原标题：【TED】 为什么你无法专注于一件事情？

Raise your hand if you've ever been asked the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

如果你们曾被问过这个问题，请举手“你长大之后想干什么？”

Now if you had to guess, how old would you say you were when you were first asked this question? You can just hold up fingers. Three. Five. Three. Five. Five. OK. Now, raise your hand if the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" has ever caused you any anxiety.

现在大家回想一下，你们第一次被问这个问题是多大？你们可以举手指头来示意一下。三岁，五岁，三岁，五岁，五岁，好的。接下来，如果刚刚说的这个问题，“你长大之后想干什么？”曾经让你感到焦虑，请举手。

Any anxiety at all.

哪怕一点点焦虑。

I'm someone who's never been able to answer the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

我永远无法回答这个问题，“你长大之后想干什么？”

See, the problem wasn't that I didn't have any interests -- it's that I had too many. In high school, I liked English and math and art and I built websites and I played guitar in a punk band called Frustrated Telephone Operator. Maybe you've heard of us.

并不是说我没有兴趣爱好，而是我的兴趣爱好太多。高中的时候，我喜欢英语、数学和艺术，建过网站在一个叫“失意电话话务员”的朋克乐队当吉他手。也许你们还听说过我们乐队呢。

This continued after high school, and at a certain point, I began to notice this pattern in myself where I would become interested in an area and I would dive in, become all-consumed, and I'd get to be pretty good at whatever it was, and then I would hit this point where I'd start to get bored. And usually I would try and persist anyway, because I had already devoted so much time and energy and sometimes money into this field. But eventually this sense of boredom, this feeling of, like, yeah, I got this, this isn't challenging anymore -- it would get to be too much. And I would have to let it go.

高中毕业后我也依旧兴趣广泛，某一天，我发现自己有一个行为模式，我会对某一个领域感兴趣，然后一头扎进去，认真钻研，变得越来越擅长，但到了某一个阶段，我就会开始觉得无聊。通常我会继续坚持下去，因为我已经投入了很多时间和精力，有时候还有金钱。但是最终这种无聊的感觉，就像在说，哦，这事我已经会了，已经没有任何挑战了，再继续也不会有多大成就了。我必须要放手。

But then I would become interested in something else, something totally unrelated, and I would dive into that, and become all-consumed, and I'd be like, "Yes! I found my thing," and then I would hit this point again where I'd start to get bored. And eventually, I would let it go. But then I would discover something new and totally different, and I would dive into that.

但之后我可能又会对另一些事感兴趣，跟之前完全不同的领域，我又会一头扎进去，认真钻研，然后说，“太棒了！这就是我的菜！”之后我又会达到那个阶段，开始觉得无聊。最后，我又会放弃。之后我又会发现新的兴趣，不同的领域 然后一头扎进去。

This pattern caused me a lot of anxiety, for two reasons. The first was that I wasn't sure how I was going to turn any of this into a career. I thought that I would eventually have to pick one thing, deny all of my other passions, and just resign myself to being bored. The other reason it caused me so much anxiety was a little bit more personal. I worried that there was something wrong with this, and something wrong with me for being unable to stick with anything. I worried that I was afraid of commitment, or that I was scattered, or that I was self-sabotaging, afraid of my own success.

这种模式让我非常焦虑，原因有两点。一是我不确定如何才能将这些兴趣变成我的职业。我觉得自己最终会从（这些兴趣）里面挑一个，而对其他爱好忍痛割爱，做好将来一定会无聊的心理准备。让我非常焦虑的第二个原因，跟我自身有关。我担心自己的这种行为模式是错的，自己这么朝三暮四，是不是错了。我是不是害怕做出承诺， 或者自由散漫，破罐子破摔， 惧怕成功。

If you can relate to my story and to these feelings, I'd like you to ask yourself a question that I wish I had asked myself back then. Ask yourself where you learned to assign the meaning of wrong or abnormal to doing many things. I'll tell you where you learned it: you learned it from the culture.

