Two years ago, my life changed forever.

兩年前，我的生活發生了翻天覆地的變化。

My wife, Kelsey, and I welcomed our daughter, Lila, into the world.

我和妻子凱爾西迎來了我們的女兒萊拉。

Now, becoming a parent is an amazing, amazing experience.

現在，為人父母是一種奇妙的體驗。

Your whole world changes overnight, and all of your priorities change immediately, so fast that it makes it really difficult to process sometimes.

一夜之間，你的整個世界都變了，你所有的優先事項都會立即改變，速度之快，有時真的讓人難以接受。

Now, you also have to learn a tremendous amount about being a parent, like, for example, how to dress your child.

現在，你還必須學習大量為人父母的知識，比如，如何給孩子穿衣服。

This was new to me.

這對我來說很新鮮。

This is an actual outfit.

這是一套真正的服裝。

I thought this was a good idea.

我覺得這是個好主意。

And even Lila knows that it's not a good idea.

就連萊拉也知道這不是個好主意。

So there was so much to learn and so much craziness all at once.

是以，要學的東西太多了，一下子就有這麼多瘋狂的事情。

And to add to the craziness, Kelsey and I both work from home.

更瘋狂的是，凱爾西和我都在家工作。

We're entrepreneurs.

我們是企業家。

We run our own businesses.

我們經營自己的企業。

So Kelsey develops courses online for yoga teachers.

是以，凱爾西為瑜伽教師開發了在線課程。

I'm an author.

我是一名作家。

And so I'm working from home.

所以我就在家工作。

Kelsey's working from home.

凱爾西在家工作

We have an infant, and we're trying to make sure that everything gets done that needs done, and life is really, really, really busy.

我們有一個嬰兒，我們要確保把該做的事情都做完，生活真的非常、非常、非常忙碌。

And a couple weeks into this amazing experience, when the sleep deprivation really kicked in, like around week eight, I had this thought, and it was the same thought that parents across the ages, internationally, everybody has had this thought, which is, I am never going to have free time ever again.

在這段奇妙的經歷開始的幾周後，當睡眠不足真正開始的時候，大概是第八週的時候，我有了這樣的想法，這也是古今中外的父母們都有過的想法，每個人都有過這樣的想法，那就是，我再也不會有空閒時間了。

And somebody said it's true.

有人說這是真的。

Yeah.

是啊

It's not exactly true, but it feels really, really true in that moment.

這並不完全正確，但在那一刻，感覺真的非常非常真實。

And this was really disconcerting to me because one of the things that I enjoy more than anything else is learning new things, getting curious about something, and diving in, and fiddling around, and learning through trial and error, and eventually becoming pretty good at something.

這讓我感到非常不安，因為我最喜歡做的事情之一就是學習新事物，對某件事情充滿好奇，潛心鑽研，四處摸索，通過不斷嘗試和犯錯來學習，最終變得非常擅長某件事情。

And without this free time, I didn't know how I was ever going to do that ever again.

如果沒有這些空閒時間，我不知道以後還能怎麼做。

And so I'm a big geek.

所以我是個大怪胎。

I want to keep learning things.

我想繼續學習。

I want to keep growing.

我想繼續成長。

And so what I decided to do was go to the library, and go to the bookstore, and look at what research says about how we learn, and how we learn quickly.

於是，我決定去圖書館，去書店，看看關於我們如何學習、如何快速學習的研究成果。

And I read a bunch of books.

我還讀了很多書。

I read a bunch of websites.

我看了很多網站。

And trying to answer this question, how long does it take to acquire a new skill?

要回答這個問題，掌握一項新技能需要多長時間？

You know what I found?

你知道我發現了什麼嗎？

10,000 hours.

10,000 小時。

Anybody ever heard this?

有人聽過這個嗎？

It takes 10,000 hours.

這需要 10 000 個小時。

If you want to learn something new, if you want to be good at it, it's going to take 10,000 hours to get there.

如果你想學習新知識，如果你想成為一個優秀的人，你需要花費一萬個小時才能達到這個目標。

And I read this in book after book, and website after website.

我在一本又一本書和一個又一個網站上讀到了這些內容。

And my mental experience of reading all of this stuff was like, no.

我讀這些東西的心理感受是，不。

I don't have time.

我沒時間

I don't have 10,000 hours.

