How to Be a successful person

Gary Hall Jr

Winner of 5 Olympic Gold Medals

    “In 1997 I was found to have developed diabetes(糖尿病) . Believing my career was over, I felt extremely low. Then one of the specialists said there was no reason why I should stop training and competing. That was it—the encouragement I needed. I could still be a winner if I believe in myself. I am not saying that it isn't difficult sometimes. But I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't finished yet. Nothing is to stand in my way.”

Karen Pickering

Swimming World Champion

     “I swim 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. I manage that sort of workload by putting it on top of my diary. This is the key to success—you can't follow a career in any field without being well-organized. List what you believe you can achieve. Trust yourself, write down your goals for the day, however small they are, and you'll be a step closer to achieving them.”

Kirsten Best

Poet & Writer

     “When things are getting hard, a voice inside my head tells me that I can't achieve something. Then, there are other distractions, such as family or hobbies. The key is to concentrate. When I feel tense, it helps a lot to repeat words such as ‘calm', ‘peace' or ‘focus', either out loud or silently in my mind. It makes me feel more in control and increases my confidence. This is a habit that can become second nature quite easily and is a powerful psychological tool.”

Finding the Real You

    Psychometric testing—personality testing—has been very popular nowadays as studies show their results to be three times more accurate in predicting your job performance. These tests are now included in almost all graduate recruitment (招聘) and are widely used in the selection of managers.

    The most popular of these personality tests is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). It is based on the theory that we are born with a tendency to one personality type which stays more or less fixed throughout life. You answer 88 questions and are then given your “type”, such as Outgoing or Quiet, Feeling or Thinking.

    Critics of personality testing raise doubts about “social engineering”. Psychologist Dr. Colin Gill warns that the “popular” personality traits (特性) have their disadvantages. “People who are extremely open to new experiences can be butterflies, going from one idea to the next without mastering any of them.” However, the psychometric test is here to stay, which may be why a whole sub-industry on cheating personality tests has sprung up. “It's possible to cheat,” admits Gill, “but having to pretend to be the person you are at work will be tiring and unhappy and probably short-lived.”

    So can we change our personality? “Your basic personalities fixed by the time you're 21,”says Gill, “but it can be affected by motivation and intelligence. If you didn't have the personality type to be a doctor but desperately wanted to be one and were intelligent enough to master the skills, you could still go ahead. But trying to go too much against type for too long requires much energy and is actually to be suffered for long. I think it's why we're seeing this trend for downshifting—too many people trying to fit into a type that they aren't really suited for.”

    Our interest in personality now exists in every part of our lives. If you ask an expert for advice on anything, you'll probably be quizzed about your personality. But if personality tests have any value to us, perhaps it is to free us from the idea that all of us are full of potential, and remind us of what we are. As they say in one test when they ask for your age: pick the one you are, not the one you wish you were.

    The principles about applying for jobs have altered greatly lately. In the past, people preferred a hand­written application letter. However, nowadays it is becoming more and more common to apply for a job through the Internet. You can find information on the Internet about how to apply for jobs. Information can be found about how to fulfill your application letter, the clothes that you should wear and how to carry out the interview itself.

    The importance of body language is often mentioned, but doesn't always get the attention it deserves. After all, before a word has even been spoken, your body language will have already given people their first impression of you. Additionally, your body language will also give out a lot more information. Based on your body language it can be seen if you are self-confident. It can also show if you are a busy or a quiet type and it helps give an impression of whether you are speaking truthfully or not. Body language can show how enthusiastic you are and if you are a nice person, someone who will take his work seriously, but also someone who has a sense of humor and can enjoy a joke from time to time. The members of the application committee will ask you questions, but your answers won't only be oral. The committee will not only pay attention to what you say, but also to how you say it! Body language will determine first if it “clicks”， and sometimes all it takes is just a few seconds. Everybody uses body language, but it takes place mostly at a subconscious (下意识的) level. Using body language appropriately, you can definitely increase your chances of getting a job.

