職場追求完美真的是絕對美德嗎大綱

Conventional business wisdom is big on perfection. We are constantly exhorted to give 100 per cent – or even a mathematically impossible 110 per cent. But is this really the absolute virtue it is held up to be? Or is there a case to be made for doing a “good enough” job most of the time?

在工作中，人們通常認爲，追求完美是項美德。我們常常被鼓勵做到100%完美，甚至110%完美——哪怕這在數學上是不可能的。但追求完美真的像人們所說的那樣，是絕對的美德嗎？抑或，我們有理由認爲，大多數時候只需要做到“足夠好”？

There are two well-known rules that suggest the latter is valid. The first is the Pareto Principle (or the 80-20 rule), which states that 80 per cent of consequences stem from 20 per cent of causes. The second is the law of diminishing returns, which suggests that, as you near 100 per cent, you expend proportionally more effort on the remaining work.

有兩條著名的法則表明，後一種看法是合理的。第一條是“帕累托法則”（又名“二八法則”），該法則稱，80%的結果取決於20%的原因。第二條是“收益遞減法則”，根據該法則，工作完成得越接近完美，爲完成剩餘工作所需付出的努力就越大。

Graham Allcott, author of How to be a Productivity Ninja, says that people often look at tasks the wrong way – they focus on the detail of what they are doing, rather than the impact it has. “It is actually far more practical to think in terms of the 80-20 rule and focus ruthlessly on doing things that have the greatest impact.”

《如何成爲高效人士》(How to be a Productivity Ninja)一書作者格雷厄姆•奧爾科特(Graham Allcott)說，人們看待工作的方式往往是錯誤的，他們更關注於自己做的事情，而不是這些事情會產生什麼影響。“事實上，更實用的方法是，用二八法則來思考問題、集中精力去做那些能產生最大影響的事情。”

He also recommends that you delegate the mundane parts of tasks that anyone can do.

他還建議人們將工作中那些誰都能做的部分分派下去。

However, many people find this difficult because they are wedded to the idea of delivering their very best. As business psychologist Karen Moloney says: “Perfection is how they define themselves and to let anything out of their hands that isn’t 100 per cent goes against their sense of professional pride.” She says the trick is to remember it is about delivering what the business needs, not what you want to give.

然而，許多人覺得這很困難，因爲交出完美成果的理念在他們的腦海中根深蒂固。如商業心理學家卡倫•莫洛尼(Karen Moloney)所說：“完美是他們對自己的要求，讓不完美的東西從自己手中出去，有損他們的職業自豪感。”她說，訣竅在於，要記住，關鍵是交出符合工作需要的成果，而不是你想交出的成果。

People who are natural perfectionists tend to see not giving 100 per cent as a failing. But you can reframe this by telling yourself that knowing which tasks do not need 100 per cent demonstrates good judgment.

天生的完美主義者往往認爲，交出不完美的成果就等於失敗。但你可以這樣想，知道哪項工作不需要做到完美，也證明了你的判斷力。

Holding on to a task or project by forever adding that extra 1 per cent can sometimes be driven by a fear of being judged on the end result. It is therefore worth reminding yourself of the Steve Jobs quote: “Real artists ship.”

在任何工作或項目中始終追求更加完美，這或許是因爲擔心最後的成果得到不好的評價。因此，你應該用史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)的話提醒自己：“真正的藝術家是能拿出作品的藝術家。”

One way to avoid running up against the law of diminishing returns is to set yourself deadlines. But rather than set fake deadlines that you know can be moved, Mr Allcott recommends making yourself accountable to someone else. That way, you will shift from “I could deliver any time next week” to “I’ll look bad in front of my boss if I don’t deliver by Tuesday”.

避免遭遇收益遞減法則的方法之一，是給自己設定截止時間。但奧爾科特認爲，與其設定你知道可以推後的僞截止時間，不如把問責權交給別人。這樣一來，你就不能對自己說，“我下週什麼時候完成工作都行”，而要告訴自己，“如果到週二還完不成工作，我就沒臉見老闆了”。

Perhaps the most difficult thing to deal with, however, is not your own desire to give 100 per cent but your boss’s desire to see you give 100 per cent . Again, says Ms Moloney, you need to make it about what you deliver: “Explain to your boss you can accomplish far more if you don’t dot every I and cross every T.”

不過，或許最難對付的不是你自身追求完美的慾望，而是老闆要你做到完美的慾望。同樣的，莫洛尼說，你必須強調要關注於你能拿出的成果：“對老闆說，如果不要求在每一個細節上都做到盡善盡美，我完成的工作會比現在多得多。”

However, some managers’ perfectionism is such that this appeal to reason will not wash. In this case, Mr Allcott advises a more tactical approach: “Separate tasks into the more visual, obvious things and those that are under the radar that your boss will miss.”

然而，有些經理人的完美主義過於嚴重，跟他們講道理已經沒用了。在這種情況下，奧爾科特建議採取一種更巧妙的方法：“把那些比較顯眼、容易引起注意的工作，跟老闆注意不到的工作區分開。”