雙語(yǔ) ● Why Failure Can Be Your Friend　和失敗做朋友

Why Failure Can Be Your Friend　和失敗做朋友

◎ Scott Young

I believe it is important to separate good failures from bad failures. Good failures happen when, even though you made the correct decision, you still lost. Bad failures happen because you made bad decisions, or worse, didn’t make a decision at all. Although the two feel the same, they have a completely different long-term impact.

我認(rèn)為辨別良好的失敗與不好的失敗很重要。良好的失敗是指，即使你作了正確的決定，你依然失敗了。不好的失敗是因?yàn)槟阕鞒鲥e(cuò)誤的決定，或更糟糕的是，你根本還沒決定。雖然失敗的感覺是一樣的，但兩種失敗的長(zhǎng)期影響完全不同。

I’m a novice poker player. One of the first things I learned was that there were good wins and bad wins. Good wins were because you had a sound strategy of betting where the odds were in your favor. Bad wins happened when you just got lucky. Going all-in on a 2-7 off-suit might win the hand. But it doesn’t mean you’re a good poker player.

我是個(gè)玩撲克的新手。我從撲克上學(xué)到的第一件事，是撲克也有好的雙贏和不好的雙贏。好的雙贏是當(dāng)你勝券在握時(shí)有一套很好的賭博策略。不好的雙贏是因?yàn)閮H僅出于運(yùn)氣才能贏。把全部賭注都?jí)涸诙狡邚埛峭ㄅ粕匣蛟S也能贏，但這不意味著你是個(gè)玩撲克的好手。

Good Failures

良好的失敗

Mentally separating good failures from bad failures takes work. Poker is a simple game where the laws of probability are cleanly defined. Real life is a lot messier. It takes more effort to decide which failures were because of a bad decision and which were just the unintended side-effects of the best choice available.

在心理上區(qū)分良好的失敗與不好的失敗需要花費(fèi)精力。撲克只是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的游戲，公平法則定義明確?，F(xiàn)實(shí)生活則復(fù)雜得多。它需要付出更大的努力，來(lái)判斷哪些失敗是因?yàn)殄e(cuò)誤的決定，哪些失敗僅是正確決策引起的未預(yù)料到的負(fù)面影響。

Although it can be difficult to separate the two, there are benefits to making two piles instead of just one. By separating the two types of failures, it is easier to persevere through good failures. It may hurt to have your Business proposal shut down for the fifteenth time, but it isn’t necessarily a bad failure.

盡管很難區(qū)分這兩種失敗，但將兩者區(qū)分開來(lái)，比混淆在一起更為有益。通過(guò)區(qū)分兩種失敗，我們更能在良好失敗的情況下繼續(xù)堅(jiān)持。如果你的商業(yè)計(jì)劃被否定了15次，肯定會(huì)令你傷心，但這并不一定就是不好的失敗。

By separating the two, you can also avoid more bad failures. If you fail because of laziness, indecision or poor planning, you can quickly correct those in the future. Knowing the difference between good failures and bad failures keeps you from repeating stupid mistakes.

通過(guò)區(qū)分兩種失敗，我們能避免更多的不好的失敗。如果你是因?yàn)閼卸琛?yōu)柔寡斷或是不周全的計(jì)劃而失敗，你可以在未來(lái)很快更正。了解這兩種失敗的不同之處可以讓我們避免重犯愚蠢的錯(cuò)誤。

Types of Good Failures

良好失敗的類型

I’ve found that there are several categories of good failures. These are the kinds of failures you might actually seek out. Since they come from good, not bad, decisions, they are the best way to fail.

我發(fā)現(xiàn)良好的失敗有很多種類型。以下是一些你可以準(zhǔn)確挑出的類型。它們產(chǎn)生于正確而非錯(cuò)誤的決定，因此它們是最佳的失敗。

1. High Upside, Low Downside

（1） 高正面影響，低負(fù)面影響

There are many areas of life where the upside is far greater than the downside. When I write an article, it takes about 90 minutes of work. If nobody comments or responds to that post, then I’ve just wasted 90 minutes.

生活中有很多時(shí)候，正面影響要比負(fù)面影響大很多。我寫一篇文章，花了90分鐘時(shí)間。如果沒有人評(píng)論或回復(fù)我的文章，這90分鐘就白白浪費(fèi)了。

However, if the article becomes popular, it can bring in thousands of visitors to my website. Those thousands of visitors translate into new readers who can get value from the website. In addition, the extra traffic often results in a higher monthly income for me.

然而，如果這篇文章變得很受歡迎，它可以為我的網(wǎng)站帶來(lái)數(shù)以千計(jì)的來(lái)訪者。這些成千上萬(wàn)的訪客會(huì)成為新的讀者，從網(wǎng)站上獲得價(jià)值。此外，這些來(lái)訪也能為我?guī)?lái)更高的月收入。

Writing blog entries is an example where failure is cheap and winning can be huge. I’d gladly take a dozen or two dozen failures for a big hit. A post that doesn’t get attention is a good failure.

寫博客條目就是一個(gè)例子，失敗很廉價(jià)，而成功的贏利則非常巨大。我很樂于接受屢次失敗，來(lái)獲得一次巨大的成功。一次不引人注目的發(fā)表是一次良好的失敗。

2. Breaking through Your Limits

（2） 挑戰(zhàn)你的極限

The only way you can know your limits is to go past them. Occasionally I’ve committed myself to more work than I can handle. The result is stress and, in extreme cases, completes burnout. Doing more than you can handle on a regular basis is a recipe for a nervous breakdown.

