Don’t ruminate—rewire
對事勿反芻 而要切換思路

The creation of solid confidence isn’t just a brain game. It comes from work and risk and experiences that give us the proof we can keep doing more. Still, our brains don’t do us any favors when it comes to confidence. They need to be trained, because they get in the way, big time. We spend a lot of time thinking, ruminating, and dwelling on problems and things that might go wrong. Even brilliant brain experts fall victim to the habit. Laura Ann Pettito, a renowned neuroscientist who is one of the top in her field, who runs a prestigious laboratory supported by Gallaudet University and the NIH, had a debilitating mental habit. She would sit on the bus on the way home each day going over a long list of her failings. It was her mental default mode. But all of the emerging research into the power of brain plasticity convinced her she could and should rewire. Now she forces herself, as she starts her journey home, to focus on three things she did well. Usually, after that, the negative assessments are kept at bay. And she’s found her mindset is more open to new challenges and risks.
樹立堅實的信心并非只是個腦力活。堅實的信心源于努力，源于冒險，源于經驗，源于這些證明我們可以走的更遠的東西。而且，我們的大腦對于如何樹立信心方面也根本給不了我們什么幫助。在樹立信心方面他們常常礙事兒，所以他們需要長時間訓練。我們花很多時間思考，反芻，并駐足于那些可能出錯的問題和事情上，這樣的習慣甚至會使杰出的大腦專家也成為受害者/甚至連杰出的大腦專家也會深受其害。勞拉·安·佩蒂托，一位著名的業內頂尖神經科學家，并運營著一個由加勞德特大學和NIH共同出資設立的極富盛名的實驗室，她便是被一個心理習慣所困擾著。在每天回家坐公交車的路上，她都會細數腦中關于自己的一大串失敗。這就是她的思維定式。但是所有的關于大腦可塑性能力的新興研究都使她相信，她可以且應當換一種思維模式進行思考了。現在她迫使自己在回家路上只關注做的不錯的三件事。之后通常她能遠離負面評估，而且能以更開放的心態對待新的挑戰和任務了。