父親分享的30堂人生智慧課（上）

My father is one of the wisest men I know. Over the past year he has been dispensing bits of wisdom to friends, business partners and family members via his Facebook wall and private Twitter stream. I’d share some of his advice with you.today.
我的父親是我認識的最有智慧的人之一。在過去的一年裏，他通過Facebook留言板和個人推特向朋友、商業夥伴和家人傳播點滴智慧。我想要與你們分享一些他的建議。

1. You can’t make choices for other people. Don’t let other people make choices for you.
你不能爲他人做選擇。也不要讓他人爲你做選擇。

2. There are an unlimited number of ‘Dr. No’ folks that you will encounter in this life. If you have a personal inspiration, idea or goal, don’t let a ‘Dr. No’ deter you! Trust your gut, do the planning and then DO IT!
你會在一生中遇到無數個對你說“不”的傢伙。如果你有個人的靈感、想法或目標，不要讓那個說“不”的傢伙打消你的念頭！相信你的膽量，做好計劃然後放手去做！

3. Opportunities are often disguised as work, so most people don’t recognize them.
機遇常常僞裝成工作，所以大多數人都認不出它們。

4. The Chinese character for the word ‘crisis’ literally means ‘danger and opportunity.’
漢語中，“危機”的字面意思是“危險和機遇”。

5. Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small pieces. -Henry Ford - Same concept configured as a question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time.
如果你把事情分成很多小份，那麼沒有什麼事情是特別困難的——亨利•福特。有一個問題也表達了同樣的觀念：你怎麼吃掉一隻大象？答案：一次咬一口。

6. Learn from the past, but don’t dwell in the past. In other words, don’t abuse the precious ‘now’ by not being in it.
從過去中學習，但是不要停留在過去。換言之，不要沉溺於過去而毀掉珍貴的“當下”。

7. Worry is a misuse of the imagination.
煩惱是在糟蹋你的想象力。8. Perfect is the enemy of good.
完美是良好的敵人。

9. Education and knowledge are invaluable. But do we need to know everything? Is it possible in a specialized world to know everything? For instance, do you need to have a comprehensive understanding of dentistry to go to a dentist to have a cavity filled? In many instances, ‘not knowing’ is a wise approach – it’s like cleaning out a crowded closet to make space for something useful.
教育和知識是無價的。但是我們有必要知曉一切嗎？有可能知曉一個專業領域中的一切嗎？例如，你有必要爲了去牙科診所補個牙洞而對牙科學有全面的瞭解嗎？在許多情況下，“不知道”是個明智的方法——這就像是清理一個堆滿東西的壁櫥來爲一些有用的東西騰出空間一樣。

10. Big results come when you narrow your focus. Concentrate your efforts on smaller and smaller areas.
當你將焦點縮小時就會有大收穫。把你的努力集中在更小的領域中。

11. You can’t do it all yourself.
你無法只憑自己就做成所有的事。

12. Don’t try to impress everyone. Purposely impressing people is an act that brings nothing but a momentary ego boost. Be real with people instead. Connect with fewer people on a level that is deeper and more profound.
不要試圖給每個人都留下印象。有目的地給人留下印象只不過是一種帶來短暫的自我膨脹的行爲。要真實地與人交往。在一種更深厚更長遠的層次上與更少的人交往。

13. Short lecture on happiness and contentment: Check out what you do have and be satisfied with it for today. There is an infinite list of what you could want and don’t have. I like Shakespeare’s line in the play Hamlet, when the young prince tells us that “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space.” The trick is what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.
關於幸福和滿足：看看你現今都擁有什麼和對什麼感到滿意。對於你想要但還未得到的東西，你會列出個無限長的清單。我喜歡莎士比亞的戲劇《哈姆雷特》中的一句話，年輕的王子告訴我們“即便是被關在胡桃核裏，我也可自命爲一個擁有廣土的帝王。”這就重點。我們要麼讓自己痛苦不堪，要麼讓自己幸福快樂。要做的都是一樣的。

14. Manage your time. Your situation and environment is ever changing, so be careful not to confuse things that are urgent with things that are important.
管理你的時間。你的處境和環境隨時都在改變，因此要注意不要混淆了緊急的事情和重要的事情。

15. A healthy paradox of life that I find personally challenging: There is ENLIGHTENMENT to be gained from the ability to live in the moment, but if you don’t have a time management system, or an event control system, you are at a significant disadvantage in achieving goals.
對我來說很有挑戰性的一個人生悖論：人們需要從活在當下的能力中獲得啓蒙，但是如果你沒有一個時間管理體系，或者事件控制體系，你在達到目標的過程中就會處於一個非常嚴重的劣勢。