1. Patience and perseverance¹

1. 耐心和毅力

Thomas Edison said “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration².” This is a truth that I have learned in my life. We often want results to appear overnight and we give up too fast when something does not work out the way we want it to.

托马斯·爱迪生说过“天才就是百分之一的灵感加上百分之九十九的汗水。”其实，我早就在我的生活中亲身体验到了这条真理。我们往往都希望事情在短时间内就有成效，当事情不如我们的意愿时，我们常常就会过早地放弃。

When I started this blog I didn’t put much effort into it. I threw something together hoping that miraculously³ it will find its own readers and it will be a success. Of course that never happened. My first posts were not that great, but I worked my way to better grammar, a better writing style and better advice. Patience and perseverance were my allies in this journey. It took me almost three years to get where I am now but I have enjoyed every step of that journey.

当我开始开始写这个博客时，我没有投入太多的精力。我把许多东西都晒在这个网页上，然后期待着它能找到自己的读者并获得成功。当然了，这样的事从来没有发生过。我发布的头几篇博文都写得不好，但是我刻苦练习，力求以到位的语法、更好的写作风格和更棒的写作建议。耐心和毅力是这次旅程中的两个好伴侣，我花了将近三年的时间才取得这个博客的成功，而且我很享受我所走过的每一步。

2. Loosen the reins⁴

2. 松开束缚你的缰绳

Do you like to be in control of your life? I used to have a real problem with that because I just could not loosen up in life. I had to have everything just the way I planned; I had to be No.1 all the time (your typical description of an over-achiever.)

你想成为你命运的主人吗？这一问题过去常常困扰着我，因为有些事我就是放不下。我过去常常希望一切事情都如我所计划的那样；我过去常常希望自己总是第一名（就如你对于超级成功人士的那种典型描述）。

The trick about life that I’ve learned is that we are never in full control of our lives. While we can try our best to be the best we can be, sometimes things just happen. They just do.

我从生活这场魔术中所感悟到的就是我们无法全面地掌控自己的生活。而我们所能做的事就是尽我们所能做最好的自己，然后好事就发生了。生活就是这样的。

I do not have to be No. 1 anymore.

我没有必要总去争夺第一名。

I do not have to leap over hurdles⁵ to be happy and content.

我没有必要非要跨越障碍才能感受到开心与自得。

3. Accept who you are

3. 接纳你自己

The biggest discovery that any of us can make is discovering who we really are. A lot of times we try to be somebody else because we want to portray⁶ a particular image in life. No matter how much you try, this “fake” personality will never work out and you will never be able to feel at peace and in balance with yourself.

我们每个人所能做出的最伟大的发现就是发现自我。很多时候我们想成为另一个人，因为我们想让自己在生活中扮演另一个独特的角色。不论你多么努力地去为此做出努力，对这个“虚假”的人格的追求都不会成功，而且你也无法感觉到内心的平静与平和。

When I gave up my attempts and accepted who I was (basically a nerd) I started feeling so much better. This discovery made me realize my strengths and feel confident around strangers and generally in any situation. Yes, I am not a social butterfly but I am also not the one who will sit in the darkest corner of the room during a party.

当我放弃了这种尝试而去接纳我自己（书呆子）的时候，我感觉好多了。这个发现让我意识到了我自己的长处，并且让我在与陌生人相处时感觉更有自信。没错，我不是交际花，但我也不是那个在聚会中独自一人呆坐在黑暗角落中的那个人。

4. Listen to your gut⁷

4. 听从你的直觉

One of the best skills that a person can learn is listening to him/herself. Listening to yourself will help you make friends with your body it will help you use your intuition and your potential to its fullest. The “gut feeling” can be the voice of God talking to you. It can be your unconsciousness or it can be both.

我们所能学到的最棒的一个技巧之一就是听从自己内心的呼唤。听从你自己的心声能够帮助你去结识志同道合的朋友，也会帮助你去充分地利用自己的直觉和潜能。这种“直觉”就像是你与上帝之间的对话。它也许是无意识的或是有意无意各占一半。

I am not the only one who was using intuition to make decisions in life. George Washington solved his most difficult problems during the Revolutionary War with intuition. His orderlies were instructed not to disturb him while he relaxed and intuited decisions. Actually according to one theory the founding fathers valued intuition so much that they have tried to remind us about it on the back of the dollar bill. The picture of the unfinished pyramid with an eye above it represents how important intuition (the eye) is in developing ideas or making decisions (completing the pyramid.)

我并不是惟一一个使用直觉去做出决定的人。乔治·华盛顿就是运用直觉才在革命战争中解决了许多重大问题。当他在放松状态下运用直觉去做出决定时，他不允许他的传令兵去打扰他。有一种理论就说，我们的国父是如此看重直觉的力量以至于他们将此印在美元钞票的背面来提醒我们。未完工的金字塔上方有一只眼睛，暗示着直觉（眼睛）在孕育想法和做出决定（完成金字塔）中的重要作用。