別自卑，你比你想象的更成功

If you compare yourself to certain people, it's easy to feel you're unsuccessful. If you're an entrepreneur and you compare yourself to Richard Branson, you lose.
如果你拿自己跟別人比較，你很容易會認爲自己並不成功。如果你是一名企業家，然後你跟Richard Branson相比，你輸了。

If you're a musician and you compare yourself to Taylor Swift (especially if the point of comparison is earnings), you lose.
如果你是一位音樂家，你跟Taylor Swift相比（尤其是比收入），你輸了。

If your goal is to change the world and you compare yourself to Steve Jobs ... you lose.
如果你的目標是改變世界，然後跟Steve Jobs相比……你又輸了。

That's the problem with comparisons. No matter how successful you feel, there will always be someone who is more successful. There will always someone better, or smarter, or wealthier, or seemingly more happy.
這就是問題，你喜歡比較。不管你認爲自己有多麼成功，總會有人比你更成功，總會有人比你更好，更聰明，更富有，更快樂。

So let's stop comparing and just focus on you. Here are a few signs that you're more successful than you might think — and, in all likelihood, happier too:
所以，別再跟別人比較了，關注自己的狀況吧。下面這些特徵，顯示你其實比自己想象的更成功，並且十有八九的，更加快樂。

1. You have enough money that you can make positive choices.
1.你有足夠的金錢以備作出正確的選擇。

If you make enough money, and don't spend so much money, that you can make positive choices about what to do with some of it — whether it's investing, or taking a vacation, or taking classes ... anything you want to do instead of have to do — then you're successful, both because you've escaped the paycheck-to-paycheck grind and because you can leverage that extra money to become even more successful.
如果你能夠賺取足夠的金錢，並且不會過多花費，那麼你就可以拿着這筆錢做些積極的選擇，投資也好，去旅行度假也好，參與課程也好——只要是你想做的而不是你不得不做的事情，然後你就很成功啦，因爲你不必爲資金緊張而煩惱，你也可以利用那筆多餘的資金讓自己變得更加成功。

2. You have close friends
2. 你有親密的朋友

Close friendship are increasingly rare; one study found that the number of friends respondents felt they could discuss important matters with has dropped from an average of 2.94 to 2.08 in the last 20 years. If you have more than two or three close friends, be glad, not only for the social connection but also because the positive effect of relationships on your life span is double what you get from exercising and just as powerful as quitting smoking.
親密的友情彌足珍貴。有一項研究發現，在過去的20年裏，受訪者及其朋友共同討論重要問題的機率從平均2.94個百分點下降到2.08個百分點。如果你的親密朋友多於2-3個，那麼你應該感到高興，因爲在你的有限生命中，你從社交聯繫及正面的人際關係的收穫是參與體育鍛鍊的兩倍，並且與戒菸的好處是一樣強大。

And where professional relationships are concerned ...
那麼當考慮到職業關係的時候……

3. You choose the people around you
3.你選擇了身邊共事的人

Some people have employees who drive them nuts. Some people have customers who are obnoxious. Some people have casual acquaintances who are selfish, all-about-me jerks.
有的人會僱用讓他們發瘋的員工，有的人會找一些討厭的顧客，還有人會結識一些自私，以自我爲中心的泛泛之交。

Guess what: They chose those people. Those people are in their professional or personal lives because they let them remain.
猜猜怎麼樣：他們選擇了那些人。那些人就在他們的職業和個人生活當中，因爲他們任其不管。

Successful people attract successful people. Hardworking people attract hardworking people. Kind people associate with kind people. Great employees want to work for great bosses.
成功人士吸引成功人士。努力工作的人吸引同樣努力工作的人。友善的人會與友善的人建立聯繫。那麼，好的員工當然想爲好的老闆效力了。

If the people around you are people you want to be around you ... you're successful. (And if they're not, it's time to start making some changes.)
如果你身邊的人都是你希望共事的人們，那麼你就很成功了。（如果他們並不是你想的，那麼是時候改變了。）

4. You see failure as training
4.你把失敗當作磨練

Failure sucks, but it's also the best way to learn and grow. There will always be trials, challenges, and obstacles — but perseverance always wins in the end.
失敗的感覺非常不好，但這是讓你學習成長的最佳方式。你總會遇到考驗，挑戰和障礙，不過，不屈不撓總會取得最終的勝利。

5. You don't ask for anything
5.你不事事提出要求

People who feel successful aren't needy. They accept help if offered, but they don't feel the need to ask. In fact, they focus on what they can do for other people.
成功的人一般都不過多索取，他們接受他人的幫助，但他們沒有想過要求他人的幫助。實際上，他們更專注於自己對他人的幫助。

6. You let others grab the spotlight
6.你把光芒讓給他人

If you aren't looking for praise or accolades, that means you're successful. That means you feel proud on the inside, where it counts. You don't need the glory; you know what you've achieved.
如果你不追求褒獎和讚美，那麼你是成功的。因爲這意味着你的內心感到自豪，這纔是最重要的。你不需要榮耀褒獎，你知道自己的成就是什麼。

If you enjoy the validation of others but don't need the validation of others, you're successful.
如果你享受褒獎他人，但不需要他人對你的褒獎，你就很成功了。

And you know it ... even if you don't show it.
你知道你的成功，即使你不展露出來。

7. You have a purpose
7.你有個人目標

Successful people have a purpose. As a result, they're excited, dedicated, passionate, and fearless.
成功的人都有目標，所以他們很激動，投入，充滿熱情，無所畏懼。

And they share their passions with others.
他們還會與別人分享自己的雄心壯志。

If you're found a purpose — if you've found something that inspires you, fuels you, makes you excited to get up, get out, and achieve — then you're successful, regardless of how much money you make or what other people think.
如果你定下了一個目標——你發現了爲你鼓舞，爲你加油，讓你激動得站起來，走出去，去努力達到的東西，那麼你就是成功的。不管你賺了多少錢，不管其他人怎麼想。

Why? Because you're living life your way — and that's the best sign of success there is.
爲什麼？因爲你活出了自己，這就是最美好的成功標誌了。