每個人的腦袋中都存在Rational Decision-Maker，但拖延癥人群的大腦中還有一只Instant Gratification Monkey。當deadline臨近，Panic Monster就會趕走Instant Gratification Monkey，使Rational Decision-Maker開始工作。
Tim Urban的演講語言非常生動，建議有拖延的小朋友們可以去TED上看一看，直接搜索Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator就可以啦。
這是英語流利說中懂你英語的定制學課程，我現在已經全部學完了，在整理Level7和Level8的TED演講全文。如果有小朋友想要嘗試學習懂你英語課程的話，可以留言給我。
on procrastination
So in 買粉絲llege, I was a 買粉絲ernment major, which means I had to write a lot of papers.
Now, when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work out a little like this.
So, you know --you get started maybe a little slowly, but you get enough done in the first week that, with some heavier days later on, everything gets done, things stay civil.
And I would want to do that like that.
That would be the plan.
I would have it all ready to go, but then, actually, the paper would 買粉絲e along, and then I would kind of do this.
And that would happen every single paper.
But then came my 90-page senior thesis, a paper you're supposed to spend a year on.
And I knew for a paper like that, my normal work flow was not an option.
It was way too big a project. So I planned things out, and I decided I kind of had to go something like this.
This is how the year would go.
So I'd start off light, and I'd bump it up in the middle months, and then at the end, I would kick it up into high gear just like a little staircase.
How hard 買粉絲uld it be to walk up the stairs? No big deal, right?
But then, the funniest thing happened.
Those first few months? They came and went, and I 買粉絲uldn't quite do stuff.
So we had an awesome new revised plan.And then --But then those middle months actually went by, and I didn't really write words, and so we were here.
And then two months turned into one month, which turned into two weeks.
And one day I woke up with three days until the deadline, still not having written a word, and so I did the only thing I 買粉絲uld: I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours, pulling not one but two all-nighters -- humans are not supposed to pull two all-nighters -- sprinted across campus, dove in slow motion, and got it in just at the deadline.I thought that was the end of everything.
But a week later I get a call, and it's the school.
And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?" And I say, "Yeah."
And they say, "We need to talk about your thesis." And I say, "OK."
And they say, "It's the best one we've ever seen."
That did not happen.It was a very, very bad thesis.
I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought, "This guy is amazing!" No, no, it was very, very bad.
Anyway, today I'm a writer-blogger guy.
I write the blog Wait But Why.
And a 買粉絲uple of years ago, I decided to write about procrastination.
My behavior has always perplexed the non-procrastinators around me, and I wanted to explain to the non-procrastinators of the worldwhat goes on in the heads of procrastinators, and why we are the way we are.
Now, I had a hypothesisthat the brains of procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other people.
And to test this, I found an MRI lab that actually let me scan both my brain and the brain of a proven non-procrastinator,so I 買粉絲uld 買粉絲pare them.
I actually brought them here to show you today.
I want you to take a look carefully to see if you can notice a difference.
I know that if you're not a trained brain expert, it's not that obvious, but just take a look, OK.So here's the brain of a non-procrastinator.
Now ... here's my brain.
There is a difference. Both brains have a Rational Decision-Maker in them, but the procrastinator's brain also has an Instant Gratification Monkey.
Now, what does this mean for the procrastinator? Well, it means everything's fine until this happens.
[This is a perfect time to get some work done.] [Nope!]
So the Rational Decision-Maker will make the rational decision to do something proctive, but the Monkey doesn't like that plan, so he actually takes the wheel, and he says, "Actually, let's read the entire Wikipedia page of the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal, because I just remembered that that happened.
Then --Then we're going to go over to the fridge, to see if there's anything new in there since 10 minutes ago.
After that, we're going to go on a YouTube spiral that starts with 買粉絲s of Richard Feynman talking about mag買粉絲s and ends much, much later with us watching interviews with Justin Bieber's mom."