我沒有一萬小時。

I am never going to be able to learn anything new ever again.

我再也學不到新東西了。

But that's not true.

但事實並非如此。

So 10,000 hours, just to give you a rough order of magnitude, 10,000 hours is a full-time job for five years.

是以，10,000 個小時，只是給你一個粗略的數量級，10,000 個小時就是五年的全職工作。

That's a long time.

這是一段很長的時間。

And we've all had the experience of learning something new, and it didn't take us anywhere close to that amount of time, right?

我們都有過學習新知識的經歷，但花的時間並沒有那麼長，對嗎？

So what's up?

怎麼了？

There's something kind of funky going on here.

這裡有些古怪。

But the research says, and what we expect and have experience is, they don't match up.

但研究表明，我們的預期和經驗是，它們並不一致。

And what I found, here's the wrinkle.

我發現，問題就在這裡。

The 10,000-hour rule came out of studies of expert-level performance.

10,000 小時規則源於對專家級表現的研究。

There was a professor at Florida State University, his name is K. Anders Erickson.

佛羅里達州立大學有一位教授，名叫 K. 安德斯-埃裡克森。

He's the originator of the 10,000-hour rule.

他是 "一萬小時定律 "的創始人。

And where that came from is he studied professional athletes, world-class musicians, chess grandmasters, all of these ultra-competitive folks in ultra-high-performing fields, and he tried to figure out, how long does it take to get to the top of those kinds of fields?

他研究了職業運動員、世界級音樂家、國際象棋大師，所有這些在超高水準領域競爭激烈的人，並試圖弄清楚，要達到這些領域的頂峰需要多長時間？

And what he found is, the more deliberate practice, the more time that those individuals spent practicing the elements, whatever it is that they do, the more time you spend, the better you get.

他的發現是，這些人越是刻意練習，越是花時間練習這些元素，不管他們做的是什麼，花的時間越多，效果就越好。

And the folks at the tippy-top of their fields put in around 10,000 hours of practice.

而那些在各自領域處於頂端的人，則需要花費大約 10,000 個小時進行練習。

Now, we were talking about the game of telephone a little bit earlier.

剛才我們談到了電話遊戲。

Here's what happened.

事情是這樣的

An author by the name of Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book in 2007 called Outliers, the

馬爾科姆-格拉德威爾（Malcolm Gladwell）是一位作家，他在 2007 年寫了一本名為《離群者》（Outliers）的書。

Story of Success.

成功的故事

And the centerpiece of that book was the 10,000-hour rule.

這本書的核心內容就是 "一萬小時定律"。

Practice a lot, practice well, and you will do extremely well.

多練、善練，你就會做得非常好。

You'll reach the top of your field.

你將在自己的領域達到頂峰。

So the message, what Dr. Erickson was actually saying is, it takes 10,000 hours to get to the top of an ultra-competitive field in a very narrow subject.

是以，埃裡克森博士實際上是在說，在一個競爭異常激烈的領域，在一個非常狹窄的學科，要想達到頂峰，需要一萬個小時。

That's what that means.

就是這個意思。

But here's what happened.

但事情是這樣的

Ever since Outliers came out, immediately came out, reached the top of the bestseller list, stayed there for three solid months, all of a sudden, the 10,000-hour rule was everywhere.

自從《離經叛道者》一問世，立刻登上暢銷書排行榜榜首，並在榜上停留了整整三個月，突然之間，"一萬小時定律 "就無處不在了。

And a society-wide game of telephone started to be played.

全社會開始玩起了電話遊戲。

So this message, it takes 10,000 hours to reach the top of an ultra-competitive field, became it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something, which became it takes 10,000 hours to become good at something, which became it takes 10,000 hours to learn something.

是以，"在競爭異常激烈的領域達到巔峰需要一萬個小時 "這句話，變成了 "成為某方面的專家需要一萬個小時"，變成了 "成為某方面的專家需要一萬個小時"，變成了 "學習某方面的知識需要一萬個小時"。

But that last statement, it takes 10,000 hours to learn something, it's not true.

但最後那句 "要花一萬個小時才能學到東西 "的說法並不正確。

It's not true.

這不是真的。

So what the research actually says, if I spent a lot of time here at the CSU library in the cognitive psychology stacks, because I'm a geek, and when you actually look at the studies of skill acquisition, you see over and over and over a graph like this.

