凯文·凯利写给年轻人的99条人生建议(99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice)

今年4月28日，69岁生日时，他又续写了一篇《给年轻人的99 条建议》，译文如下：

• That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult — if you don’t lose it.让你在小时候显得很怪的东西，反而会让你在长大后成为一个很棒的人——如果你还没有失去它的话。
• If you have any doubt at all about being able to carry a load in one trip, do yourself a huge favor and make two trips.如果你对自己是否能一次搞定怀有任何疑虑的话，就对自己好点，分两次搞定吧。
• What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. At your funeral people will not recall what you did; they will only remember how you made them feel.实现目标后的结果，远没有实现目标过程中的成长重要。在你的葬礼上，人们不会去回忆你的功绩；他们只会记得你带给他们的感觉。
• Recipe for success: under-promise and over-deliver.成功的配方：少承诺，多给予。
• It’s not an apology if it comes with an excuse. It is not a compliment if it comes with a request.如果道歉夹带了借口，那就算不上是道歉。如果称赞夹带了要求，那就算不上是称赞。
• Jesus, Superman, and Mother Teresa never made art. Only imperfect beings can make art because art begins in what is broken.耶稣、超人与特蕾莎修女从不创作艺术。只有不完美的人才能创作艺术，因为艺术始于残缺。
• If someone is trying to convince you it’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a pyramid scheme.如果某人试图说服你，想让你认为那不是传销，那么它就是传销。
• Learn how to tie a bowline knot. Practice in the dark. With one hand. For the rest of your life you’ll use this knot more times than you would ever believe.学会怎么打称人结。而且要摸黑练习、单手练习。在今后的日子里，你根本想不到它有多有用。
• If something fails where you thought it would fail, that is not a failure.如果在你能预计到的情况下失败了，那就算不上是失败。
• Be governed not by the tyranny of the urgent but by the elevation of the important.不要被紧迫性的专横牵着鼻子走，做事应该要基于对重要性的评估。
• Leave a gate behind you the way you first found it.你穿过的门原来是什么样子，走过去以后也要保持那个样子。
• The greatest rewards come from working on something that nobody has a name for. If you possibly can, work where there are no words for what you do.最高的奖赏来自于那些人们还不知道叫什么的东西。如果可以的话，去做那些人们还不知道怎么描述的工作。
• A balcony or porch needs to be at least 6 feet (2m) deep or it won’t be used.阳台或者门廊应该至少有两米深，不然就用不上。
• Don’t create things to make money; make money so you can create things. The reward for good work is more work.不要为了赚钱而创造，而要为了创造而赚钱。工作优秀的奖赏是更多的工作。
• In all things — except love — start with the exit strategy. Prepare for the ending. Almost anything is easier to get into than out of.所有的事情——除了爱——都应该从退出策略开始。要对结束做好准备。几乎所有事情都是进入容易抽身难。
• Train employees well enough they could get another job, but treat them well enough so they never want to.把你的员工训练到可以让他们找到另一份工作的水平，但同时也要善待他们，这样他们就永远不会想去找另一份工作。
• Don’t aim to have others like you; aim to have them respect you.不要试图让别人喜欢你；尝试让他们尊敬你。
• The foundation of maturity: Just because it’s not your fault doesn’t mean it’s not your responsibility.成熟的基础：不是你的过错并不代表就不是你的责任。
• A multitude of bad ideas is necessary for one good idea.需要很多坏主意才能带来一个好主意。
• Being wise means having more questions than answers.所谓智慧，就是拥有的问题比答案多。
• Compliment people behind their back. It’ll come back to you.在背后夸奖别人。这会传回到你自己那里。
• Most overnight successes — in fact any significant successes — take at least 5 years. Budget your life accordingly.大多数的一夜成功——实际上是任何重要的成功——都需要至少5年的努力。请以此来规划你的人生。
• You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind.只要能够改变你自己的头脑，你就可以永远保持年轻。
• Assume anyone asking for your account information for any reason is guilty of scamming you, unless proven innocent. The way to prove innocence is to call them back, or login to your account using numbers or a website that you provide, not them. Don’t release any identifying information while they are contacting you via phone, message or email. You must control the channel.假定任何人因为任何原因向你索要账户信息的做法都是想要欺骗你，除非他们被证明是无辜的。证明无辜的方法是给他们回电，或者使用你的（而不是他们提供）号码或网站来登陆自己的帐号。不要在他们联系你的电话、消息或邮件中暴露任何个人信息。你必须控制途径。
