20 The Downside of Creating Good Habits

养成好习惯的坏处

HABITS CREATE THE FOUNDATION FOR MASTERY. In chess, it is only after the basic movements of the pieces have become automatic that a player can focus on the next level of the game. Each chunk of information that is memorized opens up the mental space for more effortful thinking. This is true for any endeavor. When you know the simple movements so well that you can perform them without thinking, you are free to pay attention to more advanced details. In this way, habits are the backbone of any pursuit of excellence.

习惯为掌握打下基础。在国际象棋中，只有在棋子的基本动作自动化之后，棋手才能专注于下一关。记住的每一块信息都为更加努力的思考打开了心理空间。这对任何努力都是正确的。当你对这些简单的动作了如指掌，你可以不假思索地完成它们，你就可以自由地关注更高级的细节了。这样一来，习惯就成了追求卓越的支柱。

However, the benefits of habits come at a cost. At first, each repetition develops fluency, speed, and skill. But then, as a habit becomes automatic, you become less sensitive to feedback. You fall into mindless repetition. It becomes easier to let mistakes slide. When you can do it “good enough” on autopilot, you stop thinking about how to do it better.

然而，习惯的好处是有代价的。一开始，每次重复都会提高你的流利程度、速度和技巧。但是，随着习惯变成自动的，你对反馈变得不那么敏感。你陷入了无意识的重复。任由错误发生变得更加容易。当你可以在自动驾驶状态下做到“足够好”时，你就不再考虑如何做得更好。

The upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking. The downside of habits is that you get used to doing things a certain way and stop paying attention to little errors. You assume you’re getting better because you’re gaining experience. In reality, you are merely reinforcing your current habits—not improving them. In fact, some research has shown that once a skill has been mastered there is usually a slight decline in performance over time.

习惯的好处是我们可以不用思考就能做事。习惯的缺点是，你习惯于以某种方式做事，而不再关注那些小错误。你认为你正在变得更好，因为你正在积累经验。事实上，你只是在强化你目前的习惯ーー而不是改进它们。事实上，一些研究表明，一旦掌握了某项技能，随着时间的推移，其表现通常会略有下降。

Usually, this minor dip in performance is no cause for worry. You don’t need a system to continuously improve how well you brush your teeth or tie your shoes or make your morning cup of tea. With habits like these, good enough is usually good enough. The less energy you spend on trivial choices, the more you can spend it on what really matters.

通常情况下，业绩的轻微下滑并不值得担心。你不需要一个系统来不断提高你刷牙、系鞋带或者泡早茶的质量。有了这些习惯，足够好通常就足够好了。你的精力就越少花在琐碎的选择上，你就能把钱花在真正重要的事情上。

However, when you want to maximize your potential and achieve elite levels of performance, you need a more nuanced approach. You can’t repeat the same things blindly and expect to become exceptional. Habits are necessary, but not sufficient for mastery. What you need is a combination of automatic habits and deliberate practice.

然而，当你想最大化你的潜力并达到精英级别的表现时，你需要一个更细致入微的方法。你不能盲目地重复同样的事情，并期望变得与众不同。习惯是必要的，但不足以让你精通。你需要的是自动习惯和刻意练习的结合。

Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery

习惯+刻意练习掌握

To become great, certain skills do need to become automatic. Basketball players need to be able to dribble without thinking before they can move on to mastering layups with their nondominant hand. Surgeons need to repeat the first incision so many times that they could do it with their eyes closed, so that they can focus on the hundreds of variables that arise during surgery. But after one habit has been mastered, you have to return to the effortful part of the work and begin building the next habit.