是以，如果我花很多時間在加州大學圖書館的認知心理學書庫裡，因為我是個怪胎，當你真正去看技能習得的研究時，你會看到一遍又一遍這樣的圖表。

Now researchers, whether they're studying a motor skill, something you do physically or a mental skill, they like to study things that they can time, because you can quantify that, right?

現在的研究人員，無論研究的是運動技能、身體動作還是心理技能，都喜歡研究可以計時的東西，因為可以量化，對吧？

So they'll give research participants a little task, something that requires physical arrangement or something that requires learning a little mental trick, and they'll time how long a participant takes to complete the skill.

是以，他們會給研究參與者佈置一個小任務，需要體力上的安排，或者需要學習一點腦力技巧，然後他們會計算參與者完成這項技能所需的時間。

And here's what this graph says.

這張圖說明了什麼？

When you start, so when researchers gave participants a task, it took them a really long time, because it was new and they were horrible.

開始時，當研究人員給參與者佈置任務時，他們花了很長時間，因為這是新任務，而且他們很害怕。

With a little bit of practice, they get better and better and better, and that early part of practice is really, really efficient.

只要稍加練習，他們就會變得越來越好，練習的早期階段真的非常高效。

People get good at things with just a little bit of practice.

只要稍加練習，人們就會變得很優秀。

Now what's interesting to note is that if, you know, we don't really, for skills that we want to learn for ourselves, we don't care so much about time, right?

現在，值得注意的是，如果你知道，我們並不是真的想為自己學習技能，我們就不會太在意時間，對嗎？

We just care about how good we are, whatever good happens to me.

我們只關心自己有多優秀，不管我有多優秀。

So if we relabel performance time to how good you are, the graph flips, and you get this famous and widely known, this is the learning curve.

是以，如果我們將績效時間重新標註為你有多優秀，圖表就會翻轉，你就會得到這個著名的、廣為人知的學習曲線。

And the story of the learning curve is when you start, you're grossly incompetent and you know it, right?

學習曲線的故事是，當你開始學習時，你非常不稱職，你知道這一點，對嗎？

With a little bit of practice, you get really good really quick, so that early level of improvement is really fast.

只要稍加練習，你就能很快達到很好的水準，所以早期水準的提高是非常快的。

And then at a certain point, you reach a plateau, and the subsequent gains become much harder to get.

然後到了一定程度，你就會達到一個高原，隨後的收益就會變得更加難以獲得。

They take more time to get.

它們需要更多的時間來獲取。

Now my question is, I want that, right?

現在我的問題是，我想要那個，對嗎？

How long does it take from starting something and being grossly incompetent and knowing it to being reasonably good in hopefully a shorter period of time as possible?

從開始做一件事，到完全不稱職，再到知道這件事，再到希望在儘可能短的時間內做得相當好，需要多長時間？

So how long does that take?

需要多長時間？

Here's what my research says, 20 hours.

這是我的研究結果，20 小時。

That's it.

就是這樣。

You can go from knowing nothing about any skill that you can think of.

你可以從對任何技能的一無所知，變成你能想到的任何技能。

Want to learn a language?

想學一門語言？

Want to learn how to draw?

想學習繪畫嗎？

Want to learn how to juggle flaming chainsaws?

想學習如何耍弄燃燒的電鋸嗎？

If you put 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice into that thing, you will be astounded, astounded at how good you are.

如果你在這方面投入 20 個小時的專注、深思熟慮的練習，你就會對自己的能力大吃一驚。

Twenty hours is doable.

20 小時是可以做到的。

That's about 45 minutes a day for about a month.

每天大約 45 分鐘，持續大約一個月。

Even skipping a couple days here and there.

甚至在這裡和那裡跳過幾天。

Twenty hours isn't that hard to accumulate.

積累 20 個小時並不難。

Now there's a method to doing this, because it's not like you can just start fiddling around for about 20 hours and expect these massive improvements.

要做到這一點是有方法的，因為這並不是說你隨便擺弄 20 個小時就能獲得巨大進步的。

There's a way to practice intelligently.

聰明地練習是有方法的。

There's a way to practice efficiently that will make sure that you invest those 20 hours in the most effective way that you possibly can.

有一種高效練習的方法，可以確保你以最有效的方式投入這 20 個小時。

And here's the method.

方法是這樣的

It applies to anything.

