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In any field, there are a few ideas that are core to understanding everything else. Biology makes little sense without evolution. Physics without symmetries and conservation laws is baffling. All mathematics can be built out of sets. 在任何領(lǐng)域，都有一些思想是理解其他一切內(nèi)容的核心。如果沒有進化思想，生物學就失去了意義；如果沒有了對稱性與守恒定律，物理學就是一團糟；而所有數(shù)學都可以由集合建立起來。 Self-improvement isn’t usually regarded as an intellectual field. It’s mostly an assortment of various gurus and pundits’ suggestions on how you ought to be more successful, happier or wise. Thus it might seem like self-improvement doesn’t really have core ideas at all—just opinions. 自我提升通常不被看作一個知識領(lǐng)域，大多只是專家或者權(quán)威人士給出的各種建議，告訴你應該怎樣變得更成功、更快樂、更有智慧。因此，自我提升看起來根本不存在真正的核心思想，有的只是看法。 However, I think there are some common themes to the art of living better. These ideas are pervasive, coming up again and again. Even in the writing of people who take a stand against them, their prevalence still requires that they be acknowledged. 然而，我認為對于獲得更好的生活這門藝術(shù)來說，有一些常見的主題。這些思想是普遍性的，出現(xiàn)了一遍又一遍。即使是持反對立場的人所寫的文章，也不得不承認這些思想的普遍存在。 The Core Ideas核心思想1. Habits1. 習慣Nearly all forms of self-improvement first require that you change your behavior. Unless the improvement you’re after is purely mental, you’re going to have to actually do something first. 幾乎所有形式的自我提升，都首先要求你改變自己的行為。除非你想要提升的是完全思想性的，否則都必須先真的做些事。  Habits, then, form a central idea in behavior change. Being able to make certain behaviors automatic (or at least, more automatic) is going to help tremendously with any change you might want to make. To get fit you need to have a habit of eating well and exercising. To get rich you need a habit of saving and investing. To have loving relationships you need good habits of communication. 習慣因此構(gòu)成了行為改變的核心思想。能夠讓某些行為自動化（或至少更加自動化），對于你想做出的無論什么改變，都將帶來巨大的幫助。要擁有好身材，你需要養(yǎng)成健康飲食和定期鍛煉的習慣；要變得富有，你需要養(yǎng)成儲蓄和投資的習慣；要擁有美好的感情，你需要養(yǎng)成溝通的習慣。 Not only are habits central to self-improvement, but they’re also one of the best studied aspects of psychology. We have countless studies showing how the impact of association, rewards, punishments and contextual cues will have impacts on behavior. 習慣不僅是自我提升的核心，同樣也是被研究得最充分的心理學領(lǐng)域之一。有無數(shù)研究顯示了關(guān)聯(lián)、獎賞、懲罰和情境信息會如何影響行為。 If you’re looking to dive deeper into habits, I recommend: 如果你想要更深入地了解習慣，我推薦：
2. Goal-Setting2. 設(shè)置目標How can you reach a destination if you don’t first know what it is? Goal-setting not only involves deciding what you want, but also planning how you should get there. It’s a common theme, even if many people disagree about which aspects are most important. 如果一開始不知道要去哪里，又怎么能到達目的地呢？設(shè)置目標不只是決定你想要什么，也包括計劃你要如何到達那里。盡管很多人對于哪個最重要莫衷一是，但這依然是一個常見的主題。  Goal-setting has also been studied by psychological research and generally found to be helpful. However, it also seems clear that just having the idea of what you want to achieve usually isn’t enough (although it may be a necessary start). Thus, goal-setting on its own needs to be paired with plans, systems or habits if it is going to be successful. 心理學也研究了目標設(shè)置，而且大部分研究發(fā)現(xiàn)都很有幫助。不過同樣清楚的是，僅僅擁有想要實現(xiàn)什么的想法通常是不夠的（盡管這或許是必要的開始）。因此，要產(chǎn)生作用，設(shè)置目標本身還必須搭配上計劃、體系或習慣。 A good heuristic for goal-setting is that they should be SMART (specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and time-bound). Implementation intentions, formulated as IF... THEN... plans tend to work better than just focusing on an outcome on its own. Planning fallacies also need to be watched for as many goal-setting efforts can be overly optimistic. 一種有用的探索性目標設(shè)置方法是，目標需要滿足 SMART 原則（具體、可測量、可實現(xiàn)、相關(guān)、有時間限制）。表述為如果……那么……形式計劃的實施意向，通常比僅僅關(guān)注成果本身效果更好。也要當心計劃出錯的情況，因為很多目標設(shè)置的做法都過于樂觀了。 Some view the disadvantages of explicit goal-setting to outweigh the benefits. These people either argue for being entirely process oriented and ignoring outcomes, or simply negate the value of achievement itself in favor of different values. 有些人認為明確的目標設(shè)置弊大于利。這些人或者主張完全由過程出發(fā)而忽視結(jié)果，或者否認實現(xiàn)目標本身的價值，而主張其他價值。 If you’re looking to dive deeper into goal-setting, I recommend:如果你想更多了解目標設(shè)置，我推薦：
