by Steve Pavlina

在人生的旅途中，我們總要面對(duì)各種各樣的選擇，比如選擇是在熟悉的家鄉(xiāng)上大學(xué)，還是離開家人到外地求學(xué)。又或者當(dāng)你在某一個(gè)領(lǐng)域已經(jīng)取得一定成績(jī)，你會(huì)選擇繼續(xù)留在那個(gè)“comfort zone”（舒適區(qū)），還是放棄已經(jīng)擁有的一切，去開辟一片新天地呢？本文作者毅然選擇了后者，你對(duì)此又有什么看法？不妨和同學(xué)討論一下。

At a recent visit to the beautiful Keukenhof flower gardens注 in Holland， I learned about the practice of 1）topping. As flowers grow， sometimes the growers cut off the tops of the flowers， which they believe causes the plants to 2）invest more energy into flower growth and less into seed production. The expected result is flower buds that will produce higher quality flowers.

This is a nice 3）analogy for personal growth as well. Sometimes when we produce our first results in a certain area， it can be helpful to cut them off and get rid of them. This can free up energy for a stronger 4）attempt elsewhere instead of settling into the comfort zone of satisfaction with the old results.

After running my computer games business for ten years and creating satisfying results with it， I decided to drop it and leave that field behind. This freed up my energy to focus on my personal development writing and speaking. If Id kept running the old business， Id have become more 5）trapped in that field， planting more seeds there， so to speak. This would have meant less energy to invest in my new path and weaker results.

It can be difficult to choose the topping 6）approach because youre taking something thats already satisfying and cutting it out of your life， in the hopes that something even better will grow in its place. But if you dont do this， then you can easily slow your future growth， causing more energy to be invested in planting even more seeds around the old path. When you 7）decline to make cuts， you 8）effectively say： This is as good as it will ever be， so Im going to settle myself here.

Do you want to settle where you are right now？ If so， then topping is unnecessary. But if youd like to do better and believe you have a good 9）shot at improvement， just like the flower growers at Keukenhof， then topping is a 10）sensible practice.

When you feel like life is becoming too boring， try mixing things up now and then. In many cases you can 11）apply topping on a temporary basis by dropping old 12）routines and trying something new for a while.

As a way to mix things up， Ive been traveling 13）continuously since April， first to Germany， then Holland， and now Im in the UK. By the time I return to Las Vegas， Ill have been in Europe for a month. Thats not only my longest trip to Europe but also my longest trip ever away from my home base.

During this time， Ive dropped my old routine that I would normally use at home， and Im trying something different for a while. I arrived with a one-way ticket， with only part of the trip planned 14）in advance. Even though my old routine was reasonably satisfying， by choosing to cut it out for a while， I no longer need to invest any energy in maintaining that routine. That means more energy is freed up for exploration and growth. Thats basically what Im doing each day—going out， having new experiences， meeting new people， exploring， learning， and growing.

I didnt break with the old routine because of any problems with it. I broke away because I didnt want to allow myself to get 15）stuck， even in a seemingly good place.

When you stay still for long enough， you put down seeds. As time passes， these seeds develop stronger and stronger roots. Your 16）reality becomes 17）solid， and this can make change more difficult. Your thoughts and feelings may become 18）repetitive and circular. Your 19）physical environment may begin to have more and more control over your daily routine. Pretty soon you notice that as the years are passing， little is changing in your life. This is the comfort zone.

If you like the comfort zone and wish to stay there， thats your choice. I prefer not to get stuck there for too long. As soon as life becomes a little too comfortable， and I feel like I can just relax into the satisfaction of maintaining the 20）status quo， I feel the 21）urge to break free of that reality and go for more growth.

Stepping outside of your comfort zone is an uncomfortable experience， but it can 22）yield a lot more growth than staying 23）put. During my Euro trip， for instance， each day brings new challenges， like making the mistake of taking the stairs from the bottom of an underground station in London. But with so much to explore and learn each day， it feels like every day includes minor victories that I seldom experience at home.

