十年 2.2

這段改編自 2010 年 4 月 3 日的對話。

「十年」或者「一萬小時」這兩個時間長度，雖然未必百分百準確，但是，它們至少可以讓你知道，想要「學有所得」，或者「事業有成」，需要花的時間心神，遠遠大過一般人的想像。

（安：一般人往往會把別人的偉大成就，歸因於「天才」或「幸運」，而在有意無意間，忽略了別人付出了的「一萬個小時」。那樣，自己的內心就會好過一點，因為自己的一是無成，並不是因為自己不夠努力，而只是因為自己沒有別人的「天才」，或者缺乏別人的「幸運」。

雖然一般人也寧願相信這個謊言，但是這個謊言，又十分明顯地違反自然定律。只要自己稍為客觀一點，就很容易可以拆穿它。）

— Me@2013.08.01

People who’ve done great things tend to seem as if they were a race apart. And most biographies only exaggerate this illusion, partly due to the worshipful attitude biographers inevitably sink into, and partly because, knowing how the story ends, they can’t help streamlining the plot till it seems like the subject’s life was a matter of destiny, the mere unfolding of some innate genius. In fact I suspect if you had the sixteen year old Shakespeare or Einstein in school with you, they’d seem impressive, but not totally unlike your other friends.

Which is an uncomfortable thought. If they were just like us, then they had to work very hard to do what they did. And that’s one reason we like to believe in genius. It gives us an excuse for being lazy. If these guys were able to do what they did only because of some magic Shakespeareness or Einsteinness, then it’s not our fault if we can’t do something as good.

— What You’ll Wish You’d Known

— Paul Graham

2013.08.01 Thursday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK