英文每周一文。庸才不是罪，成功靠耍廢？How to fail your way to success. 教練很喜歡Scott Adams，每週讀一篇文章，鞏固你的英文實力。

成功當然不能靠耍廢，因為這有違物理原則。這篇文章其實是勸人多學點技能，好在激烈的競爭中脫穎而出。

Scott Adams這本書的概念就是現在流行的斜槓族。
說到斜槓族，教練應該算是最早的斜槓一族，因為我從來都不務正業。我當過飯店的Image consultant, 藝術修復員、主持過電台節目、研究星座且曾寫過幾十本書，當過算命仙、同步口譯員、英文文案，也考進過香港佳事得拍賣會當過藝術品寫手，還教過托福，更做過台北與新北市長的英文顧問。現在的我是一家顧問公司的負責人，同時也是個graphic recoder。我沒有賺到幾億，但是我的人生真的很有趣，這輩子買房沒有靠過父母，朋友跟我吃飯都不用出錢。我不是甚麼真正有錢人，但經濟獨立自由，所以部落格從不屑放廣告壞了版面啊。話說到這裡，我對於那些自身經濟拮据還願意做慈善的人真心佩服，因為無私奉獻真的很難，希望有一天我也能那樣。

Be Average. But Do it Often.
平凡人的成功之道就是以量取勝
斜槓越多，代表成功的機會越大

The third in a series of columns on failing your way to success by the creator of "Dilbert"

By Scott Adams

When “Dilbert” first appeared in newspapers, readers were savage about猛烈抨擊my lack of artistic skill藝術技巧. They wondered how someone so untalented could become a syndicated cartoonist作品在世界各大報連載的專欄漫畫家. In those early days, my friends were surprised that I got published. At parties, I wasn’t the funniest person in the room. And I wasn’t anywhere near the smartest.

Then there’s my lack of writing skill. The only writing class I’ve ever taken was a two-day course in business writing. But somehow I’ve managed to write several bestselling books.

So what’s my secret?

Mediocrity平庸. Lots of it.

In my case, I am merely good – not great – at several complementary skills互補或是相配的技能. I can draw better than people who haven’t spent much time practicing. I have a clear but otherwise average writing style. And I can be funnier than people who don’t try to be funny. I also have modest business skills, thanks to my economics and business degrees, and years of experience. I’ve failed at 失敗more business ventures than most people have even tried, but I learned a lot along the way.

The secret to my success with “Dilbert” involves my unique combination of skills.獨特整合各種技巧 Can you name one other person who has average skills in writing, humor, art, and business? It’s a rare mixture. 少見的混搭實力Individually, none of my skills are anywhere near world-class頂尖/世界級的. But combined, they create a powerful market force.強而有力的職業技能

When I entered the corporate world企業界 straight out of college, my plan was to vacuum up用力吸收 as much knowledge as possible, about business and the ways of the world, so that one day I would be prepared to run my own company. I took every corporate training class I could get into, and I worked on getting my MBA at night. I took the Dale Carnegie class卡內基訓練 on the company’s dime用公司的錢(受訓) to learn how to give a speech and work a crowd. I learned computer programming at the local community college and practiced coding nights and weekends. I also took a class to become a certified hypnotist有證照的催眠師 because I thought it would be useful for whatever I did. (I was right about that.)

Given my strategy of continuous skills acquisition持續不斷增強技能的策略, what were my odds of having a prosperous career? Probably close to 100%, so long as I stayed healthy and out of jail.

If “Dilbert” hadn’t worked out, I probably would be running a startup in Silicon Valley, which is just down the road. It’s not hard to get venture funding企業出資 when you have an MBA from Berkeley, Dale Carnegie experience in your back pocket擁有某項能力的說法, and you’re a hypnotist. If you remove any one of those three modest skills from my toolbox, my odds of getting funding would plummet下沉/下滑.

If you don’t have world-class skills at anything, don’t despair. You can become a powerful market force by intelligently acquiring new skills that work well with what you already know將新學成的技能搭配原有的專長. I have a number of friends and acquaintances who have pursued a similar strategy, learning one complementary skill after another, to make it easier for luck to find them.這樣會讓幸運之神比較容易找到你 They all have one thing in common: They’re rich.