Two thousand, five hundred and forty six. Those are hours, by the way. Two thousand, five hundred and forty six hours that I spent on making videos with plastic bricks.
2546。 顺带提一下,这是小时。 2546 小时, 是我制作乐高影片 所耗费的时间。
Now picture this: it's a beautiful Saturday, the weather just couldn't be better, and all your friends want to hang out with you. Instead, you spent the whole day sitting inside, in a dark room, and you're essentially playing with little plastic toy bricks. It starts out as just one Saturday, but then you keep going, and there goes another day, another week, another month, and before you know it, you've spent most of your free time with one particular thing. After all, this year we have a very special anniversary, right? A ten-year anniversary. I mean, ten years ago, I started making brickfilms.
试想一下, 今天是一个阳光明媚的周六, 天气晴空万里, 你的朋友邀约你一起出游。 相反,你却整日 坐在一间黑暗的房间, 玩着那些乐高。 这样的兴趣是在 某个周六悄然而始的, 随后却让你对它 爱不释手, 日复一日,终而复始地专注于它, 直到你后来意识到, 你将自己大部分的空闲时间 都专注在了这个兴趣上。 终究,今年将会是个特别的日子—— 十周年纪念日, 这里指的是, 我早在十年前 就开始制作乐高动画。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
[Brickfilms]
[ 乐高动画 ]
They're little animated movies created by using the stop-motion technique and plastic bricks, hence the name. It works like this: you have an object, you take a photo of it; you move it just a tiny bit, take another photo; move again, take photo, and so on. And then you end up with thousands of photos, and when they're played at the fast rate, the illusion of movement is created.
它们是微型动画, 因采用定格技术以及乐高模型 而得名。 我是这样做的: 对每一个模型都进行拍摄; 但凡你移动了模型, 你就得重新拍照; 以此类推, 最终你将获得数千张的照片。 当这些照片被快进播放时, 就产生了动态的视觉效果。
This is, of course, a very time-consuming process. Therefore, it's not a strange thing to spend a whole sunny Saturday with this. Together with my younger brother Thomas and some friends, we've been doing this for a while now, but we aren't always staying indoors in the darkroom. We've also been attending film festivals, even organized some, and we got to win awards with our little movies. Now I'm also teaching children how to make these films. I'm organizing workshops for them, some basically telling them, "Instead of going out on a sunny day, stay inside and play with plastic bricks."
当然,这是一个 非常耗时的过程。 这就不奇怪为何 我整个周六都扑在这件事上。 其实,我和弟弟托马斯, 以及其他朋友 共同制作乐高动画好一段时间了, 但我们并不经常 呆在阴暗的室内。 我们也有出席电影节, 也有主办一些活动, 甚至凭借我们制作的微型电影 赢得了一些奖项。 我现在也在指导孩子们 如何制作这些影片, 并为他们开办了工作坊, 基本就是在告诉他们: “与其在风光明媚的日子与朋友出游, 不如留在家里玩乐高。”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
So most of my free time in these 10 years has been dedicated to make plastic bricks move. And this is all time that I'll never get back. So I started to ask myself, "Is all of this wasted time?" I mean, all the hours that I invested in this could have been used for so many other things, right?
我这十年来的闲暇时间 都致力于研究 如何让乐高自行移动。 这些逝去的时间 都一去不返。 我开始反问自己: “这是不是在浪费时间?” 我所投入的这些时间 本可以让我去完成其他事情,对吗?
[wasted time?]
[ 浪费时间?]
Well, I believe that it's not a bad thing if you waste time. Therefore, it is OK if you waste time, and you should probably waste more.
其实,我认为 浪费时间并不是件坏事, 浪费了时间没有关系, 或许你应该浪费更多的时间。
Some of you seem very relieved with this info: "Waste more time, no problem. I can do that." It might be a bit confusing because, after all, we're always being told to maximize our potential to live life to the fullest, and oftentimes that seems to include not wasting our time. I mean, we like scrolling through social media, we like watching countless hours of television shows, but sometimes we might blame ourselves for that afterwards. We might feel guilty if we just binge-watch several episodes of our favorite show. This comes from the fact that we don't consider these activities to be part of our greater goals in life, like pursuing a career, forming a family. They're really just ways to pass the time.
