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One example of rationality in action, just to give you a sense of what it looks like, and how it's relevant,
给大家讲一个理性行动的例子，为了让你感觉到它到底是什么样的，以及它是如何有关联的。
back in 1985, Intel had a large foot in the memory chip manufacturing business, and they'd been losing money on memory chips for years.
早在1985年，英特尔在内存芯片制造业务上有一个很大漏洞，他们在内存芯片上多年来一直在亏损。
So the two co-founders, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore, met to figure out what to do.
因此，两位联合创始人，安迪-格鲁夫和戈登-摩尔，开会商讨如何应对。
And at one point, Andy asked, "What do you think a new CEO would do if the board kicked us out and brought in a new CEO?"
有一次，安迪问："如果董事会把我们踢出去，换一个新的CEO，你认为新的CEO会怎么做？”
And without hesitating, Gordon replied, "Oh he would get out of the memory business."
戈登毫不犹豫地回答，"哦，他会退出内存业务。”
And Andy said, "Well, so is there any reason we shouldn't do that, if we just walk out the door and come back in, and switch out of the memory business?"
安迪说："好吧，那么我们有什么理由不这样做，我们出去再进来，直接关掉内存业务？”
And in fact, that's exactly what they decided to do, and it was a huge success.
事实上，这正是他们想要做的并且取得了成功。
And this is just one example of a cognitive bias that appears in lots of contexts and lots of scales called the commitment effect,
这只是一个认知偏见的例子，这种偏见出现在很多情况下和很多尺度上，被称为承诺效应，
where we stick with a business plan, or a career, or a relationship long after it's become quite clear that it's not doing anything for us,
在这种情况下，我们坚持一个商业计划，或一个职业，或一段关系，但很明显，它对我们没有任何作用，它甚至有主动破坏性，
or that it's actively destructive, or self-destructive, because we have an irrational commitment to whatever we have been doing for a while,
或自我破坏性，只因为我们曾经做过非理性的承诺，无论我们已经做了一段时间，
because we don't like the idea of our past investment having gone to waste, or because it's become part of our identity.
因为我们不愿承认以往的投资都被浪费了，或因为它已经成为我们身份的一部分。
And the technique that Andy and Gordon used to snap themselves out of their commitment effect is also a really generally useful technique called looking at a problem as if you were an outsider, or an outside party.
安迪和戈登用来使自己摆脱承诺效应的技巧也是一个非常普遍有用的技巧，即把你当作一个局外人，或一个外部当事人来看待问题。
So here's what happens.
所以，就是这样的。
When you think about your own life, you're trapped within your own perspective.
当你思考自己的生活时，你被困在自己的视角中。
You're trapped within your own emotions and feelings and so on.
你被困在自己的情绪和感受中，等等。
But if you give advice to somebody else, all of a sudden you're not trapped within that emotional combination mishmash complexity, and you can give advice that is more forward-looking, and not so specific to the emotions.
但是，如果你给别人提供建议，突然间你就不会被困在那种复杂的情绪中了，你可以提供更有前瞻性的建议，而不是那么具体的情绪。
So when you have a bad habit, it's very helpful to think very clearly 'What do I really want over the long-term? What's really most important to me?'
因此，当你有一个坏习惯时，仔细想想 "从长远来看，我真正想要什么？什么是真正对我最重要的？
And that can help you fight back against the pull, the gravitational pull, that a bad habit can exert.
而这可以帮助你产生动力从而反击坏习惯。
I was probably over 340, certainly around there.
我以前可能超过了340磅，在这个数字上下波动。
And now as I sit here in front of you I'm probably about 232.
而现在，坐在你们面前的我，可能只有232磅左右。
There's a fluctuation of a couple pounds that goes back and forth.
但仍然会有有几磅的波动，或多或少。
It's a lot of weight. I did not lose it for vanity.
这是个很大的重量。我不是为了虚荣心而减掉它。
I was pretty happy with myself fat. I didn't mind being fat.
我胖的很开心。我并不介意自己胖。
Wasn't a big deal to me. I didn't mind how I looked.
所以这对我来说不是什么大问题。我并不介意我的外表。
But my health was getting bad.
但我的健康状况越来越差。
I didn't even mind how I felt very much, didn't mind, you know, not being energetic and stuff, but I started having blood pressure that was stupid high, like you know, the English voltage, like 220, even on blood pressure medicine.
