最近在订阅的公众号里看到许多人推送凯文·凯利70岁生日时的103条人生建议。我没有了解过凯文·凯利,也是头一次听说。那就把他的103条人生建议当做一个翻译练习吧,看看我们能否从中收获有用的人生建议呢。因时间、精力有限,本篇仅翻译前50条,后面将会更新。凯文·凯利是谁?凯文·凯利 ,男,人们经常亲昵地称他为 (KK),《连线》(Wired)杂志创始主编。在创办《连线》之前,是《全球概览》杂志(The Whole Earth Catalog,乔布斯最喜欢的杂志)的编辑和出版人。1984年,KK发起了第一届黑客大会(Hackers Conference)。他的文章还出现在《纽约时报》、《经济学人》、《时代》、《科学》等重量级媒体和杂志上。凯文·凯利被看作是“网络文化”(Cyberculture)的发言人和观察者,也有人称之为“游侠”(maverick)。凯文·凯利的103条人生建议(50/103)Today is my birthday. I turn 70. I’ve learned a few things so far that might be helpful to others. For the past few years, I’ve jotted down bits of unsolicited advice each year and much to my surprise I have more to add this year. So here is my birthday gift to you all: 103 bits of wisdom I wish I had known when I was young. 今天是我的生日,我70岁了。我学到了一些可能对你们有所帮助的东西。在过去的几年里,我每年写下了一些不请自来的建议,更令我惊讶的是,今年写得更多。所以作为给你们所有人的生日礼物:103条我希望在我年轻时就了解的建议。
About 99% of the time, the right time is right now.在99%的情况下,最好的时机是现在。
No one is as impressed with your possessions as you are.没有人比你更对自己的财富印象深刻。
Don't ever work for someone you dont want to become.不要为你不想成为的人卖力工作。
Cultivate 12 people who love you, because they are worth more than 12 million people who like you.积累12个爱你的人,因为他们比12000000个喜欢你的人更值得。
Don't keep making the same mistakes; try to make new mistakes.不要犯同样的错误,尝试新的错误。
If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, you owe them a dollar.如果你不停下来花一分钟欣赏某个音乐家或街头艺术家的表演,那么你欠他们一元钱。
Anything you say before the word “but” does not count.说“但是”前的任何话都不算数。
When you forgive others, they may not notice, but you will heal. Forgiveness is not something we do for others; it is a gift to ourselves.当你原谅别人时,他们可能不会注意,但是你能得到治愈。原谅不是为了别人,而是给我们自己的礼物。
Courtesy costs nothing. Lower the toilet seat after use. Let the people in the elevator exit before you enter. Return shopping carts to their designated areas. When you borrow something, return it better shape (filled up, cleaned) than when you got it.礼貌不花钱。用完马桶之后放下马桶垫;让电梯里的人先出来;将购物车放回指定的位置;当你借了某件东西,归还时要比借时更好(完好无损的、干净的)。
Whenever there is an argument between two sides, find the third side.双方无论什么时候有争吵,去找第三方。
Efficiency is highly overrated; Goofing off is highly underrated. Regularly scheduled sabbaths, sabbaticals, vacations, breaks, aimless walks and time off are essential for top performance of any kind. The best work ethic requires a good rest ethic.效率被过分高估,而玩乐被过分低估。定期安排的安息日、公休日、假期、休息日、漫无目的的散步和休息时间对于任何类型的最好成绩都必不可少。最好的工作道德需要良好的休息道德。
When you lead, your real job is to create more leaders, not more followers.领导者真正的工作是培养更多的领导者,而不是更多的粉丝。
Criticize in private, praise in public.私下批评,公开表扬。
Life lessons will be presented to you in the order they are needed. Everything you need to master the lesson is within you. Once you have truly learned a lesson, you will be presented with the next one. If you are alive, that means you still have lessons to learn.生活会在需要的时候给予我们教训。你需要掌握的在于你自己。一旦你真正受到教训,你将会有下一个。活着意味着一直都有生活的教训。
It is the duty of a student to get everything out of a teacher, and the duty of a teacher to get everything out of a student.学生的责任是从老师那学到一切;老师的责任是挖掘学生身上的一切。
If winning becomes too important in a game, change the rules to make it more fun. Changing rules can become the new game.如果一场游戏中胜利变得太重要,改变它的规则让它变得有趣。改变规则可以收获一个新的游戏。
Ask funders for money, and they’ll give you advice; but ask for advice and they’ll give you money.向投资者要钱,他们会给你建议;向他们要建议,他们会给你钱。
Productivity is often a distraction. Don’t aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible, rather aim for better tasks that you never want to stop doing.效率往往让人分心。不要致力于让你尽可能快完成工作的方法,而是寻找让你不想停止的方法。
Immediately pay what you owe to vendors, workers, contractors. They will go out of their way to work with you first next time.立即支付供应商、工人、承包商的钱,下次他们会第一个与你合作。
The biggest lie we tell ourselves is “I don't need to write this down because I will remember it.”我们对自己说过的最大的谎言:我不需要写下它,因为我记住了。
Your growth as a conscious being is measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have.作为一个有意识的人,你的成长由那些让你不舒服但愿意进行的对话的数量所决定。
Speak confidently as if you are right, but listen carefully as if you are wrong.当你正确时,自信地表达,但你错误时,请认真倾听。
Handy measure: the distance between your fingertips of your outstretched arms at shoulder level is your height.方便的测量方法:手臂伸直,与肩同高,两边指尖之间的长度就是你的身高。
The consistency of your endeavors (exercise, companionship, work) is more important than the quantity. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what you do occasionally.努力(锻炼、陪伴、工作)的连续性比数量更重要。没有什么比每天做的小事更重要,这比你偶尔做的事要重要得多。
