Day 60: On Pressing On

第 60 天：关于坚持不懈

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

世界上没有任何东西可以取代毅力。

天赋不会，最常见的莫过于天赋异禀却不成功的人。

天才不会，没有回报的天才几乎成了谚语。

教育也不行，世界上到处都是受过教育的失败者。

毅力和决心才是万能的。

“坚持不懈”的口号已经并将永远解决人类的问题。

—Calvin Coolidge

When in doubt, press on. It sounds obvious and trite, yet the simple fact of life that people who are persistent are usually more successful than less-determined geniuses often escapes us. time heals all wounds, and time — or rather, persistence that is exercised over a long period of time — also leads to success.

当有疑问时，坚持下去。

这听起来既显而易见又老生常谈，但我们往往忽略了这样一个简单的事实：坚持不懈的人通常比意志不坚定的天才更容易成功。

时间可以治愈一切创伤，而时间——或者说，长期坚持不懈——也会带来成功。

In the world of self-publishing, many authors are extremely talented, but they fail to achieve success because they give up after releasing one or two flops. Meanwhile, the ones who initially lack writing skills or formal education but keep on going, writing one book after another until one finally succeeds, are the ones who occupy the bestseller lists.

在自助出版界，许多作者才华横溢，但却未能获得成功，因为他们在出版了一两本失败的作品后就放弃了。

与此同时，那些起初缺乏写作技巧或正规教育，但却坚持不懈，一本书接一本书地写，直到最终获得成功的人，才是占据畅销书排行榜的人。

People who can speak foreign languages aren’t born with a gene that allows them to acquire them quickly. Most of them aren’t smarter than you or me, yet they manage to master several languages, including the ones that are thought to be almost impossible to learn by a foreigner. Their secret lies in persistence. If you learn 10 new words a day, you learn 3650 words a year. Consequently, within a few years you’ll possess an extensive vocabulary — all thanks to a small, daily time investment that doesn’t require any special talents or being a genius.

会说外语的人并不是天生就有快速掌握外语的基因。

他们中的大多数人并不比你我聪明，但他们却能掌握多种语言，包括那些被认为外国人几乎不可能学会的语言。

他们的秘诀在于持之以恒。

如果每天学习 10 个新单词，一年就能学习 3650 个单词。

因此，不出几年，你就会拥有丰富的词汇量——这一切都要归功于每天投入的少量时间，而不需要任何特殊才能，也不需要是个天才。

If you’re currently struggling with your goal, remind yourself that even if you feel like you’re lost in a maze, pressing on will eventually help you reach your destination and in many cases, it’s the only thing that separates the winners from the losers.

如果你目前正在为自己的目标苦苦挣扎，请提醒自己，即使你感觉自己已经迷失在迷宫中了，坚持下去最终会帮助你到达目的地，而且在很多情况下，这是区分成功者和失败者的唯一方法。