How to prepare yourself for 2026 (with 3 lessons from TED-Ed)

You're listening to TED Talks Daily where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. We are continuing to share a handful of talks, conversations, and podcast episodes from the TED archive that we hope will spark some inspiration in all of us as we think about the end of the year.

您正在收听TED Talks Daily，我们每天为您带来新想法，激发您的好奇心。我是主持人 Elise Hu。随着年终的临近，我们继续从TED档案中精选一些演讲、对话和播客片段分享给大家，希望能为我们所有人带来一些灵感。

For me, the new year is always a time where I think back on some past mistakes, the hopes I had for the year that was, and what panned out and what didn't. It's an interesting question of what might be different next year, and it's always a slightly annoying, if slightly necessary, cycle of emotions to go through.

对我来说，新年总是一个回顾过去错误、反思当年曾有过的希望、以及哪些实现了哪些落空的时候。明年会有何不同是个有趣的问题，而这总是个有点恼人（尽管多少有些必要）的情绪循环。

So to have a little fun with these very real human topics, we're doing something different. We are bringing you three beloved TED-Ed lessons, adapted for podcasts, to help us think through this cycle of reflection and maybe prompt some action. We start with how to lovingly overcome our...

所以，为了给这些非常真实的人类话题增添一点乐趣，我们来做些不同的事情。我们为您带来三个广受欢迎的TED-Ed课程，并改编为播客，帮助我们思考这个反思循环，或许还能促成一些行动。我们首先从"如何充满爱地克服我们的……"开始。

People often describe failure as a teachable moment, a necessary stumble on our way to improvement. But learning from our mistakes isn't always easy, especially when those failures are demoralizing or overwhelming. So what prevents us from turning our mistakes into mastery?

人们常将失败描述为一个可教的时刻，是改进之路上必要的踉跄。但从错误中学习并不总是容易的，尤其是当失败令人沮丧或难以承受时。那么，是什么阻止了我们将错误转化为精通？

In a 2019 study, over 400 participants were enlisted to learn a mysterious invented language. Individuals were asked about three pairs of runes, for example, which of these two characters represents an animal. Then, after a brief break, they were asked about the same rune pairs with questions flipped.

在一项2019年的研究中，超过400名参与者被招募来学习一种神秘的人造语言。参与者被问及三对符文，例如，这两个字符中哪个代表动物。然后，短暂休息后，他们被问及同样的符文对，但问题被反转了。

As in which of these two runes represents a non-living object. But this game had a secret. The subject's answers in round one determined the rune meanings in round two. In the first round, participants either had all their answers marked as correct no matter what, or they were forced to fail every question.

比如这两个符文哪个代表非生物。但这个游戏有个秘密。参与者第一轮的回答决定了第二轮中符文的意义。在第一轮，参与者要么所有的答案都被标记为正确，要么被迫答错每一个问题。

This meant that at the break, every participant had the same amount of information, and in round two they were playing for real. But despite this even playing field, the successful participants from round one rose to the top of the ranks, while those cast as failures kept, well, failing.

这意味着在休息时，每个参与者拥有相同的信息量，而第二轮他们是真刀真枪地比赛。但尽管起点相同，第一轮成功的参与者排名上升到了顶部，而那些被设定为失败者的人则继续失败。

Perhaps the most obvious hurdle to learning from failure is how painful it can be. People generally want to think of themselves as capable and competent, and experiencing failure threatens that self-image.

或许从失败中学习最明显的障碍在于失败可能带来的痛苦。人们通常希望认为自己是有能力、能胜任的，而经历失败威胁到这种自我形象。

In a survey following a replication of the rune study, participants in the failure group indicated much lower levels of self-confidence after participating. It's tempting to dismiss this pain as a temporary setback, but some studies have found that when people feel demoralized or incompetent, their brains often stop processing new information.

在一项重复符文研究的后续调查中，失败组的参与者表示参与后自信心水*大大降低。人们容易将这种痛苦视为暂时的挫折而不予理会，但一些研究发现，当人们感到士气低落或能力不足时，他们的大脑通常会停止处理新信息。

This suggests that if a threat to your self-esteem is large enough, it can undermine your ability to learn. However, your tolerance for failure also depends on your relationship with the task at hand.

这表明，如果对自尊的威胁足够大，就可能损害你的学习能力。然而，你对失败的容忍度也取决于你与当前任务的关系。

In a study from 2011, researchers surveyed a group of American students enrolled in introductory and advanced French courses. These students completed a questionnaire asking what kind of teacher they preferred, one who emphasized their strengths and successes, or one who highlighted their mistakes and corrected their weaknesses.

