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Habits are a funny thing.

习惯是一种有趣的现象。

We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine.

我们无意识地养成了习惯，任由大脑自动操作，且不知不觉在熟悉的常规中感到轻松舒适。

"Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd, " William Wordsworth said in the 19th century.

19 世纪时，威廉·华兹华斯说，"并非选择，而是习惯会控制那些没有思想的人。"

In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word "habit" carries a negative implication.

在千变万化的 21 世纪，甚至"习惯"这个词本身也带有负面涵义。

So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation.

因此，在创造和革新的背景下来谈论习惯，似乎显得有点矛盾。

But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

但大脑研究人员发现，当我们有意识地培养新的习惯，就创建了平行路径，甚至是全新的脑细胞，可以让我们思绪的列车跳转到新的创新轨道上来。

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consiciously developing new habits.

与其否定自己是受习惯影响的一成不变的生物，不如通过有意识的培养新习惯来改变自己。

In fact, the more new things we try-the more we step outside our comfort zone - the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.

事实上，我们对新事物尝试得越多，就会走出自己的舒适地带越远。在职场和个人生活中变得越有创造性。

But don't bother trying to kill off old habits;

但是，不要麻烦地去试图戒掉旧习惯;

once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they're there to stay.

一旦这些惯有程序融进脑部，它们就会留在那里。

Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.

相反，我们有意使之根深蒂固的新习惯会创建平行路径，它们可以绕过原来那些路径。

"The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder, " says Dawna Markova, author of "The Open Mind"

《开放思想》一书的作者达瓦纳·马克瓦说："革新所需要的第一样东西就是对好奇的着迷。

"But we are taught instead to 'decide, ' just as our president calls himself 'the Decider.' "

然而我们被教导去做'决定'，就像我们的总裁称呼自己为'决策者'那样。

She adds, however, that "to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one.

她接着说，"但是，决定意味着除了一种可能性外，其他的都被扼杀了。

A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities."

优秀的具有革新精神的思想家总是在探寻着许多其他的可能性。"

All of us work through problems in ways of which we're unaware, she says.

她说，我们都是通过一些自己没有意识到的方法解决问题的。

Researchers in the late 1960 covered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively.

研究人员在 20 世纪 60 年代末发现人类天生主要用四种方法应对挑战：分析法，程序法，相关法(或合作法)和创新法。

At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.

但是在青春期结束，大脑关闭一半的能力，仅仅保留了那些大约在生命最开始的十几年时间里似乎是最为宝贵的思维方式。

The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought.

标准化测试目前主要强调分析法和程序法这两种方式。也就是说，我们中很少有人会本能地使用创新和合作的思维方式。

"This breaks the major rule in the American belief system - that anyone can do anything, " explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book "This Year I Will. . . " and Ms. Markova's business partner.

M.J.瑞恩是 2006 年出版的著作《今年我将……》一书的作者以及马克瓦女士的商业合作伙伴，她解释说："这打破了美国信念体系里的主要规则-任何人都可以做任何事。"

"That's a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you're good at and doing even more of it creates excellence. " This is where developing new habits comes in.

"这是一个我们已经使之永久化的谎言，这会造成平庸。了解你擅长什么，再多做一些就会成就卓越。"这正是培养新习惯的用武之地。