3. Systems3. 體系Systems are tools that structure your behavior and decision with formal rules. A productivity system is one type of system—in this case aimed at helping you get work done by organizing the things that need doing and telling you when to do them. Other systems exist for helping make decisions, managing knowledge or organizing your approach to specific domains of life. 體系是一些工具，通過形式化的規(guī)則組織你的行為和決定。生產(chǎn)力體系就是其中一類，它的目的是通過安排各種事項并告訴你什么時間該做什么，來幫助你完成工作。此外還有制定決策、知識管理，或安排生活具體領(lǐng)域中做事方式的體系。  The opposite of systems is an intuition-based or informal approach. What systems often encourage is creating explicit rules or guidelines which will discourage some tendencies you’d like to avoid. Getting Things Done, for instance, is a famous productivity system based on avoiding the tendency to forget what you need to do. 體系的反面是基于直覺的或非形式化的方法。體系通常鼓勵建立明確的規(guī)則或指南，從而阻止某些你想要避免的傾向。舉例來說，盡管去做（GTD）就是一個著名的生產(chǎn)力體系，它所基于的理念是避免忘記需要做什么的傾向。 Systems are often built off of concepts of scientific management and organizational theory, but applied to one’s personal life. Thus business concepts like standard operating procedures, quarterly reviews and key performance indicators get repurposed as self-improvement concepts. 體系通常建立在科學管理或組織理論的概念上，但將它們應用到個人的生活中。因此標準操作程序、季度審核，以及關(guān)鍵業(yè)績指標等商業(yè)概念被重新定義成個人提升的概念。 Systems, like goal-setting, also have detractors. Spontaneous, intuitive, creative or emotional approaches to improvement may be suppressed in an overly rigid system. Nonetheless, understanding systems, even if you choose to apply them selectively, is a core concept worth knowing. 與目標設(shè)置一樣，體系也遭到一些批評。在過度嚴格的體系中，自發(fā)的、直覺的、創(chuàng)造性的或情緒化的提升方法可能會被壓制。盡管如此，體系的思想仍是值得了解的核心概念，即使你決定只是有選擇地應用。 If you’re looking to dive deeper into systems, I recommend: 如果你想要更深入地了解體系，我推薦：
4. Emotional Self-Regulation4. 情緒的自我管理Much of self-improvement has to deal with managing, guiding or listening to our emotions. Indeed, those who take happiness to be an emotional state, central to our existence, may argue that all self-improvement ultimately is aimed at making us feel better. 大部分自我提升都需要管理、指引或聽從我們的情緒。事實上，那些把快樂視為生存之本的情緒狀態(tài)的人，可能會主張所有自我提升最終的目的都是讓我們感覺更好。  Beyond being an end in itself, emotional self-regulation has many important instrumental purposes. Overcoming fears and anxieties represent a huge swath of self-improvement literature. Motivation and willpower overlap here as well, even if they may be better seen as concepts distinct from emotions or subjective feelings. 除了作為目的本身，情緒的自我管理還有很多重要的工具性目的。大量自我提升的文獻都與克服恐懼和焦慮有關(guān)。這里也涉及動機和意志力，盡管它們可能更適合被視為與情緒或主觀感受不同的概念。 Cognitive behavioral therapy, sees thoughts, feelings and behavior as all being part of an interrelated system. The way you think about things affects how you feel, which affects what you do. How you feel, in turn, affects your thoughts and actions. Actions too, with their consequences can impact later feelings (exposure therapy is a clear example of this direction). 認知行為理論認為，思想、感受和行為是一個相互關(guān)聯(lián)的體系的不同組成部分。你看待事物的方式影響了你對它們的感受，進而又影響了你的做法。反過來，你的感受也影響了你的想法和行動。同樣，行動的結(jié)果會影響你之后的感受（暴露療法就是這一方向的清晰例證）。 Others argue in favor of listening to emotions more than trying to manage them. In this view, emotions are important signals to tell you about the significance of events, often surpassing your ability to analyze situations rationally. The job, school or relationship you feel bad about might not be good, even if you can’t say why. 另一些人主張更多地傾聽情緒，而不是試圖管理情緒。在這種觀點看來，情緒是重要的信號，告訴你事件的意義，而這通常超出了你對情境的理性分析能力。讓你感到糟糕的工作、學校或人際關(guān)系可能就是不好的，盡管你說不出為什么。 If you’re looking to dive deeper into emotional self-regulation, I recommend: 如果你想要更深入地了解情緒的自我管理，我推薦：
