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What do all people who achieve true excellence and consistently high performance have in common?
那些真正优秀，永远保持高水准的人都有哪些共同点呢？
The answer isn't great genes, although they're nice to have. It's the willingness to push themselves beyond their current limits day in and day out, despite the discomfort that creates, the sacrifice of more immediate gratification, and the uncertainty they'll be rewarded for their efforts.
答案不是天生基因好，虽然谁都想有好基因。真正的答案是日复一日的超越自我，以及不断推动自己进步的愿望。尽管在这个过程中，会有艰辛，会牺牲掉很多即时的快乐，也会怀疑付出之后的收获是否存在。
Human beings have two powerful primal instincts. One is to avoid pain, an instinct that helped us to survive when we were vulnerable to predators in the savanna. The other is to move towards pleasure, an instinct that once kept us foraging for food, which was scarce, and still helps to ensure that we pass on our genes.
人类有两个强大的本能。一个是躲避痛苦，这种本能让人类在洪荒时期面对强大的猎食者，成功求生。另一个是趋向快乐，这种本能坚定了祖先对于稀缺食物的渴求，让人类得以绵延。
The unavoidable truth is that the willingness to endure discomfort and sacrifice instant gratification is the only way to get better at anything, and to achieve true excellence.
忍受艰辛，放弃即时的快乐是实现进步、达到成功的唯一途径，是不变的真理。
There are three keys to strengthening this counterintuitive capacity:
三招助你对抗本能，增强自我推动的能力：
1. Minimize temptation, which operates the same way the house does in a casino. It will always defeat you if you expose yourself to it for too long. Think about cake or cookies at an office party. If they sit there in front of you, you're eventually going to succumb.
1. 减少诱惑。这个道理就像是把家安在了赌场里，如果长期身处其中，迟早会泥足深陷。再来想一想办公室聚会上摆着的蛋糕和饼干，如果你坐在这些美食面前，你早晚会缴械投降的。
2. Push yourself to discomfort only for relatively short and specific periods of time. Interval training is built on short bursts of high intensity exercise offset by rest and recovery. It's harder than aerobic training, but it's also a more efficient, less time-consuming way to increase fitness.
2. 推动自己向困难挑战的时间都要短暂且具体。要劳逸结合，高强度的训练之后，能量在短期之内爆发，之后就需要通过休息和复原来进行能量的补偿。虽然相较有氧训练，这种短期的自我加压要更难，但这确实是一个更加有效省时保持健康的方法。
3. Build energy rituals — specific behaviors done at precise times — for your most difficult challenges. Try beginning the day by focusing without interruption on the most important challenge in front of you, for no more than 90 minutes, and then take a real renewal break. It's much easier to tolerate discomfort in short doses.
3. 在你面对最艰难挑战的时候，构建能量仪式——明确时间和具体做法。试试看，在新的一天开始的时候，将注意力完全集中在最难的挑战上，时间控制在90分钟以内，之后进行休息恢复。毕竟，短期的痛苦还是比较容易忍受的。
Choose one area of your life and push yourself just a little harder than you think is possible every day. You'll feel better about yourself, and over time, you'll get better at whatever it is you're doing.
选择你生活中的一个方面，每天对自己提出更高的要求，推动自己更向前一步。久而久之，你的自我感觉会更加良好，对你做的所有事也会感到更满意。
