I love productivity, organization, order, and I try to be as disciplined as possible.

我做事喜歡有效率、有組織、有先後順序，我也很努力地當個自律的人。

When some people hear this, they think that it's boring.

有些人一聽到自律，就會覺得很乏味。

They equate "a disciplined life of structure" to feelings of entrapment.

他們把「自律的生活」當作是一種束博。

Before I get into my thoughts on the topic, I want to tell you a story.

在我發表自己對自律的看法前，我想先告訴你們一個故事。

So it's a hot sunny day out and there's this bee and her name is Bertha.

某個天氣炎熱的日子裡，有一隻叫 Bertha 的蜜蜂。

Bertha is buzzing by her hive with some other bees. Just relaxing and having a good time.

Bertha 在她的蜂窩附近和其他蜜蜂嗡嗡叫，輕鬆快樂地玩耍。

Like the other bees, Bertha may have some aspirations of doing great things one day.

Bertha 像其他蜜蜂一樣也有著遠大的抱負。

I can't really say. Bees probably don't have that kind of ability to think those kind of thoughts.

其實也不能這樣說啦，蜜蜂應該沒辦法想那麼多。

Suddenly, a bear starts to approach her hive.

突然，有隻熊慢慢開始走向她的蜂窩。

The bear is hungry for some honey and bee eggs.

這隻熊肚子餓了，想吃些蜂蜜和蜂蛹。

In an attempt to save her hive, Bertha stings the bear.

Bertha 為了拯救她的蜂窩，去叮了那隻熊。

But its skin is so thick that once she tries to pull her stinger out, she dismembers herself and dies.

但熊的皮膚太厚了，當她試著把針拔出來時，她自己也肢解死掉了。

The sad part about the story is that Bertha had no choice.

這個故事悲傷的地方在於，Bertha 毫無選擇權。

Through years of evolutionary wiring she is evolved to sting threats.

多年的生物演化使她本能性地去叮具有威脅的事物。

It's a biological reaction to a dangerous situation.

這是對危險狀況的本能反應。

She has no idea that her stinger will get stuck and that she'll die.

她完全不知道自己的針會卡在敵人身上，而且自己還會死。

If she had known she would have died, she might have flown away and saved her own life.

如果她知道這麼做會致死的話，她可能早就飛走活下來了。

Bees are prisoners to their own biology.

蜜蜂會被自己的生物本能限制住。

Unlike bees, humans have the ability to override their biology.

而人們不像蜜蜂，我們有能力不被本能控制住。

Through self-discipline.

而那能力就是自律。

Let's say that someone has long-term desires to be in a deep and loving relationship, to create a meaningful career that they love and have a healthy body.

舉例來說：有個人想要談一段海枯石爛的感情、想要一份有意義而且自己喜愛的工作，也想要有健康的身體。

Along each step of that journey they are tempted by short term pleasures, such as porn, junk food or video games.

而在達到這些目標的路上，每一步都會被短暫的快樂給誘惑，像是 A 片、垃圾食物或電玩。

Deep down they really want the life that comes in the long term.

內心深處，人們想擁有的人生都屬於長期的渴望。

Yet they keep succumbing to short-term pleasures.

但他們卻不斷屈服於短暫的快樂。

The only difference between these two positions is self-discipline.

短暫的快樂和長期的幸福人生，兩者的差別就是在於有沒有辦法自律。

We're lucky that as humans, we have the ability to practice self-discipline.

很幸運的，身為人類我們有自律的能力。

It gives us the freedom to achieve what we truly want in life and allows us to break free of the biological or societal cages around us.

自律帶給我們自由，讓我們達成人生目標並不受生物本能以及群體控制。

And I think that is a pretty amazing and powerful thought.

而我覺得這個概念既神奇又充滿力量。

But it's not so simple.

但要自律也不簡單。

Companies are aware of our natural, biological reactions and use this against us by using supernormal stimuli.

企業發現我們的生物本能反應後，利用了這個弱點給予我們「超常刺激」。

An example of supernormal stimuli is junk food.

「超常刺激」的其中一個例子就是垃圾食物。

Our ancestors were wired to seek out and enjoy fat and salty food, because it was so rare at the time.

自古以來，我們的祖先會去找又油又鹹的食物來享用，因為當時這是很少見的食物。

But now companies have genetically engineered food to include more fats and salts than ever before in order to make us desire it even more.

但現在企業利用這點進行基因改造，讓食物比起以前更油更鹹，讓我們更想食用。

Social media and the Internet as a whole is another form of supernormal stimuli.

社群媒體跟網路也是另一種「超常刺激」。

Humans are biologically wired to seek out novelty.

人類被賦予求知的本能。

For our ancestors, novelty could lead to more knowledge about the world, which could lead to more wisdom, which helped us thrive as a species.

對我們的祖先來說，求知慾會讓他們更瞭解著個世界、更有智慧，而這也讓人類得以興盛。

It has its usefulness.

求知慾是有用處的。

However, the Internet has been designed to take advantage of this desire for novelty by showing you more novelty than you can ever dream of.

然而，網路就是利用我們的求知慾，讓我們看到從未見過的新奇事物。

Every page links out to more pages, with more novelty.

每個頁面都能連結到更多層頁面，帶領我們探索更多。

And every video to a new video with even more novelty.

每一支影片到另一支影片都帶給我們更多的新穎事物。

Video games do the same thing.

電玩也是一樣的道理。

Some evolutionary psychologists believe that video games, like first-person shooters and massively multiplayer online role-playing games imitate environments that would be similar to the ones that our ancestors navigated in the past, but supernormal versions of them.

有些演化心理學家相信電玩，例如：以玩家視角進行的射擊遊戲和線上多人角色扮演遊戲，揣摩了我們的祖先過去在探索新事物時的環境，但已遠超越祖先尋找新東西的刺激感。

Yet we can get greater feelings of accomplishment in video games with a lot less work.

我們可以輕鬆地在電玩中得到滿滿的成就感。

The advent of constant achievements showing up on the screen in video games is good evidence that companies are aware that it will motivate players to keep playing.

在電玩世界，目標達成的通知接連不斷地出現在螢幕上，明確證明了企業知道這會讓玩家有動力繼續玩。

So not only are we sabotaged by our own biologies, but we are being targeted by corporations seeking to take advantage of us and make a profit.

我們不只被自己的生物本能控制，還被企業利用而被佔了便宜。

On the plus side, you and I are not like the bee, because we are not caged by our own biology.

從好處來看，我們不像蜜蜂會被自己的本能所控制。

With self-discipline, we can live the life we truly want.

只要能自律，我們就可以活出自己想要人生。

We have the choice to be free.

我們可以選擇擁有自由。