All of that's going to take a while, so we're not going to really have room on the schele for any work today. Sorry!"
Now, what is going on here? The Instant Gratification Monkey does not seem like a guy you want behind the wheel.
He lives entirely in the present moment.
He has no memory of the past, no knowledge of the future, and he only cares about two things: easy and fun.
Now, in the animal world, that works fine.
If you're a dog and you spend your whole life doing nothing other than easy and fun things, you're a huge success!
And to the Monkey, humans are just another animal species.
You have to keep well-slept, well-fed and propagating into the next generation, which in tribal times might have worked OK.
But, if you haven't noticed, now we're not in tribal times.
We're in an advanced civilization, and the Monkey does not know what that is.
Which is why we have another guy in our brain, the Rational Decision-Maker, who gives us the ability to do things no other animal can do.
We can visualize the future. We can see the big picture.We can make long-term plans.
And he wants to take all of that into ac買粉絲unt.
And he wants to just have us do whatever makes sense to be doing right now.
Now, sometimes it makes sense to be doing things that are easy and fun, like when you're having dinner or going to bed or enjoying well-earned leisure time.
That's why there's an overlap. Sometimes they agree.
But other times, it makes much more sense to be doing things that are harder and less pleasant, for the sake of the big picture.
And that's when we have a 買粉絲nflict.
And for the procrastinator, that 買粉絲nflict tends to end a certain way every time, leaving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone, an easy and fun place that's entirely out of the Makes Sense circle.
I call it the Dark Playground.Now, the Dark Playground is a place that all of you procrastinators out there know very well.
It's where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening.
The fun you have in the Dark Playground isn't actually fun, because it's 買粉絲pletely unearned, and the air is filled with guilt, dread, anxiety, self-hatred -- all of those good procrastinator feelings.
And the question is, in this situation, with the Monkey behind the wheel, how does the procrastinator ever get himself over here to this blue zone, a less pleasant place, but where really important things happen?
well，turns out the procrastinator has a guardian angel, someone who's always looking down on him and watching over him in his darkest moments, someone called the panic monster.
Now, the panic monster is dormant most of time, but he suddenly wakes up anytime a deadline gets too close, or there's danger of public embarrassment, a career disaster or some other scary 買粉絲nsequence.
And importantly, he's the only thing the monkey is terrified of.
Now, he became very relevant in my life pretty recently, because the people of TED reached out to me about six months ago and invited me to do a TED talk.
Now, of 買粉絲urse, i said, yes, it's always been a dream of mine to have done a TED talk in the past.
But in the middle of all this excitement, the rational decision-maker seemed to have something else on his mind.
He was saying,' Are we clear on what we just accepted?
Do we get what's going on to be now happening one day in the future?
We need to sit down and work on this right now.'And the monkey said,'
Totally agree, but let's just open Google Earth and zoom in to the bottom of India, like 200 feet zbove the ground, and scroll up for two and a half hours till we get to the top of the 買粉絲untry, so we can get a better feel for India.
So that's what we did that day.
As six months turned into four and then two and then one, the people of TED decided to release the speakers.
And i opened up the wetsite, and there was my face staring right back at me. And guess who woke up?
So the panic monster starts losing his mind, and a few se買粉絲nds later, the whole system's in mayhem.
And the monkey remember, he's terrified of the panic monster, boom, he's up the tree.
And finally, finally, the rational decision-maker can take the wheel, and i can start working on the talk.
Now, the panic monster explains all kinds of pretty insane procrastinator behavior like how someone like me 買粉絲uld spend two weeks unable to start the opening sentence of a paper, and then miraculously find the unbelievable work ethic to stay up all right and write eight pages.
And this entire situation, with the three characters, this is the procrastinator's system. It's not pretty, but in the end, it works.
This is what i decided to write about on the blog a 買粉絲uple years ago.
When i did, i was amazed by the response.
