如何得到你真正想要的

 　　Like all of us, he's been stymied¹, thwarted² and undermined. Yet, not only has he lived to tell the tale—he's also found smart strategies to getting ahead.

　　Pitfall³ #1: You Aren't Channeling Your Inner Italian

　　Think like Robert Duvall in The Godfather, and be a consigliere to someone. If you don't have the boss's ear, get the ear of the person who has the boss's ear. If you can't get that person's ear, get that person's best friend's ear. When a boss who'd deeply trusted me became suddenly enamored of a new employee, thereby⁴ shutting me out, I didn't let my ego⁵ get in the way. Instead, I took the new favorite child to lunch and asked if I could help her with a project she was working on. As a result, we became friends, and my boss started hearing about all my "brilliant" ideas through the current darling. All this returned me to the boss's favor—and eventually led (along with other things, of course) to a promotion⁶.

　　Pitfall #2: You Haven't Cracked Your Boss's Code

　　I once had a boss who never said "I think" but always "I feel." I myself had never used the words "I feel" (except in a strictly⁷ emotional context—i.e., regarding my cats), but I started using them—and others like them. When I did, (I feel) my boss became more responsive. Why? Because I was literally⁸ speaking her language. (And guess what? Now I say "feel" all the time.)

　　Pitfall #3: You've Forgotten Your Fellow 99 Percent

　　Over and over, I've seen colleagues sabotage⁹ themselves by thinking that people in positions of obvious power are the only ones who matter. Whenever I've interviewed for a job, I have always sent at least two thank-you notes: one to the person or people who interviewed me, another to the assistant. After my recent novel was finally printed, I sent thank-you notes to the production manager, the cover designer, the assistant cover designer, the copy editor and the assistant copy editor. Aside from the good karma this creates, consistently behaving in this way ultimately creates—I believe—a Gladwellian Tipping Point that pays off in ways that will benefit you, too. You know the trickle-down theory, right? This is the trickle-up one.

　　Pitfall #4: You Haven't Learned that Vulnerability Can Equal Strength

　　I once worked with some who took every opportunity to undermine me. Sure, some people think that in a situation like this the only way to get ahead is to fight for so-called supremacy—but I took the counterintuitive tack¹⁰: I started asking his advice on things and even asking him to critique my work. This was far better than a battle. On the surface, I looked weak, but my play paved the way for a great relationship between the two of us—and also made me look like management material: I was the one person who could work with the impossible employee. Don't let your pride get in the way of what you're trying to achieve—whether that's just to get the job done and done well...or to get ahead. (Sometimes the same thing.)

　　Pitfall #5: You Think Acting¹¹ Is Just for Emma Stone

　　If you're the type of person who is terrified at office parties, do what I used to do: Walk straight (and purposefully—head and shoulders up!) to the bar. Not only will you snag that dry martini, but—the important thing—you'll seem like you belong and that you know what you're doing. Acting like you know what you're doing is the first step in doing it. It may sound ridiculous, but pretending to be the person you want to be can lead to becoming that person. Richard Nixon did it. So did the devil in Prada. Dress the part you want to play and act the way that person would. (Without being a jerk, of course.) It's old advice, I know. But at one company, I kept getting passed over for a promotion to an executive position. So I went out and invested money in nice clothes and wore those clothes and behaved every day as if I really were the executive. People tend to take each other at face value, so what is your face value?

　　Pitfall #6: You've Overlooked the One Invisible (but Crucial) Thing

　　Once, I was hiring for a position and two people were neck and neck for the job. If one of them had sent, in addition to a thank-you note, a simple follow-up email with ideas—or even a little extra enthusiasm ("I would love to work here!")—he would have gotten the job. This idea doesn't apply solely¹² to applicants—the way to get ahead, or even keep your position, is to overdeliver, even in seemingly small ways. A year ago, I asked an employee for some examples of a project we had been producing for several years. She put the whole thing in a neatly¹³ labeled leather folder¹⁴ and annotated¹⁵ each item with its date, its name and its significance. Did she need to do this? No. Did it make my job easier? Yes. Did it give me a pleasurable break in an otherwise trying day? Yes again. In fact, I have never forgotten it.

1 stymied   

n.被侵袭的v.妨碍，阻挠( stymie的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Relief efforts have been stymied in recent weeks by armed gunmen. 最近几周的救援工作一直受到武装分子的阻挠。 来自辞典例句
• I was completely stymied by her refusal to help. 由于她拒不相助， 我完全陷入了困境。 来自互联网

2 thwarted   

阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The guards thwarted his attempt to escape from prison. 警卫阻扰了他越狱的企图。
• Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the rain. 我们的野餐计划因雨受挫。

3 pitfall   

n.隐患，易犯的错误；陷阱，圈套

参考例句：

• The wolf was caught in a pitfall.那只狼是利用陷阱捉到的。
• The biggest potential pitfall may not be technical but budgetary.最大的潜在陷阱可能不是技术问题，而是预算。

4 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

5 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

6 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

7 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

10 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

13 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

14 folder   

n.纸夹，文件夹

参考例句：

• Peter returned the plan and charts to their folder.彼得把这份计划和表格放回文件夹中。
• He draws the document from its folder.他把文件从硬纸夹里抽出来。

15 annotated   

v.注解，注释( annotate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thematic maps should always be annotated with the source and date of the topical information. 各类专题地图，均应注明专题资料来源和日期。 来自辞典例句
• And this is the version annotated by Umberto de Bologna. 并且这是有安博多-德-波罗格那注释的版本。 来自电影对白