从跑步指南到英语学习
我相信坚持做一件事情核心并不是“坚持”，而是“知识” -- 光说不做和光做不想一样低效，甚至危险。清楚的知道自己想做什么、怎么做，知道自己目前的状态是什么样，对即将发生的经历做好预判，我们才能够坚持下去。
The Beginning Runner's Handbook，《爱上跑步的13周》，是一本有关跑步知识的书，除了了解到跑步的正确姿势外，对我启发最大的是跑步的本质和英语学习其实是一样的。
1. 跑步和读书一样，只是一个起点
Running can teach you a lot about who you are. It can show you your limitations and give you the opportunity to move past them. If you keep raising the bar, running can give you the tremendous feeling that bars were made to be raised. Running takes commitment, determination, desire, hard work and a sense of self-worth. Think how many other areas in your life could benefit from your having these attributes.
运动的目的是健身，改善生活方式。学习也是一样，通过学习一项技能我们踏上了serendipity之旅, 收获得远比知识本身要多的多。
在学习知识，提升体能的过程中，我们也在锻炼自己的大脑，这样的话我们才能从一个dreamer变成doer -- "A fit body won't travel very far if there isn't a fit mind traveling along with it."
2. 一步一步前进，要稳
Three rules of exercise: moderation, consistency and rest.
Moderation: train gradually, to give your body time to adapt to the stress.
Consistency: try not to skip a training day.
Rest: ensure at least one rest day between training days.
别急别燥，踏实的、诚实的一步一来，得耐得住反复和沮丧。经典美式语音训练指南 American Accent Training中有这么一段“誓言”(The Pledge)：
It's not the duration, it's the consistency. I'm training my mouth, lips, tongue, and mind.
之前一直和大家推荐的Rachel's Enlish，其中也有一段类似的话：
觉得累了就看个电影电视剧，听听歌看看视频，生活中到处都是“活”英文，别总死守着什么VOA, BBC -- 如果你对新闻话题感兴趣的话那就另当别论，总之是找点自己感兴趣的。
同时也要时不时地换个口味，玩玩新花样，例如动画片、脱口秀、学做饭学化妆等都可以。甚至看看成人AV学点姿势顺便学点实用英文也是不错的选择呢。
3. 装着装着就成真了呢
Your first and most important goal for the mind is to think of yourself as an athlete. No matter how far you can run, you are an athlete. No matter what your reason for taking up running -- whether it's weight control, overall fitness, social contacts or something else -- you are an athlete. You subject yourself to regular training sessions and stress both your mind and body in pursuit of your goals, so you are, by definition, an athlete.
用英语的时候，我们都会紧张、没自信，脑袋一片空白，白痴一样。不过“紧张" "恐惧” 这都是我们与生俱来的情感之一，是我们的一部分，我们只能去面对、适应，而不是把它们看得像敌人一样。
我自己尝试的一个方法是"fake it till you make it"：如果你无法去做到一件事情，没有关系，你想一想你觉得能够做到这件事的那个人会怎么去做，然后你只需要去模仿他就好了 -- Imaging you are a certain somebody makes it a lot easier to be that somebody.
4. 别谈天赋，你还没到那个份上
The only meaningful difference between you and people who run marathons in less than three hours is that they’ve been training a lot longer. Of course, there are gifted athletes who make any sport look effortless, who by virtue of the bodies and hearts nature gave them are capable of amazing feats of strength and endurance. In most cases, however, their seemingly effortless performances are built upon tens of thousands of hours of hard work. And anybody can work hard, including you.
“他比我优秀是因为他比我有天赋，他学什么东西都快！我学不好是因为我没有天赋”的想法典型的fix mindset，习惯性的给失败找理由而不去想问题的根本在哪里。
Life's hard; excuses are easy. “我没做好是因为我还没有做足够的练习，付出足够的努力”这种想法才是帮助我们进步的growth mindset。
我不是说“只要你努力，一定就能成功”。“努力”并不会让我们取得成功，但是“努力”是我们在一件事情还没有出结果前，我们唯一能够做的事情 -- 当然这个努力地前提是确定了立场、方向和方法。只有等到达了极高的水平后，我们才能拿天赋说事。
Sport is a process of making mistakes; what matters is that participants are able to rise above their mistakes and respect themselves enough to come back and do better the next time.
拿学英语来说，很多人问“这句话我怎么看不懂啊！” “《经济学人》好难啊，读不懂怎么办？” “我记不住单词怎么办？” “没时间学英语怎么办”...
遇到这些问题，我想的是：读不懂就去查字典，语法清楚就去翻语法书去搜索，自己解决不了就去问别人，把想弄明白的问题死磕到底。坚持一星期读懂两篇《经济学人》，从字词句段到文章框架文化背景都看得清清楚楚明明白白。单词一天记不住就两天，两天记不住就花更多的时间， 没有好方法之前，笨方法就是好方法。没时间学英语？没有一小时的话，十分钟总是有的吧？况且上厕所、等人、排队、吃饭的时间也都是可以利用的 -- 想学的话，时间会有的。
有没有因为不懂一个词去查十多本字典和若干网站？有没有因为没有听懂一句话听上几十遍？有没有因为一个发音问题练上几星期几个月？没有的话，就是你做的还远远不够。
我们大多的英文学习问题的根本原因无非是想得太多，读得太少，查得太少。碰到问题就立刻解决，不留死角，待你披荆斩棘过后就发现你看到的风景也不一样了。
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