要想变得伟大，某些技能确实需要自动化。篮球运动员需要能够不假思索地运球，然后才能用他们的非惯用手掌握上篮。外科医生需要多次重复第一个切口，这样他们可以闭着眼睛做，这样他们就可以专注于手术过程中出现的数百个变量。但是当一个习惯被掌握之后，你必须回到工作中需要付出努力的部分，并开始建立下一个习惯。

Mastery is the process of narrowing your focus to a tiny element of success, repeating it until you have internalized the skill, and then using this new habit as the foundation to advance to the next frontier of your development. Old tasks become easier the second time around, but it doesn’t get easier overall because now you’re pouring your energy into the next challenge. Each habit unlocks the next level of performance. It’s an endless cycle.

掌握是一个过程，把你的注意力集中到一个微小的成功元素上，重复它，直到你内化了这个技能，然后用这个新的习惯作为基础，推进到你发展的下一个前沿。旧的任务在第二次的时候会变得更容易，但总的来说并没有变得更容易，因为现在你正在把你的精力投入到下一个挑战中。每一个习惯都能解锁下一个层次的表现。这是一个无止境的循环。

MASTERING ONE HABIT

掌握一个习惯

MASTERING A FIELD

掌握一个领域

FIGURE 16: The process of mastery requires that you progressively layer improvements on top of one another, each habit building upon the last until a new level of performance has been reached and a higher range of skills has been internalized.

图16:掌握的过程需要你逐步地将改进层层叠加，每个习惯都建立在最后一个习惯之上，直到达到一个新的水平，更高的技能被内化。

Although habits are powerful, what you need is a way to remain conscious of your performance over time, so you can continue to refine and improve. It is precisely at the moment when you begin to feel like you have mastered a skill—right when things are starting to feel automatic and you are becoming comfortable—that you must avoid slipping into the trap of complacency.

虽然习惯是强大的，但你需要的是一种随着时间的推移保持对自己表现的意识的方式，这样你才能继续改进和提高。正是在这个时刻，你开始觉得自己已经掌握了一项技能ーー就在事情开始有感觉的时候你必须避免掉进自满的陷阱。

The solution? Establish a system for reflection and review.

解决方案是什么?建立一个反思和回顾的系统。

HOW TO REVIEW YOUR HABITS AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS

如何回顾你的习惯并做出调整

In 1986, the Los Angeles Lakers had one of the most talented basketball teams ever assembled, but they are rarely remembered that way. The team started the 1985–1986 NBA season with an astounding 29–5 record. “The pundits were saying that we might be the best team in the history of basketball,” head coach Pat Riley said after the season. Surprisingly, the Lakers stumbled in the 1986 playoffs and suffered a season-ending defeat in the Western Conference Finals. The “best team in the history of basketball” didn’t even play for the NBA championship.

1986年，洛杉矶湖人拥有史上最有才华的篮球队之一，但是他们很少被这样记住。这支球队以惊人的29胜5负的战绩开启了1985-1986赛季的NBA赛季。“专家们说我们可能是篮球史上最好的球队，”主教练帕特·莱利赛季后说。令人惊讶的是，湖人在1986年的季后赛遭遇了挫折，并在西部决赛中遭遇了一场赛季末的失败。这支“篮球史上最好的球队”甚至没有参加过NBA总冠军赛。

After that blow, Riley was tired of hearing about how much talent his players had and about how much promise his team held. He didn’t want to see flashes of brilliance followed by a gradual fade in performance. He wanted the Lakers to play up to their potential, night after night. In the summer of 1986, he created a plan to do exactly that, a system that he called the Career Best Effort program or CBE.

在那次打击之后，莱利已经厌倦了听到他的球员有多少天赋，以及他的球队有多少希望。他不想看到一闪而过的辉煌，然后逐渐消失的表现。他希望湖人每晚都能发挥出他们的潜力。1986年夏天，他制定了一个计划来完成这个任务，他称之为职业生涯最佳努力计划或CBE。

“When players first join the Lakers,” Riley explained, “we track their basketball statistics all the way back to high school. I call this Taking Their Number. We look for an accurate gauge of what a player can do, then build him into our plan for the team, based on the notion that he will maintain and then improve upon his averages.”