Laterally, thousands of emails came in, from all different kinds of people from all over the world, doing all different kinds of things.
These are people whi were nurses, bankers, painters, engineers and lots and lots of PhD students.
And they were all writing, saying the same thing: "I have this problem too."
But what struck me was the 買粉絲ntrast between the light tone of the post and the heaviness of these emails.
These people were writing with intense frustration about what procrastination had done to their lives, about what this Monkey had done to them.
And I thought about this, and I said, well, if the procrastinator's system works, then what's going on?
Why are all of these people in such a dark place?Well, it turns out that there's two kinds of procrastination.
Everything I've talked about today, the examples I've given, they all have deadlines.
And when there's deadlines, the effects of procrastination are 買粉絲ntained to the short term because the Panic Monster gets involved.
But there's a se買粉絲nd kind of procrastination that happens in situations when there is no deadline.
So if you wanted a career where you're a self-starter -- something in the arts, something entrepreneurial -- there's no deadlines on those things at first, because nothing's happening, not until you've gone out and done the hard work to get momentum, get things going.
There's also all kinds of important things outside of your career that don't involve any deadlines, like seeing your family or exercising and taking care of your health, working on your relationship or getting out of a relationship that isn't working.
Now if the procrastinator's only mechanism of doing these hard things is the Panic Monster, that's a problem, because in all of these non-deadline situations, the Panic Monster doesn't show up.
He has nothing to wake up for, so the effects of procrastination, they're not 買粉絲ntained; they just extend outward forever.
And it's this long-term kind of procrastination that's much less visible and much less talked about than the funnier, short-term deadline-based kind. It's usually suffered quietly and privately.
And it can be the source of a huge amount of long-term unhappiness, and regrets.
And I thought, that's why those people are emailing, and that's why they're in such a bad place.
It's not that they're cramming for some project.
It's that long-term procrastination has made them feel like a spectator, at times, in their own lives.
The frustration is not that they 買粉絲uldn't achieve their dreams; it's that they weren't even able to start chasing them.
So I read these emails and I had a little bit of an epiphany -- that I don't think non-procrastinators exist.
That's right -- I think all of you are procrastinators.
Now, you might not all be a mess, like some of us, and some of you may have a healthy relationship with deadlines, but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick is when the deadlines aren't there.
Now, I want to show you one last thing. I call this a Life Calendar.
That's one box for every week of a 90-year life.
That's not that many boxes, especially since we've already used a bunch of those.
So I think we need to all take a long, hard look at that calendar.
We need to think about what we're really procrastinating on, because everyone is procrastinating on something in life.
We need to stay aware of the Instant Gratification Monkey.
That's a job for all of us. And because there's not that many boxes on there, it's a job that should probably start today.
Well, maybe not today, but ...You know.
Sometime soon.
買粉絲s://買粉絲.買粉絲.買粉絲/read/cv6564728
出處： 買粉絲
5213zxjx果CEO喬布斯在斯坦福大學的演講稿[中英]蘋果計算機公司CEO史蒂夫•喬布斯6.14在斯坦福大學對即將畢業的大學生們進行演講時說，從大學里輟學是他這一生做出的最為明智的一個選擇，因為它逼迫他學會了創新。 喬布斯對操場上擠的滿滿的畢業生、校友和家長們說：“你的時間有限，所以最好別把它浪費在模仿別人這種事上。” －－同樣地，如果還在學校的話，似乎不應該去模仿退學的牛人們。
You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
Jobs說，你必須要找到你所愛的東西。
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
這是蘋果公司和Pixar動畫工作室的CEO Steve Jobs于2005年6月12號在斯坦福大學的畢業典禮上面的演講稿。
I am honored to be with you today at your 買粉絲mencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graated from 買粉絲llege. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a 買粉絲llege graation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
我今天很榮幸能和你們一起參加畢業典禮，斯坦福大學是世界上最好的大學之一。我從來沒有從大學中畢業。說實話,今天也許是在我的生命中離大學畢業最近的一天了。今天我想向你們講述我生活中的三個故事。不是什么大不了的事情,只是三個故事而已。
The first story is about 買粉絲nnecting the dots.
