你的一萬小時該花在哪?
The 10,000-Hour Rule says that you need approximately 10,000 hours of practice to become a world-class expert in a field. There is no other way: if you want to be a world-class expert in your field, you must do your 10,000 hours of practice.
一萬小時天才理論說的是：要想成爲這一領域的世界級專家，你就需要花大約一萬個小時來練習。沒有其他的法子，如果你想成功，那就必須得花一萬個小時。
Then, where should you invest my 10,000 hours of practice?
那麼，你應該把這一萬個小時花在哪裏呢？
This question is important because 10,000 hours is a lot of time. If you consistently practice 4 hours a day for 6 days a week, you will still need 8 years to get 10,000 hours. So answering this question is essential. If you need to invest such a huge amount of time, you'd better do it right. You'd better find your niche.
這個問題很重要，因爲一萬個小時是很長的一段時間。如果你每天練習4小時，每週練習6天，那麼你需要8年的時間才能達到一萬個小時的練習量。所以回答“要把一萬個小時花在哪”的這個問題就變得非常有必要了。你要付出這麼多的時間，你就必須選好方向，選擇最合適的方向。
To find your niche, I find the three questions below helpful. Answer them and you will have an idea of where you should go. Here they are:
爲了能找到最合適的方向，我提出了下面的三個問題，如果能回答出來這些問題，你就能找到你的方向了。問題如下：
1. Where have you invested your time?
1. 你過去都把時間花在了哪裏？
One way to know where to invest your time is simply to look at where you have invested your time. For example, in the last few years you might have learned how to play music for one or two hours a day. Or you might have blogged about a certain topic. Or you might have spent a lot of time on gardening.
要想知道該在哪個方面花時間的最簡單的辦法就是回頭看看自己已經在哪個領域花了時間。比如說，在過去的幾年裏，你每天都會花一兩個小時來演奏音樂，或者在某個問題上持續地發表文章，又或者在園藝上花費了大量的時間。
Those are good signs of where you should invest your 10,000 hours. You already invest part of that 10,000 hours so you only need to invest the rest. The difference is now you do it consciously and deliberately. You will be more effective that way.
這些都能很好地說明你應該在哪些方面來利用這一萬個小時的時間。你已經花了一部分時間了，那麼你只需要把一萬個小時中剩下的那部分時間花上去就可以了。區別在於現在你是有意識地、特意地把時間用在某個領域上，而收效也會更好。
2. What are your passions?
2. 你最感興趣的是什麼？
In fact, that's one reason why 10,000 hours is a magic number to become a world-class expert: almost everyone else fails before reaching that point. Only a few people can reach the 10,000 hours mark and that's why they become world class.
事實上，興趣就是一萬個小時天才理論的奧妙之處，因爲很多人都在達到這個數量級之前就放棄了。只有一小部分人可以堅持一萬個小時，而他們就成了世界級的高手。
To help you reach the 10,000 hours mark, doing something you love is really helpful. It will help you go through difficult times. It will help you overcome boredom. Without it, the 10,000 hours will feel like a painful journey. It's highly unlikely that you will ever reach the 10,000 hours mark that way.
爲了讓自己能堅持一萬個小時，做自己感興趣的事是非常重要的。它可以幫助你渡過難關，戰勝無聊。如果是自己不感興趣的東西的話，那麼要堅持一萬個小時簡直就是一段痛苦不堪的長途跋涉啊，很有可能你在到達終點前就已經放棄了。
3. What opportunities does the age give you?
3. 你所處的時代賦予了你什麼？
Ask yourself: what opportunities does your birth date give you? What opportunities does the history give you at this point in time?
問問自己：你出生的那個時代給你帶來了什麼機會？現在的社會環境又給你創造了什麼機遇？
Answering these questions is not easy because it's difficult to see whether or not something will be hot. When Bill Gates did his 10,000 hours of practice to learn programming, he might not know that it would eventually put him in a perfect position to be a software mogul. You need to have faith in something and believe that the dots will eventually connect.
要回答這個問題並不容易因爲沒有人可以預見未來，知道什麼東西會在將來火起來。當比爾-蓋茨把他的一萬個小時用於學習編程的時候，他可能也不知道最終自己會因此而成爲軟件業巨頭。你需要對自己選擇的方向有信心，要相信最終這些小的點都會連成線。
