The most fundamental learning and creation: practice.最基本的学习和创造：实践

Practice, literally means, practice and action.
实践，字面意思是实践和行动。

If you think of it, do it. Only when you have done it, it counts as practice. If you can’t do it, it’s useless.
如果你想到它，就去做。只有当你做到了，它才算是练习。如果你做不到，那就没用了。

From around 1986, I really disliked the Spring Festival, for a very simple reason, I felt it was a waste of time… At that time, Luo Yonghao expressed that he really couldn’t understand, and found it strange why I would go to a hotel and hide away during the Spring Festival—saying, “What a weirdo!”
从1986年左右开始，我就非常不喜欢春节，原因很简单，我觉得这是在浪费时间……当时，罗永浩表示自己实在无法理解，觉得很奇怪，为什么春节我会去酒店躲起来——说：“真是个怪人！

In reality, it’s very quiet. I can think about my own stuff quietly for a few days, read my own books, sleep my own sleep… Looking back over the years, what am I most grateful for? After the age of 16, I never watched the CCTV Spring Festival Gala again, that thing is even scarier than the haze in Beijing now. If we calculate it, I’ve probably lived at least a month longer than people of the same age?
实际上，它非常安静。我可以静静地想几天自己的事情，看自己的书，睡自己的觉……回首这些年，我最感激的是什么？16岁以后，我再也没有看过央视春晚，那东西比现在北京的阴霾还要可怕。如果我们计算一下，我可能比同龄人至少多活一个月？

In 1995, I graduated from university. Almost from the day of graduation, I became a workaholic in the eyes of others—because I didn’t have a day off, I worked every day, including the Spring Festival.
1995年，我大学毕业。几乎从毕业那天起，我就成了别人眼中的工作狂——因为我没有休息一天，我每天都在工作，包括春节。

This is something the people around me know.
这是我周围的人都知道的。

The final push to complete “TOEFL Core Vocabulary in 21 Days” was done during the Spring Festival in 2003. The initial draft of “Treating Time as a Friend”, which was still called “Managing My Time” at the time, was during the Spring Festival in 2007…
2003 年春节期间完成了“21 天托福核心词汇”的最后冲刺。《把时间当朋友》的初稿，当时还叫《管理我的时间》，是在2007年春节期间……

In early 2008, a friend and I started a study abroad consulting company, rented an office in a digital building, paid the rent, did the renovations, did not spend much money at all. The renovations were almost done, and then it was the Spring Festival. So everyone went home for the holidays. By the time they returned, I had taken on a few clients during this period, taught a short course, and the money I received had made the company profitable.
2008年初，我和朋友开了一家留学咨询公司，在一栋数码楼里租了一间办公室，付了房租，做了装修，根本没有花多少钱。装修差不多了，就到了春节。所以每个人都回家过节。当他们回来时，我在此期间已经接了几个客户，教了一门短期课程，我收到的钱使公司盈利。

During the 2010 Spring Festival, I finished “Everyone Can Use English” and the revision of “Treating Time as a Friend” in just two weeks…
2010年春节期间，我在短短两周内就完成了《人人会用英语》和《把时间当朋友》的复习……

At the beginning of 2013, two friends and I set up Knewone. The website went live not long after, and it was the Spring Festival. One of them went to Hong Kong, and the other went to Cambodia on vacation. I acted as customer service at home… When the two friends returned, the website’s traffic had surged to within the top 50,000 in the global Alexa ranking.
2013年初，我和两个朋友成立了Knewone。没过多久，网站就上线了，正值春节。其中一人去了香港，另一人去了柬埔寨度假。我在家里担任客户服务……当这两位朋友回来时，该网站的流量已经飙升至全球Alexa排名的前50,000名以内。

As I revise this passage, it is the third day of the 2016 Spring Festival. I am busy organizing the draft of “A Fresh Start—Seven Years is a Lifetime”… In reality, organizing work is much more difficult than writing articles.
当我修改这段经文时，已经是2016年春节的第三天了。我正忙着整理《新的开始——七年是一生》的草稿……实际上，组织工作比写文章要困难得多。