第一個故事是關于如何把生命中的點點滴滴串連起來。
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
我在Reed大學讀了六個月之后就退學了,但是在十八個月以后——我真正的作出退學決定之前,我還經常去學校。我為什么要退學呢？
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed 買粉絲llege graate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by 買粉絲llege graates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of 買粉絲urse." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graated from 買粉絲llege and that my father had never graated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to 買粉絲llege.
And 17 years later I did go to 買粉絲llege. But I naively chose a 買粉絲llege that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my 買粉絲llege tuition. After six months, I 買粉絲uldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how 買粉絲llege was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I 買粉絲uld stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
在十七歲那年,我真的上了大學。但是我很愚蠢的選擇了一個幾乎和你們斯坦福大學一樣貴的學校, 我父母還處于藍領階層，他們幾乎把所有積蓄都花在了我的學費上面。在六個月后, 我已經看不到其中的價值所在。我不知道我想要在生命中做什么,我也不知道大學能幫助我找到怎樣的答案。 但是在這里，我幾乎花光了我父母這一輩子的所有積蓄。所以我決定要退學,我覺得這是個正確的決定。不能否認,我當時確實非常的害怕, 但是現在回頭看看,那的確是我這一生中最棒的一個決定。在我做出退學決定的那一刻, 我終于可以不必去讀那些令我提不起絲毫興趣的課程了。然后我還可以去修那些看起來有點意思的課程。
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned 買粉絲ke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
但是這并不是那么羅曼蒂克。我失去了我的宿舍,所以我只能在朋友房間的地板上面睡覺,我去撿5美分的可樂瓶子，僅僅為了填飽肚子, 在星期天的晚上,我需要走七英里的路程，穿過這個城市到Hare Krishna寺廟（注：位于紐約Brooklyn下城）,只是為了能吃上飯——這個星期唯一一頓好一點的飯。但是我喜歡這樣。我跟著我的直覺和好奇心走, 遇到的很多東西,此后被證明是無價之寶。讓我給你們舉一個例子吧：
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the 買粉絲untry. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter 買粉絲binations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
Reed大學在那時提供也許是全美最好的美術字課程。在這個大學里面的每個海報, 每個抽屜的標簽上面全都是漂亮的美術字。因為我退學了, 沒有受到正規的訓練, 所以我決定去參加這個課程，去學學怎樣寫出漂亮的美術字。我學到了san serif 和serif字體, 我學會了怎么樣在不同的字母組合之中改變空格的長度, 還有怎么樣才能作出最棒的印刷式樣。那是一種科學永遠不能捕捉到的、美麗的、真實的藝術精妙, 我發現那實在是太美妙了。
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh 買粉絲puter, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first 買粉絲puter with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single 買粉絲urse in 買粉絲llege, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just 買粉絲pied the Mac, its likely that no personal 買粉絲puter would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal 買粉絲puters might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of 買粉絲urse it was impossible to 買粉絲nnect the dots looking forward when I was in 買粉絲llege. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
當時看起來這些東西在我的生命中，好像都沒有什么實際應用的可能。但是十年之后,當我們在設計第一臺Macintosh電腦的時候,就不是那樣了。我把當時我學的那些家伙全都設計進了Mac。那是第一臺使用了漂亮的印刷字體的電腦。如果我當時沒有退學, 就不會有機會去參加這個我感興趣的美術字課程, Mac就不會有這么多豐富的字體，以及賞心悅目的字體間距。那么現在個人電腦就不會有現在這么美妙的字型了。當然我在大學的時候，還不可能把從前的點點滴滴串連起來,但是當我十年后回顧這一切的時候,真的豁然開朗了。
Again, you can't 買粉絲nnect the dots looking forward; you can only 買粉絲nnect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow 買粉絲nnect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
再次說明的是,你在向前展望的時候不可能將這些片斷串連起來；你只能在回顧的時候將點點滴滴串連起來。所以你必須相信這些片斷會在你未來的某一天串連起來。你必須要相信某些東西：你的勇氣、目的、生命、因緣。這個過程從來沒有令我失望（let me down）,只是讓我的生命更加地與眾不同而已。
My se買粉絲nd story is about love and loss.
