ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
Richard St. John | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Richard St. John: Success is a continuous journey

Richard St. John: "L'èxit és un viatge continu"

Filmed:
4,347,745 views

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.
- 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

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:18
Why do so manymolts people reacharribar successèxit and then failfalla?
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Per què tantes persones tenen èxit i després fracassen?
00:23
One of the biggran reasonsraons is, we think successèxit is a one-wayanada streetcarrer.
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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 leadscondueix up to successèxit,
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Aleshores fem tot el que ens hi porta.
00:29
but then we get there. We figurefigura we'vetenim madefet it,
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Però llavors hi arribem i pensem que ho hem aconseguit.
00:31
we sitseure back in our comfortconfort zonezona,
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Ens acomodem
00:33
and we actuallyen realitat stop doing everything that madefet us successfulreeixit.
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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 downhillbaixada.
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I no tarda en decaure.
00:38
And I can tell you this happenspassa,
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I us asseguro que això passa.
00:40
because it happenedsucceït to me.
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Perquè a mi em va passar.
00:43
ReachingArribar a successèxit, I workedtreballat harddur, I pushedempès myselfjo mateix.
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Quan perseguia l'èxit vaig treballar dur, em pressionava.
00:46
But then I stoppeds'ha aturat, because I figuredimaginat, "Oh, you know, I madefet it.
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Però llavors vaig parar, perquè vaig dir-me: "Saps què? Ho he aconseguit.
00:49
I can just sitseure back and relaxrelaxar-se."
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Puc seure i relaxar-me"
00:51
ReachingArribar a successèxit, I always triedintentat to improvemillorar 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 stoppeds'ha aturat because I figuredimaginat, "Hey, I'm good enoughsuficient.
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Però llavors vaig parar perquè vaig pensar: "Ei, soc prou bo,
00:58
I don't need to improvemillorar any more."
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no necessito millorar més."
01:00
ReachingArribar a successèxit, I was prettybonic good at comingarribant up with good ideasidees.
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Quan perseguia l'èxit, tenir bones idees era el meu fort
01:04
Because I did all these simplesenzill things that led to ideasidees.
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perquè feia coses simples que donaven bones idees.
01:07
But then I stoppeds'ha aturat, because I figuredimaginat I was this hot-shotCyber calenta guy
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Però llavors vaig parar, perquè em creia un paio brillant
01:10
and I shouldn'tno have to work at ideasidees, they should just come like magicmàgia.
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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 cameva venir was creativecreatiu blockbloc.
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I l'única cosa que va aparèixer va ser el bloqueig creatiu.
01:15
I couldn'tno podia come up with any ideasidees.
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No se m'acudia cap bona idea.
01:18
ReachingArribar a successèxit, I always focusedcentrat on clientsclients and projectsprojectes,
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Quan perseguia l'èxit, sempre em centrava en els clients i els projectes,
01:21
and ignoredignorat the moneydiners. Then all this moneydiners startedva començar pouringabocant in.
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i no pensava en els diners. I llavors vaig començar a guanyar diners.
01:24
And I got distracteddistret by it.
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I em vaig distraure.
01:26
And suddenlyde sobte I was on the phonetelèfon to my stockbrokercorredor de borsa and my realreal estatefinca agentl'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 talkingparlar to my clientsclients.
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mentre hauria d'haver estat parlant amb els clients.
01:32
And reachingarribar successèxit, I always did what I lovedestimat.
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Quan perseguia l'èxit, vaig fer sempre el que m'agradava.
01:35
But then I got into stuffcoses that I didn't love,
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Però llavors em vaig endinsar en assumptes que no m'agradaven,
01:37
like managementgestió. I am the world'smón worstel pitjor managergerent,
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com l'administració. Sóc el pitjor director del món.
01:40
but I figuredimaginat 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 presidentpresident of the companyempresa.
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el gerent de l'empresa.
01:44
Well, soonaviat a blacknegre cloudnúvol formedformat over my headcap
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Bé, aviat es va tornar tot negre.
01:47
and here I was, outwardlyexteriorment very successfulreeixit,
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I allà estava jo, aparentment amb èxit
01:49
but inwardlyinteriorment very depresseddeprimit.
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però deprimit per dintre.
01:51
But I'm a guy; I knewsabia how to fixcorregir it.
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Però sóc un home i sabia com solucionar-ho.
01:55
I boughtva comprar a fastràpid carcotxe.
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Vaig comprar un cotxe ràpid.
01:57
(LaughterRiure)