“当球员们第一次加入湖人队时，”莱利解释说，“我们追踪他们的篮球数据，一直追溯到高中时代。我把这叫做拿走他们的号码。我们寻找一个准确的衡量一个球员能做什么的标准，然后将他纳入我们的球队计划，基于他将保持并提高他的平均水平的概念。”

After determining a player’s baseline level of performance, Riley added a key step. He asked each player to “improve their output by at least 1 percent over the course of the season. If they succeeded, it would be a CBE, or Career Best Effort.” Similar to the British Cycling team that we discussed in Chapter 1, the Lakers sought peak performance by getting slightly better each day.

在确定了一个球员的基准水平的表现之后，莱利增加了一个关键步骤。他要求每个球员“在整个赛季中至少提高1%的产量。如果他们成功了，那将是一个CBE，或者说是职业生涯的最大努力。”就像我们在第一章中讨论的英国自行车队一样，湖人通过一天比一天好来追求巅峰状态。

Riley was careful to point out that CBE was not merely about points or statistics but about giving your “best effort spiritually and mentally and physically.” Players got credit for “allowing an opponent to run into you when you know that a foul will be called against him, diving for loose balls, going after rebounds whether you are likely to get them or not, helping a teammate when the player he’s guarding has surged past him, and other ‘unsung hero’ deeds.”

莱利谨慎地指出，CBE不仅仅是关于分数或统计数据，而是关于“在精神上、心理上和身体上尽最大努力”球员们因为“当你知道对手会被判犯规时，你允许对手冲向你，为了松散的球跳水，为了抢篮板，不管你是否有可能得到他们，你都让他们冲向你”而得到赞扬或者不是，在队友防守的球员突然超过他的时候帮助他，以及其他“无名英雄”的事迹

As an example, let’s say that Magic Johnson—the Lakers star player at the time—had 11 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, 2 steals, and 5 turnovers in a game. Magic also got credit for an “unsung hero” deed by diving after a loose ball (+1). Finally, he played a total of 33 minutes in this imaginary game.

举个例子，魔术师约翰逊——当时的湖人明星球员——在一场比赛中得到11分、8个篮板、12次助攻、2次抢断和5次失误。魔术师也因为一个“无名英雄”的行为而获得赞誉，他在一个松动的球后潜入水中(+1)。最后，他在这个虚构的游戏中总共玩了33分钟。

The positive numbers (11 + 8 + 12 + 2 + 1) add up to 34. Then, we subtract the 5 turnovers (34–5) to get 29. Finally, we divide 29 by 33 minutes played.

正数(11+8+12+2+1)加起来是34。然后，我们减去5次失误(34-5)得到29次。最后，我们把29除以33分钟。

29/33 = 0.879

Magic’s CBE number here would be 879. This number was calculated for all of a player’s games, and it was the average CBE that a player was asked to improve by 1 percent over the season. Riley compared each player’s current CBE to not only their past performances but also those of other players in the league. As Riley put it, “We rank team members alongside league opponents who play the same position and have similar role definitions.”

魔术师的CBE数字是879。这个数字是根据一个球员的所有比赛计算出来的，这是一个球员在整个赛季中被要求提高1%的平均CBE。莱利比较了每个球员目前的CBE，不仅是他们过去的表现，还有联盟中其他球员的表现。正如莱利所说，“我们把球队成员和联盟中的对手排在一起，他们打同样的位置，有着相似的角色定义。”

Sportswriter Jackie MacMullan noted, “Riley trumpeted the top performers in the league in bold lettering on the blackboard each week and measured them against the corresponding players on his own roster. Solid, reliable players generally rated a score in the 600s, while elite players scored at least 800. Magic Johnson, who submitted 138 triple-doubles in his career, often scored over 1,000.”

