生活不是一场热狗大胃王比赛

原文作者：KEN，发表于2009年5月13日

Your bookshelf is overflowing with books you haven’t read. Your to-do list is a hundred items long and you’ve only checked off two. There’s so much you want to do, to see, to obtain and the wanting has you overwhelmed.

你的书架上堆满了不曾读过的书籍。你待办事项列表的数百条记录仅仅完成了2条。你要做、要看、要得到的实在太多，你的欲求已将你吞噬。

Somewhere in the back of your mind, you’re frantically trying to find a way to grab it all up in your tight little fists and stuff it into your life.

在你脑海的某个角落，你在疯狂的寻找一个咒语，能把一切都一劳永逸抓在你攥紧的拳头里，然后塞进你的生活。

But life is not a hot dog eating contest. You don’t have to cram it all in. With no time to chew and savor, you’re left with regret and a mean case of indigestion.

但生活不是一场热狗大胃王比赛。你不必眉毛胡子一把抓。如果没时间咀嚼和品味的话，你只会留下遗憾和一个消化不良的典型病例。

One Bite at a Time

一口吃一个“瘦子”

Take just one book off your shelf and read it – and enjoy it. Spending an hour with one good book is far better than shopping for three more that will only add to your guilt and collection of things undone. You can buy another book when you’ve finished the one you’re reading.

在从你书架上只拿一本书畅读。一小时读上一本好书远远好于买书超过三本，只能徒增愧疚，让待办事项更多而已。你完全可以在读完一本之后在买一本。

Draw one picture, just one picture, and take your time. Notice the curves and the angles and the shapes. Get lost in it, swim in it, live in it. Drawing one picture as best you can is better than wishing you could draw a dozen more. When you’re finished, you’ll have something to hold and gaze upon, and you’ll be better than when you began. Then you’ll be ready to draw the next one.

画一幅画，只画一幅，然后开始享受吧。欣赏每一条曲线、每一个角度和每一个形状。在画中沉浸、徜徉、怡然而居。与其希望画出多张，不如求得倾心一张。当你画完最后一笔，你就可以握在手中尽情凝望，而你在此时会收获开始作画时不曾拥有的喜悦。而在之后你就可以画下一张啦。

Chew Your “Food”.

品味你的“食物”

Take any of the things you wish to do (It doesn’t matter which one.), and do it, and only it. Let go of all the other things for just this time. They’ll still be there when you’re done. But for now, do this one thing and let it soak your bones.

在你想要做的事情中任选一件（任一件都可以），只做这一件，把它做完。此刻让其他的事情都见鬼去吧。在你做完这件事时，它们会回来的。但在现在，只做这件事并乐在其中吧。

Multitasking, neuroscientists have repeatedly shown, is a myth. Your brain simply can’t focus on more than one thing at a time. All that switching about shortens the attention span and lessens your ability to enjoy and be at peace with the task at hand.

神经学家已经反复表明：同时处理多个任务只是一个传说。你的大脑一次不能关注多个目标。在多个目标中切换只会减弱你的注意力，减少享受的乐趣，并干扰手头上的任务。

Let others aim for quantity. Set your sights on quality. Use all your senses and really experience what you’re doing. It will make everything you do afterwards that much richer.

将你的视线聚焦到质量，让别人关注数量去吧。尽心尽力去感受并体验你正在做的事情吧。这会让所有你接下来要做的事情更加丰富而有意义。