Failure is probably the most exhausting experience a person ever has. There is nothing more tiring than not succeeding.
失败可能是每个人拥有的最令人筋疲力尽的体验，没有什么比失败更累的了。

We experience this tiredness in two ways: as start-up fatigue and performance fatigue. In the former case, we keep putting off a task because it has either too boring or too difficult. And the longer we delay it, the more tired we feel.
我们通过两种方式体验这种疲劳：启动疲劳和表现疲劳。前一种情况下，我们总是推迟任务，因为它要么太无聊，要么太难。我们拖延的时间越长，我们感到越累。

Such start-up fatigue is very real, even if not actually physical, not something in our muscles and bones. The solution is obvious though perhaps not easy to apply: always handle the most difficult job first.
这种启动疲劳是非常真实的，即使不是身体上的，不在我们的肌肉和骨骼中。解决方案显而易见，但可能并不容易采用：始终首先处理最困难的工作。

Years ago, I was asked to write 102 essays on the great ideas of some famous authors. Applying my own rule, I determined to write them in alphabetical, never letting myself leave out a tough idea. And I always started the day’s work with the difficult task of essay-writing. Experience proved that the rule works.
几年前，我被要求就一些著名作家的伟大思想写102篇文章。按照我自己的规则，我决定按字母顺序写，永远不要让自己遗漏一个艰难的想法。我每天的工作都是从写作这项艰巨的任务开始的。经验证明这条规则有效。

Performance fatigue is more difficult to handle. Though willing to get started, we cannot seem to do the job right. Its difficulties appear so great that, however hard we work, we fail again and again. In such a situation, I work as hard as I can-then let the unconscious take over.
表现疲劳更难处理。虽然我们愿意开始，但似乎无法完成这项工作。它的困难看起来如此之大，以至于无论我们多么努力，我们都会一次又一次地失败。在这种情况下，我尽可能努力工作，然后让潜意识接管。

When planning Encyclopaedia Britannica, I had to create a table of contents based on the topics of its articles. Nothing like this had ever been done before, and day after day I kept coming up with solutions, but none of them worked. My fatigue became almost unbearable.
规划《大英百科全书》时，我必须根据文章的主题创建一个目录。以前从未做过这样的事情，在一天又一天过后，我不断地提出解决方案，但都没有奏效。我的疲劳几乎无法忍受。

One day, mentally exhausted, I wrote down all the reasons why this problem could not be solved. I tried to convince myself that the trouble was with the problem itself, not with me. Relived, I sat back in an easy chair and fell asleep.
有一天，我心力交瘁，写下了这个问题无法解决的所有原因。我试着说服自己问题出在问题本身，而不是我自己。重新回味一遍后，我坐在安乐椅上睡着了。

An hour later, I woke up suddenly with the solution clearly in mind. In the weeks that followed, the solution which had come up in my unconscious mind provided correct at every step. Though I worked as hard as before, I felt no fatigue. Success was now as exciting as failure had been depressing.
一个小时后，我突然醒来，脑海里有了清晰的解决方案。在接下来的几周里，我潜意识中浮现的解决方案每一步都是正确的。虽然我像以前一样努力工作，但我没有感到疲劳。现在的成功令人兴奋,就像失败让人沮丧一样。

Human beings, I believe must try to succeed. Success, then, means never feeling tired.
我相信人类必须努力取得成功。成功意味着永远不会感到疲倦。