慣性的力量（一）

The Touchstone
尋找點金石——慣性是怎樣讓你錯失良機的

When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.
偉大的亞歷山大圖書館被燒毀后，人們從廢墟中找回了一本書，故事就是從這本書開始的。這本書沒什么價值，于是就被一位讀過一點書的窮人花了幾枚銅幣買了下來。
The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!
這本書不是很有趣，但其書頁間確實夾著一件非常有意思的東西——一張薄薄的牛皮紙條上記載著一個“試金石”的秘密！
The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
點金石是一種可以將任何普通金屬變成純金的小卵石。紙條上的文字解釋說：點金石就隱藏在千千萬萬看上去與它一模一樣的普通卵石中。它的秘密在于：真正的點金石摸起來是溫暖的，而普通卵石是涼的。
So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles.
于是，這個人變賣了自己的一點財物，購買了一些簡單的用品，然后在海邊安寨扎營，開始從數不清的卵石中找尋點金石的下落。
He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold—throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.
他知道，如果他撿起的是一塊普通卵石，再把它丟回卵石堆中，就有可能數百次撿起同一塊卵石。于是，當他撿起一塊卵石發現是涼的時，就把它扔進海里。他一整天都是這么做的，但一塊點金石也沒有找到。然而，他依舊繼續著這樣的嘗試——撿起一塊卵石，發現是涼的，扔進海里，再撿起另一塊，扔進海里…
The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
就這樣，他反復地做著同樣的嘗試，從幾天到幾周，從幾周再到幾個月。一天，大約在下午三點左右，他撿起一塊卵石，發現是溫暖的，但還是把它扔進了海里。扔完之后，他才意識到自己做了什么。他已經養成了撿起一塊卵石再扔進海里的習慣，而且這習慣是如此之強大，甚至在他拿到期望已久的試金石時，還是丟了出去。
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.
因此，當我們面對機遇時，如果沒有保持足夠的警醒，就很有可能失之交臂，讓機遇輕易地從我們手中溜走。

慣性的力量（二）

The Elephant rope
拴住大象的繩子——慣性思維是怎樣讓你舉步不前的

As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages.
當我的一位朋友經過一群大象時，他突然停下了腳步，對眼前的一幕感到非常困惑——這些巨大的生物只被一根細細的繩子綁住了前腿，就被控制住了。沒有用枷鎖，也沒有用籠子。
It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.
顯然，大象可以隨時沖破這些繩子的束縛并逃脫，但出于某種原因，它們沒有這么做。我的朋友在附近看到了一名馴象員，隨即問他為什么這些擁有健碩體型的龐然大物只是呆呆地站在那里，沒有嘗試逃跑。
"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we used the same size of rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."
他說：“當這些大象年齡還很小的時候，它們的體型也很小，我們用同樣粗細的繩子把它們栓起來，那時這樣做就足夠控制住它們了。雖然它們的個頭越長越大，但它們卻一直習慣性地認為自己是無法逃脫的。它們相信那根繩子仍然可以栓住它們，于是它們就永遠不會去嘗試掙脫這種束縛。”
My friend was amazed. These animals could, at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.
我的朋友對此感到非常驚訝。這些大象本可以隨時掙開繩索，獲得自由，但就是因為它們認為自己無法做到，于是就一直這樣被拴著。
Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? How many of us are being held back by old, outdated beliefs that no longer serve us? How many of us have avoided trying something new because of a limiting belief? Worse, how many of us are being held back by someone else's limiting beliefs? Whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve!
與這些大象一樣，我們中有多少人堅信生活中有些事情我們是做不到的，只是因為我們曾經在做那些事情時失敗過？我們中有多少人被那些陳舊、過時而且不再適合我們的信念阻礙著我們前進的步伐？我們中有多少人因為某種狹隘的信念而選擇不去嘗試新鮮事物？更糟糕的是，我們中又有多少人被別人的狹隘信念所左右而放慢我們前進的腳步？只要你敢去想，敢去相信，就沒有什么做不到。