你真的是在努力吗？还是根本就没努力？ Are You Really Trying Hard?

Your college years, the one time in your life when you can truly appreciate the art of staying up late.
大学是你人生中可以真正欣赏熬夜艺术的时光。

Others may be fooled into thinking that your sleepless nights are the result of intense study, but we know the real reason why you're burning the midnight oil.
别人都天真地以为你的每个不眠之夜都在刻苦读书。然而只有我们知道，你的夜为何而熬。
Does this sound familiar? Every evening, after returning to your dorm, you sit checking your smartphone for a few minutes, which quickly turns into a few hours. When you do eventually get round to looking at your homework, you can only manage to write a few words before the tedium of it all overwhelms you.
你或许对以下情况十分熟悉。每晚回到宿舍，你想：要么就坐下先刷几分钟手机吧！然而，不知不觉就刷了几小时。终于，你漫不经心地拿出作业本，写上寥寥两笔，困倦却又立刻涌上心头。

To stop from dozing off, you decide to play a video game — just a few rounds, to reinvigorate your mind and put the pep back in your step so you can start working again. But the next time you check the clock, it's already the wee hours of the morning.
为了保持清醒，你决定打打游戏，打两盘就好。只要把困意消遣走，把精力玩回来，你就可以重新开始工作。但玩着玩着，你再次确认时间时，却发现已经凌晨。

That's when the "panic monster" in your brain takes over and you realize there's no time left to procrastinate. So you grab a hold of your pen and get to work, on the one hand ruing the lack of time you have to complete your task, while also accepting compliments from your roommates who praise you for studying so hard.
那焦虑的怪兽悄然而至，掌控了你的大脑，终于到了不得不奋笔疾书之时。你拿起笔，开始挑灯夜战，一边抱怨着时间不够用，一边把室友对自己“夜晚还在努力学习”的谬赞当成动力。

You tell yourself you stay up late because you are a hard worker, never admitting that the only person you're fooling is yourself.
你麻痹自己：“熬夜，因为我努力。”但或许你自己都害怕承认，你的努力是装给别人看的，你这根本就是在欺骗自己。

And so you start to feel guilty.
至此，你是否也感到了罪恶？

"Zhang, it's 8 o'clock! Are you really still at work? How diligent you are! I think someone's destined to get a promotion next year!"
“小张啊，晚上八点了还在加班！这么用功，明年你准升职啊！”

That's what your boss said, a whole 12 months ago. It turns out he's not much of a clairvoyant though, because it's been a year now and not only have you not been promoted, you're more exhausted than ever.
你的领导十二个月前就帮你立好了FLAG。而现实却是，他似乎并没有预知未来的千里眼。你努力了一年，非但没有升职，还险些累坏了自己。

In the dark of night, only a few spots of light can be seen in your almost-empty office. Now and then, the silence is broken by a sudden flurry of keyboard taps, with you among the solitary few still around to be disturbed by them. Despite working overtime every day, you still haven't managed to reach the goals you set for yourself.
像往常一样，办公室的一片黑暗中，只看得见那么一两道微光。偶尔几声键盘的敲击是那么刺耳。你似乎是那加班的寥寥几人中的常客。但虽然你每天都在加班，可也依旧没有达到想要的目标。

But why should this be? You're careful not to get distracted by your phone, and rarely sit around daydreaming. Still, you've hardly anything to show for all the extra time you spend in the office. So you hold your head in your hands and cry out: where did the time go?
但这是为什么？你每时每刻都在警醒自己不能刷手机，也很少发呆，却似乎也拿不出什么成果，证明你确实加了班。你扶着额头独自纠结：时间啊，到底都去哪儿了？

Well, perhaps you've failed to notice that the inefficiency of your efforts could never hope to lead to an effective result.
也许你自己都没有发现，你在努力，却使错了力。你无效率的努力并没有带来任何效果。

You might feel busy every day, but in truth you're accomplishing little.
你也许每天都觉得自己很忙，但事实上你啥都没完成。

All your time is spent imagining a grand future, without ever actually doing what's required to make that dream a reality.
你也许每时每刻都在妄想一个宏伟的未来，却从来没有为了实现它而真正去付出实践。

In your mind, you work harder than anyone else, but your results show this to be a lie.
你自我感觉，你比任何人都工作努力。但结果却告诉你，你在对自己撒谎。

So please, have a rethink. Let's stop it with the lying. Are you really trying hard, or are you hardly trying?
请重新思考：为何不停止这无用的谎言。我真的在努力吗？还是我根本就没努力？