体育记者杰基·麦克马伦指出:“莱利每周都在黑板上用粗体字吹嘘联盟中表现最好的球员，并将他们与自己名单上相应的球员进行比较。可靠、可靠的玩家通常得分在600分左右，而精英玩家得分至少800分。魔术师约翰逊在职业生涯中打出了138次三双，常常得分超过1000分。”

The Lakers also emphasized year-over-year progress by making historical comparisons of CBE data. Riley said, “We stacked the month of November 1986, next to November 1985, and showed the players whether they were doing better or worse than at the same point last season. Then we showed them how their performance figures for December 1986, stacked up against November’s.”

湖人队还通过对CBE数据的历史比较，强调了球队每年的进步。莱利说:“我们把1986年11月和1985年11月放在一起，让球员们知道他们的表现是否比上赛季同一时间好。然后我们向他们展示了他们1986年12月的业绩数据，与11月的数据相比有多大差距。”

The Lakers rolled out CBE in October 1986. Eight months later, they were NBA champions. The following year, Pat Riley led his team to another title as the Lakers became the first team in twenty years to win back-to-back NBA championships. Afterward, he said, “Sustaining an effort is the most important thing for any enterprise. The way to be successful is to learn how to do things right, then do them the same way every time.”

湖人在1986年10月推出了CBE。八个月后，他们成为了NBA冠军。第二年，帕特-莱利带领他的球队赢得了另一个冠军，湖人队成为二十年来第一支连续赢得NBA总冠军的球队。后来，他说:“对任何企业来说，持续努力是最重要的事情。成功之道在于学会如何把事情做对，然后每次都以同样的方式去做。”

The CBE program is a prime example of the power of reflection and review. The Lakers were already talented. CBE helped them get the most out of what they had, and made sure their habits improved rather than declined.

Cbe计划是反思和复习能力的一个典型例子。湖人队已经很有天赋了。Cbe帮助他们最大限度地利用他们所拥有的，并确保他们的习惯得到改善而不是衰退。

Reflection and review enables the long-term improvement of all habits because it makes you aware of your mistakes and helps you consider possible paths for improvement. Without reflection, we can make excuses, create rationalizations, and lie to ourselves. We have no process for determining whether we are performing better or worse compared to yesterday.

反思和回顾能让你长期改进所有的习惯，因为它能让你意识到自己的错误，并帮助你考虑可能的改进途径。没有反思，我们可以找借口，找理由，欺骗自己。与昨天相比，我们没有任何程序来确定我们的表现是更好还是更差。

Top performers in all fields engage in various types of reflection and review, and the process doesn’t have to be complex. Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge is one of the greatest marathoners of all time and an Olympic gold medalist. He still takes notes after every practice in which he reviews his training for the day and searches for areas that can be improved. Similarly, gold medal swimmer Katie Ledecky records her wellness on a scale of 1 to 10 and includes notes on her nutrition and how well she slept. She also records the times posted by other swimmers. At the end of each week, her coach goes over her notes and adds his thoughts.

所有领域的顶尖人才都会参与各种类型的反思和回顾，这个过程并不复杂。肯尼亚选手基普乔吉是有史以来最伟大的马拉松运动员之一，也是奥运会金牌得主。每次练习之后，他都会做笔记，回顾当天的训练，寻找可以改进的地方。类似的，金牌游泳运动员凯蒂·莱德基用1到10分来记录她的健康状况，包括她的营养和她的睡眠质量。她还记录了其他游泳者发布的时间。每周结束的时候，她的教练都会检查她的笔记并加上他的想法。

It’s not just athletes, either. When comedian Chris Rock is preparing fresh material, he will first appear at small nightclubs dozens of times and test hundreds of jokes. He brings a notepad on stage and records which bits go over well and where he needs to make adjustments. The few killer lines that survive will form the backbone of his new show.