在2011年的一项研究中，研究人员调查了一组选修初级和高级法语课程的美国学生。这些学生完成了一份问卷，询问他们喜欢哪种老师：是强调他们优势和成功的老师，还是指出他们错误并纠正弱点的老师。

In general, responses showed that while beginner students sought positive reinforcement, advanced students were more eager for critical feedback. Researchers have theorized a handful of explanations for these results.

总的来说，回答显示，虽然初学者寻求积极的强化，但高级学生更渴望得到批判性的反馈。研究人员对这些结果提出了几种理论解释。

Just started out, beginners are still determining if they enjoy learning French and if they want to continue studying, so they might crave praise as a way to stay motivated. On the other hand, the advanced students are already invested, so they may want to improve their skills as efficiently as possible.

刚开始的初学者还在确定自己是否喜欢学习法语、是否想继续学习，因此他们可能渴望表扬以保持动力。另一方面，高级学生已经投入其中，所以他们可能希望尽可能高效地提高技能。

The process of gaining expertise also comes with its fair share of failure, so the advanced students may have built a higher tolerance for making mistakes. But whether you're an expert or a novice, it's usually much more straightforward to learn from your successes than your failures.

获取专业知识的过程也伴随着相当多的失败，因此高级学生可能对犯错建立了更高的容忍度。但无论你是专家还是新手，从成功中学习通常比从失败中学习要直接得多。

For example, imagine getting your grade back on an exam. If you aced it, you could reasonably assume you made good choices around when, what, and how much to study, and you can replicate those decisions for the next test. But if you failed, it could be for any number of reasons.

例如，想象一下拿回考试成绩。如果你考得很好，你可以合理地认为你在学习时间、内容和数量上做出了正确的选择，并且你可以在下次考试中复制这些决定。但如果你失败了，原因可能多种多样。

Maybe you didn't study enough, maybe you studied the wrong information. Or maybe you did everything right and the test covered things you shouldn't have been expected to know. In cases like this, it's unclear exactly what went wrong, making it difficult to learn how to improve.

也许你学习不够努力，也许你学错了资料。或者你可能做对了一切，但考试涵盖了你本不该被要求知道的内容。在这种情况下，不清楚到底哪里出了问题，因此很难知道如何改进。

Wanting to learn from our failures is completely natural, and there's a lot to gain by being resilient and cultivating a growth mindset. But fixating on your failures can make it easy to forget all your successes, and building on what you're doing right can be more effective than focusing on what you did wrong.

想要从失败中学习是完全自然的，通过培养韧性和成长型思维可以获得很多。但过分纠结于失败很容易让你忘记所有的成功，在做得对的事情上继续努力可能比专注于做错的事情更有效。

That TED-Ed lesson was directed by Louise Stockler and narrated by Alexandra Panzer. It was originally released in October 2023.

这节TED-Ed课程由Louise Stockler执导，Alexandra Panzer讲述。最初发布于2023年10月。

Everything our bodies do, whether physical or mental, uses energy. In this next TED-Ed lesson, we explore the psychology of decision fatigue and ways we can avoid it.

我们身体所做的每件事，无论是体力还是脑力活动，都会消耗能量。在接下来的TED-Ed课程中，我们探讨决策疲劳的心理学以及我们可以避免它的方法。

What kinds of choices lead us to this state and what can we do to fight fatigue? That's coming up right after a short break.

什么样的选择会导致我们陷入这种状态？我们可以做些什么来对抗疲劳？短暂休息后马上回来。

In a 2011 study, researchers followed a group of judges deciding whether or not to offer imprisoned individuals a chance at parole. Logically, one might expect things like an imprisoned person's crime, existing sentence, and current behavior to be the primary considerations.

在2011年的一项研究中，研究人员跟踪了一组法官，他们正在决定是否给予囚犯假释的机会。从逻辑上讲，人们可能认为囚犯的罪行、现有刑期和当前行为是主要的考虑因素。

But while those details were duly examined, one variable had a remarkably large impact: the time of day imprisoned people met with the board. People who met with the board in the morning were far more likely to receive parole than those whose cases were reviewed in the afternoon, even if their crimes and sentences were practically identical.

