1965年，一位韓國學生到劍橋大學主修心理學。在喝下午茶的時候，他常到學校的咖啡廳或茶座聽一些成功人士聊天。這些成功人士包括諾貝爾獎獲得者、某一領域的學術權威和一些創造了經濟神話的人，這些人幽默風趣，舉重若輕，把自己的成功都看得非常自然和順理成章。時間長了，他發現，在國力內時，他又被一些成功人士欺騙了。那些人為了讓正在創業的人知難而退，普遍把自己的創業艱辛誇大了，也就是說，他們在用自己的成功經歷嚇唬那些還沒有取得成功的人。
作為心理學系的學生，他認為很有必要對韓國成功人士的心態加以研究。1970年，他把《成功並不是你想像的那麼難》作為畢業論文，提交給現代經濟心理學的創始人威爾·布雷登教授。布雷登教授讀後，大為驚喜，他認為這是一個新發現，這種現象雖然在東方甚至在世界個地普遍存在，但此前還沒有一個人大膽地提出來並加以研究。
驚喜之餘，他寫信給他的劍橋校友——當時正坐在韓國政壇第一把交椅上的朴正熙。他在信中說，我不敢說這部著作對你有多大的幫助，但我敢肯定它比你的任何一個政令都能產生震動。
後來本書果然伴隨着韓國的經濟起飛了。這本書鼓舞了許多人，因為它從一個新的角度告訴人們，成功與「勞其筋骨，餓其體膚」、「三更燈火五更雞」、「頭懸樑，錐刺股」沒有必然的聯繫。只要你對某一事業感興趣，長久地堅持下去就會成功，因為上帝賦予你的時間和智慧夠你圓滿做完一件事情。後來，這位青年也獲得了成功，他成了韓國泛亞汽車公司的總裁。
我沒有讀過這本在韓國曾引起轟動的書，我也沒想過去找這本書讀，憑我的人生經歷，我已經感知到了它要說的一些道理：人生中的許多事，只要想做，都能做到；該克服的困難，也都能自己克服，用不着什麼鋼鐵般的意志，更用不着什麼技巧或謀略。只要一個人還在樸實而饒有興趣地生活着，他終究會發現，造物主對世事的安排，都是水到渠成的。
Success is Not as Hard as You Think
[PureInsight.org] In 1965, a Korean student was studying psychology at Cambridge University. At afternoon tea time, he always went to coffee shops or salons to listen to conversations between successful people. Those people were scholars who won the Nobel Prize, academic authorities in various fields or people who had created economic legends. They were all humorous and easy-going and thought that their successes came naturally and logically. With time, he realized that he had been misled by some successful people in Korea because they exaggerated the difficulties in building up their careers so as to make those just starting out give up. That also meant that they were scaring off those who had not been successful yet.
As a student who was studying psychology, he thought it was very necessary to do some research on the mental states of successful people in Korea. In 1970, he handed his thesis, "Success Is Not as Hard as You Thought," to Professor Will Bladen, who was the founder of modern economic psychology. Professor Bladen was very excited when he read the paper and noted that it presented a new discovery. Though the phenomenon was actually common in the eastern countries and even all over the world, no one had ever brought it up and done research on it.
Then Professor Bladen wrote to his schoolmate, Park Chung Hee, who was President of South Korea at the time. In his letter he said, "I dare not say that how much this work will be helpful to you, but I can ensure that it will be more influential than any of your policies.:
Later, this book did take off, together with the economy of South Korea. It encouraged many people because it told people from a new angle that living though extreme hardship was not necessarily relevant to success. It showed people that painful experiences that were often described in success stories, like "exhausting and starving yourself," "getting up early and going to bed late," and "hanging your hair and stinging your leg to keep yourself awake." were not prerequisites for success. If you are interested in a career, you will be successful if you keep on doing it because time and the intelligence given by God are sufficient for you to accomplish the task. The young student also became successful. Later, he was the president of KIA Motors Corp. in Korea.
I have never read the book that created a great sensation in Korea, nor did I even want to look for it. From to my own life experience, I had already realized the principle indicated in the book: many things in life can be achieved if one wants to. Difficulties can be overcome without iron wills or techniques or strategies. If one is just down-to-earth and passionate about life, he will find that success will come when conditions are ripe, just like it was all being arranged by the great creator of the universe.
Translated from:
http://xinsheng.net/xs/gb/da4print.asp?ID=42537