5. Learning5. 學習Learning is a tricky concept here because there are actually two different senses of the word. The first is a synonym for studying. This is something that matters to students, certainly, but it may not be something that feels central to your life if you’re no longer in school. 學習在這里是個微妙的概念，因為這個詞事實上有兩個不同的含義。第一個是讀書的近義詞。當然，這對于學生來說是件重要的事，但如果已經(jīng)離開學校了，它可能就不是你生活的中心了。  On the other hand, learning is also a basic psychological process. Every time we change from experience, get better at anything or remember something, we’re learning. 另一方面，學習也是一個基本的心理過程。每當我們因為經(jīng)歷做出改變，在某件事上做得更好，或者記住一些事，都是在學習。 In this second sense, learning is a core concept of self-improvement. Like habits, learning has been studied in incredible detail, making it a rich source of research-driven insights into self- improvement. Some might argue that learning is the core of psychology itself. 在第二個意義上，學習是自我提升的核心概念。與習慣一樣，學習也得到了驚人詳細的研究，為我們基于研究深刻理解自我提升提供了豐富的資料。有些人甚至會說，學習就是心理學自身的核心領(lǐng)域。 I’ve spent more time writing about this core concept than anything else, in part because I feel it has often been neglected in self-improvement, perhaps because many people conflate it with studying. Learning in the first sense, of deliberate studying, is also an important tool simply because it’s the means by which one can understand the other tools better, so I tend to give it priority even if other authors don’t. 我在寫作這個核心概念上花的時間比其他任何內(nèi)容都多，部分是我感到在談論自我提升時，我們經(jīng)常忽視了學習，可能是由于許多人混淆了學習與讀書。第一個意義上的學習，即細致認真地讀書，也是一項重要的工具，因為這是讓我們更好地理解其他工具的方式。因此盡管其他作者沒有這樣做，我還是打算把學習放在重要位置。 If you’re looking to dive deeper into learning, I recommend: 如果你想要更深入地了解學習，我推薦：
6. Values and Meaning6. 價值和意義Most of the core concepts I’ve discussed so far are instrumental, useful for reaching some purpose. However, a core concept of self-improvement is a reflection on those purposes themselves. 到此為止，我討論的大多數(shù)核心價值都是工具性的，可用于實現(xiàn)某個目標。然而，自我提升的一個核心概念是反思那些目標本身。  This typically moves away from psychology and more towards philosophy and religion. What you ought to value in life and how you derive meaning from things are deep questions which we’ve debated for millennia. Even self-improvement itself is a perspective, one for which some pundits argue explicitly against. 這通常偏離了心理學的范疇，而更屬于哲學和宗教領(lǐng)域。你在生活中應該看重什么，以及如何從事情中獲得意義感，這是我們討論了上千年的深刻問題。甚至自我提升本身也是其中一個方面，有些專家就明確反對這一做法。 There are two levels that this issue can be approached. The first is to find a system of meaning or values that you want to self-consciously emulate. This could be Stoicism, Buddhism, Christianity or some kind of secular humanism. You might want to consciously inhibit some of your vices and enhance your virtues. You might decide that happiness is the meaning of life or that the purpose of our lives transcends how we feel in the moment. 分析這個問題可以從兩個層次入手。第一個層次是找到一個你想要有意識地模仿的意義或價值體系，可以是斯多葛哲學、佛學、基督教，或者某種世俗的人道主義。你可能想要有意識地戒除某些缺點而發(fā)揚自己的美德，可能會認定快樂是人生的意義所在，或者人生的目的超越了我們此在的感受。 The second level of this system is to investigate meaning itself. This is a more esoteric job of philosophers, and perhaps too abstract for many people who simply want an answer for how life is to be. But given the plurality of systems which often contradict, understanding meaning and values themselves can often help structure your decision of which to strengthen. 這個體系的第二個層次是考察意義本身。這是哲學家要做的更為艱深的工作，對于大多數(shù)只想找到生活答案的人來說，或許過于抽象了。但是考慮到存在著多種經(jīng)常存在沖突的體系，理解意義和價值本身通常有助于組織你的決定，判斷要加強生活中的哪個方面。 The variety of value systems expressed in the former is too broad to give recommendations, but for those looking to think more deeply about the issue of meaning itself I recommend: 前人提出的各種價值體系涉及范圍十分廣泛，因此難以給出推薦，但對于想要更深入地思考意義問題本身的讀者，我推薦：
