Fortune.com selects the most compelling short essays, anecdotes, and author interviews from "250 Words," a site developed by Simon & Schuster to explore the best new business books—wherever they may be published.
财富网(Fortune.com)定期从网站“250字”(250 Words)挑选最引人入胜的短文、趣闻轶事和作者访谈。美国西蒙与舒斯国际出版公司(Simon & Schuster)开发该网站，旨在探讨世界各地最新出版的商业佳作。
2013 was the year when meditation finally stopped being seen as vaguely flaky, vaguely new age-y, and fully entered the mainstream. It was also the year of CEOs coming out. Not as being gay, but as being meditators. Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, told the world that he has been meditating for 25 years. Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater, the biggest hedge fund in the world told us that he has been meditating for over 40 years. Mark Bertolini, the CEO of Aetna, talked about how a skiing accident that left him with a broken neck led him to the rejuvenating practices of yoga and meditation. And these are just three of many.
2013年，冥思终于不再被视为隐约有些古怪，同时还带有一丝新纪元味道的行为，开始全面进入主流。同样在这一年，许多CEO纷纷“出柜”，不是作为同性恋，而是以沉思者的身份。软件巨头Salesforce公司CEO马克o贝尼奥夫告诉世人，他已经冥思了25年之久。全球最大的对冲基金桥水公司(Bridgewater）创始人雷o戴利奥告诉我们，40多年来，他一直在冥思。安泰保险公司(Aetna)CEO马克o贝托里尼透露说，在一起滑雪事故中摔断脖子之后，为了恢复活力，他开始修行瑜伽和冥思。除以上三位外，这样的例子还有很多。

My best thinking occurs when I am walking. I was happy to read that one of your favorite phrases is solvitur ambulando— "It is solved by walking." Could you talk about the connection between walking, creativity and clear thinking? How could someone who works in a busy office harness the benefits of walking?
我最好的想法往往出现在我走路的时候。我很高兴读到您最喜爱的警句之一是“致知在躬行”(solvitur ambulando)。您能谈谈行走、创造力和清晰思维之间的联系吗？整日在办公室忙碌工作的人如何利用步行的好处？
There are many problems for which walking is the solution. In our culture of overwork, burnout, and exhaustion, how do we tap into our creativity, our wisdom, our capacity for wonder? Solvitur ambulando.
步行是许多问题的解决方案。在这样一个以劳累过度，倦怠和疲惫为特征的职场文化中，我们如何才能挖掘到我们的创造力、智慧，以及我们创造奇迹的能力呢？迈开双腿，开始行走吧。
A study led by University of Illinois researchers shows that walking three times a week for forty minutes at one's natural pace helps combat the effects of aging and increases brain connectivity and cognitive performance. So it's not just ruminative, creative thinking that's enhanced by walking -- our focused, get-things-done type of thinking is improved as well. And though he didn't have the science to back up his beliefs about the benefits of walking, Henry David Thoreau was onto this truth long ago. "Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow."
伊利诺伊大学( University of Illinois )研究人员主持的一项研究显示，每周坚持散步3次，每次40分钟，不仅有助于对抗衰老的负面影响，还可以增强大脑的连通性和认知能力。所以说，受益于行走的不仅仅是沉思和创造性思维，我们专心致志完成任务的思维能力也可以获得改善。尽管亨利o大卫o梭罗那个时代还没有能够佐证其行走好处多多这一信念的科学，但这位哲人早已深谙这个道理。“据我看，当我的双腿开始移动，我的思想火花也开始迸发。”
For those of us in busy offices, I highly recommend walking meetings. Silicon Valley executive Nilofer Merchant calls this the "walk the talk" method. If you've got to talk to someone in person, why not do it while walking? "What I love is that you're literally facing your problem or situation together when you walk side by side with someone," she said. "I love that people can't be checking e- mail or Twitter during walking meetings. You're awake to what's happening around you, your senses are heightened and you walk away with something office meetings rarely give you -- a sense of joy." How many times have you experienced a sense of joy in a stale conference room while half listening to an endless PowerPoint presentation? Between our minds and our legs, one of them is going to wander. Sit still and our minds want to ramble. Get up and start walking, and our minds can slow down and be more focused.
