证明你能完成困难的事

当一个早慧却不循规蹈矩的青少年质问为什么要学微积分时，你该如何回答？要知道，除非选择特定职业，否则他们成年后根本用不上这些。你可以说这有助于大学申请，但他们又会困惑为何大学在意微积分成绩。等他们进了大学，或许你会说为了找好工作，但如果工作根本不需要微积分知识，雇主又怎会在意你的多元微积分成绩呢？

When a precocious yet nonconformist teenager asks why they need to learn calculus, what should you say? You know, they will never use it in adulthood outside of certain career choices. You could say it'll help you get into college. But then they're left wondering why college cares if you know calculus. And once they're in college, maybe you could say to get a good job, but why would a potential hirer care how you did in multivariate calculus if your job doesn't require any knowledge of calculus?

我曾是这类令人头疼的学生。我有能力学好但从不认真，因为我始终没听到这个问题的满意答案。我无法理解为什么要真正掌握那些现实中永远不会用到的艰深课程。我以为只要敷衍应付最低要求就能蒙混过关。但最近我意识到学习微积分其实有个绝佳理由。

I was one of these annoying students. I had the capacity to do well in school but never cared to because I never heard a good answer to this line of questioning. I never understood the point of truly learning the material in hard classes that you're never going to use in the real world. And I assumed I could goof off and do the bare minimum and get away with it. But I recently realized there is a very good reason to take calculus.

那就是证明你能完成困难之事。培养应对难题的能力或许是你能为自身或子女开发的最实用技能，而证明你具备这种能力则是人生履历中最宝贵的资产。我们的自我认知源于过往能力的实证。你越是强迫自己完成艰难任务，就越会认可自身能力。若你能跑马拉松或挺举两倍体重，新生儿导致的睡眠剥夺不过是小困扰。

It's to prove you can do hard things. The ability to do hard things is perhaps the most useful ability you can foster in yourself or your children, and proof that you are someone who can do them is one of the most useful assets you can have on your life resume. Our self image is composed of historical evidence of our abilities. The more hard things you push yourself to do, the more competent you will see yourself to be. If you can run marathons or throw double your body weight over your head, the sleep deprivation from a newborn is only a mild irritant.

若能精通有机化学或计量经济学，新金融岗位的入职培训将易如反掌。但若我们逃避困难，任何轻微挑战都会显得难以逾越。我们会因为短信结尾的句号对着TikTok哭诉，会认定自己无力学习新技能、转行或摆脱困境。证明你能战胜困难，是给自己最强大的礼物。

If you can excel at organic chemistry or econometrics, onboarding for a new finance job will be a breeze. But if we avoid hard things, anything mildly challenging will seem insurmountable. We'll cry into TikTok over an errand period at the end of a text message. We'll see ourselves as incapable of learning new skills, taking on new careers and escaping bad situations. The proof you can do hard things is one of the most powerful gifts you can give yourself.

我对子女的教育目标是尽可能避免说谎。我不会告诉他们微积分至关重要，甚至不会说成绩特别重要。真相是——只要你有其他规划，这些确实没那么重要。若缺乏其他证明途径，微积分确实是展现抗压能力的好方法。但如果你业余时间学习编程开发应用、赢得足球冠军或创作小说，那你已经在挑战困难。

My goal with our kids is to avoid lying to them as much as possible. I won't tell them that calculus is super important or even that grades are super important. The truth is, they aren't so long as you have other plans. Calculus is a great way to prove you can do hard things if you have no other proof to show. But if you're learning programming and building apps in your free time or winning soccer championships or writing a novel, then you are doing hard things.

可能比微积分更难。这也解释了为何'差生雇佣优等生'论调中存在如此严重的幸存者偏差和错误建议。多数差生并非用其他艰难事项替代学业，他们只是虚度光阴，最终为优等生打工。但有些差生拿C是因为痴迷于其他困难项目。

Probably harder than calculus. This is also why there's so much survivorship bias and bad advice in the c students hire a students trope. Most c students are not doing other hard things instead of school. They're just goofing off, so they end up working for the a student. But some c students are getting c's because they're obsessed with other projects, hard projects.

这种迎难而上的执着会让他们逐渐超越那些只会应试的优秀同辈。所以如果你的C等生孩子痴迷于某项艰难事业，或许无需担忧。但如果他们整天沉迷短视频和毒品——虽然我不太在意子女入学后的成绩，但我非常重视他们持续向自己证明能攻克难关的能力。如果他们选择用微积分来证明，没问题。但世上还有无数其他选择。

And that obsession with doing hard things lets them blow past their excellent cheap peers over time. So if you have a c student who's obsessed with something hard, you probably don't have to worry. If they're getting high and watching TikTok, well, I don't particularly care what grades my kids get once they start school, but I do care that they consistently prove to themselves they can do hard things. If if calculus is how they wanna do it, fine. But there are many many more options.

如果你还不确信自己能完成艰难任务，那就想办法向自己证明这一点。培养一个习惯、学习一项技能、创造些东西——无论是什么，只要能让你对挑战的默认态度从‘这看起来很难’转变为‘我能搞定’。创造证据证明你可以完成艰难的事情。

And if you're not someone who knows they can do hard things, find a way to prove it to yourself. Build a habit, learn a skill, create something, whatever it is that turns your default stance on challenges from that seems hard to I can figure it out. Create proof you can do hard things.