• Sustained outrage makes you stupid.持续的愤怒会让你变蠢。
• Be strict with yourself and forgiving of others. The reverse is hell for everyone.严于律己，宽以待人。反过来对谁都是灾难。
• Your best response to an insult is “You’re probably right.” Often they are.对待侮辱最好的回应就是「你可能是对的」。而事实经常确是如此。
• The worst evils in history have always been committed by those who truly believed they were combating evil. Beware of combating evil.历史上最坏的罪恶往往都来自那些自以为是在打击罪恶的人。留心自己打击罪恶的想法。
• If you can avoid seeking approval of others, your power is limitless.如果你可以不去寻找别人的认同，那么你的力量就是无穷的。
• When a child asks an endless string of “why?” questions, the smartest reply is, “I don’t know, what do you think?”当一个孩子问出一连串的「为什么」的时候，最聪明的回复就是「我不知道，你是怎么想的呢？」
• To be wealthy, accumulate all those things that money can’t buy.想要变得富有，就去积攒所有那些金钱买不来的东西吧。
• Be the change you wish to see.成为你自己想要看到的那种改变。
• When brainstorming, improvising, jamming with others, you’ll go much further and deeper if you build upon each contribution with a playful “yes — and” example instead of a deflating “no — but” reply.头脑风暴、即兴以及与其他人合奏的时候，如果你可以充满兴致地表示「是的，而且……」并愿意在彼此的基础上更进一步，而不是令人泄气地表示「不是，而是……」的话，那么你将会走得更远更深。
• Work to become, not to acquire.工作是为了「成为」，而不是「获得」。
• Don’t loan money to a friend unless you are ready to make it a gift.不要借钱给你的朋友，除非你愿意把借出去的钱当成礼物。
• On the way to a grand goal, celebrate the smallest victories as if each one were the final goal. No matter where it ends you are victorious.在追求远大目标的过程中，要像完成最终目标那样去庆祝哪怕最微小的胜利。这样无论你最后可以走多远，你都是胜利的。
• Calm is contagious.沉稳是具有传染性的。
• Even a foolish person can still be right about most things. Most conventional wisdom is true.即使是一个愚蠢的人，在大多数事情上仍然可以是正确的。大多数传统的智慧都是真的。
• Always cut away from yourself.切东西的时候不要冲着自己。
• Show me your calendar and I will tell you your priorities. Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you where you’re going.给我看看你的日程表，我就能知道你的优先顺序。告诉我谁是你的朋友，我就可以知道你要去往何处。
• When hitchhiking, look like the person you want to pick you up.搭便车的时候，你得看上去像一个你自己也愿意接上车的人。
• Contemplating the weaknesses of others is easy; contemplating the weaknesses in yourself is hard, but it pays a much higher reward.打量别人的弱点很容易。打量自己的弱点很难，但却会给你更高的回报。
• Worth repeating: measure twice, cut once.这值得说两遍：量两次才切一次。
• Your passion in life should fit you exactly; but your purpose in life should exceed you. Work for something much larger than yourself.你人生的热情应该恰到好处；但你的人生目标应该超越自己。为那些远比你更宏大的东西而工作。
• If you can’t tell what you desperately need, it’s probably sleep.如果你不知道自己急切需要的是什么，那很可能就是睡觉。
• When playing Monopoly, spend all you have to buy, barter, or trade for the Orange properties. Don’t bother with Utilities.玩《大富翁》的时候，把你所有的钱都用来购买、交换或交易橙色物业。不用管那些公共设施。
• If you borrow something, try to return it in better shape than you received it. Clean it, sharpen it, fill it up.如果你借了什么东西，试着在归还的时候把它变得比你借到时的状态更好。清洁它、打磨它、填充它。
• Even in the tropics it gets colder at night than you think. Pack warmly.即使在热带地区，晚上的气温也比你想象的要凉。打包得暖和一点。
• To quiet a crowd or a drunk, just whisper.想要让人群或醉汉安静下来的话，只需要小点声说话就行。
• Writing down one thing you are grateful for each day is the cheapest possible therapy ever.最便宜的疗愈方法，就是每天写下一件让自己感恩的事情。
• When someone tells you something is wrong, they’re usually right. When someone tells you how to fix it, they’re usually wrong.当有人告诉你某件事是错的时候，他们通常都是对的。当有人告诉你如何解决这个错误的时候，他们通常都是错的。