至于整日在写字楼里忙碌的职场众生，我强烈建议他们实行“散步开会”。硅谷高管尼洛弗o莫晨特把这种方法称为“边走边谈”(walk the talk)。如果你必须跟某人面谈，为什么不一边走一边谈呢？“当你和某人肩并肩走路的时候，你们其实是在一起面对你们的问题或状况，我非常喜欢这样做，”她说。“散步开会时，人们就不会不停地查阅电子邮件或微博，这样多好。你非常清楚周围正在发生的事情，你的感官也会得以增强，你最终将收获一件写字楼会议几乎无法给予你的东西——喜悦感。”待在一间陈旧的会议室里，三心二意地聆听一段没完没了的PPT陈述，这个时候你有多少次曾经感受过喜悦感？我们的思想和我们的双腿，两者之中有一个注定是要游荡的。安静地坐在那里，我们的思想会漫游。起身行走，我们的头脑就会放慢速度，变得更加专注。
"Going viral has gone viral." That sentence resonated. We've become enamored with spreading ideas fast and effortlessly to the point where we equate the quality of an idea with its "viral potential." You suggest that treating virality as a good in and of itself undermines the pursuit of creating quality content. As the founder of The Huffington Post, how do you balance the need for clicks and traffic with meaningful content that might not trend on Twitter or receive millions of view on YouTube?、
“病毒式传播已经成为一种带毒的理念。”这句话产生了共鸣。我们对迅速而轻松地传播想法的迷恋，已经到了把一个想法的品质及其“病毒式传播潜力”等量齐观的程度。你认为，把病毒式传播本身视为好事一桩有损于我们对创造高质量内容的追求。我们知道，有意义的内容或许赶不上Twitter上的趋势，无法在YouTube获得数以百万计的浏览量。作为《赫芬顿邮报》的创办人，您如何把握网站对点击量的需要和高质量内容之间的平衡？
Fetishizing "social" has become a major distraction. And we love to be distracted. I believe our job in the media is to use the social tools at our disposal to tell the stories that matter -- as well as the stories that entertain -- and to keep reminding ourselves that the tools are not the story. When we become too obsessed with our closed, circular Twitter or Facebook ecosystem, we can easily forget that poverty is on the rise, downward mobility is trending upward, millions of people in the United States and even more in Europe and around the world have fallen into chronic unemployment, and 400 million children around the world are living in extreme poverty. On the other side of the spectrum, too often we ignore the great instances of compassion, ingenuity, and innovation shown by people who are changing lives and communities by trying to address these problems.
盲目迷恋“社交影响”已经成为一件最分散精力的事情，而且我们似乎喜欢受到这种纷扰。我相信，作为媒体人，我们应该使用手头上的社交工具来讲述真正有意义的故事（以及那些娱乐性故事），同时不断提醒自己，工具本身不是故事。如果我们过分痴迷于Twitter或Facebook封闭的环形生态系统，我们就会很容易忘记一些真正重要的事情，比如贫困率正在上升；社会阶层固化，而且呈下行流动；数百万美国人正陷入长期失业之中，欧洲和世界其他地方的失业者甚至更多；全球有4亿人正在忍受极端贫困生活的折磨。另一方面，许多人正尝试着解决这些问题，以改变我们的生活和社区。但我们往往忽视了这些充满怜悯之心，设计新颖，极富创造力的伟大实例。
Of course, our team at HuffPost is as aggressive as any media outlet in using social media. But maybe because we've been doing "social" well for a while, I hope we are also able and willing to see it for what it is -- a tool, not a magical feat.
当然，就如同任何一家媒体一样，《赫芬顿邮报》团队也在非常积极地利用社交媒体。但或许是因为我们的“社交”工作一直做得不错，我希望我们也能够、并且愿意看清它的本质——社交媒体只是一个工具，并不是神奇的壮举。
The feeling of wonder is a key component to human flourishing and creativity. Does technology deepen or diminish the feeling of wonder?
惊奇感是人类生生不息和创造力的一大关键组成部分。技术是加强还是削弱了这种惊奇感？
Unfortunately the ever-increasing creep of technology -- into our lives, our families, our bedrooms, our brains -- makes it much harder to renew ourselves and connect with our sense of wonder. The average smartphone user checks his or her device every six and a half minutes. That works out to around 150 times a day. Our brains are naturally wired to connect, so it's not easy to turn away from these kinds of stimuli. But the connection that comes from technology is often an unfulfilling, ersatz version of connection. Its siren call (or beep, or blinking light) can crowd out the time and energy we have for real human connection.
不幸的是，技术正在以前所未有的力度潜入我们的生活、家庭、卧室和大脑。这使得我们越来越难以更新自己，越来越难以产生惊奇感。平均而言，人们现在每6分半钟就会查阅一下自己的设备。也就是说，每天要查阅大约150次。我们的大脑天生就渴望连接，所以脱离这类刺激物并不是一件容易的事。但源自技术的连接往往不能给人带来满足，因为它是一种伪连接。它的警笛呼叫（或嘟嘟声，闪烁灯）往往会挤占我们本可以用来进行人际交往的时间和精力。
Paradoxically, one of the biggest growth sectors for tools to help us deal with technology is . . . technology. The first stages of the Internet were about data and more data. But now we have plenty of data -- indeed, we're drowning in it -- and all the distraction we could ever hope for. Technology has been very good at giving us what we want, but not always what we need. So now, many in the tech world have realized there's a growth opportunity for applications and tools that help us focus and filter all that data and distraction. I have collected some of my favorites in an appendix at the end of Thrive. The less distracted we are, the more likely we are to tap into our sense of wonder and observe the world around us.