我甚至不介意我的感觉，比如虚弱乏力之类的，但后来我开始有了高血压，按照英国的压力单位，大概达到了220，甚至还得吃血压药。
And I have two young children. I'm an old dad.
而且我有两个年轻的孩子。我是一个老父亲。
My children, my daughter was born when I was 50.
我的孩子，我的女儿是在我50岁时出生的。
And now that I'm lighter, I feel lighter and I feel happier.
现在我的体重减轻了，我感觉更轻了，我感觉更快乐了。
And you know, there's a chance, my chances of living longer for my children have gone up considerably.
而且你知道，这是一次机会，我为我的孩子们活得更久的机会已经大大增加了。
You know, I lost my mom and dad when I was 45, and a year of my life was in deep, deep mourning, you know?
我在45岁时失去了我的妈妈和爸爸，我的生命中有一年时间处于深深的哀悼之中。
And there's a very good chance my children will have to go through losing their dad, and I'd much rather they do that when they're a little older than having to do that when they're 15.
而我的孩子们很有可能必须经历失去父亲的痛苦，我更希望他们能晚一点经历这种痛苦，而不是在15岁的时候被迫面对它。
It turns out that being with my children was more important to me than chocolate cake.
事实证明，对我来说，与孩子们在一起比吃巧克力蛋糕更重要。
If you look at life as a series of goals, which for many of us it is, it's a period of being unsuccessful in achieving the goal, then hitting the goal, then feeling like you haven't really got much from that goal, and going to the next one.
如果你把生活看成是一系列的目标，对许多人来说，很长一段时间都没能成功，然后是达到目标，接着会感觉这个目标并没有给你带来什么，于是你又去寻找下一个目标。
Goals generally, I think, are in many ways broken processes.
我认为，一般来说，目标在很多方面都是一个逐渐破碎的过程。
I think part of the problem with goals is that they don't tell you how to get to where you're going.
我认为目标的部分问题是，它们没有告诉你如何到达你要去的地方。
A better thing to do is to use a system.
更好的做法是使用一个系统。
So the idea behind a system rather than a goal is that a system is saying things like I'm a writer, my goal is to finish writing this book, but I'm not gonna think about it that way.
因此系统的真正含义不是目标而是，比如说说我是一个作家，我的目标是完成写这本书，但我并不会这样想。
Eventually, I'll have 100,000 words, but what my system will be that for an hour every morning I will sit in front of my computer screen, and I will type.
最终，我写了大约10万字，但我的系统是，每天早上要在电脑前写上一个小时的文字。
It doesn't matter what that looks like.
写成什么样不重要。
I'm not going to evaluate the number of words.
写多少字也无所谓。
I'm not gonna set some benchmarks, some artificial number or benchmark that I should reach.
我不会设定一些基准，一些我应该达到的人为数字或基准。
What I'm gonna do is just say here's my system, an hour a day in front of the screen, will do what I can, bam.
我要做的只是遵循我的系统，每天在屏幕前工作一小时，做力所能及的事。
And the thing is every time you set a system and you stick to it, you're achieving something.
问题是，每当你设定一个系统并坚持下去，你就会取得一些成就。
Instead of a goal that you're failing essentially for long periods of time until you reach the goal, you're succeeding every day, as long as you adhere to your system, and you end up getting to the same place, but that framing is so much more effective.
与其说你的目标是长期失败，直到实现目标，不如说你每天都在成功，只要你坚持你的系统，你最终会实现同一个目标，但这种框架更为有效。
It gives you the kind of positive feedback you seek.
它给你提供了你寻求的那种积极反馈。
And a system is kind of geared towards psychological well-being.
而系统是面向心理健康的。
This is the thing I need to do to feel good about the way I'm moving through the world towards whatever end state I'm looking for.
这就是我需要做的事情，在抵达我想实现的目标或状态的过程中，要让自己感觉良好。
Goals don't do that.
目标并不能做到这一点。
They just set signposts that you're supposed to look at from afar and move towards.
它们只是设置了一些路标，让你远远看着，然后向它前进。
Systems are a much more useful way of engaging with the world towards certain ends and certain outcomes.
系统是一种更有用的方式，可以让你参与到这个世界中去，达到某些目的和某些结果。