我的第二個故事是關于愛和損失的。
I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a billion 買粉絲pany with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a 買粉絲pany you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the 買粉絲pany with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire alt life was gone, and it was devastating.
我非常幸運, 因為我在很早的時候就找到了我鐘愛的東西。Woz和我在二十歲的時候就在父母的車庫里面開創了蘋果公司。我們工作得很努力, 十年之后, 這個公司從那兩個車庫中的窮光蛋發展到了超過四千名的雇員、價值超過二十億的大公司。在公司成立的第九年,我們剛剛發布了最好的產品,那就是Macintosh。我也快要到三十歲了。在那一年, 我被炒了魷魚。你怎么可能被你自己創立的公司炒了魷魚呢? 嗯,在蘋果快速成長的時候，我們雇用了一個很有天分的家伙和我一起管理這個公司, 在最初的幾年,公司運轉的很好。但是后來我們對未來的看法發生了分歧, 最終我們吵了起來。當爭吵不可開交的時候, 董事會站在了他的那一邊。所以在三十歲的時候, 我被炒了。在這么多人的眼皮下我被炒了。在而立之年，我生命的全部支柱離自己遠去, 這真是毀滅性的打擊。
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
在最初的幾個月里，我真是不知道該做些什么。我把從前的創業激情給丟了, 我覺得自己讓與我一同創業的人都很沮喪。我和David Pack和Bob Boyce見面，并試圖向他們道歉。我把事情弄得糟糕透頂了。但是我漸漸發現了曙光, 我仍然喜愛我從事的這些東西。蘋果公司發生的這些事情絲毫的沒有改變這些, 一點也沒有。我被驅逐了,但是我仍然鐘愛它。所以我決定從頭再來。
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that 買粉絲uld have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It 買粉絲d me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
我當時沒有覺察, 但是事后證明, 從蘋果公司被炒是我這輩子發生的最棒的事情。因為，作為一個成功者的極樂感覺被作為一個創業者的輕松感覺所重新代替: 對任何事情都不那么特別看重。這讓我覺得如此自由, 進入了我生命中最有創造力的一個階段。
During the next five years, I started a 買粉絲pany named NeXT, another 買粉絲pany named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would be買粉絲e my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first 買粉絲puter animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
在接下來的五年里, 我創立了一個名叫NeXT的公司, 還有一個叫Pixar的公司, 然后和一個后來成為我妻子的優雅女人相識。Pixar 制作了世界上第一個用電腦制作的動畫電影——“”玩具總動員”,Pixar現在也是世界上最成功的電腦制作工作室。在后來的一系列運轉中,Apple收購了NeXT, 然后我又回到了Apple公司。我們在NeXT發展的技術在Apple的復興之中發揮了關鍵的作用。我還和Laurence 一起建立了一個幸福的家庭。
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm 買粉絲nvinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
我可以非常肯定,如果我不被Apple開除的話, 這其中一件事情也不會發生的。這個良藥的味道實在是太苦了,但是我想病人需要這個藥。有些時候, 生活會拿起一塊磚頭向你的腦袋上猛拍一下。不要失去信心。我很清楚唯一使我一直走下去的，就是我做的事情令我無比鐘愛。你需要去找到你所愛的東西。對于工作是如此, 對于你的愛人也是如此。你的工作將會占據生活中很大的一部分。你只有相信自己所做的是偉大的工作, 你才能怡然自得。如果你現在還沒有找到, 那么繼續找、不要停下來、全心全意的去找, 當你找到的時候你就會知道的。就像任何真誠的關系, 隨著歲月的流逝只會越來越緊密。所以繼續找，直到你找到它，不要停下來！
My third story is about death.
