You are what you think about. Can you create a better life by simply thinking about it? Of course not– that’s absurd. But if your mind is dominated by negative thoughts, it’s hard to get motivated to make positive changes that will improve your life. Please consider these 10 dangerous thoughts you should avoid。
我思故我在。但僅靠思考就能創(chuàng)造更美好的生活嗎?顯然不是——這也太荒謬了。不過，要是你腦子里盡是些消極想法，那就很難作出積極改變進而改善自身生活。下面這10個負面想法你必須盡量避免。
1. “I guess this is as good as it gets。”
“我覺得這樣就差不多了。”
The second you become complacent, your progress in life will come to a screeching halt. No matter how good you are at something, you could always stand to improve in some aspect. Learn a new craft, hobby or language to keep your mind creative and fresh. Discover ways to increase the quality of your work or decrease the time it takes to complete tasks you’re already good at (then you’ll have more time for the important things that really make you happy!). Make sure personal growth isn’t just something you talk about–make it a daily event。
一旦你驕傲自滿，生活進步就會戛然而止。不論你對某件事多么擅長，總有可以不斷提高的地方。學習一項新技能、發(fā)展一個新愛好或掌握一門新語言，讓思維保持新鮮活力。想辦法提高工作質(zhì)量或減少完成嫻熟任務(wù)的時間，這樣你就能爭取更多時間去做開心而重要的事情了!請記�。簜�人成長靠的不是嘴上功夫——而是日復(fù)一日的具體行動。
2. “I’ll just do the easy stuff。”
“我還是挑容易的事做吧。”
That thing that you dread doing more than anything else? The odds are, THAT is the very thing you need to do. Do you think employers are interested in hiring people who are only capable of accomplishing simple tasks that anybody else on the planet could perform? Of course not. Whether it’s for the purpose of making yourself more marketable in the workforce, improving your body and health or whatever the case may be, you need to embrace the fact that you sometimes have to do things that you don’t enjoy.Buckle down and do the thing you don’t want to do because like it or not, that’s probably the very thing you need to do。
你對那件事怕得要死?問題在于，那件事恰恰是你需要去做的。你以為公司愿意聘用只會做任何人都能完成的簡單事情的員工嗎?當然不可能。不論是為了在職場上更好地推銷自己，還是為了保持身體健康，你都得面對這樣的事實：有時你不得不做自己討厭的事情。靜下心來認真做你不愿意做的事情吧，因為不管喜不喜歡，這可能正是你亟需解決的問題。
3. “I don’t care about the details, tell me what to do!”
“我不在乎細節(jié)如何，直接告訴我該怎么做吧!”
If you don’t understand why a particular task needs to be done, it is unlikely you’ll be able to pay it the proper attention it deserves. And if you don’t ask follow-up questions about things you don’t understand, your results will suffer. Take ownership of every project. Do you have any ideas to contribute that might make the end result better? Say so. No one is going to fuss at you for asking questions or offering suggestions that will improve the end result。
如果你不清楚為何要做某件事，那你很可能會對它馬虎大意。如果遇到不明白的問題你又不主動請教，那你可有苦頭吃了。每項任務(wù)都該拿出主動精神。是不是有好想法能讓結(jié)果更佳?那就說出來吧。如果你的問題或建議能改善最終結(jié)果，沒人會反對阻止你的。
4. “I’m not good enough。”
“我不夠優(yōu)秀。”
If you tell yourself you’re not good enough, pretty enough, old enough, smart enough, or (insert adjective of your choosing here) enough, your lack of confidence will reflect in your words, stature, and mannerisms. Why should someone believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself? Surround yourself with positive people who will motivate you. Read books, articles, and studies about what you’re passionate about until you can truthfully say you are an expert in your field. Stop looking for the reasons you can’t do something and find the reasons you can. People often say, “You’re only as strong as your weakest link,” but this statement is blatantly false. You are as strong as your strongest link。
如果你總認為自己不夠優(yōu)秀、不夠漂亮、不夠資歷、不夠聰明或諸如此類，那么，這種自卑思想會從你的言行舉止中透露出來。既然你連自己都不相信，那別人為何要相信你呢?多跟積極的人交往吧。多去閱讀、多加思考，找出自己的優(yōu)勢，然后自信說出自己對某方面很擅長。別再找借口說自己不能怎樣，多找理由暗示自己能夠干什么。人們總說“人是不堪一擊的”，但這完全荒謬至極。你絕對可以堅強如鐵。
5. “It will never work。”
“這事兒根本沒轍。”
Stop telling yourself you will fail because self-fulfilling prophecies almost always come true。
不要暗示自己會失敗——因為心理暗示往往會成真。
6. “I’m a bad person。”
“我不是個好人。”
Everyone makes mistakes. No matter what wrong you feel you have done to a person, agonizing over a past event that cannot be undone will not make the situation better (and will make you feel a lot worse). Whether you ate something you know you shouldn’t have, said something hurtful that you wish you could take back or made a mistake on the job, don’t live in the past. If you apologized and explained yourself, then it is time to move on. Focus your energy to the future because that’s where progress happens。
人人都會犯錯。不管你覺得自己如何對不起某人，為了過去的事而一味自責也無濟于事，甚至還會讓你更愧疚。不論是吃了不該吃的東西、說了不該說的狠話，還是犯了不該犯的工作錯誤，既然事情已經(jīng)過去，就不要再耿耿于懷。如果你已經(jīng)作了道歉和解釋，那就讓它過去吧。把精力投入到未來，那才是進步的開始。
7. “What will they think about me?”