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(Riure)
02:00
It didn't help.
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No em va ajudar.
02:02
I was fastermés ràpid but just as depresseddeprimit.
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Anava més ràpid però seguia deprimit.
02:04
So I wentva anar to my doctormetge. I said, "DocDoc,
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Així doncs, vaig anar al metge i li vaig dir: "Doctor,
02:07
I can buycomprar anything I want. But I'm not happyfeliç. I'm depresseddeprimit.
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puc comprar el que vulgui, però no sóc feliç. Estic trist.
02:11
It's trueveritat what they say, and I didn't believe it untilfins a it happenedsucceït 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 moneydiners can't buycomprar happinessfelicitat."
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Els diners no poden comprar la felicitat."
02:17
He said, "No. But it can buycomprar ProzacProzac."
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Ell va dir: "No, però poden comprar Prozac."
02:20
And he put me on anti-depressantsantidepressius.
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I em va receptar antidepressius.
02:22
And yeah, the blacknegre cloudnúvol fadedes va esvair a little bitpoc, 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 floatingflotant alongjunts. I couldn'tno podia carecura lessmenys if clientsclients ever calledanomenat.
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Perquè estava pels núvols. No m'importava si els clients trucaven.
02:30
(LaughterRiure)
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(Riure)
02:33
And clientsclients didn't call.
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I els clients no van trucar.
02:35
(LaughterRiure)
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(Riure)
02:36
Because they could see I was no longermés llarg servingservint them,
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Perquè van veure que ja no els prestava servei a ells,
02:38
I was only servingservint myselfjo mateix.
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sinó que em servia només a mi mateix.
02:40
So they tookva prendre theirels seus moneydiners and theirels seus projectsprojectes to othersaltres who would serveservir 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 businessnegocis to droptirar like a rockrock.
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El negoci no va tardar gaire en enfondrar-se.
02:47
My partnersoci and I, ThomThom, we had to let all our employeesempleats 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 undersota.
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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 employeesempleats, there was nobodyningú for me to managegestionar.
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Perquè sense empleats no hi havia ningú a qui pogués dirigir.
02:59
So I wentva anar back to doing the projectsprojectes I lovedestimat.
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I vaig tornar als projectes que m'agradaven.
03:02
I had fundiversió again, I workedtreballat hardermés difícil and, to cuttallar a long storyhistòria shortcurt,
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I em vaig tornar a divertir. Vaig treballar més dur. En resum:
03:06
did all the things that tookva prendre me back up to successèxit.
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vaig fer tot allò que em va portar de nou a l'èxit.
03:09
But it wasn'tno ho era a quickràpid tripviatge.
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Però no va ser un trajecte ràpid.
03:11
It tookva prendre sevende set yearsanys.
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Va durar set anys.
03:13
But in the endfinal, businessnegocis grewva créixer biggermés gran than ever.
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Però al final, l'empresa va créixer més que mai.
03:16
And when I wentva anar back to followingsegüent these eightvuit principlesprincipis,
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I quan vaig tornar a seguir aquests vuit principis,
03:19
the blacknegre cloudnúvol over my headcap disappeareddesaparegut altogetheren total.
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la negror es va esvair del tot.
03:22
And I wokeva despertar 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 ProzacProzac anymoremés."
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"Ja no necessito més Prozac."
03:26
And I threwllançat it away and haven'tno ho han fet needednecessari it sincedes de llavors.
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El vaig llençar, i no l'he necessitat des de llavors.
03:28
I learnedaprès that successèxit isn't a one-wayanada streetcarrer.
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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 looksaspecte more like this.
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No ho sembla, però és així en realitat.
03:34
It's a continuouscontínua journeyviatge.
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És un viatge continu.
03:36
And if we want to avoidevitar "success-to-failure-syndromeèxit-a-fracàs-síndrome,"
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I si volem evitar la "síndrome de l'èxit del fracàs"
03:39
we just keep followingsegüent these eightvuit principlesprincipis,
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només hem de seguir aquests vuit principis.
03:41
because that is not only how we achieveaconseguir successèxit,
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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 sustainsostenir it.
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sinó com el mantenim.
03:46
So here is to your continuedva continuar successèxit.
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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
(ApplauseAplaudiments)
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(Aplaudiments)
Translated by Marta Catarecha
Reviewed by Susana Pagán Sánchez

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
Richard St. John | Speaker | TED.com