I’m thinking about this question lately: what is the most important skill we need to have? What kind of skill do we need most in this kind of world? To answer it, I guess we need to see what the main characteristicof our world is.

我最近一直在想這個(gè)問(wèn)題：什么是我們需要的最重要的技能呢？在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)中我們最需要的是什么技能？要想回答這個(gè)問(wèn)題，我們要先來(lái)分析一下現(xiàn)代社會(huì)的特性。

What words will you use to describe this world? For me, there are two words which come to my mind: changeand speed. The world is changing and it is changing at increasing speed.

你會(huì)用什么樣的詞語(yǔ)來(lái)形容現(xiàn)在這個(gè)世界？我想到的是“改變和速度”這兩個(gè)詞。世界一直在改變，而且是快速改變。

Since we are now living in that kind of world, I once thought that the most important skill is the ability to learn quickly. Of course it contains truth: to be able to keep up with this world we need to learn quickly. This way we can quickly adapt to new changes whenever they occur.

既然我們生活在這樣一個(gè)快速改變的世界里，我以前就認(rèn)為最重要的技能是“快速學(xué)習(xí)”，因?yàn)槲覀冎挥锌焖俚貙W(xué)習(xí)才能與時(shí)俱進(jìn)，不管發(fā)生了什么樣的新變化，我們都能很快適應(yīng)。

But later I thought that the ability to learn quickly alone is not enough. The world is changing so fast that even those who can learn quickly may not be able to keep up. There’s one more thing required: the ability to choose what to learn. This way we won’t waste our time learning something which is not useful. We learn only those things which are the most effectivefor us. The number of new things to learn is huge that choosing which one to learn becomes increasingly difficult. Mastering the art of choosing what to learn is valuablebecause it will save our time – not to say our entire career.

后來(lái)我發(fā)現(xiàn)光是有快速學(xué)習(xí)的能力還不夠。這個(gè)世界變化得太快了，即使有快速學(xué)習(xí)的能力也跟不上變化的腳步。因此就需要另一項(xiàng)能力：“選擇學(xué)什么”的能力。這樣，我們就不會(huì)浪費(fèi)時(shí)間去學(xué)習(xí)那些沒(méi)用的東西。我們只去學(xué)那些對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)最有效用的東西。需要學(xué)習(xí)的新東西太多了，選擇就變得越來(lái)越困難。所以，“選擇學(xué)什么”的能力對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)就至關(guān)重要了，因?yàn)樗粌H可以節(jié)省我們的時(shí)間，更有利于我們整個(gè)職業(yè)生涯的發(fā)展。

So to summarize, I think this is the most important skill we need to have: the ability to choose what to learn and to learn them quickly. If we master this skill, we will be ready to face whatever new wavescoming in our way.

小結(jié)一下，我認(rèn)為我們需要的最重要的能力就是：選擇學(xué)什么和快速學(xué)習(xí)的能力。如果我們掌握了這個(gè)能力，我們就能從容面對(duì)前行路上將會(huì)遇到的各種挑戰(zhàn)。