如果你能理解我的故事和我的感受，请你们问自己一个问题，这个问题我早就该问自己的。就是，你是从哪里学到该如何判断我们的所作所为是错误的或者不正常的。我来告诉你答案：是从我们的文化中学到的。

We are first asked the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" when we're about five years old. And the truth is that no one really cares what you say when you're that age.

我们第一次被问到“你长大之后想干什么？”是在差不多五岁的时候。其实像你那么大的时候没有人会真的关心你说了什么。

It's considered an innocuous question, posed to little kids to elicit cute replies, like, "I want to be an astronaut," or "I want to be a ballerina," or "I want to be a pirate." Insert Halloween costume here.

这仅仅是一个无伤大雅的问题，为的是让小朋友做出可爱的回应，比如，“我想当宇航员”，或者“我想当芭蕾舞演员”，或者“我想当海盗”。此处应加万圣节服装的特效。

But this question gets asked of us again and again as we get older in various forms -- for instance, high school students might get asked what major they're going to pick in college. And at some point, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" goes from being the cute exercise it once was to the thing that keeps us up at night. Why?

然而这个问题，在我们成长的过程中会不断被问到形式多种多样，比如，高中生会被问到，你们在大学准备选什么专业。突然有一天，“你长大之后想干什么？”从原本一种秀可爱的方式变成了让我们寝食难安的难题。为什么会这样？

See, while this question inspires kids to dream about what they could be, it does not inspire them to dream about all that they could be. In fact, it does just the opposite, because when someone asks you what you want to be, you can't reply with 20 different things, though well-meaning adults will likely chuckle and be like, "Oh, how cute, but you can't be a violin maker and a psychologist. You have to choose."

尽管这个问题鼓励小朋友想象自己将来要做什么，但它并未给小朋友充分想象的自由。恰恰相反，它限制了小朋友想象的自由，因为有人问你长大后想做什么，你不可能回答20种不同的职业，尽管有些善良的大人会笑呵呵地说，“哦，你太可爱了，但是你不能同时成为小提琴制作家和心理学家啊。你必须选一个。”

This is Dr. Bob Childs -- and he's a luthier and psychotherapist. And this is Amy Ng, a magazine editor turned illustrator, entrepreneur, teacher and creative director. But most kids don't hear about people like this. All they hear is that they're going to have to choose. But it's more than that. The notion of the narrowly focused life is highly romanticized in our culture. It's this idea of destiny or the one true calling, the idea that we each have one great thing we are meant to do during our time on this earth, and you need to figure out what that thing isand devote your life to it.

这位是鲍勃·柴尔兹博士，他是一名弦乐器工匠和心理医生。这位是艾米·恩，之前是杂志编辑，后来成为插画作家，企业家教师和创意总监。但大部分孩子都没听说过他们。他们听到的只是要他们进行选择和取舍。事情远不止这么简单。一生都心无旁骛的这一观念，在我们的文化中被过分浪漫化了。这种命运论或者说“命中注定的职业”的概念，意思是我们每个人都有一份命中注定的伟大事业，我们需要找到它，并为之奋斗一生。

But what if you're someone who isn't wired this way? What if there are a lot of different subjects that you're curious about, and many different things you want to do? Well, there is no room for someone like you in this framework. And so you might feel alone. You might feel like you don't have a purpose. And you might feel like there's something wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with you. What you are is a multipotentialite.

但如果你不是这样的人呢？如果你对很多事都有好奇心，想去尝试各种各样的职业呢？那么在现有体系中，你很难有容身之处。你也许会感到孤独。你也许会觉得自己没有目标。你也许会觉得自己是不是有问题。你没有问题。你是一名“多重潜力者”。

A multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits. It's a mouthful to say. It might help if you break it up into three parts: multi, potential, and ite. You can also use one of the other terms that connote the same idea, such as polymath, the Renaissance person. Actually, during the Renaissance period, it was considered the ideal to be well-versed in multiple disciplines. Barbara Sher refers to us as "scanners." Use whichever term you like, or invent your own. I have to say I find it sort of fitting that as a community, we cannot agree on a single identity.