不仅仅是运动员。当喜剧演员克里斯·洛克准备新的素材时，他首先会出现在小型夜总会几十次，并测试数百个笑话。他带着一个记事本上台，记录哪些部分进行得很顺利，哪些部分需要调整。幸存下来的几条杀手线将构成他新剧的主干。

I know of executives and investors who keep a “decision journal” in which they record the major decisions they make each week, why they made them, and what they expect the outcome to be. They review their choices at the end of each month or year to see where they were correct and where they went wrong.*

我知道有些高管和投资者会写一本“决策日记”，记录下他们每周做出的重大决策、为什么做出这些决策，以及他们对结果的期望。他们会在每个月或每年的末尾回顾自己的选择，看看哪里是正确的，哪里是错误的。

Improvement is not just about learning habits, it’s also about fine-tuning them. Reflection and review ensures that you spend your time on the right things and make course corrections whenever necessary— like Pat Riley adjusting the effort of his players on a nightly basis. You don’t want to keep practicing a habit if it becomes ineffective.

改进不仅仅是关于学习习惯，也是关于对它们进行微调。反思和回顾可以确保你把时间花在正确的事情上，并在必要时进行修正ーー就像帕特·莱利每晚调整球员的努力。如果一个习惯变得无效，你不会想继续练习它。

Personally, I employ two primary modes of reflection and review. Each December, I perform an Annual Review, in which I reflect on the

就我个人而言，我采用两种主要的反思和回顾模式。每年12月，我都会进行一次年度回顾

previous year. I tally my habits for the year by counting up how many articles I published, how many workouts I put in, how many new places I visited, and more.* Then, I reflect on my progress (or lack thereof) by answering three questions:

上一年度。我通过计算自己发表了多少文章，进行了多少锻炼，去过多少新地方等等来统计自己这一年的习惯。然后，我通过回答三个问题来反思自己的进步(或缺乏进步):

1. What went well this year?

2. What didn’t go so well this year?

3. What did I learn?

Six months later, when summer rolls around, I conduct an Integrity Report. Like everyone, I make a lot of mistakes. My Integrity Report helps me realize where I went wrong and motivates me to get back on course. I use it as a time to revisit my core values and consider whether I have been living in accordance with them. This is when I reflect on my identity and how I can work toward being the type of person I wish to become.*

六个月后，当夏天来临时，我写了一份诚信报告。像所有人一样，我犯了很多错误。我的诚信报告帮助我意识到我错在哪里，并激励我回到正轨。我利用这段时间重新审视自己的核心价值观，并考虑自己是否一直遵循这些价值观生活。这是我反思自己身份的时候，也是我如何努力成为我想成为的那种人的时候。

My yearly Integrity Report answers three questions:

我的年度诚信报告回答了三个问题:

• What are the core values that drive my life and work?

什么是驱动我的生活和工作的核心价值观？

• How am I living and working with integrity right now?

我现在是如何正直地生活和工作的？

• How can I set a higher standard in the future?

我怎样才能在未来订立更高的标准？

These two reports don’t take very long—just a few hours per year— but they are crucial periods of refinement. They prevent the gradual slide that happens when I don’t pay close attention. They provide an annual reminder to revisit my desired identity and consider how my habits are helping me become the type of person I wish to be. They indicate when I should upgrade my habits and take on new challenges and when I should dial my efforts back and focus on the fundamentals.

这两份报告并不需要很长时间ーー每年只需要几个小时ーー但它们是完善的关键时期。它们防止了我不密切注意时发生的逐渐下滑。它们每年都提醒我重新审视自己渴望的身份，考虑我的习惯是如何帮助我成为我想成为的那种人的。它们告诉我什么时候我应该改变我的习惯，接受新的挑战，什么时候我应该放弃我的努力，专注于基本原则。

