海豹突击队如何练就超乎常人的意志力？
How do I become strong mentally?
答 / Charles
译 / NativeStudy
读前提示：以下中文仅为提要，英文原文中还有很多“内涵”和潜在语境，建议亲自读完原文。
Answer:
I had the same question. To answer it, I studied the most mentally tough people on the planet—the Navy SEALs.
我也有相同的问题，为了解答它，我向这个世界上意志力最强大的人 -- 海豹突击队学习。
Here’s what they do:
他们是这样做的：
#1，Eat the elephant
吃掉一头“大象”
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
怎么做呢？一口一口来
The SEALs present a solution in segmentation. Slowly divide the elephant into neatly digestible parts and… Well, you get the idea. Take your challenge one tiny step at a time. It’s cliche, but it works.You’ll see many ultra-marathoners and triathletes doing this. They focus on the next immediate objective—the next point in the horizon—and prevent their minds from passing to the entire race.
SEALs以分化小目标作为解决方法。将一头“大象”分化成可以消化的部分，你懂得。对你的挑战也这么做，一次只做一小步。老生常谈了，但的确有效。有许多顶级马拉松选手以及铁三运动员都是这样做的，他们只关注下一个即将实现的目标 -- 地平线上的下一点，从来不会去想整个行程还要跑多久。
#2，Visualize Success
想象成功
In a certain study, basketball players improved their free throw accuracy by 23% from just visualizing the free throws. Players who practiced actual free throws only improved by 24%. That’s a mere 1% difference. Wow.
在一项研究中，篮球运动员光是靠想象在罚球就可以提高23%的命中率。而实际去练习罚球的运动员的提高命中率是24%，WOW，只差1个百分点。
Good visualizations have the following qualities: vivid and detailed; repetition; positive imagery; imagine Consequences.
好的想象应该具有如下特点：生动并且具体，重复，积极正面（也就是想象自己成功而不是失败）和学会想象结果。
Application: The next time you have a big, stressful event coming up, use visualizations to imagine yourself succeeding.
运用之道：当下次你面临一个巨大的，有压力的事情时，先想象一下你已经成功了。
#3，Emotional Control
情绪控制
In times of great stress, a rush of our body’s main stress hormones—adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine—can give us a boost of energy and focus. However, when these hormones stay elevated for long periods, we cannot switch to relaxation mode. We have trouble sleeping, motivation tumbles and immune function takes a serious hit.
在巨大压力下，荷尔蒙迸发 -- 也就是肾上腺素，皮质醇和去甲肾上腺素 -- 会使你充满能量和专注。然而，如果这些荷尔蒙长时间维持一个较高水平，我们就无法转换到放松模式。我们会遭受失眠，无精打采，和免疫系统受损。
The SEALs simple solution is something called the 4 by 4 for 4:
Breathe in for 4 seconds
Breathe out for 4 seconds
Repeat for 4 minutes
SEALs用一个简单的方法就可以避免，4乘4乘4呼吸法：
吸气4秒
吐气4秒
重复4分钟
Application: This helps if you do meditation already, but the next time you catch yourself feeling stressed, stop and take several deep breaths.
运用之道：如果你现在就开始，这可以立即帮助到你。如果下次你发现自己开始变得压力重重，停下来，深呼吸。
#4，Nonreactivity
换一种方式应对
We can’t control what happens in our outside world, but we can control our interpretation of it.
我们无法控制外面的世界会发生什么，但我们可以控制用什么的方式去面对。
In book: Breaking BUD/S: How Regular Guys Can Become Navy SEALs, D.H. Xavier recalls his own “Hell Week” experience—
“They were kicking me while I was way, way down. My belief could have been that they truly didn’t want me there; the consequence of that belief would have been me quitting. Instead, my belief was that I didn’t care what they said. I believed I was capable of succeeding…”
海豹突击队成员 D.H. Xavier 在他的著作：普通人如何成为海豹突击队中这样回忆他的“地狱周”之旅：
“当我远远落后时，所有人都想把我赶出团队。我本来应该感受到这种排挤，觉得他们真的不想要我，这种想法毫无疑问会让我落选。可我偏偏不在乎别人是怎么看我的，我只知道我自己会成功...”
Xavier implements something I call reframing. He takes one possible belief or world view, discards it, and selects another one. What could have been interpreted as a negative event suddenly becomes a positive one.
我将Xavier所描述的应对方式称为“重塑”。他将一种常见的，正常的看问题的方式丢掉，然后选择另一种。想象一下将所有的负面事情都看作是一种积极向上的事情，这会带来什么
Application: Take an active look at how you are interpreting external events. Once you recognize it, challenge that view. Try to reframe any negative views into more positive ones. See “bad” events as a challenge for you to go out there and improve yourself.
运用之道：用一种积极的态度去看待周遭发生的一切。即便是面对困难，或者不幸，也不要妥协。将负面情绪转换成正面情绪，将困难和不幸看成是自我提升之道。
#5，Small Victories
重视生活中的小精彩
What to do when morale is low? You lost your wallet, it’s raining, AND your wife just left you in the same day. What to do when nothing is going right and everything is going wrong?
当士气低迷时该做什么？丢了钱包，下雨了，同一天你的老婆还离开你了。当周围的一切都在跟你作对时，你该怎么做？
Try to think smaller.
试着去关注生活中一直被你忽略的精彩。
Every day, I write three things in my journal that I am grateful for. Today I wrote:
The cool, refreshing air following a long rain.
The smoky satisfaction of iced coffee.
A smile with the barista at my local cafe.
每一天我都在自己的日记中写下感恩的三件事情，今天我写的是：
一场大雨之后凉爽而清新的空气。
氤氲水气中一杯令人满意的冰咖。
咖啡店里咖啡师给我的一个微笑。
Small victories keep morale high. And high morale feeds forward into more high morale. It creates a virtuous circle of positivity for doing good work.
Give it a shot if you haven’t tried this. It matters a lot more than you might think.
这些虽然微不足道，但可以提升士气，逐步提升的士气又可以使士气进一步提高。这会创造一个有效的正向循环。如果你还没这样做，赶紧行动起来。它的作用远超你的想象。
#6: Find Your Tribe
团队协作
We’ve all seen the tales of immense human performance in times of great need. It’s the classic “mind over body” of a mother lifting up a car to rescue her child.
我们都听过这样的故事：在保护自己所爱之人时，人往往可以爆发出惊人的力量。最广为人知的精神超越肉体的故事便是母亲为了拯救自己的孩子而将一辆汽车抬起。
We humans are social creatures. And we crave meaning in a world that sometimes seems all too meaningless.
我们是一种社会性动物。我们在茫茫世界中寻求自己生存的意义。
Find both—close friends and close principles—and you have a hotbed for mental resilience.
找到能让你为之战斗的那个人，亲人也好，伙伴也好；找到你生命为之奋斗的本源，这些才是培养你坚韧意志力的基础。
Application: spend some time thinking about what brings meaning to your life. That’s the first step to finding your tribe—your group of people that share similar vision and values.
运用之道：好好想想我们生活的意义到底是什么。只有这样，才能真正找到跟你有相同愿景，相同价值观，并能为之共同奋斗的一群人。