“多重潜力者”拥有多种兴趣并且追求创新。听起来很费解吧。如果把它拆成三部分可能比较好理解：多重的、有潜力的人。你也可以用其他词来表述类似的意思，比如“博学者”，或者“文艺复兴者”。实际上，在文艺复兴时代，精通多个学科是非常被推崇的。芭芭拉·谢尔称我们为“扫描仪”。你可以选择一个自己喜欢的词，或者创造一个新的。我感觉自己找到了组织，因为我们无法接受只有一种身份。

It's easy to see your multipotentiality as a limitation or an affliction that you need to overcome. But what I've learned through speaking with people and writing about these ideas on my website, is that there are some tremendous strengths to being this way. Here are three multipotentialite super powers.

人们很容易把多重潜力视为一种局限或者痛苦，需要克服。但我通过与人们交流，以及把这些观点发到我的网站上，我发现多重潜力者有很多优点。多重潜力者拥有三种“超能力”。

One: idea synthesis. That is, combining two or more fields and creating something new at the intersection.Sha Hwang and Rachel Binx drew from their shared interests in cartography, data visualization, travel, mathematics and design, when they founded Meshu. Meshu is a company that creates custom geographically-inspired jewelry. Sha and Rachel came up with this unique idea not despite, but because of their eclectic mix of skills and experiences. Innovation happens at the intersections. That's where the new ideas come from. And multipotentialites, with all of their backgrounds, are able to access a lot of these points of intersection.

第一是产生创意。就是说，结合两个或两个以上领域从结合处寻求创新。黄沙和瑞秋·宾克斯找到了共同的兴趣爱好，像制图，数据可视化，旅行，数学和设计，之后他们创办了Meshu。Meshu是一家定制珠宝公司，专门制作具有地域特色的珠宝。黄沙和瑞秋之所以能产生这个独特的创意，正是因为他俩博学多才，经历丰富。创新来源于交叉处。新创意（大都）来源于此。而多重潜力者，拥有丰富的（知识）背景，能够在各领域交叉处找到突破点。

The second multipotentialite superpower is rapid learning. When multipotentialites become interested in something, we go hard. We observe everything we can get our hands on. We're also used to being beginners, because we've been beginners so many times in the past, and this means that we're less afraid of trying new things and stepping out of our comfort zones. What's more, many skills are transferable across disciplines, and we bring everything we've learned to every new area we pursue, so we're rarely starting from scratch.

多重潜力者的第二种超能力是快速学习。当多重潜力者对某件事产生兴趣时，我们会全身心投入。我们仔细观察，勤于实践。我们已经习惯于当初学者，因为我们过去曾当过无数次初学者，我们不怕尝试新事物，勇于走出舒适区。除此以外，很多能力在各个学科都是通用的，我们将之前所学用于新领域，而不用从零开始。

Nora Dunn is a full-time traveler and freelance writer. As a child concert pianist, she honed an incredible ability to develop muscle memory. Now, she's the fastest typist she knows.

诺拉·邓恩是一位全职旅行家和自由作家。作为一名儿童钢琴演奏家，她磨练出了非凡的能力来发展肌肉记忆。因此，她是她所有认识的人中打字最快的。

Before becoming a writer, Nora was a financial planner. She had to learn the finer mechanics of sales when she was starting her practice, and this skill now helps her write compelling pitches to editors. It is rarely a waste of time to pursue something you're drawn to, even if you end up quitting. You might apply that knowledge in a different field entirely, in a way that you couldn't have anticipated.

在当作家之前，诺拉是一名理财师。在初入这行的时候，她不得不学习一些高明的销售技巧，如今这项技能被她用来给编辑写精彩的推荐语。追求你感兴趣的东西并不是浪费时间，即使最后你并没有坚持到底。也许将来你会把这些知识用在一个完全不同的领域，用一种你完全预料不到的方式。

The third multipotentialite superpower is adaptability; that is, the ability to morph into whatever you need to be in a given situation. Abe Cajudo is sometimes a video director, sometimes a web designer, sometimes a Kickstarter consultant, sometimes a teacher, and sometimes, apparently, James Bond.

