hold someone up耽誤

把成就和為人擺在一起對照，一句話點破什麼才值得追。

not about what you achieve, about what you become

勸人別隻盯著成績時能用；對剛失敗的人說，比空講道理更暖。

what matters is who you become ／ life is about who you turn into

literary

重音落在 achieve 和 become，中間逗號稍停。

Life is not about which school you get into, it's about who you become there. 人生不在於考上哪所學校，而在於你在那裡成為什麼樣的人。

用 journey 和 event 兩個詞對撞，把漫長和一時分得很清。

It's a ..., not a ...

開導急著要結果的人時能用；正式演講裡說這句也站得住。

a marathon, not a sprint

literary

journey 稍拉長，not an event 收得乾脆。

Learning a language is a journey, not an event you can cram for. 學一門語言是一段長路，不是臨時抱佛腳能應付的事。

正面駁掉「靠成績換資格」的念頭，gonna 又壓低了說教味。

doing X is not what makes you ...

勸朋友別把感情當考核時能用；對長輩這樣說像頂嘴，別用。

winning a game won't make you worthy of her ／ no achievement earns her

中性

Accomplishing 弱讀，重音落在 worthy 和 her。

Getting the promotion is not what makes you good at your job. 升了職並不等於你就把這份工作做好了。

把遲遲不肯成家的原因說成一句自我要求，藏著自尊也藏著不安全感。

I felt like I needed to ... first.

解釋自己為什麼一直拖著某件事時能用；當作推脫的藉口反覆說會顯得不真誠，別用。

I felt I had to prove myself before anything else. ／ I needed to prove myself before I could move on.

口語

I guess I 連讀，just 輕帶，needed to 連讀，first 收住。

I guess I just felt like I needed to finish school first. 我只是覺得得先把學上完才行。