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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:
明天就是我的六十岁生日了。生日总是一个回顾往昔、反思生命的好时候，尤其是到了我这个年龄。在过去的几周里，我一直在想：我活了这六十年，到底什么事对我而言是真正重要的。下面就是我的一些体会：
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.越了解自己就越要谨慎而为。我们每个人在“自欺欺人”方面的潜能都是无限的，尽管大多数时候，我们这么做都是无意为之，是为了保护自己免受痛苦、责任和不确定的伤害。然而，当我们在欺骗自己的同时，可能就要用他人的痛苦、责任和不确定来作为代价。
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.关注好的方面。我们与生俱来的一种特质就是看到生活中不好的地方。而治愈这种顽症的良药就是有意识地每天花一点时间去关注好的方面，对你所获得的抱有感恩之心。
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.世上没有确定之事。确定的反面就是不确定，就是开放、好奇和愿意接受悖论的思想，而不是选边站。人生的终极挑战就是接受真正的自己，同时永不停歇地去求知、去成长。
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.永远不要通过贬低别人来找回自己的价值。当我们被人看扁的时候，本能反应就是要找回我们失去的东西、以牙还牙。然而，贬低看扁我们的人的这种做法只会招致更多的恶果，造成恶性循环。
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，你的一天都会充满效率。大多数人早上的精力都是最充沛的，而且这个时候受到的干扰是最少的。拨出一段特定的时间，不要超过一个半小时，集中注意力，排除一切干扰，来完成价值最高的工作。这样，在短时间内你就能拥有非凡的工作成绩。
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，但记住，成功来之不易，挫折也是成长的一部分。能不能做好一件事，天赋只占很小的一部分原因，而愿不愿意一次次地去做，去寻求反馈才是关键因素，收到的反馈越多，准确度越高，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动自发地做事，你的收获就越多。如果在做一件事之前你总要想一想，那么这件事你可能不会做得太长久。秘诀就是花更少的力气，少去想为什么要做，同时能完成更多的事情。想想看：你会经常想要不要去刷牙这个问题吗？
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。追求速度几乎是生活中所有重要的事情的天敌。求快速会有损于做事的质量、同情心、深度、创造力、鉴赏力，还有真正重要的人际关系。
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.知足常乐的感觉是奇妙的。幸福往往不在于你真的拥有多少。很多情况下，拥有太多不一定就是好事。拥有太多反而会成为带来烦恼。
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.做好事因为它应该做，而不要希求有什么回报。人的价值是少数只属于你的、别人抢不走的财富。做好事可能不会立刻有好报，不过从长远来看，做好事总会让你感觉更加良好。
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。我们每天都在消耗地球上的资源，而生活最基本的挑战就是，向这个世界索取了多少，就要回报得比索取更多才行。
12. Savor every moment — even the difficult ones. It all goes so fast.
12.享受每一刻——即使是困难的时候，也要细细品味。生命中的每一刻都是转瞬即逝的。
来源：作文地带整理
