Tomorrow is my birthday — always an opportunity for reflection, but especially this time. For several weeks now, I've been thinking about what I've learned during the past six decades that really matters. Here's a first pass:
明天就是我的六十歲生日了。生日總是一個回顧往昔、反思生命的好時候，尤其是到了我這個年齡。在過去的幾周里，我一直在想：我活了這六十年，到底什么事對我而言是真正重要的。下面就是我的一些體會：

1. The more we know about ourselves, the more power we have to behave better. We each have an infinite capacity for self-deception — countless unconscious ways we protect ourselves from pain, uncertainty, and responsibility — often at the expense of others and of ourselves.
1.越了解自己就越要謹慎而為。我們每個人在“自欺欺人”方面的潛能都是無限的，盡管大多數時候，我們這么做都是無意為之，是為了保護自己免受痛苦、責任和不確定的傷害。然而，當我們在欺騙自己的同時，可能就要用他人的痛苦、責任和不確定來作為代價。

2. Notice the good. We each carry a predisposition to dwell on what's wrong in our lives. The antidote is to deliberately take time out each day to notice what's going right, and to feel grateful for what you've got.
2.關注好的方面。我們與生俱來的一種特質就是看到生活中不好的地方。而治愈這種頑癥的良藥就是有意識地每天花一點時間去關注好的方面，對你所獲得的抱有感恩之心。

3. Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.
3.世上沒有確定之事。確定的反面就是不確定，就是開放、好奇和愿意接受悖論的思想，而不是選邊站。人生的終極挑戰就是接受真正的自己，同時永不停歇地去求知、去成長。

4. Never seek your value at the expense of someone else's. When we're feeling devalued, our reactive instinct is to do anything to restore what we've lost. Devaluing the person who made you feel bad will only prompt more of the same in return.
4.永遠不要通過貶低別人來找回自己的價值。當我們被人看扁的時候，本能反應就是要找回我們失去的東西、以牙還牙。然而，貶低看扁我們的人的這種做法只會招致更多的惡果，造成惡性循環。

5. Do the most important thing first in the morning and you'll never have an unproductive day. Most of us have the highest energy early in the day, and the fewest distractions. By focusing for a designated period of time, without interruption, on the highest value task for no more than 90 minutes, it's possible to get an extraordinary amount of work accomplished in a short time.
5.最重要的事放在早上做，你的一天都會充滿效率。大多數人早上的精力都是最充沛的，而且這個時候受到的干擾是最少的。撥出一段特定的時間，不要超過一個半小時，集中注意力，排除一切干擾，來完成價值最高的工作。這樣，在短時間內你就能擁有非凡的工作成績。

6. It's possible to be excellent at anything, but nothing valuable comes easy and discomfort is part of growth. Getting better at something depends far less on inborn talent than it does the willingness to practice the activity over and over, and to seek out regular feedback, the more precise the better.
6.你可能出色地做到任何事，但記住，成功來之不易，挫折也是成長的一部分。能不能做好一件事，天賦只占很小的一部分原因，而愿不愿意一次次地去做，去尋求反饋才是關鍵因素，收到的反饋越多，準確度越高，效果越好。

7. The more behaviors you intentionally make automatic in your life, the more you'll get done. If you have to think about doing something each time you do it, you probably won't do it for very long. The trick is to get more things done using less energy and conscious self-control. How often do you forget to brush your teeth?
7.你在生活中越是能自動自發地做事，你的收獲就越多。如果在做一件事之前你總要想一想，那么這件事你可能不會做得太長久。秘訣就是花更少的力氣，少去想為什么要做，同時能完成更多的事情。想想看：你會經常想要不要去刷牙這個問題嗎？

8. Slow down. Speed is the enemy of nearly everything in life that really matters. It's addictive and it undermines quality, compassion, depth, creativity, appreciation and real relationship.
8.放慢速度。追求速度幾乎是生活中所有重要的事情的天敵。求快速會有損于做事的質量、同情心、深度、創造力、鑒賞力，還有真正重要的人際關系。

9. The feeling of having enough is magical. It rarely depends on how much you've got. More is rarely better. Too much of anything eventually becomes toxic.
9.知足常樂的感覺是奇妙的。幸福往往不在于你真的擁有多少。很多情況下，擁有太多不一定就是好事。擁有太多反而會成為帶來煩惱。

10. Do the right thing because it's the right thing to do, and don't expect anything in return.Your values are one of the only possessions you have that no one can take away from you. Doing the right thing may not always get you what you think you want in the moment, but it will almost always leave you feeling better about yourself in the long run.
10.做好事因為它應該做，而不要希求有什么回報。人的價值是少數只屬于你的、別人搶不走的財富。做好事可能不會立刻有好報，不過從長遠來看，做好事總會讓你感覺更加良好。

11. Add more value in the world than you're using up. We spend down the earth's resources every day. Life's primary challenge is to put more back into the world than we take out.
11.付出要比索取多。我們每天都在消耗地球上的資源，而生活最基本的挑戰就是，向這個世界索取了多少，就要回報得比索取更多才行。

12. Savor every moment — even the difficult ones. It all goes so fast.
12.享受每一刻——即使是困難的時候，也要細細品味。生命中的每一刻都是轉瞬即逝的。

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