A few years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a rut, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock, and try something new for 30 days. The idea is actually pretty simple. Think about something you ve always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days. It turns out 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit -- like watching the news -- from your life.

几年前，我感觉枯燥乏味极了，所以我决定追随伟大的美国哲学家摩根·斯普尔洛克的脚步，尝试做新事情30天。这个想法的确是非常简单。考虑下，你常想在你生命中做的一些事情，接下来30天尝试做这些。这30天刚好是这么一段合适的时间在你的生活中去养成一个新的习惯或者改掉一个习惯，例如看新闻。

be stuck in a rut （工作、方法等）刻板乏味，墨守成规，一成不变

e.g.

I need to change jobs - after 15 years here I feel I m (stuck) in a rut.                    

我要换工作了——在这里呆了15年，我感觉刻板乏味极了。

subtract  [səbˈtrækt] v. 减去;扣除

反义词：add

There s a few things I learned while doing these 30-day challenges. The first was, instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable. This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month. And I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day. I also noticed that as I started to do more and harder 30-day challenges, my self-confidence grew. I went from desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work. For fun!

当我在30天做这些挑战性事情时，我学到以下一些事。第一件事是，除了飞逝而过易被遗忘的岁月，剩下的这段时间更加令人难忘。挑战的一部分是在一个月内的每天我要去拍摄一张照片。我清楚地记得那一天我所处的位置以及我都在干什么。我也注意到随着我开始做更多的更难的30天挑战性的事时，我自信心也增强了。我从一个台式计算机宅男极客变成了一个骑车上班的人——为了有趣！

Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt.Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. I would never have been that adventurous before I started my 30-day challenges.

甚至去年，我完成了在非洲最高山峰乞力马扎罗山的远足。在我开始这30天挑战性之前，我从来没有这样爱冒险过。

adventurous [ədˈventʃərəs] adj. 爱冒险的;大胆的;

e.g.

an adventurous trip/lifestyle 

惊险的旅行；充满刺激的生活方式 

I also figured out that if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days. Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Every November, tens of thousands of people try to write their own 50,000-word novel, from scratch, in 30 days. It turns out, all you have to do is write 1,667 words a day for a month. So I did. 

我也认识到，如果你真想一些槽糕透顶的事，你可以在30天里做任何事情。你曾想写小说吗？每年11月，数以万计的人们在30天里，从零起点尝试写他们自己的5万字小说。结果是，你所要去做的事就是一个月的每天写1667个字。所以我做到了。

figured out 想出; 解决; 计算出; 弄明白;

e.g.

I simply couldn t figure out his intention. 

我简直揣摩不透他的用意。

scratch [skrætʃ] v. 擦，刮 n. 搔痕;乱写乱画 adj. 打草稿用的，随便写用的

start from scratch 从零开始;从头做起;白手起家 

e.g.

Building a home from scratch can be both exciting and challenging.

建立一个全新的家庭既让人兴奋又富于挑战。

By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep until you ve written your words for the day. You might be sleep-deprived, but you ll finish your novel. Now is my book the next great American novel? No. I wrote it in a month. It s awful.

顺便说一下，秘密是除非在一天里你已经写完了1667个字，要不你就甭想睡觉。你可能被剥夺睡眠，但你将会完成你的小说。那么我写的书会是下一部伟大的美国小说吗？不是的。我在一个月内写完它。它看上去太可怕了。

But for the rest of my life, if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party, I don t have to say, "I m a computer scientist." No, no, if I want to, I can say, "I m a novelist."

但在我的余生，如果我在一个TED聚会上遇见约翰·霍奇曼，我不必开口说，“我是一个电脑科学家。”不，不会的，如果我想我可以说，“我是一个小说家。”

So here s one last thing I d like to mention. I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing, they were more likely to stick. There s nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges. In fact, they re a ton of fun. But they re less likely to stick. When I gave up sugar for 30 days, day 31 looked like this.

我想提最后一件事。当我在一些微小的持续性的改变时，我可以不断坚持去做，它们更容易坚持下来。这和又大又疯狂的具有挑战性的事情无关。事实上，它们的乐趣无穷。但是，它们就不太可能坚持做下来。当我在30天里拒绝吃糖果，31天后看上去就像这样。

So here s my question to you: What are you waiting for? I guarantee you the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot! For the next 30 days.

所以我给大家提的问题是：大家还在等什么呀？我保准大家在未来的30天会去经历你喜欢或者不喜欢的事，那么为什么不考虑你想尝试的事情，在一下个30天里给自己一个机会吧。

guarantee [ˌgærənˈti:] n. 担保;保证人;抵押品 v. 保证，担保

e.g.

He gave me a guarantee that it would never happen again. 

他向我保证这种事情绝不会再发生。 

Thanks.

谢谢。