“別人會怎么看我啊?”
While you should do everything you can to make people around you comfortable, you shouldn’t sacrifice your genuine personality in order to please other people. Embrace your authentic self and share it with the world. If a person doesn’t like you for who you are, that is their problem (and their loss)。
雖然你應(yīng)該盡量與周圍的人融洽相處，但也不必為了討好別人而委屈自己的本性。請擁抱本真自我、向他人展現(xiàn)真我吧。如果別人不喜歡本真的你，那也是他們的問題和損失。
8. “I’ll do it when the time is right。”
“等時機適合我就去做。”
There is no such thing as a “perfect time” to do anything. If you keep waiting for the right time to move to a new town, talk to that cute bartender or begin a new fitness plan, you will never take action. Challenge yourself to burst out of your comfort zone. I know comfort makes you feel safe, but how fulfilling is it to spend your life thinking about doing things that you never actually do? Act now or regret it later。
世上根本就沒有所謂的“完美時機”。如果你繼續(xù)等待完美時機再搬往新城市、跟吧臺招待聊兩句或開始健身新計劃，那你永遠也不會采取行動。給自己一點挑戰(zhàn)，走出舒適區(qū)吧。雖然舒適區(qū)讓你感到安全，但整天只空想不曾做過的事又有什么意義呢?
9. “I wish I could look more like _____。”
“我希望看上更……”
Please understand that when you see scantily clad models in magazines, you are looking at doctored up images of people who most likely have put themselves through incredibly restrictive diets and/or excessive fitness routines in the weeks or months leading up to their photo-shoot. In other words, such a body would not be attainable for the average person. Accept your body as it is. Aim to improve your physique, but stop comparing it to other people with figures that are out-of-reach。
你要知道，那些你羨慕的苗條雜志模特說不定是整了容、為了上照而不得不忍受嚴格節(jié)食或進行數(shù)周數(shù)月健身的人。換句話說，普通人是不可能擁有那種身材的。接受自己的身體，努力鍛煉體型，但不要跟那些遙不可及的人攀比。
10. “No one cares。”
“沒人會在乎。”
Yes, they do. Even if you’re not on the best terms with your family, I can’t imagine that they don’t care about you. And even if you’ve lost touch with a lot of your friends, I bet they would be happy to hear your voice in a surprise phone-call. You have impacted more lives than you could begin to comprehend. Send an e-mail or write a letter to an old friend that you haven’t talked to in months or years. Call an aunt, uncle or cousin who made a positive impact on your development as a child. Join an online support community, message board or networking group of like-minded people who could become new friends. You are not alone– you are far from it. If you just moved to a new home, you might want to check out this article about how to make a bunch of friends in any new city。
不，有人在乎。哪怕你現(xiàn)在跟家人關(guān)系不甚融洽，我也不相信他們真的不在乎你。如果你已很久沒有聯(lián)系朋友，打個電話過去的話，我打賭他們會非常高興能再次聽到你的聲音。你在他人心中的地位遠遠沒你想得那么微不足道。給數(shù)月或幾年未曾聯(lián)絡(luò)的老朋友發(fā)封郵件或?qū)懛鈺虐�。給孩提時曾積極引導(dǎo)自己的伯父伯母或表兄打個電話吧。加入網(wǎng)絡(luò)互助聯(lián)盟或信息群，結(jié)交一些志趣相投的新朋友吧。你并不是一個人——絕對不是!如果你剛搬到新家，那就參考這篇文章，學習如何在新城市認識新朋友吧。
The first step to a better life is to think better thoughts。
美好生活的第一步就是擁有積極思維。
I hope this list of dangerous thoughts was helpful. You can’t create a better life by the mere act of thinking about it, but it is a positive first step in the right direction。
我希望以上消極思維清單能有所幫助。美好生活不是單憑想象創(chuàng)造出來的，但積極想象卻是邁向正確方向的第一步。