虽然这些细节都得到了适当的审查，但有一个变量产生了非常大的影响：囚犯与委员会会面的时间。上午与委员会会面的人比下午案件得到审理的人获得假释的可能性要大得多，即使他们的罪行和刑期几乎相同。

This finding might seem strange, but the researchers' explanation was simple: in the afternoon, the judges were likely exhausted. Specifically, they were experiencing decision fatigue.

这一发现可能看起来很奇怪，但研究人员的解释很简单：下午，法官们可能已经疲惫不堪。具体来说，他们正在经历决策疲劳。

This kind of cognitive exhaustion occurs after a period of extended decision making, and it can make people more impulsive and less confident while making choices. The dangers of decision fatigue are clear in high-stakes scenarios like this study, but it can have a serious impact on our day-to-day lives as well.

这种认知耗竭发生在经过一段时间的持续决策之后，它会使人在做选择时更冲动、更不自信。决策疲劳的危险在这项研究等高风险场景中显而易见，但它也会对我们的日常生活产生严重影响。

So what kinds of choices lead us to this state and what can we do to fight fatigue? Everything our bodies do, whether physical or mental, uses energy.

那么，什么样的选择会导致我们陷入这种状态？我们可以做些什么来对抗疲劳？我们身体所做的每件事，无论是体力还是脑力活动，都会消耗能量。

But while it's unclear exactly what resources are depleted during mental strain, studies have found many individuals seem to have a daily threshold for making decisions. And once that threshold is met, most people make the conscious choice to take it easy and save serious thinking about any new decisions for another day.

虽然尚不清楚脑力消耗时具体耗竭了哪些资源，但研究发现许多人似乎有一个每日决策阈值。一旦达到这个阈值，大多数人会有意识地选择放松，把任何新决策的认真思考留到另一天。

How quickly you reach this threshold depends on several variables, including the frequency, complexity, and novelty of the decisions you have to make. For example, choosing what to eat for breakfast isn't very taxing.

你达到这个阈值的速度取决于几个变量，包括你所要做的决策的频率、复杂性和新颖性。例如，选择早餐吃什么并不费力。

Not only is this decision limited by what's available, it's also a choice you expect to make once a day with fairly low stakes. And even when you're not quite sure what to eat, the time between this minor decision and the next one should give you ample room to recover whatever cognitive energy you expend.

这个决定不仅受限于可用选项，而且是你预期每天做一次、风险相当低的选择。即使你不确定吃什么，在这个次要决策和下一个决策之间的时间应该给你充足的空间来恢复你所消耗的认知能量。

But let's imagine something much trickier. For example, your car suddenly breaks down and you need to replace it right away. This is an unexpected, complicated decision with serious consequences.

但让我们想象一下棘手得多的情况。例如，你的车突然坏了，你需要立即更换它。这是一个意想不到的、复杂的决定，后果严重。

In this case, there are countless options to choose from, and you won't find them all in one place. To make the optimal choice, you'll need to do hours of thoughtful research to consider the various pros and cons.

在这种情况下，有无数选项可供选择，而且你无法在一个地方找到所有选项。为了做出最佳选择，你需要进行数小时的深思熟虑的研究，权衡各种利弊。

And since this is a decision you don't often make, you'll also have to identify what considerations are most important. The time pressure can add additional stress, both during the decision-making process and afterward, as you expend more energy wondering if you would have made a different decision with more time.

由于这不是你经常做的决定，你还必须确定哪些考虑因素是最重要的。时间压力会增加额外的压力，无论是在决策过程中还是之后，因为你可能会耗费更多精力去思考如果有更多时间你是否会做出不同的决定。

After just a single decision of this magnitude, most people would have already reached their decision-making threshold. But in professions where individuals need to make multiple high-stakes decisions every day, decision fatigue can be much more dangerous.

仅仅一个这样重大的决定之后，大多数人就已经达到了他们的决策阈值。但在那些个人需要每天做出多个高风险决策的职业中，决策疲劳可能危险得多。

Judges, like those in the 2011 study, often encounter difficult decisions back to back with no time to recover. Many researchers are especially concerned about decision fatigue in medicine.

就像2011年研究中的法官一样，他们经常接连面临艰难的决定，没有时间恢复。许多研究人员特别担心医学领域的决策疲劳。

Doctors often work long shifts full of life-or-death decisions, and some studies have found that medical workers are much more likely to make critical mistakes when working extended shifts.

