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?
你有过梦吗？我指的不是睡觉时做的那种梦，而是当你展望一个全新的未来、期待一种不同的就业选择,以及希望拥有自己的事业时,所产生的那种有意识的梦想你曾多少次希望自己能够生活在一种比现状更好的不同的环境里呢？
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?
去梦想吧！毫无疑问，在生活中,我们时常都会有梦想。你实现过自己的梦 想吗？如果没有实现过，为什么呢？你是否曾在开始实现自己梦想的时候，只因 生活中其他事情的阻挠而半途而废呢？你是否曾迈出了实现梦想的最初脚步, 却只因在前路上遇到障碍而放弃了梦想呢？或者，你是否曾在已经实现了部分 梦想的情况下，却因为发现自己只取得了有限的成就,从而产生消极想法,认 为自己不可能成功呢？
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.
几年前，我曾有过发明一种棋盘游戏的梦想，那将能改变我一生的命运o 我一直与一个和我有同样梦想的伙伴合作,这个梦想就是我们的目标,而且我 们已经将其转变为实际行动。经过漫长的研究及无数次的修改之后，一种新的 棋盘游戏面世了。然后就是筹措资金的问题。要想战胜这个困难，必须制订一个能从中看到利润的计划,寻找一个愿意投资合作的集团，并创办一个实体公 司。然后就该制订市场战略了——电视宣传、报纸介绍、贸易展览、周末促销、 杂志广告以及电台广告等。
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.
那真是一个令人兴奋的时刻。随着销售量开始累积、畅销的可能性、棋盘 游戏公司的建立，以及进一步发展成为连锁公司，这个昔日的梦想正在成为现 实。就在这时，不幸的事发生了。又有一种新的棋盘游戏进军市场,它取得了史 无前例的销售成绩。简而言之，他们在市场上把我们打得落花流水，我们的销 售商已经没有能力向我们付款;我们的生意和梦想就这样戛然而止。
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.
长话短说,公司的解散使我们和我们的那些股东的梦想都化为了泡影。耗 费无数精力和时间的研究、生产、销售、宣传都毁于一旦,更别提投入的资金的 损失了。
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.
这个故事就这样结束了吗？对于一个游戏研究者来说,”永远也不能成功了”的消极思想的确能够支配一个人对未来生活的梦想。这个人很可能会回到 日复一日的朝九晚五的工作之中，他会永远处于一种愤世嫉俗的情绪之中,会 对那些功成名就的人充满嫉妒。
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,对我来说，它也意味着失败吗？我的确没有达到我所渴望的成功高 度,但对我来说,至少我曾使自己的梦想变成了现实。如果我从来没有把梦想 当作目标，并去采取行动，那我就会一直在想——如果……会怎么样。那么,这 算是失败吗？不，并不是。那么，它是我所希望的那神惊人的成功吗？——也不是是;但我却从中学到了非常有价值 的教训。毕竟，有多少成功的商人、 发明家、作家、艺术家等是在他们 初次尝试的时候就立即取得成功 了呢？很可能一个都没有。失败其 实是最好的老师，将为日后取得更 大的成功打下了坚实的基础。
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.
也许需要更多的尝试,或者在多次尝试之后才能取得一次成功,但一旦将梦想转变为行动，失败就会成为更明智的选择的起飞台，或者成为未来的努力中更好的行动 计划。成功会在下一次,或再下一次,或更多次冒险之后到来吗？谁敢说不会呢？关 键在于，只有将梦想转变为实际行动，才能取得成功；并且知道障碍只是通往最终成功的跳板而已。
For those who are wondering about my own eventual success, I’ll tell you this.
对于那些对我的最终成功感到好奇的人,我要说的就是这些。
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!
在经过无数次的尝试、失败、教训和错误的开始之后,只有相信我在前面所说的，成功才会到来。要从失败中吸取宝贵的经验,将梦想转变为实际行动，不要让梦 想只是一个梦想！