Day 330: On Turning Back Right at the Very End

第330天：关于在最后时刻放弃

Don’t turn back when you are just at the goal.

在你行将抵至目标之际，切不可轻言放弃。

—Publius Syrus

Many people have a tendency to back out right at the end of the journey, mere steps from accomplishing their long-term goal. If they knew that success was around the corner, they would find it in themselves to keep going. However, since it’s so difficult to diagnose whether success is right around the corner or still a long way off, it happens that many throw in the towel mere seconds from their opponent falling to the ground.

许多人都有这样的倾向：在旅程即将结束时，在距离实现长期目标仅一步之遥的地方打退堂鼓。

倘若他们知晓成功近在咫尺，便会鼓足勇气继续前行。

然而，由于很难判断成功是近在眼前还是遥不可及，所以很多人在对手即将倒地的瞬间选择了放弃。

To prevent such an unfortunate situation from happening, from now on assume that if you’ve been working on a given goal for a long period of time and you’re down on your knees, ready to accept defeat, it’s the last test. Stand up, brush yourself off and take a few more steps. Give yourself a week or two more and make the last effort.

为防止此类不幸情况发生，从现在起，假设你为某个目标努力了很长时间，已经屈膝，准备接受失败时，这便是最后的考验。

站起来，掸去身上的灰尘，再往前走几步。

再给自己一两周的时间，做最后的努力。

If your situation doesn’t change and there’s still no success around the corner, accept a (temporary) defeat and step away to recover. If it does change and you meet success, you’ll be glad you’d used the last remnants of energy to keep going.

如果你的情况没有改变，成功依然遥不可及，那就接受（暂时的）失败，暂时离开以恢复元气。

倘若情况有所改变，你取得了成功，你会庆幸自己用尽了最后一丝力气坚持了下来。