它適用於任何事情。

The first is to deconstruct the skill.

首先是解構技能。

Decide exactly what you want to be able to do when you're done, and then look into the skill and break it down into smaller and smaller pieces.

先確定自己學成後想做什麼，然後再研究技能，並將其分解成越來越小的部分。

Most of the things that we think of as skills are actually big bundles of skills that require all sorts of different things.

我們認為的大多數技能實際上是一大捆技能，需要各種不同的東西。

The more you can break apart the skill, the more you're able to decide what are the parts of the skill that will actually help me get to what I want, and then you can practice those first.

你越能把技能拆分開來，就越能確定技能中哪些部分能真正幫助我達到我想要的目標，然後你就可以先練習這些部分。

And if you practice the most important things first, you'll be able to improve your performance in the least amount of time possible.

如果先練習最重要的部分，就能在最短的時間內提高成績。

The second is learn enough to self-correct.

二是學會自我糾正。

So get three to five resources about what it is you're trying to learn.

是以，請獲取三到五個有關您想要學習的內容的資源。

Could be books, could be DVDs, could be courses, could be anything.

可以是書籍，可以是 DVD，可以是課程，可以是任何東西。

But don't use those as a way to procrastinate on practice.

但不要利用這些來拖延練習。

I know I do this, right?

我知道我會這樣做，對嗎？

Get like 20 books about the topic.

買 20 本相關書籍。

It's like, I'm going to start learning how to program a computer when I complete these 20 books.

這就好比，等我讀完這 20 本書，我就要開始學習電腦編程了。

No.

不

That's procrastination.

這就是拖延症。

What you want to do is learn just enough that you can actually practice and self-correct or self-edit as you practice.

你要做的是學習到足夠多的知識，這樣你就可以在實踐中自我糾正或自我編輯。

So the learning becomes a way of getting better at noticing when you're making a mistake and then doing something a little different.

是以，學習就變成了一種方法，讓你更好地注意到自己在犯錯，然後做一些不同的事情。

The third is to remove barriers to practice.

第三是消除實踐障礙。

Distractions, television, internet, all of these things that get in the way of you actually sitting down and doing the work.

分心、電視、網絡，所有這些東西都會妨礙你真正坐下來做工作。

And the more you're able to use just a little bit of willpower to remove the distractions that are keeping you from practicing, the more likely you are to actually sit down and practice, right?

你越是能夠用一點點意志力來排除阻礙你練習的干擾，你就越有可能真正坐下來練習，對嗎？

And the fourth is to practice for at least 20 hours.

第四是至少練習 20 個小時。

Now most skills have what I call a frustration barrier.

現在，大多數技能都有我所說的 "挫折障礙"。

You know, the grossly incompetent knowing it part.

你知道的，嚴重無能的明知故犯那部分。

That's really, really frustrating.

這真的非常令人沮喪。

We don't like to feel stupid.

我們不喜歡覺得自己愚蠢。

And feeling stupid is a barrier to us actually sitting down and doing the work.

愚蠢的感覺阻礙了我們真正坐下來做事。

So by pre-committing to practicing whatever it is that you want to do for at least 20 hours, you will be able to overcome that initial frustration barrier and stick with the practice long enough to actually reap the rewards, right?

是以，無論你想做什麼，只要事先承諾至少練習 20 個小時，你就能克服最初的挫折障礙，堅持練習足夠長的時間，從而真正獲得回報，不是嗎？

That's it.

就是這樣。

That's the power of science.

這就是科學的力量。

Four very simple steps that you can use to learn anything.

四個非常簡單的步驟就能讓你學會任何東西。

Now, this is easy to talk about in theory, but it's more fun to talk about in practice.

現在，理論上說起來容易，但實際操作起來更有趣。

So one of the things that I've wanted to learn how to do for a long time is play the ukulele.

所以，我一直想學的一件事就是彈尤克里裡。

Has anybody seen Jake Shimabukuro's TED Talk where he plays the ukulele and makes it sound like he's like an ukulele god?

有人看過傑克-島布庫羅（Jake Shimabukuro）的 TED 演講嗎？他在演講中演奏四絃琴，讓人覺得他就像四絃琴之神。

It's amazing.

太神奇了

It's like, I saw that.

這就像，我看到了。

It's like, that is so cool.

這就像，太酷了。

It's such a neat instrument.

