这次可不是标题党，是在Quora上看到的一个问题What can I learn in one minute that will be useful for the rest of my life?，看了下面的一些回复，有些确实让人感觉很受用。

本文来自普特英语听力网

微信号： putclub2012

It took me 31 years of living to learn that the most important character trait you can develop is perseverance.

我花了31年的时间才明白一个人最重要的品格就是坚持。

The good news is that you can learn this in one minute.

而坚持，你只要花一分钟的时间就能学会。

I've summarized my life experiences into 3 main points that highlight why perseverance is the single most important character trait for you to develop.

我总结了我人生中3个关键的节点来说明，为什么坚持是人们最应该培养的一种重要品质。

A sustained effort over time will typically lead to mastery.

持续不懈的努力可以带来成功。

When I first started writing, a few of my friends laughed at my books. Rightfully so. It was full of typos, had terrible grammar and pretty mundane content. None of it was spectacular.

当我最开始写作的时候，有些朋友很是看不起我的书，事实上我的书也确实不怎么样。数不清的错别字，糟糕的语法，内容也平平，没有一点吸引人的地方。

The perfect word to describe it: Mediocre.

用两个字来形容就是：平庸。

And the book sales reflected that.

书的销量也很好的佐证了这一点。

Fast forward to today and you'll see that my writing has been published in Forbes, Fortune, Business Insider, Inc. and The Huffington Post.

而今天，我的书已经登上《福布斯》、《财富》、《商业内幕》以及《赫芬顿邮报》。

People will often ask, "How did you manage to get published?"

总是有人会这么问我，“你是怎么做到的？”

The answer is simple: Perseverance.

答案很简单：坚持。

I spent 2 years writing 6 books, 18 Quora posts and 30 editorial pitches before I got published by a major media site.

在被主流媒体看中前，我花了两年的时间写了6本书、18个Quora答案、30篇社论。

Even after this momentum, the website I just launched was slow in gaining subscribers. For example, in about 2 months I had only signed up around 520 subscribers. However, after those 2 months of churning out articles, last night I had a breakthrough of 64 subscribers in just one night!

即便这样，我刚上网站的时候用户订阅量依然增长的很缓慢。比如，在最开始的两个月我只有520个用户。然而，经过这两个月不停的写作，昨晚——仅仅就一个晚上，我就突破性地新增了64个用户。

Over time my writing has improved dramatically. My writing volume has also increased. It used to take me a few days to write an article. Now I can write a short article in an hour and the quality is better.

久而久之，我的写作技巧飞快的提升，写作量也在增加，过去需要花好几天才能写一篇文章，现在只需一个小时就能写出一篇短文，而且质量还更好。

This all happened because I stayed the course.

而这，都是因为我持续不懈的努力才有的结果。

So when in doubt, always remember: persevere.

所以，当感到困惑时，永远记得：坚持。

I've failed a lot.

我失败过很多次。

One of my first jobs when I was in high school was working as a salesperson at a tuxedo shop. A few months in, I missed one of my shifts and was fired. I was really upset at myself.

我的第一份工作是在上高中的时候在一家礼服店当售货员。没过几个月，我因为没赶上轮班被炒掉了，那时我真的对自己非常沮丧。

I once tried to be a professional actor and met with an agent. She told me to find another career.

我曾经还想当一个专业的演员，为此去见了一位经纪人，她告诉我还是另谋出路吧。

I once tried to be a professional writer. My first book was called "Push." I think I sold a few Kindle copies. Mostly to family and friends. It was a long time ago.

我曾经还想当一名专业的作家，我的第一本书叫做“Push”，嗯，还在Kindle上面卖出去了一些，不过大多都是朋友跟家人买的。这也是很久前的事了。

Know what happened? I bounced back. For example, I ended up writing a second book called "The Resume is Dead." It has over 40,000 Kindle downloads and hit #1 in the Resumes category.

想知道发生什么才有了现在的我吗？我满血复活了。我又写了第二本书叫"The Resume is Dead"，在Kindle上面被下载了4000多次，在Resumes这一类中排名第一。

I guess I could have quit writing. But why do that when it's my passion? Better to learn from my mistakes and to keep improving.