• If you think you saw a mouse, you did. And, if there is one, there are more.如果你觉得你看到了一只老鼠，那么你肯定就是看到了。而且，如果有一只的话，就会有更多。
• Money is overrated. Truly new things rarely need an abundance of money. If that was so, billionaires would have a monopoly on inventing new things, and they don’t. Instead almost all breakthroughs are made by those who lack money, because they are forced to rely on their passion, persistence and ingenuity to figure out new ways. Being poor is an advantage in innovation.金钱被高估了。真正新鲜的事物很少会需要很多钱。不然的话，百万富翁们应该早就垄断了对新事物的发明了，但他们并没有。相反，几乎所有的突破都来自那些缺钱的人，因为他们被迫不得不依靠自己的热情、坚持与才智，去找到新的方法。贫穷是创新上的优势。
• Ignore what others may be thinking of you, because they aren’t.忽略别人可能对你持有的看法，因为他们压根没有在想你。
• Avoid hitting the snooze button. That’s just training you to oversleep.尽量别用贪睡功能，它会训练你睡过头。
• Always say less than necessary.言多必失。
• You are given the gift of life in order to discover what your gift in life is. You will complete your mission when you figure out what your mission is. This is not a paradox. This is the way.你得到生命这份馈赠，是为了发现你生命中的天赋。你的使命就是找到自己的使命是什么。这不是一个悖论，此乃正道。
• Don’t treat people as bad as they are. Treat them as good as you are.对待别人的标准，不是他们有多坏，而是你自己有多好。
• It is much easier to change how you think by changing your behavior, than it is to change your behavior by changing how you think. Act out the change you seek.「通过改变行为来改变你的想法」要比「通过改变想法来改变你的行为」更容易实现。把你所追求的改变付诸行动。
• You can eat any dessert you want if you take only 3 bites.你可以吃任何想吃的甜品——如果你可以只吃三口的话。
• Each time you reach out to people, bring them a blessing; then they’ll be happy to see you when you bring them a problem.每次联络别人的时候，要给他们带去一个祝福；这样他们才会在你给他们带去麻烦的时候感到开心。
• Bad things can happen fast, but almost all good things happen slowly.不好的事情总是发生得很快，而几乎所有好事都发生得很慢。
• Don’t worry how or where you begin. As long as you keep moving, your success will be far from where you start.不要担心自己如何开始或是在哪里开始。只要你继续前行，你就会比你开始时更加成功。
• When you confront a stuck bolt or screw: righty tighty, lefty loosey.当你面对一个拧不动的螺栓或螺丝钉的时候：右转是拧紧，左转是拧松。
• If you meet a jerk, overlook them. If you meet jerks everywhere everyday, look deeper into yourself.如果你碰到一个混蛋，忽略他们。如果你总是到处碰到混蛋，那就得好好看看你自己了。
• Dance with your hips.用臀部来跳舞。
• We are not bodies that temporarily have souls. We are souls that temporarily have bodies.我们不是短暂拥有灵魂的躯体。我们是短暂拥有躯体的灵魂。
• You can reduce the annoyance of someone’s stupid belief by increasing your understanding of why they believe it.总有人会持有一些愚蠢的信念，但你可以通过提高自己对这些人背后原因的理解，来降低这一现象的讨厌程度。
• If your goal does not have a schedule, it is a dream.如果你的目标没有时间表，那它就只是一个梦想。
• All the greatest gains in life — in wealth, relationships, or knowledge —come from the magic of compounding interest — amplifying small steady gains. All you need for abundance is to keep adding 1% more than you subtract on a regular basis.生活中所有最重要的收益——财富、关系或知识——都来自复利可以放大稳定微小收益的魔法。你只需不断稳定地净增1%，就可以达到富足。
• The greatest breakthroughs are missed because they look like hard work.人们之所以会错过最伟大的突破，就是因为它们看上去就很难。
• People can’t remember more than 3 points from a speech.人们能在一次演讲中记住的观点不会超过三个。
• I have never met a person I admired who did not read more books than I did.我遇到的那些让我钦佩的人，无一例外都比我读的书多。
• The greatest teacher is called “doing”.最好的老师就是「行动」。
• Finite games are played to win or lose. Infinite games are played to keep the game going. Seek out infinite games because they yield infinite rewards.有限的游戏是为了输赢。无限的游戏是为了让游戏继续。应该去寻找无限的游戏，因为它们会产出无限的收益。
• Everything is hard before it is easy. The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a stupid idea.任何事情在变容易之前都是困难的。在某个东西成为一个突破之前，它都只是一个愚蠢的想法。
