Don’t be a donkey
译：别像头驴
时间：2020年07月18日
原文：https://sivers.org/donkey
译注：已与作者联系过
原文时间：2011-06-08
Are you trying to pursue many different directions at once?
译：你是否在尝试一次追逐多个方向呢？
Are you frustrated that the world wants you to pick one thing, because you want to do them all?
译：你是否感到很沮丧，因为现实世界让你只能抓一件事，而你想要一下子全抓？
The problem is thinking short term — assuming that if you don’t do all the things now, they won’t happen.
译：这里的问题是想得太近了，假如你现在不一下子做所有的事，这些事就不会让你沮丧。
The solution is to think long term. Do just one thing for a few years, then another for a few years, then another.
译：解决方法是做长远打算。一件事做几年，另一件事再做几年，然后下一件。
You may have heard this story: Buridan’s donkey is standing halfway between a pile of hay and a bucket of water. It keeps looking left and right, trying to decide between hay and water. Unable to decide, it eventually dies of hunger and thirst.
译：你可能已经听过这个故事：布里丹的驴站在一堆干草和一桶水之间。它一会转到左边，一会又转到右边，试图在干草和水之间做出选择。可是它不敢选，最终它即死于饿也死于渴。
A donkey can’t think of the future. If he could, he’d clearly realize that he could first drink the water, then go eat the hay.
译：这头驴不会思考未来。如果他会，他会意识到，他可以先喝水，后吃草。
Don’t be a donkey. You can do everything you want to do. You just need foresight and patience.
译：别和驴一样。你可以做你想做的一切。你只是需要有点远见，然后保持耐心。
If you’re thirty now and have six different directions you want to pursue, then you can do each one for ten years, and have done all of them by the time you’re ninety. It seems ridiculous to plan to age ninety when you’re thirty, right? But it’s probably coming, so you might as well take advantage of it.
译：如果你现在30了，有6个不同的方向想要探索，那么你可以每个方向做它10年，这样当你90岁时，你可以把所有的都做一遍。当你在30岁的时候就去计划要活到90岁，会感觉非常可笑，对吧？但是那很可能会到来，所以你最好充分利用它。
You can fully focus on one direction at a time, without feeling conflicted or distracted, because you know you’ll get to the others.
译：你可以一次只专注于一个方向，不会内心打架，也不会注意力分散，因为你知道你会去做哪些剩下的事的。
We’ve all done this on a small scale. When something is urgent and needs to be done that day, you focus. For a minute, you get distracting thoughts, like “Wow, it would be nice to go watch a movie now.” But you put it out of your mind because you know that if you just focus on this one thing now, you can get it done and do the other stuff afterwards. So, expand that situation into months or years. Focus on one thing at a time, knowing you can do the other stuff afterwards.
译：在小范围你，我们所有人都这么做过。当一些事很紧急，必须那天做完，你会专注于它。有些时候，你会有一些分心的念头，比如“哇，现在要是去看电影一定很好。”但是你会把这个念头扔掉，因为你知道如果你现在就专注于这一件事，你可以做完它，然后去做别的事。所以，把这种情况扩展到很多个月和很多个年。一次只专注一件事，知道你会以后去做剩下的事的。
Most people overestimate what they can do in one year, and underestimate what they can do in ten years.
译：大多数人都高估了她们一年能做什么，同时低估了她们十年又能到什么。
Think long term. Use the future.
译：想长远些。应用未来（的时间）。
Don’t be short sighted. Don’t be a donkey.
译：别短视。别像头（不懂选择的）驴。