That’s how I am. In reality, I don’t hate taking a break. It’s just that I feel the concept of “statutory holidays” is meaningless to me. The so-called “statutory holidays” are restrictions for businesses, not for me personally. It should be up to me to decide when to rest. When I had things to do, but due to the statutory requirement to rest, I rested, what happens to the work? When I have to cooperate with others, statutory holidays are even more frustrating, disrupting many things, and everyone doesn’t care—they say they have their own lives.
我就是这样。实际上，我并不讨厌休息。只是我觉得“法定节假日”这个概念对我来说毫无意义。所谓的“法定假日”是对企业的限制，而不是对我个人的限制。应该由我来决定何时休息。当我有事情要做，但由于法定要求休息时，我休息了，工作怎么办？当我不得不与别人合作时，法定节假日更令人沮丧，扰乱了很多事情，每个人都不在乎——他们说他们有自己的生活。

In the past, when I taught winter holiday classes at New Oriental, at the end of each session, some students would confidently request the lecture notes for the last class, saying, “I need to rush back home for the Lunar New Year.” I would happily reply, “Well then, go ahead, enjoy it, make the best of it, and from now on, you’ll be able to celebrate the Lunar New Year at home every year! No need to stay for classes any longer.”
过去，我在新东方教寒假课时，每节课结束时，都会有学生自信地索要最后一节课的讲义，说：“我得赶回家过年了。我会很高兴地回答说：“那么，继续吧，享受它，充分利用它，从现在开始，你每年都可以在家庆祝农历新年！不用再留下来上课了。

Do you know how many public holidays there are in a year? Many people truly do not know, and haven’t been curious enough to check. Including weekends, there are approximately 115 “official public holidays” in a year.
你知道一年有多少个公共假期吗？很多人真的不知道，也没有足够的好奇心去检查。包括周末在内，一年大约有115个“官方公共假期”。

From 1995 to the end of 2015, that is 20 years.
从1995年到2015年底，也就是20年。
115 × 20 = 2,300 (days)
115 × 20 = 2,300（天）

This means that over the years, I’ve had 2,300 more working days than others. I’ve done a lot more, accomplished more—what’s so strange about that?
这意味着这些年来，我比其他人多了 2,300 个工作日。我做了很多，取得了更多的成就——这有什么奇怪的？

Suppose on each of the extra working days, I only worked for 6 hours a day—certainly longer than that, but definitely not over 12 hours; also, I would work for a while and then play for a while, because how else would I have the time to play the guitar?
假设在每个额外的工作日中，我每天只工作 6 小时——当然比这更长，但绝对不会超过 12 小时;另外，我会工作一会儿，然后弹一会儿，否则我怎么会有时间弹吉他？

2,300 × 6 = 13,800 (hours)
2,300 × 6 = 13,800（小时）

So, I’ve worked 13,800 hours more than most people. The “10,000-hour rule” and such might have some merit, but in my case, it just doesn’t hold up. 2300 ÷ 365 = 6.3 (years) 20 ÷ (20 – 6.3) = 1.459 (times)
所以，我比大多数人多工作了 13,800 小时。“10,000 小时规则”之类的可能有一些优点，但就我而言，它只是站不住脚。2300 ÷ 365 = 6.3 （年） 20 ÷ （20 – 6.3） = 1.459 （次）

Therefore, in the past 20 years, my time density over those 20 years is 1.459 times that of most people over 20 years. Why should I not have gained more? I also like to have fun, occasionally slack off, but how could every hour of the 24 be spent slacking off except for sleeping? That seems quite difficult to me.
因此，在过去的20年里，我在这20年中的时间密度是大多数人20年来的1.459倍。为什么我不应该获得更多？我也喜欢玩得开心，偶尔懈怠一下，但24小时除了睡觉之外，怎么可能每个小时都花在偷懒上呢？这对我来说似乎很困难。