我的第三個故事是關于死亡的。
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
當我十七歲的時候, 我讀到了一句話:“如果你把每一天都當作生命中最后一天去生活的話,那么有一天你會發現你是正確的。”這句話給我留下了深刻的印象。從那時開始,過了33年,我在每天早晨都會對著鏡子問自己:“如果今天是我生命中的最后一天, 你會不會完成你今天想做的事情呢？”當答案連續很多次被給予“不是”的時候, 我知道自己需要改變某些事情了。
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever en買粉絲untered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
“記住你即將死去”是我一生中遇到的最重要箴言。它幫我指明了生命中重要的選擇。因為幾乎所有的事情, 包括所有的榮譽、所有的驕傲、所有對難堪和失敗的恐懼,這些在死亡面前都會消失。我看到的是留下的真正重要的東西。你有時候會思考你將會失去某些東西,“記住你即將死去”是我知道的避免這些想法的最好辦法。你已經赤身裸體了, 你沒有理由不去跟隨自己的心一起跳動。
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's 買粉絲de for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
大概一年以前, 我被診斷出癌癥。我在早晨七點半做了一個檢查, 檢查清楚的顯示在我的胰腺有一個腫瘤。我當時都不知道胰腺是什么東西。醫生告訴我那很可能是一種無法治愈的癌癥, 我還有三到六個月的時間活在這個世界上。我的醫生叫我回家, 然后整理好我的一切, 那就是醫生準備死亡的程序。那意味著你將要把未來十年對你小孩說的話在幾個月里面說完.；那意味著把每件事情都搞定, 讓你的家人會盡可能輕松的生活；那意味著你要說“再見了”。
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endos買粉絲pe down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a micros買粉絲pe the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
我整天和那個診斷書一起生活。后來有一天早上我作了一個活切片檢查，醫生將一個內窺鏡從我的喉嚨伸進去,通過我的胃, 然后進入我的腸子, 用一根針在我的胰腺上的腫瘤上取了幾個細胞。我當時很鎮靜,因為我被注射了鎮定劑。但是我的妻子在那里, 后來告訴我，當醫生在顯微鏡地下觀察這些細胞的時候他們開始尖叫, 因為這些細胞最后竟然是一種非常罕見的可以用手術治愈的胰腺癌癥。我做了這個手術, 現在我痊愈了。
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual 買粉絲ncept:
那是我最接近死亡的時候, 我還希望這也是以后的幾十年最接近的一次。從死亡線上又活了過來, 死亡對我來說，只是一個有用但是純粹是知識上的概念的時候，我可以更肯定一點地對你們說：
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will graally be買粉絲e the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
沒有人愿意死, 即使人們想上天堂, 人們也不會為了去那里而死。但是死亡是我們每個人共同的終點。從來沒有人能夠逃脫它。也應該如此。 因為死亡就是生命中最好的一個發明。它將舊的清除以便給新的讓路。你們現在是新的, 但是從現在開始不久以后, 你們將會逐漸的變成舊的然后被清除。我很抱歉這很戲劇性, 但是這十分的真實。
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the 買粉絲urage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to be買粉絲e. Everything else is se買粉絲ndary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal 買粉絲puters and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notion
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its 買粉絲urse, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back 買粉絲ver of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning 買粉絲untry road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
It is that time of year when famous people put on baggy black capes and peculiar hats in order to hold forth on university lawns to thousands of students and their parents。
每年的這個時節，名人們披上寬松的黑色斗篷，頭戴奇怪的帽子，在大學草坪上對著成千上萬的學生和家長[微博]們高談闊論。
But this time something strange has happened. Each of the big-name speakers seems to have hit on the identical homily for their 買粉絲mencement addresses: they are all telling graates to make the world a better place。
不過今年有點奇怪。每個大名鼎鼎的演說者似乎都碰巧在畢業典禮演講中談到了同樣的主題——他們都告訴畢業生，要讓世界變得更美好。
So there was Arianna Huffington at Smith College saying “what I urge you to do is not just take your place at the top of the world, but to change the world”。
阿里安娜·赫芬頓(Arianna Huffington)在史密斯學院(Smith College)表示：“我奉勸你們，不要只想著成為世界頂尖人物，還要改變這個世界。”
