10 decades of success

Childhood: Shirley Temple

懵懂童年：秀兰•邓波儿

Before the age of 10, Shirley Temple enjoyed four years as the top box-office draw in America, earning an unprecedented $50, 000 per film from 20th Century Fox in the late 1930s. She gave definition to the term child star, which was the title of her autobiography.

不到10岁的秀兰•邓波儿在长达四年的时间里一直是最有票房号召力的明星。20世纪30年代晚期，她在20世纪福克斯公司（20th Century Fox）每部电影中的片酬达到史无前例的5万美元。她定义了“童星”一词，而这也是她自传的书名。

But early success often comes with the cost of devoting your childhood to hard work rather than play. Temple acted in four films a year at an age when ordinary children swing in the playground and master cursive writing.

但过早的成功往往伴随着把童年奉献给辛苦工作、而不是玩耍的代价。在普通孩子四处游玩和涂鸦的年纪，邓波儿每年就要参演4部电影。

"The early young chargers are willing to sacrifice freedom and choice at a young age, " says Bruce Tulgan, New Haven-based consultant and author of It's Okay to Be the Boss. "They put in a huge amount of time and energy in a focused pursuit at a very young age."

“年少的冲锋者们愿意在年纪轻轻时就牺牲了自由和选择，”位于纽黑文市的咨询顾问、《像个老板样》（It's Okay to Be the Boss）的作者布鲁斯•塔尔干说。“他们在年幼时就把大把的时间和精力投入到专心致志的追求中。”

Although Temple retired from movie-making at age 22, that early sacrifice gave her the platform and name recognition to become active in politics, serve on corporate boards, and fill the role of U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

虽然邓波儿在22岁时息影，但早年的那种牺牲为她提供了平台和知名度，使她得以活跃于政坛，担任公司董事，成为老布什执政时期美国驻捷克斯洛伐克的大使。

Adolescence: Nick D'Aloisio

豆蔻青春：尼克•阿洛伊西奥

How many pimply-faced adolescents salivate over a story like Nick D'Aloisio's? He taught himself to code at 12 and at 15 created a news summary app that prompted investor Li Ka Shing's Horizons Ventures to invest $300,000 in the technology. After a few more rounds of funding and a name change to Summly, D'Aloisio sold the app to Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) for a reported $30 million in March 2013, joining the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based tech giant from his home base in England. Now 17, he hobnobs with investors and advisers like Ashton Kutcher, Vivi Nevo, and Yoko Oko.

有多少脸上长着青春痘的少年少女们对尼克•阿洛伊西奥的故事向往不已？他在12岁时自学编程，15岁时打造出新闻摘要应用，促使投资者李嘉诚的维港投资（Horizons Ventures）向这项技术投资了30万美元。经过了其他几轮融资并更名为Summly之后，阿洛伊西奥在2013年3月以3,000万美元的价格，把这款应用出售给了雅虎（Yahoo），加入了这个总部位于加州森尼维尔的科技巨头，在英格兰的家中办公。现年17岁的他已经与阿什顿•库彻、艾维•尼沃和Yoko Oko等投资者和顾问称兄道弟。

"I try to maintain a level of humbleness to this," he told the Guardian newspaper, adding that his motivation wasn't simply monetary reward. "Because the motivation was technology and product, this is just the beginning of what I want to do."

“我想保持某种程度的谦逊，”他对《卫报》（Guardian）说，他的动机不只是金钱。“我的动机是技术和产品，对于我想做的事，现在这些只是一个开始。”

Research by University of Chicago economist David Galenson finds that innovators who make their mark early on in their careers tend to accomplish conceptual breakthroughs, as opposed to those who innovate through experimentation and laborious research -- which can take decades.

芝加哥大学（University of Chicago）经济学家大卫•加伦森的研究显示，不同于那些通过实验和辛勤研究来创新（这可能需要数十年）的人，在职业生涯早期就崭露头角的创新者往往能实现观念性的突破。

"There are two very different kinds of people who make innovations. The people who are traditionally regarded as geniuses are the people I refer to as conceptual. They have a brand-new idea," says Galenson, author of Old Masters and Young Geniuses. "The ability to form new abstractions tends to be greatest early in your career."

“有两种截然不同的创新者。传统上被视为天才的人就是我所说的实现观念性突破的人。他们拥有全新的创意，”《高龄大师和年轻天才》（Old Masters and Young Geniuses）的作者加伦森说。“形成全新抽象概念的能力在职业生涯早期往往最为重要。”

20-something: Jackie Joyner-Kersee

双十年华：杰西•乔伊娜•柯西

"Success for me is never quite completed," says Jackie Joyner-Kersee, a six-time Olympic medalist and Sports Illustrated's pick for the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century. "There are successful moments from the standpoint of the goals I set and was able to reach. That doesn't mean the work is done."

“对我而言，成功永无止境，”杰西•乔伊娜•柯西说。她六夺奥运会奖牌，被《体育画报》（Sports Illustrated）评为“20世纪最杰出的女运动员”。“我设定了很多目标，也实现了很多目标。站在这个立场上来说，我取得了很多次成功。但这并不意味着我该做的都做完了。”

At 24 years old, Joyner-Kersee became the first woman to break 7,000 points in the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow. The challenge was not only in physically being able to master all seven track and field events, but also in standing up to the mental pressure. Since then, Joyner-Kersee continues to set new goals, in her community work and personal relationships.

24岁时，乔伊娜•柯西在1986年墨西哥友好运动会（Goodwill Games）上成为首位突破7,000分的女性。挑战不仅在于从体力上征服七项全能，还在于顶住精神压力。此后，乔伊娜•柯西继续在社区工作和个人爱情方面给自己设定新的目标。

"You're always looking for new challenges. You're always looking at what's going to be the next roadblock. It's those roadblocks that help me get up in the morning and keep working every day," she says. "If you have nothing to work for, you're asleep all day."

“我总是在寻找新的挑战。我总是把目光对准下一个障碍。正是这些障碍督促着我每天早上醒来继续奋斗，”她说。“如果无所事事，就会整天昏昏欲睡。”

A relentless pursuit of progress is typical of people who become and stay successful, says Richard St. John, author of The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common. Such achievers must maintain that drive. "The ones who are successful throughout life don't change. They stay the same," he says. "If you're following your passion, keep following it."

《成功人士共有的8个特征》（The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common）一书的作者理查德•约翰说，对进步的不懈追求是获得成功、保持成功的重要因素。这些成功人士必定保持了那种进取精神。“在整个生命中取得成功的人从来不曾改变。他们始终如一，”他说。“如果你正在追求自己的爱好，那就不懈地追求下去。”