[美文欣賞]

Stick to your special talents

You were born with a special talent. It may be to sing, write, teach, paint, mentor, preach, defend or befriend. You have something special to offer the world, something you can do better than 10,000 others. You must keep learning and trying new things to find your special talent. The world needs your gift. Be aware that even a special talent can go stale if you don’t keep using and honing it. Endeavor to keep your talents and all your skills up to date.

An advantage isn’t an advantage unless you use it. Find ways to use your advantages to set and reach your goals. Likewise, you should recognize and then try to minimize the impact of your limitations. Remember that not all advantages are transferable. Just because you are talented in one area doesn’t mean that you will be talented at everything you try. The successful real estate investor can easily lose her money opening a restaurant. Stick to your advantages and don’t stray from them without reasoned justification.

[參考譯文]

固守自己的優(yōu)勢(shì)

你生而有自己的特殊天賦。你的特長(zhǎng)可能是唱歌，寫作，教書，繪畫，勸導(dǎo)，步道，辯護(hù)或交友。你總有些特殊之處可以貢獻(xiàn)給這個(gè)世界，有些事你可以做的比另外一萬(wàn)個(gè)人做的都好。你必須不斷學(xué)習(xí)和嘗試新的事物從而發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的特殊才能。時(shí)間需要你的貢獻(xiàn)饋贈(zèng)。要明白即使是特殊才能如果不經(jīng)常使用而且磨練的話也會(huì)失效。因此要盡力使自己的天賦與所有的技能跟上時(shí)代。

任何優(yōu)勢(shì)如果不用的話也就不稱其為優(yōu)勢(shì)了。找到辦法運(yùn)用你的優(yōu)勢(shì)來(lái)確定并實(shí)現(xiàn)你的目標(biāo)。同樣的你應(yīng)該意識(shí)到自己的不足之處并盡力將其不利影響限制在最小程度。切記并不是所有的優(yōu)勢(shì)都能夠相互轉(zhuǎn)換的：你在某一方面有天賦并不意味著你在自己所嘗試的一切事情上都有天賦。一個(gè)成功的房地產(chǎn)投資商很可能因?yàn)殚_(kāi)餐館而虧本。因此要固守自己的優(yōu)勢(shì)，在沒(méi)有理性的確定判斷之前不要輕易離開(kāi)自己擅長(zhǎng)的領(lǐng)域。