One of the most inspiring quotes I ever heard regarding perseverance was by Brian Tracy. He said: “The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people fail many more times than unsuccessful people.”

我聽過的關于“毅力”的最鼓舞人心的一句名言，出自布賴恩-特蕾西之口。他說：“成功者和失敗者的區別是，成功者比失敗者要經歷更多的失敗。”

I personally experienced the wisdom of that understanding right after my first book was published. Like many authors, I envisioned hundreds of bookstore customers lining up for me to benevolently sign copies for them.

我的第一本書出版之后的親身經歷讓我對這句名言的智慧有了深刻的理解。與許多作者一樣，我也曾想象有幾百個我的書迷朋友在書店里排起長龍，期待著我親切地為他們簽名。

benevolently [bi’nev?l?ntli] adv. 仁慈地;慷慨地

I’m afraid to say, it didn’t quite happen like that.

然而，我得說，這一幕并沒有發生。

I was living in Atlanta at the time and arranged my first signing at The Phoenix and Dragon, the largest inspirational bookstore in the city. The store was celebrating its 15th anniversary and had authors scheduled to appear throughout the three-day event. I was scheduled Sunday at 5pm, the last day and time slot of the celebration.

那時我住在亞特蘭大，正在為我的第一次簽名售書活動做準備。這次簽名售書活動被安排在龍鳳書店舉行，那是亞特蘭大市最大的勵志書書店。為了慶祝書店開業15周年，書店邀請了一些作家陸續在為期3天的慶祝活動中亮相。我被安排在星期天下午5點出席活動—那是三天慶祝活動的最后一天，也是活動的一段間隙。

Brimming with anticipation, I was put into a private signing room in the beautiful store, and for the next hour and a half, had little more to do than to read my own book and wonder for what purpose in the world I had felt so driven to spend four years writing it.

那天，我滿懷期待。我被安排在漂亮的龍鳳書店的一個專用簽名室里。可是在接下來的一個半小時里，我除了百無聊賴地翻看自己的書之外，沒有其他事情可做。我不禁問自己，究竟是什么促使我花了四年的時間來寫作這本書。

anticipation [?nt?s?’pe??(?)n] n. 希望;預感;先發制人;預支

Despite a nice sign placed outside the room exhibiting images of both me and my book, The 9 Insights of the Wealthy Soul, not a single customer entered the room. As each minute passed, I became increasingly anxious.

簽名室的外面擺著一塊漂亮搶眼的廣告牌，上面展示著我的頭像，以及我的書——《富足靈魂的九大頓悟》，然而卻沒有一個客人走進這個房間。隨著時間一分一秒地過去，我變得越來越焦慮不安。

Do they not like the title? I wondered. Do they not like the book cover?

他們不喜歡我的書名嗎?我充滿疑問。還是不喜歡書的封面設計?

After 90 minutes of this torture, I was absolutely distraught.

這種折磨持續了90分鐘以后，我徹底瘋掉了。

For the four years writing the book, I had felt a sense of mission and purpose like never before in my life. Working a full 8 to 9 hour day in my clinic, I had lived on a strict regimen during the four years of getting into bed by 9:30pm, so I could quiet my mind and feel a sense of surrender before turning out the lights at 11. I would sleep with that silent potentiality, so I could wake up at 5:30 in the morning and have two pristine hours of writing before heading into my clinic.

在著書的4年時間里，我有一種前所未有的使命感和目標感。那時，我每天在診所工作8到9個小時。那4年里，我的作息時間極為嚴格，每天晚上9點半準時上床，以便在11點熄燈之前的這段時間里，能使大腦平靜下來，體會一種拋開雜念，交出身心的感覺。帶著這種沉默的潛在力量入睡，我就可以在早上5點半起床，利用完整的兩個小時來寫作，然后再前往診所。