    When my son, Bob, was in the third grade, he saved all his pocket money for over three months to buy Christmas presents. The third Saturday in December, Bob said he had made his list and had twenty dollars in his pocket.

    I drove him to a nearby supermarket. Bob picked up a basket and went in while I waited and watched in the car. It took Bob over 45 minutes to choose his presents. Finally he came to the checkout counter and reached into his pocket for his money. It was not there! There was a hole in his pocket, but no money. Bob stood there holding his basket, tears falling down his face.

    Then a surprising thing happened. A woman came up to Bob and took him in her arms. "You would help me a lot if you let me pay for you," said the woman. "It would be the most wonderful gift you could give me. I only ask that one day you will pass it on. When you grow up, I would like you to find someone you can help. When you help others, I know you will feel as good about it as I do now."

    Bob took the money, dried his tears and ran back to the checkout counter as fast as he could. That year we all enjoyed our gifts almost as much as Bob enjoyed giving them to us.

    I would like to say "thank you" to that very kind woman, and tell her that four years later, Bob went from house to house collecting blankets and clothes for the homeless people in the fire. And I want to promise her that Bob will never forget to keep passing it on.

    Something's happening at the lowest point on our planet, some 1,388 feet below sea level. The Dead Sea, a salt lake close to Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, is shrinking at an alarming rate—about 3.3 feet per year, according to the environmentalist group EcoPeace Middle East.

    “It's not just like one country is punishing the Dead Sea; it's more like the whole region,” said photographer Moritz Küstner, who visited the area in February to work on his series “The Dying Dead Sea”.

    The Dead Sea needs water from the other natural sources surrounding it, such as the Jordan River basin. But around the 1960s, the courses of some water sources it relied upon were diverted. Israel, for instance, built a pipeline during that time so it could supply water throughout the country.

    Mineral extraction(提取)industries are another main reason why the water levels are declining, experts say. The Dead Sea's minerals have been popular for their medical power and can often be found in cosmetics(化妆品)and other consumer products.

    And then, of course, there's the Middle East's hot, dry climate, which makes it difficult for the lake to refill itself. Last year, Israel and Jordan signed a $ 900 million deal in an effort to stabilize the Dead Sea's water levels. It involves building a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea which would be able to not only supply water to Israel and Jordan but also to pump much needed water—some 300 million cubic meters annually—into the Dead Sea.

    “This is the most important and significant agreement since the peace treaty with Jordan (in 1994),” said Silvan Shalom, Israel's energy and water resources minister at the time. Whether the canal—estimated to take three years to complete—will work out positively and as planned remains to be seen.

    For now, Küstner shows us that the Dead Sea remains very much a place of interest, with people from all over the world going there to swim in its salty waters.

In high school I was very shy, content to hang around with my small group of friends and concentrate on my courses. I was quickly regarded as a "brain". I did so well that by the end of the senior year I had perfect grades and enough credits to give up an entire quarter of coursework.

But in early June of the senior year, the principal called me into his office. He asked me to give a speech at graduation. I gaped(目瞪口呆地凝视) at him, my heart thumping. This was the reward for my hard work? I mumbled something and fled the office, blaming myself for staying away from physics, a subject sure to have ruined my perfect record.

I finally agreed to a compromise. I would share the honour with five other students. And my friend Judy would then give her own, full-length speech.

The graduation day soon arrived. I'd been practising my speech for days, and I had it memorised. The first half hour of the ceremony passed in a blur, and then my moment came. My name was announced. I managed to reach the platform without falling down. I faced my classmates. My voice trembled a little, but mostly it was clear and strong. But within seconds, I was done and headed back to my seat. I accomplished something I'd never dreamed of—I spoke in front of hundreds of people.

Although I didn't realise it at the time, the successful completion of that speech gave me the confidence to participate in class at college, to give verbal reports, and to eventually break free from my shyness. I would never have chosen to give a speech at graduation ever. But I'm glad I did. I no longer hesitate when I'm faced with the prospect of doing something I dread. I know it may very well turn out to be one of my shining moments.