Chris Quick：如何在任意领域中成为一名精通者

原文链接：How to Be a Master at Anything
作者：Christina Quick Henderson
译者：Esther

版权声明：本文可以任意转载，转载时请务必保持作者、译者署名的完整性。

In the 1960 summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, WilmaRudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals intrack and field during a single Olympic Games, despite running on asprained ankle. She was nicknamed the “Tornado” the fastest woman onearth, and the Black Gazelle.

1960年意大利罗马夏季奥运会上，威尔玛·鲁道夫成为全美第一位在单次奥运会上获得田赛与竞赛三枚金牌的女性，尽管她跑步时脚踝扭伤了。人们赠给全球跑得最快的女性一个绰号——“鱼雷”，也称她为黑瞪羚。

By all accounts, Wilma Rudolph was a master at track andfield. Some called her a “natural athlete.” But if you know WilmaRudolph’s story, you’ll know the truth is that Wilma wasn’t a bornathlete. She was a sickly, crippled child who turned herself into aworld-class runner through tremendous determination and discipline.

从方方面面看，威尔玛·鲁道夫都是田径场上的大师。有人称她为“天生的运动员”。可如果你知道威尔玛·鲁道夫的故事，你就会知道事实是威尔玛并非天生的运动员。她原本是一个病怏怏有残疾的孩子，但通过巨大的毅力和自律，将自己蜕变为世界级跑步选手。

Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely at 4.5 lbs., the 20thof 22 siblings born into a black family in the South in 1940. She wasstruck with polio as a very young child, leaving her with a twistedfoot and leg. She wore a brace and her family drove her to Nashvilleregularly for treatments. By the time she was 12 years old, Wilma hadalso survived scarlet fever, whooping cough, chicken pox, and measles.

1940年威尔玛·鲁道夫出生时是个4.5磅的早产儿，是南部一个黑人家庭里22个孩子中的第20个。幼年时，她患了小儿麻痹，腿和脚都变形了。她戴着支架，由家人定期开车送她去纳什维尔进行治疗。到威尔玛12岁时，她先后经历了猩红热、百日咳、水痘、麻疹。

Wilma was determined to overcome her physical challengesand become an athlete like her older siblings. Eventually she left theleg braces behind and became a star on her high school basketball team.Wilma was discovered by Tennessee State track coach Ed Temple, the manwho prepared her to win Olympic gold in the 100 and 200-meter dash andthe 400-meter relay.

威尔玛下定决心克服自己的生理挑战，成为她哥哥姐姐那样的运动员。最终，她丢掉了支架，成为高中篮球队的明星。田纳西州的田径教练爱德·坦普尔发现了威尔玛，并且帮她做好准备，赢得奥运会100米、200米冲刺及400米接力赛的金牌。

What would YOU like to become a master of? If you’re inthe work force, you may wish to become a master at your job. If you’reretired, maybe you would like to achieve mastery at a hobby – become amaster gardener, or a master fisherman. Or we could apply mastery topeople and relationships – becoming the best in the world at being aparent, or a spouse, or a friend to those in need. But what does ittake to truly achieve mastery in any area of our life? Why do only aselect few ever become great at what they do?

你想成为什么样的大师？如果你在工作，也许你想成为职场高手。如果你退休了，也许你想在自己的爱好上取得成就——成为大师级的园丁或大师级的渔夫。或者，我们可以将这些技巧用于人际关系——成为世界上最明智的家长、最忠心的配偶或者成为那些有需要的人最可靠的朋友。不过，在生活的任何领域中取得真正成就需要什么？为什么只有一小部分人取得成功？

It is a common myth that talent is what makes somepeople great. From an early age we’re taught that some of us just havea natural aptitude for athletics, or managing companies, or playing aninstrument. God given talent is what makes some people masters. So ifwe try something and discover we’re not all that great at it, or if weexperience initial success only to hit a plateau, we give up onmastery, thinking we just weren’t cut out for it. We become a hacker,content with average performance or we give up entirely.

一个普遍的神话是天分造就人才。很小的时候，人们就告诉我们，我们当中有些人天生就有运动或管理公司或演奏乐器的才能。天生的才能是让某些人成为大师级人物的原因。所以，如果我们尝试某样东西，发现我们根本不擅长，或者我们经历了最初的成功之后，却进入高原状态，我们就会放弃追求精通，以为自己不是那块料。我们成为骇客，对于平庸表现也心满意足，或者干脆放弃。

In his book, Talent is Overrated, Geoff Colvin pointsout that research conducted in the past 30 years or so has proven thisidea of inherent talent false. Studies of a variety of subjects –violin players, chess champions, golf pros, etc. – all indicate thatthe difference between great performers and average performers is hardwork and practice, not natural talent. Masters in a given field did notshow unusual giftedness, but rather logged many more hours of practicetime than their peers and engaged in “deliberate practice” – systematicpractice of techniques involving specific goals and regular feedback toimprove performance.

在《被夸大的天才》一书中，GeoffColvin指出，过去30多年研究表明天生才能的观点不正确。对各种各样主体——小提琴家、象棋冠军、高尔夫职业选手——的研究，都表明伟大的表演家与普通表演家的区别在于勤学苦练，而非天才。给定领域的大师并没有表现出非同寻常的天赋，但却比其他人练习的时间多得多，而且进行的是“有意练习”——涉及具体目标的系统化技巧练习，还有定期反馈改善表现。

George Leonard wrote an inspiring little book calledMastery: The Keys to Success and Long-term Fulfillment. Leonardidentifies 5 principles that can help you achieve mastery in any areaof your life.

