英語美文：如何欣賞別人的成功

First thing in the morning, I check Twitter, only to have it list off for me all the ways I’ve already fallen behind. A colleague has released a new e-book. Two of my design heroes are announcing a collaborative project. One of my old college buddies has posted a video trailer for an upcoming online program, and she looks phenomenal, polished, charismatic (I’m still in bed, bleary-eyed, and definitely not at my most telegenic.)

每天早晨，我的第一件事就是刷推特，因爲它會顯示出來在哪些事情上我已經落後了。比如：我的同事已經發布了一本新電子書，我崇拜的兩個設計英雄聲明一起合作項目，我的一個大學朋友在網上發佈了一段即將上映的節目的視頻預告片，她看起來美貌驚人、閃閃發亮、充滿魅力(而我還窩在牀上，睡眼惺忪，肯定是不能上鏡的。)

Am I really falling behind? Is anybody actually keeping score? Did any of these people post any of the updates with the intent of making me feel bad? Of course not. But if I’m not careful, it’s terribly easy to view my social media streams as a constant reminder of all the stuff I’m not doing and dreams I’m not fulfilling.

那麼，我確實落後了嗎?其他人一直都在取得成績嗎?這些人發佈的任何狀態更新都是爲了刺激我?當然不是。但是如果我不是很細心的話，那麼很容易覺得我的社交媒體流一直在提醒我沒有做的事情和沒有實現的夢想。

This isn’t a social media problem. It’s a comparison problem. There isn’t a single thing about Twitter – or any of the other social media platforms I use – that’s designed to make me ask how I’m measuring up. That’s all me – an automatic, internal mechanism. It’s part ego (“But what does this say about me?”), part creative drive (“What more am I capable of?”), and part deep soul yearning (“How can I make an impact, leave a legacy, and matter?”).

這其實不是社交媒體的問題，這是一個攀比的問題。推特以及我使用的其他社交媒體平臺本身沒有任何問題，它們的設計初衷本就不是讓我用來進行自我估量的。這都是我的問題——自動的內部機制。一部分出於自我因素(“但這說到了我什麼?”)，一部分出於創新驅動(“我還可以做到更多嗎?”)，還有一部分出於內心深處的吶喊(“我如何才能產生影響、留下遺產併發揮作用?”)。

And I know it’s not just me. I’ve spent the past year collaborating with leadership coach Tanya Geisler on researching how comparison works, what it costs us, and what it can teach us – and we’ve discovered that it runs rampant among just about every creative, growth-oriented person we know. In our comparison-soaked culture, it’s hard to avoid looking around at what other people are doing with their short time on earth, and slipping (often unconsciously) into “How am I stacking up?” mode. Here’s what we learned:

我知道不僅僅是我存在這樣的問題。去年一年我都在跟領導學教練坦妮婭·蓋斯勒合作研究攀比是如何發生的，它會讓我們付出怎樣的代價以及它教會了我們什麼。我們發現，攀比心在創新型、增長型的人身上蔓延比較迅速。在我們這樣一個充滿攀比的文化中，很難避免去跟其他人比較究竟他們在短時間內做了什麼，然後不由自主地進入“我怎麼獲得”的模式。我們的研究結果如下：

Don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides

別拿自己的內在和別人的外在來攀比

The first time I heard this excellent, if hard-to-implement, advice, I was suffering from a terrible case of envy. Some competitor or other had achieved an inspiring degree of success and I was complaining to a mentor about how unachievable it seemed to me. Her warning took me aback: Look, she told me, You have no idea what it took for them to get there. Don’t act like this was unearned, effortless, or pure dumb for Pete’s sake, don’t go thinking that because you read the press release, you have a single clue about what’s really going on behind the scenes.

我第一次聽到這個優秀的、但卻難以實施的建議時，我剛好在經受一種可怕的嫉妒。當看到一些競爭對手或其他人取得了令人歡欣鼓舞的成功時，我就嚮導師抱怨在我看來是如何無法實現的。她的警告使我十分驚訝：看，她告訴我，你並不知道他們爲獲得成功付出了什麼。不要總覺得這是不勞而獲、毫不費力的，或者純粹的狗屎運。不要再那樣想了，因爲你一看這個消息的時候，你就只想到了一點，而不會考慮到他們背後發生了什麼。

She was absolutely right. I knew better, yet in the moment that I’d heard the news, I fell prey to reactive thinking and over-simplification. Because it’s much easier to look at someone “up there” and envy what they’ve got than it is to ask the tougher questions:

她是絕對正確的。我其實知道，然而在聽到消息的那一刻，我卻成了反動思考和過於簡單化的犧牲品。因爲看到別人達到目標、嫉妒他們所取得的成功時，更容易做出這樣的反應，而不是反問自己一些問題：

What do they have that I wish I had?

他們擁有什麼我希望擁有的東西?

What do I admire about them? What are they modelling for me?

我羨慕他們身上的什麼?他們給我做出了什麼樣的榜樣?

What have they done to get where they are today?

爲了今天的收穫他們付出了什麼?

How does this relate to my own values?

這點是如何與我自己的價值觀相關的?

When we reflect on these questions, we shift immediately out of comparison mode and turn inwards, to face the heart of the matter: our own desires and fears.

當我們反思這些問題的時候，我們就會立即從攀比的模式當中切換回來，面對我們內心的問題：我們的渴望以及恐懼。

Transform comparison into celebration

將攀比轉換成祝賀

Admiration and envy are responses that point us toward what we value most. And when we become aware of what we value, we are much better positioned to create a life that’s richly satisfying.

欣賞和嫉妒能夠反應出我們最重視的是什麼。然後當我們意識到我們重視什麼的時候，我們會更好地創造完全令人滿意的生活。

If you notice yourself admiring people who take creative risks, bring your full attention to the part of you that wants to dare more greatly. If you catch yourself envying the folks in your circles who are at ease with self-promotion, take some time to reflect on how you might share your triumphs in a way that feels totally YOU. Heck, if you’re obsessing over tennis players’ forearms, it could be a sign that you’re ready to revamp your fitness regime.

如果你發現你自己羨慕那些敢於創新冒險的人，那麼就將你自己的全副注意力放到你希望自己表現的更勇敢的部分。如果你覺得自己嫉妒身邊那些善於推銷自己的人，那麼就拿出一點時間來反思你會如何以一種完全屬於自己的方式來分享你的成功。如果你沉溺於羨慕網球運動員強有力的手臂，這有可能表明你準備修改你的健身計劃。

Use the Success of Others As a Mirror

將別人的成功當做一面鏡子

Comparison can be a dark, stuck place, but only if you let it be. There’s gold to be found in your comparison habit, if you’re willing to look for it. The light we see in others can help us see our own – and appreciate it.

只有在你任由其發展的情況下，攀比才是陰暗、無法擺脫的。然而如果你願意去關注它，攀比習慣還是有可取之處的。發現別人身上的光芒可以幫助我們認識自己，欣賞自己。

So the next time you catch yourself admiring or envying someone’s success, gifts, or particular brand of radiance，take a moment to consider:

因此，下次你再羨慕或者嫉妒別人的成功、禮物或者特定的名品時，想想以下問題：

What qualities in them inspire me?

他們身上的什麼品質刺激了我?

Where do I currently embody these qualities?

目前我身上有這些品質嗎?

How might my expression of these qualities differ from theirs?

我表現出這些品質會跟他們有如何的不同呢?

What can I learn from my desire to embody these qualities more fully?

我能從自己內心的渴望之中學到些什麼來更全面地表現這些品質?