双语：28岁前应该明白的16个道理

 　我今年28岁，不怎么回忆过去，更不觉有什么憾事。但是有时我仍恨不能早点懂得这些年来所体悟出的道理，也希望我在学校的时候曾经学过这16个道理。

　　A teacher probably spoke¹ about some of these 16 things in this article in class, but I forgot about them or didn't pay attention。

　　Some of it would probably not have stuck in my mind anyway. Or just been too far outside my reality at the time for me to accept and use。

　　1. The 80/20 rule. 二八定律：80%的收获源于20%的付出

　　This is one of the best ways to make better use of your time. The 80/20 rule – also known as The Pareto Principle – basically² says that 80 percent of the value you will receive will come from 20 percent of your activities。

　　So a lot of what you do is probably not as useful or even necessary to do as you may think。

　　You can just drop – or vastly decrease the time you spend on – a whole bunch of things。

　　And if you do that you will have more time and energy to spend on those things that really brings your value, happiness, fulfilment and so on。

　　2. Parkinson's Law. 帕金森定律：你的做事速度可以比你想象的更快

　　You can do things quicker than you think. This law says that a task will expand in time and seeming complexity³ depending on the time you set aside for it. For instance⁴, if you say to yourself that you'll come up with a solution within a week then the problem will seem to grow more difficult and you'll spend more and more time trying to come up with a solution。

　　So focus your time on finding⁵ solutions. Then just give yourself an hour (instead of the whole day) or the day (instead of the whole week) to solve the problem. This will force your mind to focus on solutions and action。

　　The result may not be exactly as perfect as if you had spent a week on the task, but as mentioned in the previous point, 80 percent of the value will come from 20 percent of the activities anyway. Or you may wind up with a better result because you haven't overcomplicated or overpolished things. This will help you to get things done faster, to improve your ability to focus and give you more free time where you can totally focus on what's in front of you instead of having some looming⁶ task creating stress in the back of your mind。

　　3. Batching. 批量做事：将一些琐事放在一起做完

　　Boring or routine⁸ tasks can create a lot of procrastination⁹ and low-level anxiety. One good way to get these things done quickly is to batch⁷ them. This means that you do them all in row. You will be able to do them quicker because there is less "start-up time" compared to if you spread them out. And when you are batching you become fully¹⁰ engaged in the tasks and more focused。

　　A batch of things to do in an hour today may look like this: Clean your desk / answer today's emails/do the dishes/make three calls/write a grocery shopping list for tomorrow。

　　4. First, give value. Then, get value. Not the other way around. 先付出，再索取，切莫颠倒

　　This is a bit of a counter-intuitive thing. There is often an idea that someone should give us something or do something for us before we give back. The problem is just that a lot of people think that way. And so far less than possible is given either way。

　　If you want to increase the value you receive (money, love, kindness, opportunities etc。) you have to increase the value you give. Because over time you pretty much get what you give. It would perhaps be nice to get something for nothing. But that seldom happens。

　　5. Be proactive. Not reactive. 以积极主动为荣，以消极怠惰为耻

　　This one ties into the last point. If everyone is reactive then very little will get done. You could sit and wait and hope for someone else to do something. And that happens pretty often, but it can take a lot of time before it happens。

　　A more useful and beneficial way is to be proactive, to simply be the one to take the first practical action and get the ball rolling. This not only saves you a lot of waiting, but is also more pleasurable since you feel like you have the power over your life. Instead of feeling like you are run by a bunch of random¹¹ outside forces。

 

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

3 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

4 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

5 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

6 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

7 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

8 routine   

n.例行公事，惯例；adj.例行的，常规的

参考例句：

• It is everyday routine.这是每天的例行公事。
• She found the hospital routine slightly dull.她感到医院的工作有点枯燥乏味。

9 procrastination   

n.拖延，耽搁

参考例句：

• Procrastination is the father of failure. 因循是失败的根源。
• Procrastination is the thief of time. 拖延就是浪费时间。

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

11 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。