在accepted.com上看到的，觉得不错。好像中国的朋友看不到，所以贴到这里和大家分享。

When my clients write about their accomplishments, whether in personal statements for graduate school or b-school essays that ask for greatest accomplishments, challenges, and the like, they almost always come up with real accomplishments: driving innovations that led to revenue boosts for their firms, conducting original and meaningful research in their fields of study, or leading a volunteer group on a major community service initiative. But as genuine and significant as these accomplishments are, my clients' initial essay drafts are often missing a key ingredient: obstacles.

Obstacles are ubiquitous in everyday life—the traffic detour, the rude tech support representative, even the mean-looking dog on your favorite walking route—and inevitable in major initiatives such as those in a business setting. But too often when asked to talk about their accomplishments my clients have amnesia for the things that got in their way, even though getting past them was often as challenging as executing all the foreseen elements of their plans. The result is bland essays, such as this paraphrased (made up) version:

As the leader of my product research group, I came up with a plan for a new widget that would save us 10% in costs. After communicating my vision to the team, we worked hard for four weeks on a prototype, completing it by the deadline, to the delight of management. Today my widget is still the standard for my company, saving us over $300k
annually.