Reflection can also bring a sense of perspective. Daily habits are powerful because of how they compound, but worrying too much about every daily choice is like looking at yourself in the mirror from an inch away. You can see every imperfection and lose sight of the bigger picture. There is too much feedback. Conversely, never reviewing your habits is like never looking in the mirror. You aren’t aware of easily fixable flaws—a spot on your shirt, a bit of food in your teeth. There is

反思也可以带来透视感。日常习惯之所以强大，是因为它们能够混合在一起，但是过度担心每一个日常选择就像是在一英寸之外的镜子里看着自己。你可以看到每一个不完美之处，却忽略了更大的图景。反馈太多了。相反，从不回顾你的习惯就像从不照镜子。你没有意识到那些容易修复的瑕疵ーー衬衫上的污点，牙齿上的食物残渣。有的

too little feedback. Periodic reflection and review is like viewing yourself in the mirror from a conversational distance. You can see the important changes you should make without losing sight of the bigger picture. You want to view the entire mountain range, not obsess over each peak and valley.

反馈太少了。周期性的反思和回顾就像从对话的距离中看到镜子中的自己。你可以看到你应该做出的重要改变，同时又不会忽视大局。你想看到整个山脉，而不是迷恋于每一个山峰和山谷。

Finally, reflection and review offers an ideal time to revisit one of the most important aspects of behavior change: identity.

最后，反思和回顾提供了一个理想的时间来重新审视行为改变的一个最重要的方面:身份。

HOW TO BREAK THE BELIEFS THAT HOLD YOU BACK

如何打破阻碍你前进的信念

In the beginning, repeating a habit is essential to build up evidence of your desired identity. As you latch on to that new identity, however, those same beliefs can hold you back from the next level of growth. When working against you, your identity creates a kind of “pride” that encourages you to deny your weak spots and prevents you from truly growing. This is one of the greatest downsides of building habits.

一开始，重复一个习惯对于建立你渴望的身份的证据是必不可少的。然而，当你抓住那个新的身份时，那些相同的信念会阻碍你进入下一个成长阶段。当与你作对时，你的身份会创造一种“骄傲”，鼓励你否认自己的弱点，阻止你真正成长。这是养成习惯的最大缺点之一。

The more sacred an idea is to us—that is, the more deeply it is tied to our identity—the more strongly we will defend it against criticism. You see this in every industry. The schoolteacher who ignores innovative teaching methods and sticks with her tried-and-true lesson plans. The veteran manager who is committed to doing things “his way.” The surgeon who dismisses the ideas of her younger colleagues. The band who produces a mind-blowing first album and then gets stuck in a rut. The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it.

对我们来说，一个观念越神圣ーー也就是说，它与我们的身份联系越紧密ーー我们就会越坚决地捍卫它不受批评。你在每个行业都能看到这种情况。忽视创新的教学方法，坚持自己经过考验的教学计划的教师。致力于按照“他的方式”做事的资深经理这位外科医生对年轻同事的想法不屑一顾。乐队谁制作了一个令人兴奋的第一张专辑，然后陷入一成不变。我们越是紧紧抓住一个身份，它就越难超越它。

One solution is to avoid making any single aspect of your identity an overwhelming portion of who you are. In the words of investor Paul Graham, “keep your identity small.” The more you let a single belief define you, the less capable you are of adapting when life challenges you. If you tie everything up in being the point guard or the partner at the firm or whatever else, then the loss of that facet of your life will wreck you. If you’re a vegan and then develop a health condition that forces you to change your diet, you’ll have an identity crisis on your hands. When you cling too tightly to one identity, you become brittle. Lose that one thing and you lose yourself.

一个解决方案是避免让你的身份的任何一个方面成为你是谁的压倒性的一部分。用投资者保罗•格雷厄姆(PaulGraham)的话说，“保持低调。”你越是让一个信念定义你，当生活挑战你的时候，你适应的能力就越差。如果你把所有的事情都放在成为控球后卫或者公司的合伙人或者其他什么事情上，那么你生活中这方面的损失将会毁了你。如果你是一个素食主义者，然后发展成一种强迫你改变饮食的健康状况，你的手上就会有一个身份危机。当你紧紧抓住一个身份时，你会变得脆弱。失去一样东西，你就失去了自我。

For most of my young life, being an athlete was a major part of my identity. After my baseball career ended, I struggled to find myself.