我想当时我也可以放弃的，但是为什么呢？如果那是我真正喜欢的事情又为什么要放弃呢？我选择了从错误中吸取教训，然后不断提升。

At the end of the day, each of these experiences helped to shape me into who I am today.

最终，每一段经历都塑造了我，使我成为现在的自己。

Don't spend time regretting your past. Do focus your energy on pushing forward.

别把时间浪费在悔恨过去，把精力花在当下，不断前行。

Success isn't built overnight. It's built over many nights. Sometimes years. That's why you've got to be patient.

罗马不是一天建成的，成功也不是一夜就能成，它需要夜以继日、年复一年的坚持，这就是为什么你要学会忍耐。

This doesn't mean you don't create and build with passion and intensity. You absolutely want that. But if you don't have patience, you might end up giving up at a time when you're just inches from success. 

这并不是意味着你不再需要满腔热血专心致志地去创造去打拼，而是如果你没有忍耐力，你很可能会在离成功只有咫尺的时候就忍不住要放弃了。

When I first started writing the "The Resume is Dead," I thought it would take a few months to finish it from beginning to end.

当我最开始写 "The Resume is Dead"这本书时，我以为从头到尾可能也就需要个把月就成。

It took me an entire year. But despite all the times I got writer's block or got a huge headache from proof reading the book, I never quit.

然而，它花了我一年的时间。不管在写作途中我遇到了多少瓶颈，在校对的时候被搞得多头痛，我都没有放弃。

It's the book I'm most proud of. And it was worth every minute.

这本书让我感到自豪，为它花的每一分钟都是值得。

Creating something worthwhile isn't easy. Be patient.

创造一些有价值的东西并不容易，再忍一忍。

The biggest take-away from life, that is going to help me (and will help everyone else too) is this:

我从生活中学到对自己（以及对他人）最有用的就是这个：

Take everything with a grain of salt. Everything.

万事为自己带盐。

Meaning, do not completely believe something you are told.

额，真正的意思是不要完全相信别人告诉自己的那些事情。

This is so much infused in our lives that we almost forget about it. It comes to us naturally, to form a cognitive bias to "believe" in something, or make judgement about something as soon as information is presented to us.

在生活中我们经常会听到这样的话，以至于听过就忘了。当我们听到一些事情的时候，很自然的我们就会形成一些认知偏差，去“相信”它们或是立马就对此做出判断。

Rather, in this world of misinformation propaganda, we have to be careful to form opinions, because ultimately they define a person.

在这个流言满天飞的世界，我们在发表观点时务必要谨慎，因为最终人们是通过这些去衡量别人的。

There are countless examples, and in every moment of our lives we have to take the next step based on what we know, and based on what we infer. The second step is really important. Be it your boss. family, friend or relative: You can never be absolutely sure about something you hear.

生活中这样的例子太多了，当我们要迈出人生中的下一步时，我们得基于我们已知的和我们推断出的东西做决定，这一步骤很重要。做自己的主人，家人、朋友、亲戚，他们告诉你的也不可全信。

This is going to help you so much in life, that you can't imagine. Immediately you will form mature decisions, and stick by principles and opinions. People will respect you more than you've ever known. Life will be much clearer.

这一点给你生活带来的帮助超出你想象，很快你就可以做出成熟的建议，变得更有原则有观点。周围的人也会更尊重你，生活会变得更明朗。

Hope you all keep taking a grain of salt.

希望你们能一直“为自己带盐”。

Use a pause instead of 'but' while apologizing. 

道歉的时候用短暂的停顿来代替“但是”。

We all know whatever said before the 'but' was a moral obligation. It also makes your apology sound artificial.

我们都知道一般在“但是”之前的话都是一些大话空话，这只能让你的道歉变得更虚伪。

Smooth way of passing the blame as well :D

真是一套漂亮的甩锅大法。

There's a video from Game of Thrones about this! 

《权力的游戏》中也有一段关于这个的讨论。

在想放弃的时候再坚持一分钟，在被他人灌输信息的时候多思考一分钟，在给别人道歉的时候多一些真诚，这些一分钟学会就能受用终生的东西你们get到了吗？