医生经常轮值长时间的工作，充满了生死攸关的决定，一些研究发现，医护人员在延长轮班工作时更容易犯关键性错误。

Addressing these issues requires institutional changes, but there are much more direct ways most of us can avoid fatigue in our daily lives. One simple strategy is to make fewer daily decisions, tackling your to-do list over multiple days or even removing some rote decisions from your day altogether.

解决这些问题需要制度上的改变，但我们大多数人在日常生活中避免疲劳有更直接的方法。一个简单的策略是减少每日决策，将你的待办事项列表分摊到多天完成，甚至完全去除一些日常的机械性决定。

It's also typically less draining to offer advice on a hard decision than it is to make that choice yourself, so it can be helpful to imagine your decisions as someone else's before considering how the consequences impact you specifically.

通常，为一个艰难的决定提供建议比自己做出那个选择更省力，所以在考虑后果如何具体影响你之前，将你的决定想象成别人的决定可能会有所帮助。

Finally, it's essential to remember that not every choice is equally important, and learning how to relax about the small stuff can help you save energy for the decisions that truly matter.

最后，必须记住并非每个选择都同等重要，学会在小事上放松可以帮助你为真正重要的决定节省精力。

That was directed by Jolene Tan, narrated by Alexandra Panzer, with music from Jeremy Limb. It was originally released in November 2023.

该课程由Jolene Tan执导，Alexandra Panzer讲述，音乐来自Jeremy Limb。最初发布于2023年11月。

Motivation is key to sticking to any resolution or practice, and yet motivation is complicated. Psychologists define motivation as the desire to initiate and maintain a particular behavior, but sometimes, no matter how passionate you are about a goal or a hobby, finding motivation to actually do it can be tricky.

动力是坚持任何决心或实践的关键，然而动力是复杂的。心理学家将动机定义为启动和维持特定行为的欲望，但有时，无论你对一个目标或爱好多么热情，找到真正去做的动力可能很棘手。

In this next and last TED-Ed lesson of today's episode, we explore the question of why motivation is so fickle, what does and doesn't contribute to our drive to do things. That's coming up right after the break.

在今天节目的下一个也是最后一个TED-Ed课程中，我们探讨为什么动机如此多变，以及哪些因素有助于或无助我们做事的动力。短暂休息后马上回来。

You always aspired to be a professional artist. At last, this dream may become a reality and you're creating a portfolio to submit to art programs. But as the application deadline looms, you suddenly find yourself unmotivated and avoiding the canvas altogether.

你一直渴望成为一名职业艺术家。终于，这个梦想可能成为现实，你正在创作作品集以提交给艺术项目。但随着申请截止日期临近，你突然发现自己毫无动力，完全逃避画布。

Why does motivation seem so fickle? And what even is it in the first place? Psychologists define motivation as the desire or impetus to initiate and maintain a particular behavior. In other words, it's the energy that drives you to do something, and knowing the source of that drive is particularly important when it comes to understanding how to maintain it.

为什么动机似乎如此多变？它究竟是什么？心理学家将动机定义为启动和维持特定行为的欲望或动力。换句话说，它是驱使你做某事的能量，而了解这种驱动力的来源对于理解如何维持它尤为重要。

These motivations generally fall into two broad categories: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is involved when you experience an activity as an end in itself. Take a hobby, like playing video games. The experience largely explains the desire to do it.

这些动机大致分为两大类：内在动机和外在动机。当你将一项活动本身视为目的时，就涉及到内在动机。以玩电子游戏这样的爱好为例。活动体验本身就很大程度上解释了从事它的欲望。

Performing tasks that feel right in the moment or that you find meaningful, interesting, or satisfying are driven by intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, refers to pursuing a task as a means to an end.

执行那些在当下感觉正确、或者你觉得有意义、有趣或令人满足的任务，是由内在动机驱动的。另一方面，外在动机指的是将追求一项任务作为达到目的的手段。

While few would consider going to the dentist an enjoyable activity, you're often motivated by the outcome of having clean, healthy teeth. Other examples of extrinsic motivation include completing a task to receive some sort of reward, whether it's praise, power, or money.

虽然很少有人会认为去看牙医是一项愉快的活动，但你通常是被拥有清洁健康牙齿的结果所驱动。外在动机的其他例子包括完成任务以获得某种奖励，无论是赞扬、权力还是金钱。

Notably, these rewards tend to come later, like receiving a bonus at the end of a quarter or winning a competition after months of training. While extrinsic rewards like getting paid may seem appealing, their effectiveness can be surprisingly short-lived.