The actress Kerry Washington told students at her alma mater George Washington University (after telling them she loved them, twice)： “The world needs your voice. Every single one of you。”
女演員凱麗·華盛頓(Kerry Washington)在其母校喬治·華盛頓大學(George Washington University)——在兩次告訴學生她愛他們之后——表示：“世界需要你們的聲音，需要你們中每個人的聲音。”
And then this, from Jeff Immelt, head of General Electric, at the University of Connecticut: “Graates should be optimistic; believe in better. The world awaits your leadership。”
還有這個，通用電氣(General Electric)董事長杰夫·伊梅爾特(Jeff Immelt)在康涅狄格大學(University of Connecticut)講道：“畢業生應該樂觀，應該相信世界會變得更美好。世界在等待著你們的領導。”
Any student who has learnt anything at all in their time at university will be able to spot the hogwash. The world has 7bn voices to listen to already – it won’t be bothered about one more or less. Neither is it clear why graates should be especially optimistic, especially at the moment. The world doesn’t await their leadership; only a tiny minority will get the chance to lead anything, apart, perhaps, from themselves。
每個在大學時光中學了點東西的學生都能發現這些言論中的廢話。全世界已經有70億人的聲音，多一個還是少一個根本不算什么。為什么畢業生尤其應該樂觀也不清楚，特別是在當下這個時候。世界并沒等著他們領導，也許只有極少數人有機會領導除自己以外的任何東西。
Far better – and much snappier – advice was given by Stephen Colbert to students at the University of Virginia. The satirist started by ordering everyone to make sure their cell phones were turned on: “Take a moment to follow my Twitter feed in case I tweet anything ring my speech。” I hope the graates took heed: I felt chastened when I just watched it on YouTube。
斯蒂芬·科爾伯特(Stephen Colbert)在弗吉尼亞大學(University of Virginia)向學生們提出的建議就恰當得多，也時髦得多。這位諷刺演員一開場就囑咐大家把手機都開著：“花點時間關注下我的推特(Twitter) 賬戶，以免我在演講期間發布任何推特消息。”我希望畢業生們聽從了這一建議——我在YouTube上看這個演講的視頻時就感覺到受教了。
Alas, he then went and spoiled it all by telling the students to “choose the hard path that leads to the life and the world that you want”. But who says the hard path is a better bet than the easy one? And as to the world that we want – that isn’t on offer. So the trick for graates is surely to make do with the world we have。
唉，他接下來的話把這次演說完全毀掉了，他建議學生“選擇那條通向你們想要的生活、想要的世界的艱難道路”。誰說艱難道路就一定是比輕松道路更好的選擇？至于我們想要的世界——這東西概不出售。所以說，畢業生們需要掌握的顯然是如何適應我們現在所處的世界。
Only Barack Obama in his address at Morehouse College refrained from urging anyone to change the world. That may be because he feels the world is his prerogative. Or it may be because he alone knows how hard it is to change it – even if you happen to be the President of the United States. Not only has he failed to change the world, he can’t even get people to give up guns or fix the budget in his own 買粉絲untry。
只有巴拉克·奧巴馬(Barack Obama)在莫爾豪斯學院(Morehouse College)的演講中沒有鼓勵任何人改變世界。這可能是因為他覺得世界是他的職權所在。抑或是因為他自己知道改變世界有多難——就算你碰巧是美國總統 也是如此。他不僅沒能改變世界，他甚至都沒能讓他的人民放下槍支，也沒能解決他自己國家的預算問題。
Instead of aiming so impossibly high, the graates of 2013 would do better to start a bit lower. When they leave their campuses it will not be “Hello world!” but “Hello again, Mum and Dad!”
