Change Begins With Choice
改变始于选择
by Jim Rohn 吉姆.罗恩 [美]
Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish; we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish; we can start a new activity. Any day we wish; we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.
任何时候只要我们想，我们都能够约束自己作出彻底改变。任何时候只要我们想，我们都能翻开一本使自己获取新知识的书籍。任何时候只要我们想，我们都可以着手做新的事情。任何时候只要我们想，我们都可以开启改变人生的旅程。我们可以马上动手，也可以拖到下一周、下个月或者下一年。
We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves." We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of the good life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.
当然，我们也可以什么都不做。我们可以假装一下，而不用真的行动。如果必须改变自身的这种想法让自己觉得不舒服，我们也可以维持原样。我们可以选择休息而非劳动，选择娱乐而非学习，选择错觉而非真相，选择迟疑不定而非信心满满。选择权在于我们自身。可是当我们事后抱怨结果时，我们只是在继续助长这种成因。正如莎士比亚的独到见解，“错误并在于天上的星辰，而在于我们自身。”我们过去作出的选择决定了我们现在的处境。从今天开始，我们都有这样的能力和责任去作出更好的选择。追求美好生活的人不需要更多的答案，也不需要更多的时间思考以取得更好的结果。他们需要的是真相，完全的真相，仅此而已。
We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.
我们不可以每天反复作出错误的判断而使自己走上歧途。我们必须不断回归到基本的方向上，让自己的人生变得与众不同。我们也必须做出一些让人生充满生机、欢乐和喜悦的选择。
And if I may be so bold
to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life - If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life - and it all begins with your very own power of choice.
对于那些寻求改变自己人生的人们，我不妨大胆提出最后一条建议----如果你不满意事情的现状，那就改变它吧！你并不是一棵树。你有能力完全改变生命中的每一方面----而这一切都始于你作出选择的力量。
吉姆.罗恩与拿破仑.希尔、卡耐基、亨利.福特并称世界四大成功学创始人，也是唯一健在的。吉姆是国际知名的商业思想家、美国Jim Rohn培训机构创办人。吉姆是当今最受欢迎的企业界领袖之一，经常为顶级的销售组织和管理团体开办培训课程，其中包括众多的世界500强公司，并常受邀到全球各大企业去演讲。他的书籍拥有数以百万的忠实读者。吉姆每年郁同定到澳大利亚和加拿大访问，也经常受邀到西班牙、英国、纽西兰、南非和台湾等地进行演讲。