第三种“超能力”是适应性。也就是说，如果有需要，你能变成任何角色，以适应不同的情况。艾比·卡胡多有时候是视频导演，有时候是网站设计师，有时候是众筹顾问，有时候是老师，有时候，很明显，是詹姆斯·邦德。

He's valuable because he does good work. He's even more valuable because he can take on various roles,depending on his clients' needs. Fast Company magazine identified adaptability as the single most important skill to develop in order to thrive in the 21st century. The economic world is changing so quickly and unpredictably that it is the individuals and organizations that can pivot in order to meet the needs of the market that are really going to thrive.

他拥有出色的工作能力。更重要的是他可以随时切换自己的角色，来满足客户的需要。《快公司》杂志认为，要想在21世纪取得成功，适应性是最重要的一项技能。经济界的变化如此迅速且无法预测，那些能够根据市场需要进行调整的个人和公司才有可能取得成功。

Idea synthesis, rapid learning and adaptability: three skills that multipotentialites are very adept at, and three skills that they might lose if pressured to narrow their focus. As a society, we have a vested interest in encouraging multipotentialites to be themselves. We have a lot of complex, multidimensional problems in the world right now, and we need creative, out-of-the-box thinkers to tackle them.

产生创意，快速学习和适应性是多重潜力者非常擅长的三种能力，如果强迫他们缩小自己的关注范围，这三种能力也许就会丧失。作为一个社会，鼓励多重潜力者保持本色对我们有利。我们如今面临许多复杂问题，涉及许多方面，我们需要有创意的、能破除思维定式的思想者来解决这些问题。

Now, let's say that you are, in your heart, a specialist. You came out of the womb knowing you wanted to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. Don't worry -- there's nothing wrong with you, either.

我们假设，内心深处，你是一名专家。你从打娘胎里出来就知道你想当一名儿童神经外科医生。别担心，即使这样你也挺正常的。

In fact, some of the best teams are comprised of a specialist and multipotentialite paired together. The specialist can dive in deep and implement ideas, while the multipotentialite brings a breadth of knowledge to the project. It's a beautiful partnership. But we should all be designing lives and careers that are aligned with how we're wired. And sadly, multipotentialites are largely being encouraged simply to be more like their specialist peers.

事实上，一些顶尖团队就是由专家和多重潜力者搭配组成。专家可以深入研究，实践想法，而多重潜力者可以为项目带来更广泛的知识支持。这是一种美妙的合作。但是我们都应该根据自己的天赋来规划与之相适应的人生和职业。不幸的是，多重潜力者往往被要求成为（刚刚提到的）团队中的那个专家。

So with that said, if there is one thing you take away from this talk, I hope that it is this: embrace your inner wiring, whatever that may be. If you're a specialist at heart, then by all means, specialize. That is where you'll do your best work. But to the multipotentialites in the room, including those of you who may have just realized in the last 12 minutes that you are one --

所以，如果你从今天的演讲中学到了一件事的话，我希望会是：接受你内心的真实想法。如果你是专家型的人，那就用尽一切办法，成为专家。你会干得非常不错。但对于在座的多重潜力者们，包括那些在过去的12分钟里刚刚意识到自己是多重潜力者的人。

To you I say: embrace your many passions. Follow your curiosity down those rabbit holes. Explore your intersections. Embracing our inner wiring leads to a happier, more authentic life. And perhaps more importantly -- multipotentialites, the world needs us.Thank you.

我要对你们说：接受你的众多爱好。保持你的好奇心。探索（不同领域的）交叉地带。让真实的自我引领我们去过更快乐、更真实的人生。也许更重要的是，（我们是）多重潜力者，这个世界需要我们。谢谢大家。

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