01 没有坚持创作？你首先要认清的是为什么失败

经常在互联网上写作的童鞋（针对刚需不是日记式的流水账）一定经历过这样的煎熬：为了找到文章的素材，经常花费大把时间留意当下热点话题；为了争取阅读流量，经常绞尽脑汁，既要剖析他人想法还要提出自己的观点；搭建好了文章思路还要注意语言的使用，因为读者的注意力是需要写作者刻意吸引的。

再往大点说，无论是互联网创作还是满足升学工作需求，写作这件事情总会让我们面对各种挫折，灵感的来源，话题与经验的萃取，问题思考方式的推敲，用词的精准。

我是一个写作菜鸟，从注册简书第一次发文开始到现在已经有小半年时间了，我的成长之路其实非常缓慢（看我的粉丝关注量就能知道我还是默默无闻的菜鸟），这中间经历过太多次的尝试和放弃；

同时，做为一名英语老师，我也会经常批阅学生的英语作文，很多时候他们的写作历程和我的写作之路非常相似： 不断写文章，不断经受打击，不断修改重写，有人中途放弃，有人最终获得成功。

虽然大家心里都知道失败是成功之母，但很多时候，人们对失败的接受力并不够强大，更多的时候，人们无法接受那个不符合理想的自己，于是出现更多的自暴自弃。

如果，此时的你正在经历各种挫折，在创作道路上经受煎熬，在梦想道路上屡遭失败但不甘心，我认为你有必要看下今天的文章——适当自我关怀，积极面对失败助你走的更远。

02 普通人出书的经历—— 你首先是个普通人，其次才是个创作者

Ben, a twenty-four-year-old middle-school social studies teacher with literary aspirations, had set the goal to finish writing his novel by the end of summer vacation. This deadline required him to write ten pages a day, every day. In reality, he would write two to three pages one day, then feel so overwhelmed by how far behind he was that he skipped the next day completely. Realizing that he wasn’t going to finish the book by the start of the school year, he felt like a fraud. If he couldn’t make the effort now, when he had so much free time, how was he going to make any progress when he had homework to grade and lessons to plan?

今天的主人公是Ben，今年24岁，在中学教社会研究。他有一个文学抱负：暑假结束之前，他要完成一本小说的创作。

和许多做时间规划的童鞋一样啊，Ben要根据截止日期将自己的大目标细化呀，于是他计算后发现，要按时完成计划，自己必须每天完成10页的创作。

10页啊，不是10行啊，童鞋们，写过文章的都知道这个任务量太恐怖了。

实际上，Ben一天能够创作2到3页，他被现实和规划的差距打败了，它第二天放弃了创作。

基于现实创作速度的缓慢，Ben觉得自己不可能兑现自己当初的规划了，他不可能在开学之前完成小说了，这使他十分痛苦，他认为自己是个骗子。

他告诉自己，假期中拥有那么多的空闲时间的自己，尚且不能完成当初的规划，开学后，要面对大批待批改的作业，大量备课任务，更不可能按时去创作小说。

Ben started to doubt whether he should even bother with the goal, since he wasn’t making the progress he thought he should be. “A real writer would be able to churn those pages  out,” he told himself. “A real writer would never play computer games instead of writing.” In this state of mind, he turned a critical eye to his writing and convinced himself it was garbage. Ben had actually abandoned his goal when he found himself in my class that fall. He had enrolled in the class to learn how to motivate his students, but he recognized himself in the discussion about self-criticism.

因为无法按期完成规划的任务，Ben开始怀疑自己当初建立目标的初衷， 他告诉自己：

一名真正的作家一定可以按计划写出改写的内容；

一名真正的作家不会在该创作的时候选择打电脑游戏；

在他此时的脑海里，他极度怀疑自己的创作，认为自己写出来的作品与垃圾无异。

写到这里，我仿佛看到了自己的曾经，在文章没有读者的时候，在文章收到第一个评论的时候，在文章被拒的时候，嗯，我确实也动摇过，也怀疑过，抱怨过，但是，这些抱怨无济于事，我们下面看看要怎么样摆脱痛苦。

Ben放弃了自己的创作计划，并在秋季的时候参加了美女博士的意志力课程挑战。

虽然他加入课程的初衷是找到激励学生的方法，但是，在课程进行过程中，他发现了过去在创作中自己的自我苛责。

When he did the self-forgiveness exercise for his abandoned novel, the first thing he noticed was the fear and self-doubt behind his giving up. Not meeting his small goal to write ten pages a day made him afraid that he did not have the talent or dedication to realize his big goal of becoming a novelist. He took comfort in the idea that his setbacks were just part of being human, and not proof that he would never succeed. He remembered stories he had read about other writers who had struggled early in their careers.

对于过去未完成的创作，Ben尝试进行自我宽恕练习。他发现，他中途放弃的主要原因是，恐惧和自我怀疑。

恐惧什么呢，怀疑什么呢？

因为没能每天完成10页的创作计划，他害怕自己没有成为小说家的天赋和决心。

现在，在练习中，他慢慢接受了自己做为普通人的不完美，他意识到，任何的挫折都是普通人生活中的一部分，但这些挫折并不代表自己在未来不会成功。

他想起来之前读过的作家故事，这些作家在成名之前都曾经历过各种挫折。

To find a more compassionate response to himself, he imagined how he would mentor a student who wanted to give up on a goal. Ben realized he would encourage the student to keep going if the goal was important. He would say that any effort made now would take the student closer to the goal. He certainly would not say to the student, “Who are you kidding? Your work is garbage.” From this exercise, Ben found renewed energy for writing and returned to his work-in-progress. He made a commitment to write once a week, a more reasonable goal for the school year, and one he felt comfortable holding himself accountable to.

