雙語散文:你可以選擇失敗,但是不能選擇恐懼!
【英文原文】
Failure Is an Option, but Fear Is Not
By Donald Latumahina (follow me on Twitter) , April 12, 2010
That’s what James Cameron said at the end of his TED talk and I love it. It’s simple but powerful. Failure is an option, but fear is not.
Unfortunately, people often do the exact opposite: failure is not an option, but fear is. They don’t tolerate failure but they tolerate fear. They despise people who fail but they let fear get in the way of reaching their dreams.
We shouldn’t join them, of course. Let’s be on the right side of the fence.
Failure Is an Option
Here is how to apply this principle in your life:
1. Make room for failure
Nobody wants to fail, but failing is inevitable on your way to success. George Bernard Shaw said:
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
So if you never fail then it probably means that you do nothing. Failing shows that you actually do something instead of just sitting in your comfort zone.
2. Learn from each failure
Though you need to make room for failure, you shouldn’t just fail. You need to fail intelligently. That means each failure should teach you something. Don’t just fail and get nothing out of it. Learn something from each failure that makes you better and better over time.
3. Fail fast
Time is precious, so if you failed then you’d better fail fast. Why? Because it will make you learn and improve faster. It will make you ready for the prime time sooner.
The key here is to shorten your feedback cycle. Find a way to get quick feedback on your effort so that you can adjust yourself soon. What you need to do is testing your idea in the real world as soon as possible. Don’t wait until everything is perfect. Instead, test it once it’s good enough and refine from there. The mantra of the open source world applies here: release early, release often.
Fear Is Not an Option
A big part of fear is fear of failure and that’s been covered above. Here are two more ways to apply this principle:
1. Take risks
Many people hesitate to work on something they aren’t familiar with because they are afraid of the unknown. But fear is not an option, so you should be willing to take risks. Explore new ideas. Experiment with new things. If you are successful, the reward could be huge. Even if you aren’t, you will still come out better than before.
2. Do things you are inconvenient with
Doing things you aren’t convenient with gives you the most opportunities for growth. Since you stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone, you will grow a lot. This isn’t easy to apply (for me, at least), but it’s something we should strive to do from time to time.
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Is there anything else you learn from James Cameron’s statement? How do you befriend failure and cast out fear?
【中文譯文】
我喜歡James Cameron 在TED Talks中所說的這句話，他表達的簡單但有力。是的，你可以選擇失敗，但是不能選擇恐懼！
不幸的是，人們通常是按照相反的方式來做的：我們不能選擇失敗，但可以恐懼！他們不能容忍失敗但是能夠容忍恐懼。他們鄙視失敗的人，卻讓恐懼深入他們的夢中。
我們當然不能成爲這樣的人。讓我們用正確的方式。
以下告訴我們如何在生活中履行這個原則：
1.給失敗留點空間
沒有人想要失敗，但是在追求成功的途中，失敗不可避免。George Bernard Shaw 說過：相對於虛度的人生，有過錯誤的人生不僅僅更可敬，而且更有用。
所以如果你從來也沒有過失敗，他可能以爲着你什麼也沒有做。失敗代表着你確實做了什麼，而不是僅僅舒服的坐在那裏。
2.從每個失敗裏獲得經驗
儘管需要給失敗一點空間，但你不應該僅僅是失敗，而是有智慧地失敗。那意味着你應該從每一個失敗中學得什麼，而不僅僅是失敗，卻什麼也沒有得到。從每一次失敗中學習，讓你比過去更優秀。
3.讓失敗迅速過去
時間是珍貴的，所以如果你失敗了，最好讓失敗迅速成爲過去。爲什麼呢？因爲這樣會讓你更快的得到學習和提升，會讓你更快爲更好的時機做好準備。
關鍵是去縮短你的反應週期。即找到一種方式，可以快速的對你的努力成果有所反應，以至於你可以很快的調整自己。你需要去做的是儘可能在真實的世界中檢驗你的思想。不要等待直到每件事情都很完美，一旦你的主意夠好了，就去檢驗他，再去從中獲得改進。引用頌歌中關於世界來源中的句子：早點放鬆，經常放鬆。
對失敗的恐懼佔恐懼的很大一部分，上述已經對此進行了充分的闡述，以下再增添兩項原則：
1.承擔風險
很多人對於他們不熟悉的工作猶豫不決，這是因爲他們恐懼未知。但是我們不能選擇恐懼，所以你應該要願意承擔風險。探尋新的思維。對新的事物的試驗。如果成功了，你將獲得很大的獎勵。即使失敗了，也會比以前的你更好。
2.做一些對你來說有困難的事
挑戰一些有困難的事，將會給你最好的成長的機會。儘管你走出了那個舒適的環境，但是你將成熟很多。這並不容易去實行，最少對於我來說是如此，但是它值得我們一次次的努力爭取。
***
你有沒有從James Cameroon的演講中學習到其他的東西呢？你又是如何成爲失敗的朋友並且脫離恐懼呢？
