Being an expert at something really pays off. Just how good are top performers compared to everybody else? Research shows in high complexity jobs like professional and sales roles, the top 10 percent produce 80 percent more than average and 700 percent more than the bottom 10 percent. But as I'm sure you're aware, becoming the best ain't easy. As Bobby Knight once said, "Everybody has the will to win; few people have the will to prepare to win."

　　想要成为某方面的专家，那确实需要花费一番功夫。要比别人好多少才能称的上专家?一组数据来告诉你，在调查了不同行业的专家到销售人员，位于该行业顶尖的10%贡献了80%的行业成果，是该行业底层10%贡献的7倍还多。但你们也一定清楚，想要做到最好并不容易，就像Bobby Knight (著名篮球教练)所说：“每个都渴望成功，但只有少数人会为此做出准备。”

　　And one of the reasons why it's hard to become great is because a lot of what you've been told about how to learn, study, or train is wrong, wrong, and dead wrong. So it's time to learn how to get better at gettin' better. Whether you want to be a great public speaker, study for exams, or improve your free throws, we're going to learn what methods research and experts recommend for becoming an expert at anything.

　　阻碍你成功的不利因素很多，其中就有看似引导你成功的学习训练方法，实则带你误入歧途。该是学习正确方法的时候啦，不论你是想提升演讲水平，或是应试能力，亦或是更加准确的投球率，以下方法均可适用。

　　The #1 Predictor of expertise

　　专业度预测

　　I'm going to ask you one question. And this question will probably predict just how good you'll end up being at whatever it is you're passionate about. Ready?" How long are you going to be doing this?" Yeah, doing something for a long time probably correlates with being decent at it but that's not the point. Committing in advance to being in it for the long haul made all the difference. Even when practicing the same amount, those who made a long-term commitment did 400 percent better than the short-termers.

　　问你个问题，来判断你感兴趣事情将会取得专业程度。“为了达到专业你能坚持多久?”能够长时间坚持做一件事，说明你非常适合做这件事，但这并不是重点。如果你以一个长期目标为导向，则会让你更上一层楼。

　　From The Talent Code：With the same amount of practice, the long-term-commitment groupoutperformed the short-term-commitment group by 400 percent. The long-term-commitment group, with a mere twenty minutes of weekly practice, progressed faster than the short-termers who practiced for an hour and a half. When long-term commitment combined with high levels of practice, skills skyrocketed.

　　节选《一万个小时》：训练同样的时间，长期目标小组的成绩4倍于短期小组。不仅如此，每周训练20分钟的长期目标小组比每周训练90分钟的短期目标小组的进步还要大。当长期目标小组配合高强度的训练，其成效如同坐上火箭，锐不可当。

　　The #2 Find a mentor

　　找一个导师

　　Luke had Yoda. The Karate Kid had Mr. Miyagi. I'm sure Kung Fu Panda had somebody but I never saw that movie. You get the picture. When I spoke to Anders Ericsson, the professor who did the research behind the "10,000 hour rule" he said mentors were vital. But you knew that already. So what does the research show about mentors that most people get wrong? Merely finding someone to help you that is already an expert doesn't cut it.

　　就像星际大战中的卢克有绝地大师，龙威小子有宫城先生，功夫熊猫也有个师傅，虽然我没有看过电影。但是我想你明白了有个导师重要性。曾为“一万个小时理论”作调研的Aders Ericsson, 说有个导师对于成功是非常重要的。你们很多人都知道，也有导师,为什么最后的结果还是不理想，因为很多人都没有选对人。

　　When I spoke to Shane Snow, author of Smartcuts, he said your mentor needs to care about you. Here's Shane: In great mentorship relationships the mentor doesn't just care about the thing that you're learning, they care about how your life goes. They are with you for the long haul. They are willing to say, "No," and to tell you what you're doing is wrong. Those kinds of relationships yield outsized results in terms of future salaries and happiness.

　　我曾和《Smartcuts》的作者肖恩斯诺谈及此事，他的观点是导师不仅是在专业领域能帮助你的人，同时对你的生活也要有所关心。你们是长期的指导关系，在你做的不当的时候会适时阻止并且指点你。他会使你在将来的潜在收入和幸福感方面都获益。

　　The #3 Start with what's important

　　先学关键的内容

　　David Epstein put it simply: "The hallmark of expertise is figuring out what information is important." There are many components to any skill but practicing them all doesn't produce the same results. When I spoke to Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek he said: Do an 80-20 analysis and ask yourself, "Which 20 percent of these things I need to learn will get me 80 percent of the results that I want?"

　　评判一个专家的标准就是对于重要信息判断的准确性。技能的训练有不同的方法，但达到的效果未必相同。畅销书《The 4-Hour Workweek》的作者Tim认为：二八原则可以帮助你分析，要学习哪20% 来达到80%的效果?

　　When Tim was learning chess from champion Josh Waitzkin (whose life was the basis for the film Searching for Bobby Fischer) they did things the opposite from how most chess instruction works. They didn't start with the beginning of a chess game. They jumped straight to key moves that are applicable to the majority of interactions on the board. This allowed Tim to hang with top players after only a few days of practice.

　　他师从Josh Waitzkin(基本是电影“王者之旅”的现实版)学习国际象棋，不同于先打基本功，而是在棋谱上学习足以招架大部分进攻的招式。短短几天Tim 就可以和高手对弈了。

　　The #4 "Train like you fight"

　　把每一次训练都当成实战

　　When I spoke to Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Mike Kenny he told me, "Train like you fight." You want your practice to be as similar to the real thing as possible. And research backs Mike up. Not only will you be better prepared, but you learn much better when the context you practice in matches the context you will eventually perform in. How strong is this effect? Insanely strong.

　　当我和特种部队上尉Mike Kenny 取经时，他说秘诀是“把每一次训练都当成实战”。研究结果支持他的说法，你需要的不仅仅是充分的准备，只有自己带入真实的情境来训练才能最终取得成绩。那要多真实?越真实越好。