来源: TED.com
A few years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a rut, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock, and try something new for 30 days.
几年前， 我对老一套感到枯燥乏味，因此我决定追随伟大的美国哲学家摩根·斯普尔洛克的脚步，尝试去做30天的新事情。
The idea is actually pretty simple. Think about something you've always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days.
这个想法的确非常简单。想想那些你常想在生活中做的事情，在接下来的30天去尝试一下。
It turns out, 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit -- like watching the news -- from your life.
事实证明，30天刚好是生活中一段合适的时间去养成一个新的习惯或者改掉一个习惯——例如看新闻 。
There's a few things I learned while doing these 30-day challenges. The first was, instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable.
当我在做这些30天的挑战时，我学到一些东西。 第一就是，这段时间没有飞逝而去，被快速地遗忘，它反而更加令人难忘。
This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month.
其中的一个挑战是一个月内每天我都要去拍摄一张照片。
And I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day. I also noticed that as I started to do more and harder 30-day challenges, my self-confidence grew.
我清楚地记得那一天里我去了哪里，我干了些什么。同时我也注意到，随着我开始做更多、更难的30天的挑战时，我自信心也增强了。
I went from desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work — for fun.
我从一个每天坐在电脑前的宅男变成了一个爱骑自行车去工作的人——仅仅是为了娱乐。
Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. I would never have been that adventurous before I started my 30-day challenges.
甚至在去年，我完成了在非洲最高山峰——乞力马扎罗山的远足。 在我开始做30天挑战之前，我从没有这么爱冒险。
I also figured out that if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days.
我也认识到，如果你真的很想做一些事，你可以连续做30天。
Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Every November, tens of thousands of people try to write their own 50,000-word novel from scratch in 30 days.
你有想过写小说吗？每年11月，数以万计的人们从零开始，在30天里去尝试写他们自己的5万字小说。
It turns out, all you have to do is write 1,667 words a day for a month. So I did. By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep until you've written your words for the day.
也就是说，在一个月里，你每天都要写1667个字。我做到了。顺便说一下，秘诀就是不写完就不睡觉。
You might be sleep-deprived, but you'll finish your novel. Now is my book the next great American novel? No. I wrote it in a month. It's awful.
你可能会被剥夺睡眠时间，但你将会完成你的小说。那么我写的书会是下一部伟大的美国小说吗? 不是的。我一个月就写完了它。它很糟糕。
But for the rest of my life, if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party, I don't have to say, "I'm a computer scientist." No, no, if I want to, I can say, "I'm a novelist."
但在我的余生，如果我在一个TED聚会上遇见约翰·霍奇曼，我不必开口说 “我是一个电脑科学家。” 不，不会的，如果我想，我可以说，“我是一个小说家。”
So here's one last thing I'd like to mention. I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing, they were more likely to stick.
在这儿我还想说最后一件事。当我有了些小小的、持续性的变化时，我发现那些我不断坚持的事变得更容易坚持了。
There's nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges. In fact, they're a ton of fun. But they're less likely to stick. When I gave up sugar for 30 days, day 31 looked like this.
去做一些疯狂的大挑战一点也没错。事实上，它们乐趣无穷。但是，它们就不太可能坚持做下来。当我坚持30天不吃甜食时，31天后就是这个样子。
So here's my question to you: What are you waiting for?
所以我给大家提的问题是：大家还在等什么呢?
I guarantee you the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot for the next 30 days.
我保准大家在未来的30天会经历些你喜欢或者不喜欢的事，那么为什么不考虑去做你常想去尝试的事呢？在未来30天里试试，给自己一个机会。
Thanks.
谢谢。
