那么，成功的人生究竟是什么样的？该如何定义成功？成功的人生是否意味着积累物质财富或是能够行使大权？是否意味着你要非常出色，甚至成为名人？也许成功的人生更意味着帮助比你不幸的人，和家人及朋友一起享受生活、和睦相处，或是为子孙后代留下遗产，比如世界和平。

　　Trying to answer this question drew me to the innovative TED website earlier this year. TED (standing for technology, entertainment and design) is a small non-profit organization devoted to ideas worth spreading. They do this through their website and annual US and UK conferences where they bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers.

　　在寻觅何谓成功人生时，我想到了年初见到的创新型网站TED。TED（指technology, entertainment, design在英语中的缩写，即技术、娱乐、设计）是一家小型非盈利机构，该机构通过他们的网站和美英年度会议致力于有价值的思想的传播。美英年度会议，即TED大会，会议云集世界上最杰出的思想家和实干家。

　　This is where I found a very appealing definition of success, which was used by a well known American basketball coach called John Wooden. He defines true success as peace of mind through knowing that you have made the effort to do the best of which you are capable. This is appealing because it means that anyone from anywhere can live a successful life with a bit of hard work and self-belief. He also argues that you should never let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. And that is a great piece of advice.

　　有一位著名的美国篮球教练约翰·伍顿曾给成功下了一个很有感染力的定义。他认为，真正的成功是竭尽全力做好自己力所能及的事情从而达到内心的平和。这个定义很有感染力，因为这意味着，无论任何人，不管来自哪里，只要努力并且充满自信，就能拥有成功的人生。他还说，永远不要让无法做成的事情影响到你能做到的事情。这可是一个很好的建议。