I’m definitely not the workaholic they think I am. But even if I were, who says workaholics don’t have a life? It’s so strange.
我绝对不是他们认为的那种工作狂。但就算我是，谁说工作狂没有生活呢？这太奇怪了。

Every day is about growth, every day is about progress— that’s my work. I think it’s great, I don’t feel tired, I don’t feel burdened. On the contrary, it’s not meaningful if it’s not like this. Where can an unhappy person find happiness without making progress? People who don’t think seriously or don’t put their thoughts into action may even have a low-level sex life…
每一天都与成长有关，每一天都与进步有关——这就是我的工作。我觉得这很棒，我不觉得累，我不觉得有负担。相反，如果不是这样，就没有意义。一个不快乐的人在哪里可以找到幸福而没有进步？不认真思考或不把想法付诸行动的人甚至可能有低水平的性生活……

“挤挤都会有的” (meaning something will come of squeezed effort) is the first “co-created book” I wrote… actually, I just wrote one word, and then every subtitle had to be a sentence: one word is enough to change the quality of life.
“挤挤都会有的”（意思是挤压的努力会带来一些东西）是我写的第一本“共同创作的书”……其实，我只是写了一个字，然后每个副标题都得是一句话：一个字就足以改变生活质量。

My reading and film viewing volumes are unusually large. It’s natural for me to read, no big deal. But boasting on the amount of films watched is worth doing. Back at New Oriental, when playing mahjong with colleagues, chatting, they were quite surprised because I had seen almost every movie they had heard of. When playing mahjong, I was always available, hailed as the “timely rain” of the mahjong group; whenever they were short of one person, they would send a message to me. I’m not idle, but I think with just a few good friends, working together to have fun, isn’t this the basic duty of a good friend? When the year ended, I released another book… and then, they were puzzled again, “Where does this guy get so much time?” It’s simple, really. It’s not just about squeezing time by staying up late (although sometimes I did), just not taking statutory holidays can give you much more time.
我的阅读量和观影量异常大。我读书很自然，没什么大不了的。但是吹嘘观看的电影数量是值得的。回到新东方，和同事们打麻将，聊天时，他们都很惊讶，因为我几乎看过他们听过的每一部电影。打麻将时，我总是随叫随到，被誉为麻将组的“及时雨”;每当他们缺少一个人时，他们就会给我发信息。我不是闲着，但我觉得只有几个好朋友，一起玩得开心，这难道不是好朋友的基本职责吗？年底，我又出版了一本书……然后，他们又感到困惑，“这家伙哪来的这么多时间？这很简单，真的。这不仅仅是通过熬夜来挤压时间（尽管有时我确实这样做了），只是不休法定假期可以给你更多的时间。

I’d just think, and then I’d do things in the right way—whether others understand it or not— that’s practice. This is not something that requires “perseverance”; it’s just a matter of “whether you deserve it.” Isn’t it? This is clearly a matter with a compound interest effect! It’s something I calculated 20 years ago, and now, I’m just living it out.
我只是思考，然后我会以正确的方式做事——不管别人是否理解——这就是练习。这不是需要“毅力”的事情;这只是一个“你是否应得的”问题。不是吗？这显然是一个具有复利效应的问题！这是我 20 年前计算的事情，现在，我只是活出它。

In order to see the effect of compound interest, you must have a long enough time, and the further you go, the more significant the effect becomes. Time cannot be managed, so the only solution is to find ways to increase your work efficiency and quality of life—obviously, my approach is cost-effective. When I had already gone through 20 units on the timeline, others were still within 13.7, and more people might not even have gone through 5 units… The effect of compound interest is more significant on me, which is obviously quite natural.
为了看到复利的效果，你必须有足够长的时间，而且你走得越远，效果就越显著。时间是无法管理的，所以唯一的解决方案是想办法提高你的工作效率和生活质量——显然，我的方法是划算的。当我在时间线上已经完成了 20 个单元时，其他人还在 13.7 以内，更多的人甚至可能还没有完成 5 个单元……复利对我的影响更为显著，这显然是很自然的。