值得注意的是，这些奖励往往来得较晚，比如在季度末获得奖金，或者经过数月训练后赢得比赛。虽然像获得报酬这样的外在奖励可能看起来很诱人，但它们的有效性可能出乎意料地短暂。

For example, a 2017 study found that those who were highly focused on the outcomes of their New Year's resolutions or driven by extrinsic motivation weren't the most likely to stick to them. What did predict persistence, however, was how much a person enjoyed pursuing their goals.

例如，一项2017年的研究发现，那些高度关注新年决心结果或被外在动机驱动的人，并不是最有可能坚持到底的人。然而，能够预测持久性的因素是一个人有多享受追求目标的过程。

In other words, you're more likely to maintain an exercise routine if you take classes you enjoy, rather than just those that build your biceps. Years of psychology research have shown that high levels of intrinsic motivation for school, a job, or an exercise class are more likely to keep you engaged in the long run.

换句话说，如果你参加自己喜欢的课程，而不是仅仅为了锻炼二头肌的课程，你更可能坚持锻炼计划。多年的心理学研究表明，对学校、工作或运动课程的高度内在动机更有可能让你长期投入。

Day-to-day actions, though, are rarely either exclusively intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Studying for a history exam, for example, can be intrinsically motivated if you're curious about the culture of ancient Egypt.

然而，日常行为很少是纯粹由内在或外在动机驱动的。例如，如果你对古埃及文化感到好奇，为历史考试而学习可能是内在动机驱动的。

But extrinsic motivators may also be at play as you aim to get a good grade or feel pressure from family members to do well in school. But having multiple motivators isn't always better.

但外在动机也可能同时起作用，比如你想要获得好成绩，或者感受到来自家人要求你在学校表现好的压力。但拥有多种动机并不总是更好。

One study of military cadets found that those who were driven both by intrinsic motivators like self-improvement and extrinsic motivators like the outcome of getting a good job were overall less motivated than cadets driven by just one of these factors.

一项对军校学员的研究发现，那些同时被自我改进等内在动机和获得好工作等结果外在动机驱动的学员，总体上比只受其中一种因素驱动的学员动力更低。

As a result, these cadets performed worse and were less likely to graduate. Psychologists call this phenomenon the overjustification effect: the idea that additional extrinsic motivators can actually muddy the waters when you already have the intrinsic drive to do something.

结果，这些学员表现更差，毕业的可能性也更低。心理学家称这种现象为"过度合理化效应"：当你已经有了做某事的内在动力时，额外的外在动机实际上可能会把事情弄糟。

But this is only a problem if you already find a task motivating. When you're faced with an activity you find tedious or uninteresting, adding extrinsic rewards can be beneficial. In this way, extrinsic motivators can provide sufficient justification.

但这只在你已经觉得任务有动力时才是问题。当你面对一项你觉得乏味或无趣的活动时，增加外在奖励可能是有益的。这样，外在动机可以提供足够的理由。

While you may never enjoy doing the laundry, it may feel less daunting if you get praise from a loved one or even promise yourself that you'll watch your favorite TV show when you're done folding.

虽然你可能永远不会喜欢洗衣服，但如果你得到爱人的赞扬，甚至向自己承诺叠好衣服后可以看最喜欢的电视节目，它可能感觉不那么令人生畏。

Motivation is complicated, and sometimes no matter how passionate you are about a goal or hobby, finding the motivation to actually do it can be difficult. But there are things you can do to increase your drive, even when it feels impossible.

动机是复杂的，有时无论你对一个目标或爱好多么热情，找到真正去做的动力可能很困难。但有些事情你可以做来增加你的驱动力，即使感觉不可能。

Focus on building intrinsic motivation by making the task more fun in the moment. Asking a friend to join you or simply putting on your favorite playlist can give you the boost to get started and stick with your goals for the long haul.

专注于通过让任务在当下变得更有趣来建立内在动机。邀请朋友加入，或者只是播放你最喜欢的播放列表，可以给你一个开始的推动力，并长期坚持你的目标。

And that TED-Ed lesson was directed by McAli Garcia, narrated by Alexandra Panzer, music by Adam Alexander, Bam Bam Wolfgang. It was originally released in January 2024.

这节TED-Ed课程由McAli Garcia执导，Alexandra Panzer讲述，音乐由Adam Alexander, Bam Bam Wolfgang制作。最初发布于2024年1月。