知道自己極限的唯一方法是超越極限。有時(shí)候，我會(huì)讓自己承受超過(guò)我能力范圍之外的工作。其結(jié)果就是感受到壓力，在一些極端的情況下，會(huì)覺得徹底筋疲力盡。在你正常工作量的基礎(chǔ)上做得更多，是治療精神崩潰的一劑良方。

However, if you don’t test those limits and occasionally go past them, you can never improve. You’ll always go slightly below your capacity, never reaching your possible potential. I don’t enjoy an exhausting schedule, but occasionally facing one ensures my productivity muscles stay strong.

然而，如果你不測(cè)試自己的極限，并且偶爾超過(guò)這個(gè)限度，你會(huì)一直無(wú)法提高。你的發(fā)揮將會(huì)低于你的能力，永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)法達(dá)到可能的潛力。我不喜歡一張令人疲憊的時(shí)間表，但偶爾嘗試，能保證我的生產(chǎn)力肌肉保持強(qiáng)壯。

3. Embarrassment and Smart Risk-Taking

（3） 困窘與聰明的冒險(xiǎn)

There are some situations where failures and successes can’t be separated. There is no action that will guarantee you only get success. In these cases, it can be useful to ignore the losses since the wins will make up for it.

在一些情況下，失敗和成功是密不可分的。你無(wú)法保證只取得成功。在這些情況下，忽略損失是非常有用的，因?yàn)槌晒?huì)彌補(bǔ)這些損失。

Public Speaking is a great example. Any chance you get to speak in public runs you the risk of embarrassment. You might say something stupid. The audience might not like your speech. But if you don’t face those failures, it’s impossible to deliver a fantastic speech.

公眾演講就是個(gè)極好的典范。任何一個(gè)在公眾面前演講的機(jī)會(huì)，都可能使你陷入尷尬境地。你可能說(shuō)些愚蠢的話，觀眾可能不喜歡你的演講。但如果你不面對(duì)這些失敗，你永遠(yuǎn)也無(wú)法發(fā)表一次出色的演講。

4. Staying Inside Your Comfort Zone

（4） 待在你的安逸區(qū)內(nèi)

The only way to have a bad failure is to stay put. If you are constantly experimenting and pushing beyond your daily routine, any result is a good result. Avoiding the things that scare you doesn’t make you safe, it makes you weaker.

經(jīng)歷不好的失敗的唯一方式是止步不前。如果你經(jīng)常嘗試打亂你的日程，任何結(jié)果都會(huì)是好結(jié)果。避免嘗試威脅你安全的事情，這會(huì)削弱你的力量。

Over a year ago I took dance classes. For a self-proclaimed geek, this was definitely a step outside my comfort zone. I loved the class. Even though it was outside of my comfort zone, I had a great time and learned something valuable. This wasn’t a failure, but it just as easily could have been. It’s better to discourage laziness than occasionally stumbling.

一年前，我參加了舞蹈課程。對(duì)一個(gè)完全不懂舞蹈的我來(lái)說(shuō)，這絕對(duì)是跨出我的安逸區(qū)的一步。我喜歡舞蹈課程。即使超出了自己得心應(yīng)手的領(lǐng)域，我也很開心，而且學(xué)到了一些有價(jià)值的東西。這并不是一次失敗，但失敗可能隨時(shí)發(fā)生。打擊懶惰總比偶爾跌倒要好。

5. Taking on Too Big a Challenge

（5） 承受太大的挑戰(zhàn)

More than a few times I’ve set goals that were nearly impossible to accomplish. I didn’t have enough time to reach the deadline and I had no idea what I was doing. Although setting extremely difficult challenges results in a lot of failures, it keeps you sharp.

有很多次，我設(shè)定了一些自己根本無(wú)法達(dá)到的目標(biāo)。我并沒有足夠的時(shí)間做到最后期限，也不知道自己到底在做什么。盡管設(shè)置非常棘手的挑戰(zhàn)會(huì)導(dǎo)致一次次的失敗，但它可以使你保持敏銳。

The ideal challenge level is where success is possible, but only if you work incredibly hard. Unfortunately, finding this sweet spot means you’ll end up making some goals too hard and others too easy. If you never fail at a big challenge it probably means most of your goals have been set too easy.

理想的挑戰(zhàn)限度是在成功的附近，并且你要非常努力地工作。不幸的是，發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)令人歡喜的地方意味著你要結(jié)束制定一些太難或是太易的目標(biāo)。如果你面對(duì)重大挑戰(zhàn)時(shí)從不失敗，可能就意味著你設(shè)定的大部分目標(biāo)太容易。

Just as there are good failures and bad failures, there are good and bad wins. I’d rather have a good failure than a bad win. A bad win might feel nice in the short term, but it is damaging over the big picture.

正如失敗有良好的和不好的之分，雙贏也有良好的和不好的之分。我寧愿嘗試良好的失敗，而非不好的雙贏。不好的雙贏可能短時(shí)間內(nèi)讓人愉快，但卻影響了未來(lái)的大局。

Do you have a personal example of a good failure?

你有個(gè)人遭遇良好失敗的例子嗎？

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