即使已毕业多年,这些道理依然受用
去年,我参与了豆瓣阅读同文馆的“Quora精选精译”项目《如何充分利用大学时光》,纯粹是从兴趣出发翻译这个作品,当时手头事情很多,截稿之后就没有再好好地读一遍。前几天一个上大学的弟弟向我征求建议,我向他推荐了这本小书,自己也又打开网页浏览了一遍。不管人在何方,经历了某个同样人生阶段的过来人,都会得出一些相似的体会,Quora上网友的答案都非常受用。特别是这本书的最后一个问题 “What would you advise your (hypothetical) 22-year-old college graduate to do with their life?”(假如你的孩子22岁并且刚刚大学毕业,你会给他什么样的人生建议?)很多外国网友写下的建议,正是我毕业后工作两年感悟最深的道理。有很多的观点是自己刚刚模模糊糊地意识到的,却做的不够好的地方。
很多道理,虽然听起来像是鸡汤,但是如果认真做了,也许人生就会真的不一样。
摘录了一些段落,以自勉。
1.There's no global standard that determines what people deserve. Don't worry about what you have and think other people should or shouldn't have. The world isn't fair and people you don't like or you think aren't talented will be successful whether you like it or not. You can only control what you want and how you feel about what you have. Any thought you waste worrying about others is one you aren't spending learning or doing something new.
对于每个人应该得到什么,没有一个放之四海而皆准的标准。不要担忧你有什么,别人应该得到什么或不该得到什么。世界不是公平的。不管你喜不喜欢,那些你讨厌的人,或者你认为天赋平庸的人可能就是很成功。你只能控制你想要什么和你对自己拥有的一切的感受。那些你本该用在学习或尝试新事物上的时间就在你烦恼别人的事儿的时候浪费掉了。
2.Consider time your most precious resource。When you're young, you probably have a lot of time (and probably not as much money). Nevertheless, time remains your most precious resource, and not (say) money or other physical things. This is difficult to believe when you're younger, but money is easy to obtain. Money can be borrowed, given, and stored. None of these things can be done with time. Time is expended at the same rate constantly for everyone; its rate of expenditure cannot be slowed or stopped and perhaps more importantly, it cannot be "banked" - i.e. stored for usage later. This means that you should always be trying to make good use of your time, and when you have an excess of another resource (e.g. money), you should seek to trade it for time. Additionally, the next fifteen years or so are uniquely productive years in your life - you will be at an age where you have achieved legal adulthood and a critical mass of education, while still retaining relatively high levels of energy and physical health, and likely few commitments. This makes the time doubly important, and it is draining away constantly whether or not you are making good use of it, so be sure to do so!
把时间当成你最宝贵的资源。当你年轻的时候,你可能有大把的时间(但未必有大把的金钱)。尽管如此,你最宝贵的资源仍然是时间,而不是金钱或者其他物质财富。在你年轻的时候,你会很难相信这一点,但金钱其实真的很容易获得。金钱可以借,可以给,也可以存。但时间不行。每个人都是以同样的速度支出时间。它支出的速不会减慢也不会停止。更重要的是,时间不能放在银行里存起来以备将来之用。这就意味着你总是得尽可能地充分利用你的时间。当你的其他资源(比如说金钱)富足时,你应该想办法用这资源去交换时间。接下来十五年左右的时间是你一生中特别多产的时段。在这个年龄段,你会成为一个成年人,度过一段至关重要的教育时期,并且同时在较少的投入下保持着相对旺盛的精力和良好的健康状态。这让这段时间加倍重要。而且不管你有没有好好利用这段时间,时间还是持续地溜走,所以一定要好好珍惜。
3.Relationships with quality people are one of the most important things in life, but their value only becomes apparent over the long term. This means you should begin building them now. This doesn't mean to go and schmooze, but rather you should try to refine your own people skills and quality of character so that when you meet high-quality people (come up with your own personal definition of this, and don't be too narrow about it), you can seek to be a good person to them, and allow a high-quality mutual relationship relationship to form. This relationship will be different depending on who the person is, but the key idea is to make yourself someone that others will want a true and good human bond with; these enduring relationships will be the source of great wealth (literal and metaphorical) for the rest of your lives.
和具备良好素质的人建立关系是你一生中最重要的事情之一,但他们的价值只能在长期交往中显现。这意味着你要从现在开始建立这样的关系。不过不是要你四处与人闲谈,而是要改善你的人际交往能力,提升个人品质,这样当你遇到高素质的人时(对于什么样的人是高素质的人,你要有自己的定义,但不要范围太狭窄),你就能成为对他们同样有吸引力的人,从而建立一种高质量的人际关系。交往的人不同,彼此之间的关系也会不同。但要确保别人想要和你建立一段真诚的良好的关系。这些持久的关系将是你人生中最大的财富(无论是字面意思还是隐喻之义)。
4.Do what it takes to expand your imagination of what's possible. This is the best prevention against both depression and getting into extremely time-costly dead ends. Also, it's what college is for.
做那些能让你开阔眼界的事。这是预防抑郁,同时避免自己将宝贵时间浪费在僵局上的最好方式。
5.Accept the fact that you don't have all the answers and use it as reason to consciously and consistently operate from a learning perspective.
接受你并不知道所有问题的答案这个现实,并且因此有意识地从学习的角度不懈努力。
6.Don't take things so seriously. Talented young people are often quite stupid in this way. Whatever dumb thing you are worried about, it is probably not that important. Ask yourself if you will really care about it in ten years’ time, and focus your attention on the small number of things where the answer is truly yes.
不要把事情看得太重要。有才能的年轻人通常在这点上会很愚蠢。不管你在担心什么蠢事,它很可能没那么重要。问问你自己十年之后你还会这么关心这个问题吗?把精力集中在那几个你真正会回答“是”的事情上。
7.you will rarely regret having done something. You will usually only regret having *not* done something, and if you try something, and don't like it, you can usually *stop* doing it and do something else: so do what interests you, without too much regard for "where it will take you”.
你几乎不会因为做了某件事而后悔,通常你只会为你没有做某件事而后悔。如果你尝试了,不喜欢,你可以放下,再去做别的事儿。所以,去做你感兴趣的事儿,不要过多考虑它会带你去向何方。
8.not to worry about planning so much, and to be open to serendipity.
别太在乎计划,以开放的心态面对生活中的不期而遇。
9.Live in cities that you like. Work hard at making this happen; try not to compromise.
居住在你喜欢的城市。为实现这一愿望而努力工作,努力不妥协。
10.Resist the temptation to base your identity on any one thing – whether that be your educational background, your intelligence, your occupation/company, or your reputation among your peers.
抵制用任何东西定义自己——不论它是你的学历、你的智商、你的职业/公司,或是你在同辈中的名声。
11.Learn to hate the right things well Hate, if used properly, can be very powerful. Learn what you should hate based on your view of the world.
学会恰如其分地厌恶该厌恶的事情。厌恶,如果恰如其分,会富有力量。学习根据你的世界观来决定你的好恶。
12.life is about accumulating knowledge. The more you know, the more "successful" you are.
生活就是积累知识。你知道的越多,你就越成功。