引言

一个在大学创造了三个学期修完双学位的大学生的成功秘诀！

After writing the time management article “Do It Now,” which was based on my experience of graduating college in three semesters with two degrees, I received many follow-up questions from students asking for more advice. Here are 10 tips to help you create a productive and memorable college experience… and most of all, to deeply enjoy this time in your life.

在给《时代》杂志写了一篇基于我自己在大学学习了三学期获得了两个学位就毕业了的真是经验的稿件以后，我从想要获得更多建议的大学生朋友们那里得到了更多的问题。因此我自己总结了以下10经验，给你们，希望借此你们能够享受更加富有创造性和记忆深刻的大学生活，更为重要的是，能够尽情的享受这个一生中最为美好的时光。

Why am I going to college?

1. Answer the question, “Why am I going to college?”

1.回答自己这样一个问题：“我为什么要上大学？”
　　
Many college students really don’t have a clear reason for being there other than the fact that they don’t know what else to do yet. They inherit goals from family and peers which aren’t truly their own. That was how I started college. Is this you as well?

许多大学生朋友们对于自己为什么上大学心中都没有一个很明确的概念而不是说不知道自己到底应该做什么。他们从自己的家庭或者同龄人中获得了相同的目标，而这个目标并不是他们自己的。而我就是这样的。你是否也又遇到了相同的情况呢？

Your goals for college will likely be different than mine. What are they? Why are you there? If you don’t know — and I mean really know it in your gut — then you have no focal point for your experience. You may as well not even be there. What is it about your experience that resonates as true for you? What are you there to learn? What do you want to experience?

你在大学的梦想和我的肯定是不尽相同的。这些梦想是什么呢？你为什么会到大学里面来呢？如果你不知道-我是指不是你本能的那种明白的话-那么你的人生经历中就没有了所谓的焦点，那就像是没有上大学一样的。到底是什么样子的经历能够在你的内心产生最真是的深切的共鸣呢？你到大学是为了学习什么的呢？你想要经历些什么呢？

Imagine your college life

2.在内心中构建你理想的大学生活

Once you know why you’re going to college, imagine your ideal outcome. Let it flow outward from the reason you’re there. Whether you’ve already started college or not, stop and simply write down some attributes of your ideal experience. Describe it in as much detail as you can.

一旦你明白了自己到底是为什么上大学的，就在你的内心中构建一下你理想中的大学生活的场景吧。让他直接产生于你来大学的原因中，顺快的产生。不管你是否已经开始你的大学生活，先停下来，罗列出你认为是大学理想生活的事项。描绘的越细致越好。

Real life will of course turn out differently than you visualize. The point of visualization isn’t to predict the future or to restrict your freedom to decide later. The point is to give you more clarity for making decisions right now. Your ideal scene serves as a map that can guide you through the quagmire of options.

现实生活和你想象中的事情终究会是不一样的。使得你的梦想形象化并不是为了预测将来或者是限制你未来的某种自由。而是为了让你更加明确的在现在作出决定。你理想的场景就像是地图一样让你走出困住你的现实的沼泽地。

One extra class each semester

3.每学期至少学一门其他的课程

Now you might be thinking that 12-15 units are supposed to equate to a 40-hour week with all the outside homework and studying, but that’s only going to happen if you do things very inefficiently (which sadly is what most people do). If you follow some of the time-saving tips later in this article, then 15 units should only require a few additional hours outside of class to complete assignments. Obviously I couldn’t have taken 31-39 units per semester if it meant doing double those hours in outside homework. I didn’t succeed by overworking myself.

What about prerequisites? For the most part I simply ignored them, and fortunately at my school they weren’t enforced too well. I found that most of the time a prerequisite is listed, it’s geared towards below average students. Don’t let pointless bureaucracy slow you down if you want to graduate sooner. There’s always a way around it — it’s usually just a matter of getting some random form signed by someone who’s too bored to care either way. A smile and a compliment go a long way.