为了给自己更多的正面回馈，Ben联系了自己鼓励学生的经历。

如果Ben觉得一个学生的目标很重要，那么他就会鼓励学生坚持目标。

他会告诉学生，现在做的所有努力都是为了让自己更加接近目标。

他肯定不会告诉这个学生，你开什么玩笑，你的作品就是一堆垃圾。

跟着美女博士做过自我关怀练习后，Ben 发现自己重新找到了写作的能量，再一次投入到了创作中。

他每周只写一次，这样的进度更符合学校的强度，也让他感受到了自己在写作中的游刃有余。

03 语言分析

1.In reality, he would write two to three pages one day, then feel so overwhelmed by how far behind he was that he skipped the next day completely.

事实上，他每天会写2到3页，于是，他就会因为自己和规划进度之间的差距而感到失落，结果，他第二天就会完全放弃创作。

这句话的主干属于并列复合结构， He would write ... then feel overwhelmed...，在后半句里面有一个核心的搭配要快速抓住 so... that....,是个隐藏的因果逻辑。

另外， overwhelmed by ....这个句型里面，我们又看到了how引导的从句，这句话是倒装结构，强调距离之远。还原到正常语序， he was how far behind.

2.If he couldn’t make the effort now, when he had so much free time, how was he going to make any progress when he had homework to grade and lessons to plan?

假期中拥有那么多的空闲时间的自己，尚且不能完成当初的规划，开学后，要面对大批待批改的作业，大量备课任务，更不可能按时去创作小说。

这句话的从句偏多，所以，大家要练习快速找核心结构的技能，If...条件状语从句，when ... 时间状语从句，后面还有一个when从句。

整个句子的核心是how was he going to make ....，其他的从句部分都能拆开来单独理解，其实英语句子的核心部分都不难理解，但是过多的从句容易扰乱大家的视野，能够识别出主从句，基本上就能无障碍理解作者的写作意图了。

3.Not meeting his small goal to write ten pages a day made him afraid that he did not have the talent or dedication to realize his big goal of becoming a novelist

因为没能每天完成10页的创作计划，他害怕自己没有天赋和决心成为小说家。

这句话的核心是， not meeting....made him afraid that ....

非谓语动词meeting做为主语，make somebody afraid这个结构里，afraid that...属于him的补足语，补充说明他的状态。

4.He made a commitment to write once a week, a more reasonable goal for the school year, and one he felt comfortable holding himself accountable to.

他每周只写一次，这样的进度更符合学校的强度，也让他感受到了自己在写作中的游刃有余。

核心结构非常清晰，he made a commitment ..., 精彩部分在于后面的同位语补充， a more reasonable goal... and one he felt...,同位语的主要作用就是把本该分几个句子说清楚的事情放在一句话里面，更加巧妙的体现了英语的精妙之处。

04 故事与我何干

做任何事之前，请不要做过于乐观的预设，因为希望越大失望越大，如果成功那么容易就不会有二八原则。

我们看多了夸大结果的新闻：某某大咖通过创作走上了财富自由的道路，但是这些大咖背后的心酸普通人其实看不到；某某创业者曾经月薪2000块现在成为身价上亿的CEO，但是普通人体会不到某某深夜的煎熬；

我们首先是普通人，普通人做自己力所能及的事情，适当追求一点舒适圈外的刺激就当作自我投资，失败了也没什么，不至于要死不活的，大不了再换个角度做尝试；

其次，在平和的心态下，我们更容易出现某个瞬间的灵感，有时这些灵感能给我们带来更大的收益，及时关注这些灵感，小心假设验证，只要利用好这些机会，其实，你已经离成功不远了。

想想牛顿的万有引力的发现过程，乔布斯利用书法开发设计人机互动界面的灵感，扎克伯格发现Facebook的发展前景，不经意间的想法好好利用起来已经非常了不起了。

05 延伸延伸—— 怎么做积极练习

Bring to mind a specific time when you gave in to temptation or procrastination, and experiment with taking the following three points of view on that failure. When you experience a setback, you can bring these perspectives to mind to help you avoid a downward spiral of guilt, shame, and giving in again.

1. What are you feeling? As you think about this failure, take a moment to notice and describe how you are feeling. What emotions are present? What are you are feeling in your body? Can you remember how you felt immediately after the failure? How would you describe that? Notice if self-criticism comes up, and if it does, what you say to yourself. The perspective of mindfulness allows you to see what you are feeling without rushing to escape.

2. You’re only human. Everyone struggles with willpower challenges and everyone sometimes loses control. This is just a part of the human condition, and your setback does not mean there is something wrong with you. Consider the truth of these statements. Can you think of other people you respect and care about who have experienced similar struggles and setbacks? This perspective can soften the usual voice of self-criticism and self-doubt.

3. What would you say to a friend? Consider how you would comfort a close friend who experienced the same setback. What words of support would you offer? How would you encourage them to continue pursuing their goal? This perspective will point the way to getting back on track.

当你失败的时候，不要孤独自责，请尝试一下3步：

1.描述失败后的情绪感受，识别过度自责情绪。

2.你是个凡人，失败是必经之途。想想成功者背后的悲剧故事。

3.把自己当成一个好友，如果你的好友失败，你会怎么安抚对方。