優秀的人就在你身邊——利用這一點

THERE IS GREATNESS ALL AROUND YOU—USE IT

There are many people who could be Olympic champions, but they have never tried. I’d estimate five million people could have beaten me in the pole vault the year I won it, at least five million. Men who were stronger, bigger and faster than I was could have done it, but they never picked up a pole, never made the feeble effort to pick their legs off the ground to try to get over the bar.

Greatness is all around us. It’s easy to be great because great people will help you. What is fantastic about all the conventions I go to is that the greatest in the business will come and share their ideas, their methods and their techniques with everyone else. I have seen the greatest salesmen open up and show young salesmen exactly how they did it. They don’t hold back. I have also found it true in the world of sports.

I’ll never forget the time I was trying to break Dutch Warmer Dam’s record. I was about a foot below his record, so I called him on the phone. I said, “Dutch, can you help me? I seem to have leveled off. I can’t get any higher.”

He said, “Sure, Bob, come on up to visit me and I’ll give you all I got.” I spent three days with the master, the greatest pole-vaulter in the world. For three days, Dutch gave me everything that he’d known. There were things that I was doing wrong and he corrected them. To make a long story short, I went up eight inches. That great guy gave me the best that he had. I’ve found that sports champions and heroes willingly do this just to help you become great, too.

John Wooden, the great UCLA basketball coach, has a philosophy that every day he is supposed to help someone who can never reciprocate. That’s his obligation.

When in college working on his master’s thesis on scouting and defensive football, George Allen wrote up a 30-page survey and sent it out to the great coaches in the country. Eighty-five percent answered it completely.

Great people will share, which is what made George Allen one of the greatest football coaches in the world. Great people will tell you their secrets. Look for them, call them on the phone or buy their books. Go where they are, get around them, talk to them. It is easy to be great when you get around great people.

【助讀詞匯】

◇feeble adj. 微弱的，無力的

◇convention n. 大會，集會

◇level off v. 穩定，變得穩定

◇reciprocate v. 酬答，報答

◇scout v. 守衛；偵察

【參考譯文】

優秀的人就在你身邊——利用這一點

很多人都可以成為奧運會冠軍，但是他們沒有去嘗試。在贏得撐桿跳冠軍的那年，我估計會有五百萬人可能打敗我，至少有五百萬！那些比我更強壯、更高大、跑得更快速的人，本來是可以贏了我的，但是他們沒有拾起撐桿，沒有哪怕是付出微小的努力去抬起腿嘗試跳過那根橫桿。

我們周圍有很多優秀的人。變優秀很容易，因為有優秀的人會幫助你。很有意思的是，在我參加過的所有商業集會中，我都會發現商界一些最優秀的人會來與其他所有人分享自己的想法、方法和技巧。我看到過最厲害的銷售員敞開胸懷，毫無保留地向年輕銷售員傳授他們的成功之道。同樣，我也在運動領域發現了這一現象。

我永遠不會忘記嘗試打破德屈·渥門·丹記錄的那一次。我差他的記錄約1英尺，所以我打電話給他：“德屈，你能幫我嗎？我好像停滯不前，不能跳得更高了。”

他說：“鮑布，我當然愿意幫你，你過來吧，我把我會的全教給你。”我與這位世界上最偉大的撐桿跳高大師待了3天。在這3天里，德屈把他知道的全告訴了我。我有些做得不對的地方，他幫我進行了糾正。長話短說，我因此進步了8英寸。這位大師把他所學的精髓教授給了我。我發現運動冠軍和其他行業的杰出人物也都樂意這樣做來幫助你也變得優秀。

約翰·伍頓是加大洛山磯分校籃球隊的王牌教練。他的人生哲學是每天都應該幫助一個無力回報他的人。這是他的義務。

喬治·艾倫當年讀大學寫一篇關于足球守衛和防御的論文時，他制作了一份長達30頁的調查問卷，寄給了全國各地出色的教練。其中百分之八十五的人都為他完全填好了。

偉大的人都愿意分享，也正由于如此，喬治·艾倫成為了世界上最偉大的足球教練之一。偉大的人會告訴你他的秘密。找到他們，打他們電話，或者買他們的書。到他們身邊去，和他們交談。當你在優秀的人身邊時，你也容易變優秀。

【人生啟迪】

古話云：“近朱者赤，近墨者黑。”這是千載年來經久不衰的真理。你旁邊一定也有不少優秀的人，鼓起勇氣和他們接觸，日子久了，在他們的熏陶之下，你自然也會加入成功人士之列。