那么先决条件是什么呢？我曾经忽略过这点，但是后来我发现这是十分重要的。不要让没有任何意义的官方政策阻挡住你，如果你想尽快毕业的话。总是会有什么方法解决的，无非就是从一些无聊的人那里弄一些表格填写一下。记住在任何时候微笑都是十分有利的工具！

Set clear goal for each class

4. Set clear goals for each class.

4.为你的每门课程制定一个目标吧！

Decide what you want out of each specific class. Is this a subject you’re eager to learn? Do you want to target this teacher for a letter of recommendation? Is this a required class you must take but which doesn’t otherwise interest you?

作出你每个课程想要达到的目标是什么，想想这是不是你非常想要学习的课程呢？你是否会想给教授写一封自己的推荐信呢？这门课是不是你必须学，但是你对他一点都不感兴趣呢？

Sometimes you’ll achieve your goals; sometimes you won’t. Even if you do your best, you may still fall short. You may encounter teachers that are unfair, lazy, sexist, racist, or otherwise incompetent. My wife had an overtly sexist professor who would never give a female student a grade higher than a B, no matter how well she did. He would say things like, “If you’re a male, you’ll have to work hard in this class. If you’re a female, just come by my office after hours.” Eventually sexual harrassment charges were filed against him. You’ll have to pick your battles. Some are worth fighting; others are best ignored. Having clear goals will help you decide which is which.

有的时候你会实现你的目标，而有的时候你不能。即使有的时候你真的竭尽全力了，你仍然会遇到一些小小的挫折。你会遇到形形色色的老师摆明不公平对待的，懒惰的，性别主义者，种族主义者，或者其他的各式各样的。我的妻子就遇到了一个公开的性别主义者，他甚至宣称他从来不会给任何一个女生比B更高的分数，即使他做得再好。他或许会这样说：“如果你是个男人的话，你就必须在这门课上面下工夫，如果你是个女士的话，那就下课后直接来我的办公室好了。”虽然最终他因为性骚扰被解聘。所以有的时候该打的仗就要努力去斗争。有些事情是值得用斗争去争取的，而有些你最好忽略掉。而确定清晰的目标就会帮助你决定到底什么样的事情是应该的，什么样的是不应该的。

Triage ruthlessly

5. Triage ruthlessly.

5.分工明确

You don’t need to put an equal amount of effort into every class. Inject extra effort when it’s important to you, but feel free to back off a little from classes that are a low priority based on your specific goals. For me this was an important way to conserve energy. I couldn’t play full out in every class, or I’d burn out, so I invested my energy where it mattered most.

你大可不必每门课程上面都花费同样的时间和经历。对于你重要的学科来说多多花费一些经历，但是对于那些并不是很重要的学科来说就大可不必了。而对于我来说，这条定律就是我节省经历的重要法则。我并不是每门课都是全勤，否则的话我肯定就会崩溃了，我只把我的经历投资在那些对于我来说最重要的东西上面。

I would also triage individual assignments. If I felt an assignment was lame, pointless, or unnecessarily tedious, and if it wouldn’t have too negative an impact on my grade, I would actually decline to do it. One time I was assigned a tedious paper that represented 10% of my grade. I really didn’t want to do it, and it required a lot more hours than I felt it was worth. I was headed for an A in the class, and if I didn’t do this assignment, I’d drop to an A-. So I respectfully told the professor I was declining the assignment and that I thought it was a fair trade to receive an A- in order to reinvest those hours elsewhere. He already knew me and understood my reasons. He gave me an A-, and I was fine with that. It was indeed a fair trade. In fact, looking back I wish I’d done this sort of thing more often.

我同样会作出不同的针对性安排的。如果我认为一个任务是差劲的，没有任何的意义，单调乏味的，而且并不会对于我的学分产生什么影响的话，我就不会去做他。有一次我们留了个作业，写一篇极度乏味的论文，这篇论文会占我这门功课总成绩的10%。我并不是很想做，但是如果不做的话，我的成绩就会使A-了。所以我就很充满敬意的告诉我的授课老师说我不想做这篇作业，而如果把节省下来的时间去做其他的事情的话是一个更加不错的选择。这个教授知道我的为人处世的方式，并且理解这其中的原因，因此他给了我一个A-，我对此感到十分的满意。这确实是个不错的交易。实施上，回忆一下，我当时是经常做这样的事情的。