in the last six months? This would possibly change the playing field and double the amount of great players.

这表明，生活中的挑战无处不在，却又能同时引发我们的思考。试想，如果有两支曲棍球青年队，其中一支只有上半年出生的球员，而另一支的球员都出生在下半年，那情况又会如何？这可能就会使整个曲棍球领域发生翻天覆地的改变，优秀的球员数量倍增。

Hockey is far from the only field that uses rigid timetables. School, which often builds the foundation for success, is also structured so children born earlier in the year have more time to learn and mature than those born later in the year. What would happen if schools had enrollment times every six months instead of once a year?

曲棍球领域绝不是一个规则死板的领域。而学校作为为人们的成功奠定基础的地方，如今这种一年招生一次的规定，使得那些一年中出生较早的孩子比出生较晚的孩子有更多的时间去学习，也更加的成熟。如果学校可以每半年招生一次而不是一年一次，那么事情又会变得怎样呢？

8. No One Succeeds on Their Own

8.成功也需得援助

While it would be nice to succeed simply because we work hard, life doesn't work that way. We need help and support from friends, family and teachers, and then we need chances from employers and other key figures in the fields we choose to pursue. To illustrate this point, in Outliers Gladwell talks about two men with genius level intellect — Christopher Langan and Robert Oppenheimer. Many readers may know Oppenheimer as the “father of the atomic bomb,” but Langan is much more obscure.

如果只要努力就能获得成功，那再好不过了，但生活并非如此。我们需要朋友、家人和老师的帮助与支持，需要所处行业雇主或其他高层给的机会。为阐释这一点，在《异类》（Outliers）一书中，马尔科姆·格拉德威尔（Gladwell）谈到两个天才级别的人—克里斯托弗·兰根（Christopher Langan）和罗伯特·奥本海默（ Robert Oppenheimer）。很多读者可能知道奥本海默是“原子弹之父”，但兰根却远没那么出名。

Langan was born in 1952 and has an IQ between 195 and 210, which is higher than both Einstein and Stephen Hawking. However, Langan isn't teaching theoretical physics at Harvard — he's a rancher in Missouri. While there's nothing wrong with being a rancher, it's an odd profession for one of the smartest living people.

兰根生于1952年，智商介于195到210之间，已经高过爱因斯坦和史蒂芬·霍金了。然而，兰根最终也没能在哈佛教授理论物理—他只是密苏里的一名农场工人。做一名农场工人本身没错，但作为世界上最聪明的人之一，兰根从事这个职业就太过古怪了。

Gladwell points out that the men grew up in two different environments. Langan was born into a poor rural family and attended public schools that didn't recognize his brilliance. After high school he attended Reed College, but had to drop out in the second semester because his mother had failed to fill out scholarship forms. A year and a half later, after working in construction and as a forest firefighter, he enrolled at Montana State University. However, he was having problems getting to school because his car broke down. He asked the school if he could change from two morning classes to afternoon classes because he could get a ride later in the day, but the university refused. Langan became increasingly frustrated and eventually dropped out.

格拉德威尔指出这两个人在完全不同的环境中长大。兰根出生于贫穷的农民家庭，就读于公立学校——这些学校完全无法发掘出他的聪明才智。高中毕业后，他进入里德学院（Reed College）学习， 但第二学期就被迫辍学，因为他妈妈之前忘了帮他填写拿奖学金所必需的财力证明表！这使他错失了奖学金，导致学费无以为继。兰根通过在工地打工、当森林消防员积攒学费，终于在一年半后进入了蒙大拿州立大学。可是他的车坏了，去上学不方便（译注：当时是寒冬，兰根住的地方离学校有二十多公里的路程）。他便和学校商量，看是否可以将上午两门课换到下午——因为下午可以搭顺风车，但学校不同意。因此兰根越来越沮丧，最终辍学了。

Oppenheimer, on the other hand, was raised in an environment where his gifts were cultured, he was encouraged from a young age, and was given the best education possible. While at Cambridge, he tried to poison a professor he was envious of. He was caught but only put on probation, and was allowed to continue studying.

与之相反，奥本海默在优渥的环境中长大，他的天赋得到了很好的发展。他自小受鼓励，接受最好的教育。在剑桥时，奥本海默曾因试图毒杀一名他嫉妒的教授而被捕，但只被处以缓刑，仍可继续学习。

It's amazing that both brilliant men went down such different paths based on the help they received. Langan was frustrated by a lack of support, while Oppenheimer committed a serious crime and got away with a slap on the wrist. The lesson is that in order to succeed, the gifts and interests of a person need to be encouraged, especially at a young age. Then as they grow up, people need to be given opportunities, breaks and second chances. Without help from other people, it makes it impossible to succeed because as Gladwell points out, “… no one—not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses — ever makes it alone.”