你们当中有人听到这儿 看起来松了一口气: “浪费更多的时间不难, 我能做得到。” 这可能听起来令人困惑, 毕竟,我们总是被告知 要最大限度激发我们的潜力、 充实我们的生活, 其中就包括了 不应该蹉跎光阴。 我们喜欢浏览社交媒体、 观看数小时的电视节目, 但事后我们可能会 责怪自己浪费了时间, 我们也可能对疯狂追剧 而感到愧疚。 其实这都源自一个事实, 即我们不会将这些活动 纳入我们的生活目标, 譬如追求更好的事业、 建立一个家庭。 但这些活动真的只是 用来打发我们的空闲时间。
So when I started to ask myself if I was wasting time, first I looked it up in a dictionary. It is defined as "to allow time to elapse in an unproductive manner." OK. This can mean a few things. The first being you're unproductive, of course, when you're doing absolutely nothing: maybe lying in bed, not watching anything, not even sleeping. Just doing nothing.
当我开始反问自己 是否在浪费时间, 我的第一反应就是查字典。 字典将“浪费时间”定义为 “以非生产性的方式去消磨时间。” 好吧。 这可能意味着几件事情。 其一,你需要没有任何产出, 不做任何事情: 可能只躺在床上, 什么都不看,也不睡觉。 就只是无所事事地发呆。
Second way to view the term: you're unproductive when you're not achieving anything or creating anything, like you're just going through that social media.
其二便是从术语的角度去看: 当一个人处在非生产性的状态, 即说明你在这段时间内 不再创造任何东西, 就像你在漫无目的地 游览社交媒体。
And the third way would be that you're committing to low-priority activities instead of the things that you feel like you should be doing. You're basically procrastinating.
其三便是 你正在进行无关紧要的活动, 而不是那些你觉得 应该要去做的事情, 基本上就是在拖延。
For example, I wouldn't consider cleaning my room a waste of time, but it can be viewed that way if I should be working on an important paper for university instead. I mean, of course, this is very subjective. Maybe you do consider cleaning your room more important than a stupid paper, but for me, this paper is part of my greater goal in life. I finish the paper, it helps me finish university, I get a job, and so on. So why would I want to waste time with something that is not part of that goal?
举个例子, 我不认为打扫房间 是件浪费时间的事情, 但从另一个角度来看, 我更应该利用这些时间 来完成重要的毕业论文。 当然,这是非常主观的看法。 你或许认为打扫房间 比起完成论文更为重要, 但对我而言,这篇论文是我人生中 更重大目标的一部分。 只要我完成论文, 它就能帮助我毕业, 找到一份工作等等。 那我为何要浪费时间去执行 那些没有被列入 我人生目标的活动呢?
So there are many ways to waste time and also some benefits to gain, but still the question stands: "Can time go to waste?"
我们有很多浪费时间的方法, 同时也能让我们获益, 但问题依然存在: “时间能被浪费吗?”
[Can time go to waste?]
[ 时间能被浪费吗?]
Objectively speaking, "No, it can't." Time can't go anywhere, except forwards. So, no matter what you decide to do with your day, time itself will just go on. So, as time itself cannot be wasted, why would you want to view your time as wasted anyways? I mean, many studies have shown that you are more productive and more creative if you occasionally allow yourself to focus on something different or nothing at all.
