Day 343: On Turning Intentions into Actions
第343天： 关于把愿望变成行动
I always wrote down my goals. It wasn’t sufficient just to tell myself “lose twenty pounds and learn better English and read a little bit more.” No. That was only a start. Now I had to make it very specific so that all those fine intentions were not just floating around. I would take out index cards and write that I was going to: • get twelve more units in college; • earn enough money to save $5,000; • work out five hours a day; • gain seven pounds of solid muscle weight; and • find an apartment building to buy and move into.
我总是把目标写下来。
仅仅告诉自己 “减掉 20 磅，学好英语，多读一点书 ”是不够的。
不，这只是一个开始。
现在，我必须把目标写得非常具体，这样所有这些美好的愿望才不会流于空谈。
我会拿出索引卡，写上我要：
- 在大学里再多学 12 个单元；
- 赚够 5,000 美元；
- 每天锻炼五小时；
- 增加七磅重的肌肉；
- 找到一栋公寓楼买下来并搬进去。
—Arnold Schwarzenegger
The more vague your plans are, the more likely they are to remain in the realm of intentions instead of real-world actions. You need to make your plans specific, quantifiable, and (ideally) repeatable in some way so that each day brings you closer to accomplishing your goals.
你的计划越模糊，就越有可能停留在意向上，而不是实际行动中。
你需要让你的计划具体化、可量化，并且（最好）在某种程度上可以重复，这样每一天都能让你离实现目标更近一些。
“I’m going to write a book” is a good start, but it isn’t going to lead to any accomplishments unless you make it more specific by listing the specific actions that you’re going to take, such as: “Plot my story in 2000 words,” “Write the first chapter,” and later on, as the sole daily action that is required to reach your goal, “Write 1000 words every day.”
“我要写一本书”是一个不错的开始，但如果你不具体列出你将要采取的行动，比如“用2000字构思故事”、“写第一章”，然后，为了达成目标每天必须完成的唯一行动“每天写1000字”。
With goals that make it difficult to tell whether or when you’ve accomplished them, such as Arnold’s “I’m going to learn better English,” it’s crucial to set specific, quantifiable sub-goals, such as “ Master 100 common words related to medicine” or “Read ten history books in English,” so that you can objectively say that because of the effort you’ve exerted, you’ve indeed improved your abilities and have evidence that supports that view.
对于那些难以确定是否或何时达成的目标，如阿诺德提出的 “我要学好英语”，设定具体且可量化的子目标至关重要，例如 “掌握 100 个与医学有关的常用单词 ”或 “用英语阅读十本历史书”，如此一来，您便能够客观地宣称，由于自身付出的努力，您的能力确确实实得到了提升，并且存在证据能够支撑这一观点。
Note that the real work doesn’t begin until you take the first action designed to get you closer to your goals. Even the most specific and well-designed goal is still a dream until you figure out what concrete actions you need to take — and then take them — to convert it into a true goal with chances for success.
请注意，只有当你迈出第一步，让你更接近目标时，真正的工作才算开始。
即使是最具体、最精心设计的目标，在你构想出需要采取哪些具体行动——然后付诸实践——将其转化为有成功机会的真正目标之前，仍然只是一个梦想。
