Day 293: On Cutting Your Losses
第293天：关于及时止损
Cut your losses short and let your winners run.
及时止损，让盈利继续增长。
—A Wall Street saying
I once invested several thousand dollars in an extensive coaching course. I thought that since I was already an author, it wouldn’t be that different to become a coach, too. I spent over a month learning from that course, and ultimately gave up with little to show for it.
我曾经投资数千美元参加一个全面的培训课程。
我认为既然我已经是作家了，那么成为一名教练也不会有太大区别。
我在那个课程上花了一个多月的时间学习，但最终却一无所获。
After a month of studying, I didn’t feel I knew that much more about coaching to be able to coach — and it didn’t matter, because I knew that I wouldn’t do it, anyway. My idea to become a coach was a mistake. I realized that my strengths lie in writing books, and not in giving personalized advice. Continuing my education would have been continuing to invest my time and energy into something that was destined to fail anyway. I cut my losses short and refocused on writing.
在学习了一个月之后，我感觉自己对教练这一职业并没有更多深入的了解，但这并不重要，因为我知道自己无论如何都不会去做教练。
我要成为教练的想法是一个错误。
我意识到我的长处在于写书，而不是提供个性化的建议。
继续深造就等于继续把时间和精力投入到注定要失败的事情上。
我及时止损，重新把精力放在写作上。
Due to loss aversion, people have a tendency to avoid losses over acquiring equivalent gains, This means that you’d rather keep investing your time and energy into a failed project than cut it short and redirect your attention to something that can produce better results.
由于损失规避效应，人们倾向于避免损失而不是获得相等的收益。
这意味着你宁愿把时间和精力投入到一个失败的项目中，也不愿意及时止损，把注意力转移到能产生更好结果的事情上。
It’s a dangerous trap for persistent people, because you might spend months (if not years) doing something that will ultimately lead you nowhere. If you’re keeping at it only because of what you’ve already invested, ask yourself if it’s the best use of your time. If it isn’t, and there are better things you can do, accept the losses as a learning experience and move on.
对于坚持不懈的人来说，这是个危险的陷阱，因为你可能会花数月（甚至数年）的时间去做一些最终将一无所获的事情。
如果你只是因为已经投入了时间和精力而坚持下去，那么问问自己这是否是合理利用时间的做法。
如果不是，而且你还有更好的事情可以做，那就把损失当作一次学习经历，然后继续前进。