Dropping satisfaction to go for more growth is not an easy path to follow， but I do find it to be the more beautiful path. Do you feel the same？

前不久我去荷蘭游覽了美麗的庫(kù)肯霍夫花園，并學(xué)了一點(diǎn)剪枝的技巧。在花朵的生長(zhǎng)過程中，栽培者有時(shí)候會(huì)剪掉花的枝尖，因?yàn)樗麄冋J(rèn)為剪掉尖部，花朵會(huì)開得更加絢爛，避免結(jié)出太多種子。人們期望剪枝能夠讓花蕾開出更高質(zhì)量的鮮花。

這與個(gè)人的成長(zhǎng)十分相似。有時(shí)當(dāng)我們?cè)谀骋活I(lǐng)域取得某些成就后，放棄這些業(yè)已取得的成就大有益處。這樣做能夠騰出更多精力在其他領(lǐng)域做更大的嘗試，而不是抱著已有成果沉浸于安逸的生活。

在電腦游戲行業(yè)打拼十年后，我取得了令人滿意的成績(jī)。在這之后，我決定退出并離開這個(gè)領(lǐng)域。如此一來我就能將更多精力投入到寫作和演講上去。假如我沒有放棄老本行，現(xiàn)在勢(shì)必俗務(wù)纏身，也可以說是在舊領(lǐng)域撒下更多種子。這也意味著我沒有多少精力投入到新領(lǐng)域，成果也不會(huì)如此豐碩。

選擇尖部剪枝法不是一件易事，因?yàn)槟阋艞壓徒爻钪心切┝钭约合喈?dāng)滿意的事情，以期望一些更完滿的事情出現(xiàn)。但如果你不這樣做，那你就會(huì)放慢走向美好未來的腳步，花費(fèi)更多精力在舊土地播種。當(dāng)你拒絕“剪枝”的時(shí)候，你實(shí)際上是在說：這種生活再好不過了，所以我就這樣了。

你安于現(xiàn)狀嗎？如果確實(shí)如此，那么就沒有剪枝的必要了。但如果你想要做得更好而且相信自己會(huì)有很大提高的話——就像庫(kù)肯霍夫花園的鮮花栽培者一樣，剪枝是個(gè)明智之舉。

當(dāng)你發(fā)現(xiàn)生活毫無生氣的時(shí)候，不妨偶爾轉(zhuǎn)變一下生活方式。在很多方面，你可以拋開因循守舊的生活方式，暫時(shí)采取剪枝法，短暫地嘗試新事物。

作為一種轉(zhuǎn)變生活方式的辦法，自從4月以來，我一直在旅行，先是到了德國(guó)，然后是荷蘭，現(xiàn)在我在英國(guó)。到我返回拉斯維加斯的時(shí)候，我在歐洲已經(jīng)停留了一個(gè)月。那不僅是我最長(zhǎng)的歐洲之旅，同時(shí)也是我離家最遠(yuǎn)的一次旅行。

在此期間，我擺脫了之前待在家里因循守舊的生活方式，并且暫時(shí)嘗試不同的生活方式。我買了一張單程票，而且只有一部分行程是預(yù)先計(jì)劃好的。盡管我覺得原有的生活方式挺讓人滿意的，但通過選擇暫時(shí)的割舍，我不再需要投入任何精力去維持那種生活方式。這意味著我有更多精力用于探索和進(jìn)步。基本上這是我每天做的事情——外出、體驗(yàn)新環(huán)境、遇見陌生人、探索、學(xué)習(xí)并成長(zhǎng)。

我沒有因?yàn)槿魏卫_而擺脫原先的生活方式。我擺脫它是不想讓自己受困而已，即使是受困于一個(gè)看似美好的地方。

當(dāng)你在一個(gè)地方停留足夠長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間之后，你會(huì)在那里撒下種子。日積月累，這些種子會(huì)逐漸生根發(fā)芽。你越來越安于現(xiàn)狀，這使得改變?cè)桨l(fā)艱難。你的思想和感覺會(huì)變得機(jī)械，周而復(fù)始。物質(zhì)環(huán)境可能開始對(duì)你的日常生活施加越來越強(qiáng)的控制力。不久你就會(huì)注意到隨著時(shí)光流逝，你的生活沒有多少改變。這就是所謂的舒適區(qū)。

如果你喜歡舒適區(qū)而且希望長(zhǎng)久地駐足，那是你的選擇。我寧愿不做過久的停留。當(dāng)生活變得有點(diǎn)過于安逸，我只會(huì)滿足于維持現(xiàn)狀，這時(shí)我感覺到了掙脫現(xiàn)實(shí)、爭(zhēng)取進(jìn)步的欲望。

踏出舒適區(qū)是一種令人不快的經(jīng)歷，但它卻能比止步不前為你帶來更多成長(zhǎng)體驗(yàn)。在我的歐洲之旅中，每一天我都面臨新的挑戰(zhàn)，比如有一次因?yàn)樽咤e(cuò)路而要從倫敦某一個(gè)地鐵站的底部爬樓梯。但每天都有很多東西等著我去探索和學(xué)習(xí)，就像每天都有小小的成功在等待著我，這是我在家中很少能夠體驗(yàn)到的。

割舍自己的滿足去追求進(jìn)步不是一條容易的路，但我確實(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)它更加美好。你也這樣認(rèn)為嗎？