在我年轻的大部分时间里，成为一名运动员是我身份的主要组成部分。棒球生涯结束后，我努力寻找自我。

When you spend your whole life defining yourself in one way and that disappears, who are you now?

当你一生都在用一种方式定义自己，然后这种方式消失了，你现在是谁？

Military veterans and former entrepreneurs report similar feelings. If your identity is wrapped up in a belief like “I’m a great soldier,” what happens when your period of service ends? For many business owners, their identity is something along the lines of “I’m the CEO” or “I’m the founder.” If you have spent every waking moment working on your business, how will you feel after you sell the company?

退伍军人和前企业家也有类似的感受。如果你的身份被“我是一个伟大的战士”这样的信念所包裹，当你的服役期结束时会发生什么？对于许多企业主来说，他们的身份就像是“我是CEO”或者“我是创始人”如果你把所有醒着的时间都花在了自己的事业上，那么当你卖掉公司之后，你会有什么感觉？

The key to mitigating these losses of identity is to redefine yourself such that you get to keep important aspects of your identity even if your particular role changes.

减少这些身份损失的关键是重新定义你自己，这样即使你的特定角色改变了，你也可以保持你身份的重要方面。

“I’m an athlete” becomes “I’m the type of person who is mentally tough and loves a physical challenge.”

“我是一名运动员”变成了“我是那种精神上坚强，喜欢体能挑战的人”

“I’m a great soldier” transforms into “I’m the type of person who is disciplined, reliable, and great on a team.”

“我是一个伟大的战士”变成了“我是那种纪律严明、值得信赖、在团队中表现出色的人”

“I’m the CEO” translates to “I’m the type of person who builds and creates things.”

“我是首席执行官”翻译过来就是“我是那种建造和创造东西的人”

When chosen effectively, an identity can be flexible rather than brittle. Like water flowing around an obstacle, your identity works with the changing circumstances rather than against them.

如果有效地选择，身份可以是灵活的而不是脆弱的。就像水在障碍物周围流动一样，你的身份随着环境的变化而变化，而不是与之对立。

The following quote from the Tao Te Ching encapsulates the ideas perfectly:

以下引自《道德经》的话完美地概括了这些观点:

Men are born soft and supple;

dead, they are stiff and hard.

Plants are born tender and pliant;

dead, they are brittle and dry.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible

is a disciple of death.

Whoever is soft and yielding

is a disciple of life.

The hard and stiff will be broken.

The soft and supple will prevail.

ー老子

Habits deliver numerous benefits, but the downside is that they can lock us into our previous patterns of thinking and acting—even when the world is shifting around us. Everything is impermanent. Life is constantly changing, so you need to periodically check in to see if your old habits and beliefs are still serving you.

习惯带来了许多好处，但坏处是，它们会把我们锁定在以前的思维和行为模式中ーー即使在我们周围的世界正在发生变化的时候。一切都是无常的。生活是不断变化的，所以你需要定期检查，看看你的旧习惯和信念是否还在为你服务。

A lack of self-awareness is poison. Reflection and review is the antidote.

缺乏自我意识是毒药，反思和回顾是解药。

Chapter Summary

The upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking.

习惯的好处是我们可以不用思考就能做事。

The downside is that we stop paying attention to little errors.

缺点是我们不再关注那些小错误。

Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery

习惯+刻意练习掌握

Reflection and review is a process that allows you to remain conscious of your performance over time.

反思和回顾是一个过程，它能让你随着时间的推移意识到自己的表现。

The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it.

我们越是紧紧抓住一个身份，它就越难超越它。