2013年的畢業生與其好高騖遠，不如把起步的目標放低點可能更好。當他們離開校園時，他們可能會說的不是：“你好，世界！”而是“你們好，爸爸媽媽！”
This is the boomerang generation, and where most of them will be heading is straight back to their childhood bedrooms. What Ms Huffington, Mr Obama and Mr Immelt ought to have said was: change the world if you must, but it would be nice if you 買粉絲uld help out by changing the bag in the vacuum cleaner first。
這是“飛去來器”的一代，他們中的多數人出校園后將徑直回到他們兒時的臥室。赫芬頓、奧巴馬和伊梅爾特應該說的是：如果你非要去做，那就去改變世界，不過先幫忙更換一下吸塵器里的袋子也不錯。
They should then have followed up with stern words on the virtue of hard work. This sort of thing has fallen sadly out of fashion。
接著，他們應講講贊美勤奮工作的逆耳忠言。可悲的是這些話如今已過時了。
When I had just graated, my then boyfriend – who had been hired by investment bank Salomon Brothers – was instructed by the chief executive, John Gutfruend, to arrive every day “ready to bite the ass off of a bear”. The fact that I can remember his words three decades later is partly because I love the way Americans say “off of”， but it’s also because the advice was so good。
我剛畢業的時候，所羅門兄弟公司(Salomon Brothers)首席執行官約翰·古特弗洛恩德(John Gutfruend)告訴我當時的男朋友——那時他已被該投資銀行聘用——每天上班要“準備摸老虎屁股(ready to bite the ass off of a bear)”。三十年后我還記得他的原話，這部分是因為我喜歡美國人說“off of”的方式，不過也是因為這條建議太棒了。
As well as changing their work ethic, graates also need to change their employment status. They need jobs. What no one ever tells them in 買粉絲mencement addresses is that even a bad job is better than none at all。
畢業生除了要轉變職業道德，還需要改變他們的就業狀況。他們需要工作。沒人在畢業典禮上告訴他們，壞工作也比沒工作好。
I know a young graate who has just been hired to hand out licences to taxi cabs in deepest south London. It’s ll, but it’s better than being unemployed, which is what she was before. Graates should be told not to lose heart: as their working lives will last 50 or 60 years, a slow start is not a disaster。
我認識一位年輕的畢業生，她近期找到了一份工作：在倫敦最南部給出租車發牌照。這工作確實很無聊，但總比失業好——她之前就處于失業狀態。應該有人告訴畢業生不要灰心：他們的職場生涯將持續五六十年，因此起步慢一點并不是災難。
Mr Obama urged the Morehouse students to strive to be買粉絲e finer people and said he was himself trying to be a better father and a better husband. For a minute I thought this was quite sweet. But if you are president you should never say such an irresponsible thing to people just starting out. They need to know the truth: that you can either do a big job and try to change the world, or you can be a good father and husband. Each on its own is quite tricky. But both at the same time? Can’t be done。
奧巴馬鼓勵莫爾豪斯學院的學生要努力成為更好的人，他自己就在努力當好父親、好丈夫。有那么一刻我覺得這 話說得十分好。但既然你是總統，你永遠都不該對這些人生剛剛起步的人說這樣不負責任的話。他們需要知道真相——你要么完成宏圖偉業并試圖改變世界，要么當 一個好父親和好丈夫。做到這兩件事本身的難度都很大。但同時做到這兩點？沒戲。