7. Thoughts and Beliefs7. 想法和信念Thoughts refer to the things you say to yourself in your head. Much mental content isn’t verbal, but our ongoing self-narrative is an important part of both our quality of life and as an instrument to achieving things. 想法指的是你在頭腦中對自己說的話。大部分思維內(nèi)容都不是言語性的，但不間斷的自我敘事不僅是決定我們生活質(zhì)量的重要部分，也是我們做成事情的方式。  What beliefs are precisely (and whether they actually exist) is less precise. Some would classify a belief as a propositional statement in your head, like a little bit of logic with TRUE or FALSE attached. Others would see beliefs as statements of probability (90% TRUE or 54% FALSE). Still others might argue that beliefs don’t really exist in our head at all, but are only inferrable by our behavior. In this sense we act as if we had beliefs, but don’t really have anything corresponding to probabilities or propositions inside our minds. 信念準確來說是什么（以及它們是否真的存在），則是不那么準確的。有人可能會把信念看作頭腦中一種提議性的陳述，帶有幾分真或假的邏輯。有人可能把信念看作一種概率性的陳述（90%為真或54%為假）。還有人可能指出，信念根本不是真實存在于你頭腦中的，而僅僅只能從我們的行為來推斷。在這個意義上，我們表現(xiàn)得好像自己有信念，但其實頭腦中并不存在什么概率性或提議性的東西。 Regardless of the exact format of thoughts and beliefs, they form a core concept in self- improvement for multiple reasons. 無論思想和信念的準確形式是什么，它們都構(gòu)成了自我提升的核心概念。原因有很多。 The first is that beliefs and thoughts may become self-fulfilling prophecies. Many argue that since your thoughts and beliefs have a causal impact on your behavior, and thus your results, you may get into cycles of self-limiting beliefs that become true only because you believe in them. 首先，信念和想法可能成為自我提升的預言。很多人指出，由于思想和信念會影響行為，進而影響結(jié)果，因此你很可能進入一個循環(huán)，自我限定只有當你相信某個信念時，它才會成真。 Thoughts can also create emotional feelings as well, and thus we may want to control our thoughts even if we don’t care so much about changing our external outcomes. The constant worrier may have a nagging voice in her head that says her success never counts. 思想也會產(chǎn)生情緒感受，因此即使當我們并不在乎外部結(jié)果的改變時，可能也會想要控制自己的思想。愛擔憂的人頭腦中可能有個聲音一直在說，她的成功都不算數(shù)。 The importance of thoughts and beliefs ranges depending on whom you ask. For some, beliefs have mystical powers that transcend a physically justifiable version of reality. To believe something is, in a certain sense, to literally make it true. Others reject the supernatural, but argue that beliefs still highly constrain our attention, making self-fulfilling prophecies frequent. On the opposite extreme are those that argue for a mostly passive role of beliefs, recording the world but not much changing outcomes. To those people, having true beliefs matters more than believing things to make them true. Regardless of where you sit in this spectrum, the content of our thoughts and beliefs is central to self-improvement. 思想和信念的重要性，取決于你問的是誰。對于一些人來說，信念具有神奇的力量，超越了物理可以解釋的現(xiàn)實。在某種意義上，相信某件事就是真正使它成為真的。另一些人拒絕這種超自然的解釋，但認為信念依然高度限制了我們的注意力，從而經(jīng)常造成自我實現(xiàn)的預言。與此相反的人主張信念大多數(shù)時候只是扮演了被動的角色，它們記錄世界但不會改變多少結(jié)果。對這些人而言，擁有真正的信念比相信某件事并讓它們成真更重要。不論你處于這個光譜的什么位置，我們思想和信念的內(nèi)容都對自我提升至關(guān)重要。 If you want to go deeper into this topic, I recommend: 如果你想更深入地了解這個話題，我推薦：
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