這真是一件巧妙的樂器。

I would really like to learn how to play.

我真的很想學習如何演奏。

And so I decided that to test this theory, I wanted to put 20 hours into practicing the ukulele and see where we got.

為了驗證這個理論，我決定花 20 個小時練習尤克里裡，看看效果如何。

And so the first thing about playing the ukulele is in order to practice, you have to have one, right?

所以，彈尤克里裡的第一件事就是，為了練習，你必須有一把尤克里裡，對嗎？

So I got an ukulele, and my lovely assistant, thank you, sir.

所以我得到了一把尤克裡裡琴，還有我可愛的助手，謝謝你，先生。

I think I need the cord here.

我想我這裡需要電線。

It's not just an ukulele, it's an electric ukulele, yeah.

這不僅是一把尤克里裡，還是一把電動尤克里裡，沒錯。

So the first couple hours are just like the first couple hours of anything.

是以，前幾個小時就像任何事情的前幾個小時一樣。

You have to get the tools that you're using to practice.

你必須獲得用於練習的工具。

You have to make sure that they're available.

你必須確保他們是可用的。

My ukulele didn't come with strings attached.

我的尤克裡裡琴沒有琴絃。

I had to figure out how to put those on.

我得想辦法把它們穿上。

Like, that's kind of important, right?

這很重要吧？

And learning how to tune and learning how to make sure that all of the things that need to be done in order to start practicing get done, right?

學習如何調整，學習如何確保所有需要做的事情都能完成，以便開始練習，對嗎？

Now one of the things when I was ready to actually start practicing was I looked in online databases and songbooks for how to play songs, and they say, okay, ukuleles, you can play more than one string at a time, so you can play chords, that's cool, you're accompanying yourself, yay you.

當我準備真正開始練習時，我在網上數據庫和歌本中查找如何彈奏歌曲，他們說，好吧，尤克里裡，你可以同時彈奏不止一根弦，所以你可以彈奏和絃，這很酷，你在為自己伴奏，耶。

And when I started looking at songs, I had an ukulele chord book that had like hundreds of chords.

當我開始研究歌曲時，我有一本尤克里裡和絃書，裡面有數百個和絃。

I was looking at this thing, like, whoa, that's intimidating.

我看著這個東西，覺得哇，太嚇人了。

But when you look at the actual songs, you see the same chords over and over, right?

但當你看到實際歌曲時，你會發現相同的和絃在重複出現，對嗎？

As it turns out, playing the ukulele is kind of like doing anything.

事實證明，彈尤克里裡就像做任何事情一樣。

There's a very small set of things that are really important and techniques that you'll use all the time.

有一小部分東西是非常重要的，也是你會一直用到的技巧。

And so in most songs, you'll use four, maybe five chords, and that's it.

是以，在大多數歌曲中，你會使用四個或五個和絃，僅此而已。

That's the song.

就是這首歌。

You don't have to know the hundreds as long as you know the four or the five.

只要你知道 4 或 5，就不必知道幾百。

So while I was doing my research, I found a wonderful little medley of pop songs by a band called Axis of Awesome.

是以，當我在做研究時，我發現了一個叫 Axis of Awesome 樂隊的流行歌曲混合曲目，非常精彩。

And somebody knows it.

有人知道這一點。

And what Axis of Awesome says is that you can learn, or you can play pretty much any pop song over the past five decades if you know four chords.

真棒軸心》說的是，只要你會四個和絃，你就能學會或演奏過去五十年來的幾乎所有流行歌曲。

And those chords are G, D, E minor, C.

這些和絃是 G、D、E 小調和 C。

Four chords pump out every pop song ever, right?

四個和絃就能唱出所有流行歌曲，不是嗎？

So I thought, this is cool.

所以我想，這很酷。

I would like to play every pop song ever.

我想演奏所有流行歌曲。

So that was the first song I decided to learn, and I would like to actually share it with you.

這就是我決定要學的第一首歌，我想和大家分享一下。

Ready?

準備好了嗎？

All right.

好的

Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world.

只是一個生活在孤獨世界裡的小鎮女孩。

She took the midnight train going anywhere.

她坐午夜的火車去任何地方。

I heard that you settled down, that you found a girl, that you're married now.

我聽說你安頓下來了，找到了一個女孩，現在已經結婚了。

Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you.

每晚在夢中，我都能看到你，感受到你。