In the past, I rarely talked to others about this idea. Sharing such thoughts only resulted in feedback like “Laughing, you’re really tough on yourself” and similarly nonsensical comments. After living for 20 years, I can now joke about this:
过去，我很少和别人谈论这个想法。分享这样的想法只会导致诸如“笑，你对自己真的很苛刻”之类的反馈和类似的荒谬评论。活了20年，我现在可以开玩笑说：

How am I being tough on myself? This is clearly about cherishing myself!
我怎么对自己苛刻？这分明就是珍惜自己！

Now, 20 years have passed, and talking about it has had a noticeable effect. But if it were 2005, the effects of 10 years wouldn’t have been as significant, so who would have taken me seriously in 1995? It would definitely have been a subject of mockery…
现在，20年过去了，谈论它已经产生了明显的效果。但如果是2005年，10年的影响就不会那么大了，那么1995年谁会认真对待我呢？这肯定会成为嘲笑的对象……

Isn’t that so? A life of practice is not compatible with the lives of the vast majority of people, and there’s no need to envy each other. Once the choice is made, it’s irreversible—so there’s no need for envy. Those I met 20 years ago would never have understood my ideas, even though they are simple conclusions drawn from very basic reasoning. Even if they did understand, so what? They wouldn’t follow through, let alone believe that I could achieve it. What use is their belief once I have achieved it?
不是这样吗？修行的生活与绝大多数人的生活不相容，没有必要互相羡慕。一旦做出选择，它就是不可逆转的——所以没有必要嫉妒。我20年前遇到的人永远不会理解我的想法，尽管它们是从非常基本的推理中得出的简单结论。即使他们确实理解了，那又怎样？他们不会坚持到底，更不用说相信我能实现它了。一旦我实现了他们的信念，他们的信念又有什么用呢？

Thinking, learning, believe it; believing it, truly believe it; and truly doing it, that’s practice.
思考、学习、相信;相信它，真正相信它;真正去做，这就是实践。

There’s a funny, and true, saying:
有一句有趣而真实的说法：

Every person can only be original when they are born. As a result, the vast majority of them accidentally turn themselves into plagiarized versions as they go on living…
每个人只有在出生时才能具有原创性。结果，他们中的绝大多数人在继续生活时不小心把自己变成了抄袭版本……

Practice is the true process of learning and creating. Many people never understand this principle in their entire lives. Calculating how many statutory holidays there are in 20 years, and thinking about how much more work time we could have by arranging our time in our own way, is that something that requires advanced mathematics to figure out? If you want something but don’t do it, then it’s no one’s fault but yours.
实践是学习和创造的真正过程。许多人一辈子都不明白这个道理。计算20年有多少法定假日，并思考通过以自己的方式安排时间可以多出多少工作时间，这是需要高等数学才能弄清楚的事情吗？如果你想要某样东西却不去做，那么这不是任何人的错，而是你的错。

This time, as I write “New Life: Seven Years is a Lifetime,” I realized that I inadvertently turned myself into a performance artist— I realized that there are plenty of people who talk about reasoning, but very, very few who practice. How few? Only those who really do it, to the extent that they can even be called “performance artists.”
这一次，当我写《新生活：七年是一生》时，我意识到我无意中把自己变成了一个行为艺术家——我意识到有很多人在谈论推理，但很少有人练习。有多少？只有那些真正做到这一点的人，他们甚至可以被称为“行为艺术家”。

Money is spent, then it truly belongs to you. Time passes, then it can be counted into life. This is a simple truth.
钱花了，才真正属于你。时间流逝，然后可以算作生活。这是一个简单的道理。

In these 20 years, I’ve lived very happily, very well, and have become stronger and more composed. Who knows about tomorrow?—I do.
在这20年里，我过得很幸福，过得很好，变得更坚强，更沉着。谁知道明天呢？——我知道。

Originally posted 2024-04-05 11:33:20.