Making art is not selfish; it’s for the rest of us. If you don’t do your thing, you are cheating us.搞艺术并不自私,因为这是为了所有人。你如果不做自己的事情,那就是在欺骗大家。
Never ask a woman if she is pregnant. Let her tell you if she is.永远不要问女性她是否怀孕,让她自己告诉你她是否怀孕。
Three things you need: The ability to not give up something till it works, the ability to give up something that does not work, and the trust in other people to help you distinguish between the two.你需要三个方面的能力:不成功不放弃的毅力,不成功也敢于放弃的魄力,以及对你能够帮助你分辨这两种情况的人的信任。
When public speaking, pause frequently. Pause before you say something in a new way, pause after you have said something you believe is important, and pause as a relief to let listeners absorb details.当公开演讲时,要有规律的暂停。用新方式说之前暂停,说完重要内容之后暂停,暂停作为一种缓冲,能让听众吸收内容的细节。
There is no such thing as being “on time.” You are either late or you are early. Your choice.没有所谓“准时”的说话,或早或晚,取决于自己。
Ask anyone you admire: Their lucky breaks happened on a detour from their main goal. So embrace detours. Life is not a straight line for anyone.询问你钦佩的人:他们的幸运往往发生在偏离主要目标的弯道上。所以拥抱弯道吧,没有谁的生活是一帆风顺的。
The best way to get a correct answer on the internet is to post an obviously wrong answer and wait for someone to correct you.在互联网上获得一个正确答案的最好方式是发布一个明显错误的答案然后等待别人纠正。
You’ll get 10x better results by elevating good behavior rather than punishing bad behavior, especially in children and animals.相比惩罚坏的行为,提升好的行为更能让你获得10倍良效,尤其是在儿童和动物身上。
Spend as much time crafting the subject line of an email as the message itself because the subject line is often the only thing people read.电子邮件的主题和正文一样,需要花同样多的时间打磨,因为人们阅读时往往只关注邮件的主题。
Don’t wait for the storm to pass; dance in the rain.不要等待暴风雨离开,而是在雨中起舞。
When checking references for a job applicant, employers may be reluctant or prohibited from saying anything negative, so leave or send a message that says, “Get back to me if you highly recommend this applicant as super great.” If they don’t reply take that as a negative.当检查求职者的推荐信时,雇主往往可能不愿意或禁止说任何负面内容,所以留下或发送一则信息:"如果你强烈推荐的求职者是超级棒的,请给我回信。" 如果他们不回复,就当做是一种否定。
Use a password manager: Safer, easier, better.使用一款密码管理软件吧:更安全、更容易、更好用。
Half the skill of being educated is learning what you can ignore.一半的教育技能是学习哪些东西可以忽略。
The advantage of a ridiculously ambitious goal is that it sets the bar very high so even in failure it may be a success measured by the ordinary.一个荒诞但是雄心勃勃的目标的好处是:它将标准定得如此之高,以至于即使失败了,但也是普通标准下的成功。
A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others.了解自己的好方法:严肃反思自己让别人感到讨厌或生气的任何东西。
Keep all your things visible in a hotel room, not in drawers, and all gathered into one spot. That way you’ll never leave anything behind. If you need to have something like a charger off to the side, place a couple of other large items next to it, because you are less likely to leave 3 items behind than just one.在旅店里,将东西放在一块,并且处于你的视野范围内,这样你将永远不会丢三落四。如果你需要将充电器之类的东西放在一旁,那就在旁边放两个大件,因为你落下三件东西的可能性比落下一件要小。
Denying or deflecting a compliment is rude. Accept it with thanks, even if you believe it is not deserved.拒绝或回避赞美是粗鲁不礼貌的。尽管你认为它不值得,但也要感谢并且接受。
Always read the plaque next to the monument.一定要阅读纪念碑旁边的牌匾(上的内容)。
When you have some success, the feeling of being an imposter can be real. Who am I fooling? But when you create things that only you — with your unique talents and experience — can do, then you are absolutely not an imposter. You are the ordained. It is your duty to work on things that only you can do.当你有一些成功时,作为一个冒牌货的感觉可能是真实的。我在愚弄谁呢?但是,当你创造出只有你和自己独特的才能和经验才能做到的事情时,那么你绝对不是一个冒牌货。你实至名归。做只有你能做的事情,就是你的职责。
What you do on your bad days matters more than what you do on your good days.在糟糕的日子里做的事情比在好日子里做的事情更重要。
Make stuff that is good for people to have.做一些对人们有好处的东西吧
When you open paint, even a tiny bit, it will always find its way to your clothes no matter how careful you are. Dress accordingly.当你打开油漆,哪怕是一点点,无论多么小心它总会到你的衣服上去。穿上相应的衣服吧。
To keep young kids behaving on a car road trip, have a bag of their favorite candy and throw a piece out the window each time they misbehave.为了让年幼的孩子在公路上保持良好的行为习惯,准备一包他们喜欢的糖果,每次他们行为不好时,就向窗外扔一块糖。
You cannot get smart people to work extremely hard just for money.你不能让有才的人仅仅为了钱而极度努力的工作。
When you don’t know how much to pay someone for a particular task, ask them “what would be fair” and their answer usually is.当你不知道该为某项工作付给别人多少钱时,问问他们“什么才公平(市场价是多少)”,他们的回答就是。
90% of everything is crap. If you think you don’t like opera, romance novels, TikTok, country music, vegan food, NFTs, keep trying to see if you can find the 10% that is not crap.90%的东西都是垃圾。如果你认为你不喜欢歌剧、爱情小说、抖音、乡村音乐、素食、NFT,那就继续尝试看看能否找到那不是垃圾的10%东西。