有些自相矛盾的是，就能够帮助我们应对技术的工具而言，最大的增长领域之一恰恰是技术。互联网的第一个阶段侧重于收集数据，更多的数据。但现在，我们拥有足够的数据（实际上，我们正在被数据淹没）和我们能够期盼的所有消遣方式。技术一直非常善于给予我们我们想要的东西，但并不总是给予我们我们所需要的东西。所以，许多科技界人士现在已经意识到，可用来帮助我们保持专注，过滤掉所有数据和纷扰的应用和工具拥有绝佳的增长机会。我在《茁壮成长》一书的附录中列举了一些我个人最喜欢的应用。我们受到的纷扰越少，就越有可能挖掘我们的惊奇感，同时观察我们周围的世界。
Tell us about the fourth element of the Third Metric: giving. What are the various benefits of being "a giver?"
现在请介绍一下“第三尺度”的第四个元素：给予。做一名“给予者”有哪些好处？
So often we think of giving as donating time or money to relief efforts for catastrophes in faraway places, helping people who have nothing. That's obviously critical to do when disaster strikes. But we forget that every day we are surrounded by opportunities to act on that same instinct for giving. These chances are always "under foot." As the nineteenth-century naturalist John Burroughs put it, "The great opportunity is where you are. Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world."
很多时候，我们认为所谓给予就是为某个遥远地方的减灾努力贡献时间或金钱，就是帮助那些一无所有的人。在灾难降临的生死关头，这些善行显然是应急之需。但我们忘了，我们每天都被践行同一种给予本能的机会包围。这些机会总是“在脚下”。正如19世纪的博物学家约翰o巴勒斯所言：“伟大的机会就在你所处的地方。不要轻视你自己的地方和事件。每一个地方都位于群星之下，每一个地方都是世界的中心。”
And every place is full of openings to make a real difference in the life of another human being. There are millions of small missed opportunities at home, in our offices, on the subway, on the street where we live, in the grocery store -- what David Foster Wallace called "being able truly to care about other people . . . over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways, every day." When we flex our giving muscles every day, the process begins to transform our own lives. Because however successful we are, when we go out in the world to "get things," when we strive to achieve a goal, we are operating from a perceived deficit, focused on what we don't have and are trying to obtain -- until the goal is achieved. And then we go after the next goal. But when we give however little or much we have we are tapping into our sense of abundance and overflow.
每一个地方都充满了各种能够对另一个人的生活产生真正影响的机遇。我们在家中，办公室，地铁上，在我们居住的街道和购买物品的杂货店错失了无数看似微小的机遇。正如大卫o福斯特o华莱士所言，我们“每一天都可以采用无数看似微不足道、不那么性感的方式给予其他人以真正的关爱。”每一天，当我们给予他人以帮助时，我们自己的生活也会随之改变。这是因为，无论我们多么成功，当我们跨进这个世界，希望“获取某种东西”，当我们竭力去实现一个目标时，这些行为都是源自我们感知到的某种“缺乏”。我们专注于自己还缺乏的东西，一心想获得它，直至达成心愿，接着我们又奔着下一个目标去了。但当我们给予他人帮助的时候，无论我们自身是贫穷还是富裕，我们总能获得一种充盈的丰裕感。
I noticed that Thrive is filled with references to from a number of eminent intellectuals—Aurelius, Augustine, Goethe. What are some of your favorite books and who are some of your favorite intellectuals?
我注意到，《茁壮成长》引用了许多大学问家的观点，比如奥里利乌斯、奥古斯丁和歌德。你最喜欢读哪些书？最青睐哪些知识分子？
While writing Thrive I immersed myself in the writings of the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome. Stoicism teaches that unhappiness, negative emotions, and what we would today call "stress" are the result of the judgments we make about external circumstances. To the Stoics, the most secure kind of happiness could be found in the only thing that we are in control of -- our inner world. Everything outside us can be taken away, so how can we entrust our future happiness and well-being to it? These insights are hugely relevant to our time.
撰写《茁壮成长》期间，我一直沉浸在古希腊和罗马的斯多葛派哲学家的著作之中。斯多葛学派教导我们，不快乐，消极情绪，以及我们今天所称的“压力”，都是我们对外部环境所做判断的结果。斯多葛学派认为，唯有在我们能够掌控自己的内心世界时，我们获得的幸福才最安稳。一切身外之物都可能转瞬即逝，所以我们怎么能够把我们未来的幸福和福祉托付于它们呢？这些见解在我们今天所处的时代仍然非常有意义。
Some of my other favorite books, by some of my favorite thinkers, are Catching the Big Fish, by David Lynch; Memories, Dreams, Reflections, by Carl Jung; and Mindfulness: An-Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World, by Mark Williams and Danny Penman.
我最喜欢的一些书皆是出自我最青睐的思想家之手，比如大卫o林奇的《捕获大鱼》(Catching the Big Fish)、卡尔o荣格的《回忆，梦想与思考》(Memories, Dreams, Reflections)，以及马克o威廉姆斯和丹尼o潘曼的《正念：实施一个8周计划在这个疯狂的世界寻找平静》(Mindfulness: An-Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World)。