雙語散文:如果事情只是個好主意——別去做

【英文原文】


For a long time, I’ve held the belief that if something is a good idea, it’s worth doing.
Now, I completely reject that notion.
I just can’t operate that way anymore. I know better and my brain can’t be fooled.
In 2007 Tim Ferriss coined the term “work for work’s sake.” Since then, something worse has emerged: “improving for improvement’s sake.” (Honestly, this conundrum has probably been around for centuries. I just came up with it now because I desperately want to coin a phrase of my own, so I can be cool, too.) In other words: “improving for improvement’s sake” is doing something just because it’s a “good idea.”
Yeah, I’ve been there, and what is neatly packaged as a “good idea” is often OCD and egotism in disguise.
It’s at that point where passion is ransacked and Ego reigns king of the hill.
There are many instances where passion can turn into just a good idea…
Passions turns into obsession. When I first started learning Jeet Kune Do, I was incredibly excited. I’ve wanted to study martial arts since I first saw The Karate Kid at the ripe age of seven. So when I was presented the opportunity to learn the style of martial arts that Bruce Lee formed, I could barely contain my excitement (and, I’ll be honest, my nervousness at the thought of possibly sucking really bad). But when my ego got hold of me, it became hard not to practice just because I felt I should; just because it was a “good idea.” In other words: I forgot about my passion and started aiming to improve simply for the sake of improvement.
Your love becomes your job. This seems like the most backward thing, right? I mean, in the beginning we complain that we don’t have enough time to do what we really care about, but when we’re presented the opportunity to make money from it, it becomes a turnoff. At first, it might seem exhilarating and thrilling for the chance to do what we love for a living. But after a while, that excitement tends to wear off and it becomes a chore. It’s a must instead of a fun option kind of thing. (A little later in this article we’ll get into why this happens and how to can get out of it.)
You mistake avoidance for apathy. We often think that because we’re avoiding doing what we love, it must not matter enough to us. Of course it matters! That very avoidance and fear is a sign that it does matter. But it’s hard not to let that fear discourage you and lead you to believe that because you’re avoiding it, you must not want it bad enough. If you let that happen, you forfeit your passion and the worst happens… it turns into just a good idea.
What’s happening here is one of two things: A.) Your passion is getting stifled somewhere along the way, or B.) You’ve simply lost interest.
If the latter is the case and your supposed true love (with your new career pursuit, or whatever it may be), was simply infatuation, then you can safely let it go. There’s no point in clinging to goals that no longer serve you.
If you can honestly say that you truly are passionate about whatever you’re aspiring to — and your spark was simply extinguished somewhere along the way — there is hope for you yet.

【中文譯文】

如果事情只是個好主意……別去做
在很長一段時間裏，我一直堅信：如果看好某件事,那就值得去做。
現在,我完全反對這種觀點。
我再也不能那樣幹了，我知道再也不能欺騙大腦了。
2007年，蒂姆 費理斯（Tim Ferriss ）提出了“爲工作而工作”的概念，之後，提出了更糟的觀點：“爲改善而改善”（老實說，這個難題可能已經流傳了好幾個世紀了。我現在提出來是因爲我也急着想要造一詞，這樣我也可以“酷”一回了。）換句話說，“爲改善而改善”之所以能被接受，正是因爲它是一個“好主意”。
是的，我感同身受，那些被巧妙包裝爲“好主意”的東西常常是強加給的且是自以爲是的。
結果，激情遭蹂躪，自我膨脹到了極點。

下面的諸多例子說明能把激情僅僅變成“只是個好主意”：
1、激情變成困擾。當我開始學習截拳道時，我是極其地興奮。自從我第一次在七歲已能看懂《空手道小子》的時候，我就一直想學武術。所以當我有機會學習李小龍武術招式時，我幾乎無法抑制我的興奮（而且，老實告訴你，一想起來我的神經緊張的幾乎要崩潰）。但是，當自我的情緒將我包圍以後，練習就幾乎沒有辦法再進行下去，而這僅僅因爲我覺得我本該可以做好的，做這樣的練習本該是一種“好主意”。換言之，我忘了我的激情所在，而滿腦子只是“爲了強壯而強壯”。
2、喜愛成爲工作。這似乎是最丟人的事情，對不？我的意思是，在開始的時候，我們會抱怨沒有足夠的時間去做那些我們真正關心的事情，但當我們一有機會可從中獲利，它就不再是原來的那回事了。乍一看，這似乎是令人興奮和刺激的機會，能爲謀生去做我們所喜愛的工作。但是過了一段時間，那種興奮感逐漸消退後，它就往往變成一件苦差事了。它成爲一件必須做的，而不是可以自由選擇的或是有趣的的事情。（稍後在這篇文章中我們會解釋這種事情發生的原因以及如何能擺脫它。）
3、錯誤迴避冷漠。我們通常認爲，因爲我們迴避做我們喜歡的事情，這對我們沒有太大的影響。當然它的影響大着呢！那種刻意的迴避和恐懼恰恰就是“有影響”的信號。但是，這很難不讓恐懼阻止你而且讓你相信，因爲你避開它，事情一定不會變得更糟。如果你讓這一切發生的話，你會喪失熱情而最糟糕的事情也會發生…因爲它只是一個“好主意”。
下面的兩件事情哪一件會發生呢？
a)你的熱情正在逐步被扼殺。b)你只是失去了興趣。
如果是後一種情況，而你真正喜愛的(你新的職業追求或可能的追求)只是一種迷戀而已，那麼你大可以放心地放棄它，沒有必要執着於那些對你不再有用的事情。
如果你可以真誠地說，你真正專注於你所渴望做的事情——而你的激情之火花只是在這過程中熄滅了，那你仍然是有希望的。