Western society promotes being busy at all times and at all costs. As a result, it seems that we are always rushing. We live by the calendar and we are run by the clock. We learn early on in life that you had better be on time for things or bad stuff will happen. Be late to turn in your papers and your grade gets lowered. Be late to pay your bills and you get stuck with a penalty. Be late to finish your work and you may be out of a job。西方社會(huì)讓人們不惜一切代價(jià)、每時(shí)每刻都忙碌不停。結(jié)果我們似乎總是在趕時(shí)間。我們生活在日程表之下，按照時(shí)鐘運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。生活中我們很早就明白，你最好按時(shí)完成事情，否則壞事就要發(fā)生。沒(méi)按時(shí)交論文你的分?jǐn)?shù)就會(huì)降低;沒(méi)按時(shí)付賬單你就要被罰款;沒(méi)按時(shí)完成工作你就可能被炒魷魚(yú)。

As a result many people conclude that time is their enemy. It must be battled and beaten. But there is no permanence in any victory over time — the clock gets reset tomorrow and the calendar at the first of the month, or at the very latest at the first of the year。因此許多人斷定，時(shí)間是他們的敵人。他們要和時(shí)間作戰(zhàn)并且戰(zhàn)勝它。然而，面對(duì)時(shí)間，并沒(méi)有永遠(yuǎn)的勝利。明天時(shí)鐘又會(huì)歸零，每個(gè)月又會(huì)有新的開(kāi)始，一年也會(huì)終結(jié)，來(lái)到新的一年。

Consider the popular phrase, “Life is too short to __________。” Here are some beauties you hear all the time:想想這個(gè)流行的說(shuō)法，“人生如此短暫，所以……”下面這幾句動(dòng)人的話(huà)你總是會(huì)聽(tīng)到：

Life is too short to hold on to regret。人生如此短暫，所以不能后悔。

Life is too short to work at a job you hate。人生如此短暫，所以不要做你討厭的工作。

Life is too short to play small。人生如此短暫，所以要盡情玩樂(lè)。

Life is too short to {insert your favorite here}。人生如此短暫，所以[加上你最喜歡的吧]

Aphorisms

like these certainly imply that time is your enemy. However, time is not the reason why you ought to give up regret, revamp your career, or up your game. Even the shortness of life is not the reason. There is an assumption going on here that entirely misses where the real problem lies。像這樣的警句毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)在暗示時(shí)間是你的敵人。然而，時(shí)間并不是你應(yīng)該放棄悔恨、改換事業(yè)、盡情享樂(lè)的理由。甚至人生的短暫也不是理由。這些都是假設(shè)，而掩蓋了真正的問(wèn)題所在。

A short life and limited time would be a blessing in these circumstances. After all, the less time one spends in some undesired state, the better. A short amount of regret? Sounds great. A short time at a crummy job? Excellent. A short time of cowering in the corner? What could be better?在這些情況里，短暫的人生和有限的時(shí)間其實(shí)是好事情。畢竟一個(gè)人在一些不喜歡的狀態(tài)中花的時(shí)間越少越好。少一些悔恨?聽(tīng)起來(lái)不錯(cuò)。少做一些寒酸的工作?好極了。少花些時(shí)間縮在角落?還有什么能比這更好呢!

So let me give you a different way to look at things:那么讓我們換一種方式來(lái)看問(wèn)題：

“Life is too long to __________。”“人生如此漫長(zhǎng)，所以……”

When you approach your problems and challenges from this standpoint, time is not only not your enemy, it is your best friend. It is because of the abundance of time and life that you are motivated to seek change and transformation. After all, since you are going to be here for some time, don’t you want to make the best of it?當(dāng)你站在這個(gè)立場(chǎng)去處理你的問(wèn)題和挑戰(zhàn)，時(shí)間不僅不是你的敵人，而且成為了你最好的朋友。正因?yàn)橛辛素S富的時(shí)間和人生，你就有了動(dòng)力去尋求挑戰(zhàn)和轉(zhuǎn)變。畢竟你要活很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，你難道不想做到最好嗎?