George Leonard写了本鼓舞人心的小书，名为《精通：成功及长期成就的关键》。Leonard列了5条原则，可以帮助你在生活的任何领域成为大师。

1. Instruction

There are some things you can learn on your own, but if you reallywant to be a master in your field you must find a good teacher or coachto guide your efforts. It’s no accident that Bela Karolyi’s gymproduced so many Olympic gymnasts or that Meisner, Adler, and Strasbergtaught so many great actors – including Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando,and Paul Newman. Find someone whose students are performing withexcellence and learn your craft at their feet.

1. 指导

有些东西你可以自学，但如果你真想在自己的领域成为大师，你必须找个好老师或好教练为你指导。BelaKarolyi的体育馆产生如此多奥运体操明星或Meisner, Adler, Strasberg教出那么多伟大的演员——包括JackNicholson, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman，绝非偶然。找一位有众多高徒的师傅，然后拜他们为师。

2. Practice

This weekend I watched my friend, Jeff, play his acoustic guitar sobeautifully and masterfully it seemed effortless. But I know that Jeffgoes home every night after work and practices his guitar for at leasttwo hours. Deliberate practice is the key to mastery. We have to learnto love to practice in order to become great. You have to love playingscales on your instrument as much or more than you love performing inthe concert hall. An old martial arts saying goes, “The master is theone who stays on the mat five minutes longer every day than anybodyelse.” Be that guy.

2. 练习

这个周末，我见我的朋友杰夫弹原声吉他，弹得太优美太娴熟了，似乎不费吹灰之力。可我知道每天晚上下班之后，杰夫要练习至少两个小时。专门练习是掌握技能的关键。为了出类拔萃，我们必须得学会爱上练习。你爱练习要跟你爱在演奏大厅里表演一样。如俗话说，“大师就是每天比别人多练习5分钟的人”成为这样的人。

3. Surrender.

The courage of a master is measured by his or her willingness tosurrender. To your teacher. To the constant routine of hard work tobecome better. And sometimes we must surrender our own expert statusand become beginners again in order to reach the next level ofachievement. Tiger Woods famously remade his golf swing AFTER he hadalready achieved tremendous success in his sport. For the master,surrender means there are no experts. There are only learners.

3．顺服

大师的勇气是用他是否愿意顺服来衡量的。顺服老师。遵守勤学苦练的永恒规则，以期卓越。有时我们必须放弃自己的专家身份，重新开始，以达到下一阶段的成就。泰格·伍兹在已经获得了辉煌成就之后，调整了自己的挥杆。对于大师而言，顺服意味着没有专家。只有学习者。

4. Intentionality

Intentionality is mindfulness, mental practice, having a visionmindfulness of what you want to accomplish. Arnold Schwarzennegerargued that pumping a weight one time with full consciousness was worthten without mental awareness. Average distance runners let their mindswander during a race in order to forget about the pain. Master runnersfocus on their bodies the whole time in order to perform to the best oftheir ability with every stride.

Cognitive psychology has discovered that visualizing an activitytriggers the same parts of the brain as if we were actually DOING thatactivity. Mental practice can be as effective as actual practice inachieving mastery.

4. 意向性

意向性是留神、头脑练习，对自己想要成就的进行愿景培养。阿诺德·施瓦辛格认为用全部意识击打某个重量1次，比没有精神意识下击打十次还值得。普通的长跑运动员在比赛中让他们的思绪随意飞扬，以忘记痛苦。大师级的长跑运动员则在全程中注意自己的身体，以便每迈出一步都能表现得最好。

认知心理学已经发现，幻想某样活动可以触发我们实际进行该项活动时所触发的相同的大脑部分。在获得大师级水准时，头脑练习可以和实际练习一样有效。

5. The Edge.

The edge is the point where the master takes a flying leap. It seemsto be a contradiction of what got the expert performer to the height oftheir field in the first place. After dedication to the fundamentals oftheir discipline and years of small, incremental steps forward therecomes a point where these masters take a leap off the edge. “Theychallenge previous limits, they break the rules they’ve worked so hardto learn, they take risks for the sake of higher performance.”

5. 边界

边界是大师之所以飞跃的地方。看起来，这与使专家表演者达到事业巅峰的东西相矛盾。在投身到自己学科的基础之后，经过多年细微的进步，有那么一刻，这些大师越过边界向前迈出一大步。他们挑战从前的极限，打破如此辛苦所学习到的规矩，为了更好的表现，他们承担风险。

With All Your Might

Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 verse 10 says, “Whatever your hand finds todo, do it with all your might.” Like Wilma Rudolph, you don’t need tobe limited by challenges or the myth of talent. Whatever you’d like tobe a master of, apply these five principles and be satisfied with theslow, steady rewards of deliberate practice.

全力以赴

《传道书》9章10节：“凡你手所当作的事，要尽力去作。”像威尔玛·鲁道夫一样，你不要被挑战所限制，也无需被天才神话所束缚。不论你想成为什么大师，遵循这5条原则，然后对有意练习所带来的缓慢而稳定的奖励感到心满意足。