客观地说, “不,不能白白地浪费。” 时间除了向前推进, 便无路可去了。 所以无论你 如何规划那天的日程, 时间依然会流逝。 基于时间本身 并不会造成浪费, 那你为何要从浪费时间的角度 去看待自己的时间规划呢? 多项研究已经指出, 若你能偶尔让自己 专注于不同的事物, 或是什么都不专注, 都有利于刺激 你的生产力和创造力。
A study by Dijksterhuis in 2004 focused on something similar. He looked into the conscious and unconscious thoughts when making decisions. In the form of experiments, he presented participants with a decision-making problem and a few answers to choose from. He divided the participants in three groups: the first ones had to give their answers immediately; the second group could consciously, actively think about the problem, and then they had to decide; and the third group was distracted for a bit with a completely different task, and then they had to answer. The study concluded that the unconscious thinkers, meaning the ones who were distracted for a bit, made better and reasonable decisions.
心理学家 Dijksterhuis 在 2004 年的 一项研究中也关注了类似的问题。 他探讨了人们在做决定时的 有意识和潜意识想法。 他以实验的形式, 向参与者介绍了 需做出决策的问题以及 可供选择的解决方案。 他将参与者分为三组: 第一组必须立刻做出选择; 第二组可以有意识地思考问题, 然后才做出选择; 第三组则需要在 被分配了不同的任务, 无法完全专注的情况下 做出选择。 研究结果发现, 利用潜意识思考的人们, 即那些被轻微 分散了注意力的参与者 做出了更好、更合理的决定。
There are, of course, many ways to waste time, and apparently some benefits to gain. My preferred activity would be making brickfilms. Together with my brother Thomas and friends, we've concluded that's our time with this is far from wasted. I mean, even if we spend all these hours, we still don't regret any sunny Saturday that we spent with this. And at this point, it has even become a part of my identity, a part of who I am. People have even called me Mr. Brick before.
当然,还有很多 浪费时间的方法, 其中的一些也能 让我们从中受益。 我的首选活动就是 和我的弟弟汤玛士及其他朋友, 共同制作乐高动画。 我们认为,我们的做法 与浪费时间扯不上关系。 即使我们花了这么长时间 进行研究, 却从不曾后悔我们 每个周六所投入的心血。 它甚至成为了我的身份认同, 决定了我是谁。 人们也曾称呼我为 “乐高先生”。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
So, of course, even if you don't have something to show off, like a movie, a product of your wasted time, if you don't have that, it doesn't matter. I mean, maybe you like scrolling through social media, maybe you like going for a walk or meditate for an hour. These activities all offer positive side effects, like you're learning about your friends online, you're maybe getting mentally and physically fit. And at the very least, these activities will allow yourself to rest and focus on something different.
即使你没有可炫耀的东西, 如制作电影、研发产品, 那也没关系。 我的意思是指, 你可能喜欢游览社交媒体、 可能喜欢散步、 或者喜欢陷入一小时的沉思。 这些活动都带有积极的作用, 就像你在网上认识朋友, 这有助于你身心健康的发展。 至少, 这些活动让你能得到休息, 并专注在不同的事物上。
In the beginning of my talk, I brought up the idea that it's a good thing to waste time. Of course, if you waste 15 hours every day, it might not be more beneficial than only one hour, but there's no golden rule when or how much time you should waste to benefit. Maybe think of setting yourself a certain timeframe to actively waste your time, and then move on with your duties. Because, after all, wasting time remains a subjective term, and therefore, it's up to you how you want to view this term.
在我演讲的开头, 我提出,浪费时间是件好事。 当然, 如果你每天浪费 15 个小时, 可能它的好处远远不及 你浪费 1 小时。 但其实关于什么时候或者 你应该浪费多少时间来获益, 并没有一个标准的黄金法则, 也许你能为自己制定 一个浪费时间的时间表, 随后继续完成你的任务。 说到底,浪费时间 依旧是个主观术语, 这完全取决于 你从哪个角度去审视它。
Don't let it be negative or be guilty about it. Instead, be happy about wasted time. Look at all the joy and benefits that these activities can bring to your lives. Because that is never a waste of time.
别让自己为此 感到消极或是羞愧。 相反,你应该为 浪费时间感到高兴。 去看看这些活动为你的生活 所增添的快乐和好处。 因为, 这些从来就不是在浪费时间。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)