两个同样聪慧的人走上截然不同的路，只因他们所受到的帮助不同，这不能不让人吃惊！ 兰根因缺乏支持而备感沮丧，而奥本海默犯了重罪却被从轻处罚。结论就是：一个人要获得成功，天赋和兴趣的培养需要他人的鼓励，越是年幼，这种支持就越是重要。长大后，人们需要的是机遇，是谅解，是重头再来的机会。如果没有他人的帮助，取得成功是不可能的，就像格拉德威尔所说得，“没有人——没有摇滚明星，专业球员或软件亿万富翁，甚至没有一个天才是单靠自己成功的。”

7. IQ is Overrated

7.智商也会被高估

In the business world, it always seems like the smartest guys are the most successful. After all, firms hire the best and brightest from schools. However, while people with high test scores do have more opportunities, that doesn't necessarily mean that smart people are more successful. In fact, in many fields the link between success and intelligence is often weak or non-existent.

在商界，最聪明的人似乎总是最成功的。毕竟企业招聘的都是学校里最优秀、最聪明的毕业生。然而，尽管高分学生确实拥有更多机会，这也并不意味着聪明的人就会更成功。实际上，在很多领域，成功与智商的关系微乎其微，甚至根本就毫无关联。

Intelligence is a complicated thing with many different facets, yet society still measures intelligence with IQ tests, grades in school and exam results. That ignores critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence.

智商原本是个很复杂的概念，涵盖很多方面，然而社会却仅仅通过IQ测试，学业成绩和其他考试结果来衡量它。这就忽略了批判性思维能力和情商的作用。

Sociologists performed a test that involved betting on horses, which is similar to picking stocks because you're given little pieces of information on performance and then it's up to you to pick a winner. What they found was that people with lower intelligence performed better. When a person with higher IQ did do better, it was only for a short time. While a person with a higher IQ may do a new task better than a person with a lower IQ, the more they practice the gap decreases and they perform at a similar level. Hard work and experience can overcome the perceived advantage of a high IQ level. So while having a high IQ doesn't hurt, it simply isn't the driving factor for why some people are more successful than others.

社会学家进行了一项赌马测试。赌马与选股类似，人们无法预估马儿当场的表现是好是坏，所以对赢家的选择完全取决于主观判断。结果他们发现智商较低的人表现更好，“聪明人表现好”的现象持续时间则并不长。高智商的人在做新任务时表现会比智商偏低的人好一些，但随着实践越多，他们之间的差距就越小，最后两者便水平相当了。勤奋努力和经验最终战胜了高智商的感知优势。因此，虽然高智商无害，但它绝不是一些人比其他人更成功的主要驱动因素。

6. Your Name Matters

6.名字也能定成败

One of the things that has the biggest influence in our life is something we have no control over. Studies have shown that your name can play into your success, for better or for worse.

对我们的生活影响最大的，往往是那些我们无法掌控的事。研究表明，一个人的名字会在他的成功之路上发挥或好或坏的作用。

One interesting theory is a phenomenon called “nominative determinism,” which is that your name can actually influence which way your life goes and which profession you choose. Probably the best example of this is Usian Bolt. We tend to like things that remind us of ourselves — for example, someone with the last name “Smith” is more likely to marry another “Smith.” Usian Bolt may have been attracted to running because it reminded him of his name. People may have also wanted to encourage him because his name made him sound fast. Subconsciously, when choosing a runner to train, who would the coach be more inclined to choose — Usian Bolt or Steve Molasses? Your name can have a profound impact on what you pursue and how people treat you.

在一个名叫“姓名决定论”的学说趣论中有提到，名字确实能影响到你的人生导向和职业选择。尤赛恩·博尔特大概是这个学说最好的例子。通常情况下，我们会更喜欢那些能让我们联想到自己的东西，比如说，姓史密斯的人也许就更倾向于同另一个“史密斯”结合。尤赛恩·博尔特之所以会爱上赛跑，也是因为这能让他联想到自己的名字。人们也非常支持与鼓励博尔特，因为他的名字听起来就让人感觉这个人好像跑得很快。教练在选择运动员参加训练时，在尤赛恩·博尔特和史蒂夫·莫拉斯（Steve Molasses）两人中，他又会下意识地选择谁呢？（这结果是不言而喻的吧！）所以说，你的名字能对你的事业乃至于别人对你的态度产生深远的影响。

Names can also imply social class, and teachers pick up on that. Some don't feel that children with names that indicate a lower socioeconomic class are worth investing their time in. This would start a lifelong problem where the child might not be able to get caught up, simply because teachers, either consciously or subconsciously, didn't like their name. As people get older, there have been studies that show bias against people with "ethnic" sounding names when they apply for a job. Keep all that in mind if you decide to have kids.

名字同样也会反映出一个人的社会地位，老师们对其中隐含的社会地位的判断就相当准确。有的老师认为，姓名中折射出社会低层家庭环境的孩子，就不值得他们为之投入宝贵的教育时间。这就会导致这些孩子可能仅仅由于老师对他们名字的不喜，而受不到老师的重视，从而留下一生的遗憾。有研究证明，一些名字听起来带有“族裔”概念的人在成年后求职时都会屡遭歧视。因此，给孩子起名字的时候，可别忘了把上述因素考虑进去哦。

注：文章转载自前十网，译者：宝贝花，郗莉红，张萌，gina，围巾