When you have a habit or circumstance that needs fixing, imagine what your life would be like if you delayed taking action to fix it. See yourself a year from now with this problem still hanging around. What impact has it had on you? How has it hurt your relationships? What is it doing to you at work? What cost have you paid to your health?當(dāng)你有某種習(xí)慣或現(xiàn)狀需要修復(fù)，想象一下如果你推遲行動(dòng)，你的生活會(huì)怎樣。想象一下一年之后這個(gè)問(wèn)題依然存在。它會(huì)對(duì)你構(gòu)成什么影響?它會(huì)怎樣傷害你的人際關(guān)系?它會(huì)對(duì)你的工作產(chǎn)生什么影響?你會(huì)為你的健康付出什么代價(jià)?

Now take it out to five years. What have you lost? What have you suffered? What have the people close to you been forced to pay?然后再想象一下五年之后的情景。你失去了什么?你經(jīng)受了哪些折磨?你親近的人被迫付出了什么代價(jià)?

Time keeps marching on. It is now ten years with your unresolved problem. What has happened to your faith and hope? How insurmountable does this problem now look? How much weaker are you now than when this problem first arose?時(shí)間還在繼續(xù)前進(jìn)�，F(xiàn)在你已經(jīng)帶著這個(gè)未解決的問(wèn)題生活了十年。你的信念和希望遭遇了什么?這個(gè)問(wèn)題現(xiàn)在看起來(lái)有多么難以克服?和這個(gè)問(wèn)題剛出現(xiàn)時(shí)相比，你現(xiàn)在脆弱了多少?

We are far from the end of the calendar. Twenty years go by. Can you even remember life without your problem? Can you muster the energy to even care anymore? Are you locked in to a state of resignation?我們還遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)有到達(dá)人生的盡頭。二十年過(guò)去了，你還能記得沒(méi)有這個(gè)問(wèn)題時(shí)的生活嗎?你還有精力去想這個(gè)問(wèn)題嗎?你是否被困在一種無(wú)可奈何的狀態(tài)中?

When you consider the impact that leaving something unresolved

for a long period of time can heap upon you, you start to realize the value of taking action in this moment. Time isn’t out to hurt you here. It is giving you an opportunity. Some resolutions will require hours or days, some weeks or months. But time is there for you. Take what you need。當(dāng)你思考拖著某個(gè)問(wèn)題長(zhǎng)期不解決的影響時(shí)，會(huì)對(duì)你帶來(lái)震撼。你開(kāi)始意識(shí)到此時(shí)此刻開(kāi)始行動(dòng)的價(jià)值。時(shí)間并不是來(lái)傷害你的，它在給你機(jī)會(huì)。解決有的問(wèn)題需要幾小時(shí)或幾天，有的需要幾周或幾個(gè)月。但你有時(shí)間，好好利用它們。

Time has no agenda. It will allow you whatever you need. This is not to say that some problems don’t have deadlines. But it is not time that imposes such restrictions. Time will either offer you volume or impetus. It is on your side。時(shí)間沒(méi)有日程表。不論你需要多少，它都會(huì)給你。這并不是說(shuō)有的問(wèn)題沒(méi)有期限，但這些限制并不是時(shí)間強(qiáng)加給你的。時(shí)間會(huì)給你空間，也會(huì)給你動(dòng)力。這由你決定。

Waiting for the perfect moment is a fool’s errand. You don’t have to be very experienced in life to know the truth of that. Partner with time to get the most out of life. Time is waiting for you。只有傻瓜才等待最佳的時(shí)機(jī)。你不需要在生活中經(jīng)歷了許多才明白這個(gè)真諦。和時(shí)間做朋友，實(shí)現(xiàn)人生的最大價(jià)值。時(shí)間正在等你。