• A problem that can be solved with money is not really a problem.能用钱解决的问题，都不是真的问题。
• When you are stuck, sleep on it. Let your subconscious work for you.如果你被困住了，去睡一觉。让你的潜意识来帮你解决问题。
• Your work will be endless, but your time is finite. You cannot limit the work so you must limit your time. Hours are the only thing you can manage.你的工作是无穷无尽的，但你的时间是有限的。你无法限制你的工作，所以你必须限制自己的时间。时间是你唯一可以管理的东西。
• To succeed, get other people to pay you; to become wealthy, help other people to succeed.想要成功，就让别人付钱给你；想要富有，就去帮助别人成功。
• Children totally accept — and crave — family rules. “In our family we have a rule for X” is the only excuse a parent needs for setting a family policy. In fact, “I have a rule for X” is the only excuse you need for your own personal policies.孩子完全接受——甚至渴望——家规。「在我们家，我们对 X 有一个规矩」是家长设立家庭规范时所需的唯一理由。事实上，「我对 X 有一个规矩」是你给自己设定规范所需的唯一理由。
• All guns are loaded.所有的枪都上了膛。
• Many backward steps are made by standing still.很多退步都来自停步不前。（逆水行舟，不进则退。）
• This is the best time ever to make something. None of the greatest, coolest creations 20 years from now have been invented yet. You are not late.现在是去创造一些东西的最好时机。未来 20 年最伟大、最酷的发明都还没有出现。你并没有迟到。
• No rain, no rainbow.不经历风雨，怎么见彩虹。
• Every person you meet knows an amazing lot about something you know virtually nothing about. Your job is to discover what it is, and it won’t be obvious.你遇见的每一个人，都对某些你一无所知的东西了如指掌。你要做的就是去发现那是什么东西，当然那并不会很明显。
• You don’t marry a person, you marry a family.和你结婚的，不只是一个人，而是一个家庭。
• Always give credit, take blame.永远要分享荣誉，承担责备。
• Be frugal in all things, except in your passions splurge.永远保持节俭，除非是为了自己的热情。
• When making something, always get a few extras — extra material, extra parts, extra space, extra finishes. The extras serve as backups for mistakes, reduce stress, and fill your inventory for the future. They are the cheapest insurance.做东西的时候，总要多备上一些——额外的材料、额外的部件、额外的空间、额外的饰面。 这些额外的东西可以为错误提供备份、减轻压力，还可以为未来储备资源。它们是最便宜的保险。
• Something does not need to be perfect to be wonderful. Especially weddings.有些东西不需要达到完美，就已经足够精彩了。特别是婚礼。
• Don’t let your email inbox become your to-do list.不要让你的收件箱变成代办清单。
• The best way to untangle a knotty tangle is not to “untie” the knots, but to keep pulling the loops apart wider and wider. Just make the mess as big, loose and open as possible. As you open up the knots they will unravel themselves. Works on cords, strings, hoses, yarns, or electronic cables.打开纠缠在一起的绳结的最好方法，不是要去「解开」绳结，而是要不断地把松动的部分拉得更宽。尽可能把那团乱麻弄大、弄松、弄开。当你打开绳结的时候，它们就会自行解开。这招适用于绳索、线、软管、毛线或者电线。
• Be a good ancestor. Do something a future generation will thank you for. A simple thing is to plant a tree.做一个良善的先人。做一些让未来世代感激你的事情。其中一件简单的事情就是去种一棵树。
• To combat an adversary, become their friend.要想打败对手，就成为他们的朋友。
• Take one simple thing — almost anything — but take it extremely seriously, as if it was the only thing in the world, or maybe the entire world is in it — and by taking it seriously you’ll light up the sky.去拿一个很简单的东西——几乎任何东西都行，但是极其认真地对待它，就好像它是世上唯一的东西一样，或者就像整个世界都在它里面一样。通过认真对待这件东西，你将会点亮天空。
• History teaches us that in 100 years from now some of the assumptions you believed will turn out to be wrong. A good question to ask yourself today is “What might I be wrong about?”历史教育我们，你现在相信的假定在 100 年后很可能会被证明是错的。一个在今天就可以问自己的好问题就是「我可能错在哪里了？」
• Be nice to your children because they are going to choose your nursing home.对你的孩子好一点，因为他们未来会给你选养老院。
• Advice like these are not laws. They are like hats. If one doesn’t fit, try another.这些建议都不是定律。它们更像是帽子。如果其中一顶不合适的话，就试试另一顶。