雙語閱讀：懂得放棄生活更美好

以下是本站小編整理的哲理類英語美文欣賞：懂得放棄 生活更美好 ， 希望對你有所啓發。

A few years ago I was like some of you reading this overextended, overworked, and deeply unhappy about it.

幾年前，我就像正在閱讀本文的一些讀者一樣，身體透支、工作勞累，心中鬱悶至極。

I was a young psychology professor desperately seeking tenure, with two toddlers at home and a husband whose work kept him away for days at a time. I exercised once a week on a good week, rarely saw my friends or extended family, and couldn't remember the last time I'd read a book that wasn't about statistics. It was just too much. Something had to give. And it did. I left my job, not knowing exactly what I was going to do next. It was the toughest decision I've ever made, but it was also one of the best.

當時，我是一名渴求終身教職的年輕心理學教授，家裏有兩個在學步期的孩子，丈夫常常需要出差，而且一走就是好幾天。運氣好的時候我每週能鍛鍊一次，很少有機會跟朋友或其他家人碰面，甚至已經不記得上一次閱讀跟統計無關的書籍是什麼時候了。我已經不堪重負，必須要有所放棄。而我也確實這樣做了。我辭掉了工作，茫然不知下一步要做什麼。這是我做過的最艱難的一個決定，但也是最好的決定之一。

As a psychologist who studies motivation, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out why people give up too soon when trying to reach a goal. But the truth is, a lot of us suffer from the opposite problem: not knowing when, or how, to quit. We take on too many projects and commitments, and end up turning in 10 mediocre jobs instead of one or two stellar performances.

Getty Images哪些目標應該堅持而哪些又該放棄呢?作爲研究動機理論的心理學家，我花了很多時間試圖弄明白爲什麼有些人在朝一個目標努力的過程中會那麼容易輕言放棄。但事實上，我們當中很多人都會困惑於一個相反的問題：不確定應該何時或者如何放棄。我們擔負了太多的事項和承諾，最終完成的是一大堆庸庸碌碌的工作，而沒能做出讓人眼前一亮的成就。

To be sure, quitting a job may not be an option for many, but most of us surround ourselves with plenty of unofficial projects that may not be worth pursuing.

當然，辭職對很多人來說或許並不合適，但我們中的大多數人都常常會不自覺地擔負很多也許並不值得去做的閒雜事項。

So, why is it so hard to throw in the towel, even when on some level you know you should? For one thing, it's embarrassing to admit to others that you've bitten off more than you can chew, or that you've made an error of judgment. No one likes to be thought of as a 'quitter.' For another, quitting means contemplating the sunk costs -- all the time and energy that you've already put into reaching your goal that you can never get back.

那麼，爲什麼人們很難主動放棄或者認輸，哪怕自己心裏已經感到力有不逮?首先，要向別人坦承自己力不從心或判斷失誤是很沒面子的事情。沒有人願意被扣上“半途而廢”的帽子。其次，放棄意味着只能接受已經發生的沉沒成本──也就是你爲了實現目標已經付出、無法收回的所有時間和精力。

Of course, once you realize that you probably won't succeed, or that success isn't worth the unhappiness your project is causing you, it shouldn't matter what the sunk costs are. If your job, your advanced degree, or your unfinished novel has taken up some of the best years of your life, it doesn't make sense to give them even more years. That will only make you miserable.

當然，一旦你意識到自己可能不會成功，或者這份成功抵不過你所經受的不快，那麼多少沉沒成本都無所謂了。即便你的工作、你的高等學位或者你未寫完的小說已經消耗了你生命當中最美好的一些年華，也沒有理由再讓它們繼續消耗下去，否則你只會痛苦不堪。

But that doesn't make walking away any easier. So here's a simple game plan for cutting your losses.

但瞭解這些並不意味着就能很容易做出放棄的決定。下面提供了一個簡單的行動方案，也許有助你理性“止損”。

At the outset:

邁出第一步：

- Figure out which goal has to go. It might be obvious, but most of the time it won't be, so you'll need to really give some serious thought to your priorities. What matters most to you? And, just as important, what makes you feel effective and fulfilled? Anything that doesn't, might need to get the boot.

- 確定哪個纔是必須實現的目標。有時候答案也許很明顯，但大多數時候並非如此，因此你需要仔細斟酌自己的優先事項。到底什麼對你纔是最重要的?還有，什麼能讓你動力十足、有滿足感?任何答案爲否的事項或許都應該被踢出局。

- Be confident. You'll want to know that you are giving up your goal for the right reasons, so ask yourself these two questions:

- 保持自信。你一定希望確保自己的放棄理由充足，那就思忖一下這兩個問題：

(a)What do I need to reach this goal, and can I get what I need? Look at the whole picture. If successfully reaching this goal means more time and effort than you can spare without sacrificing other important goals, you may need to walk away. (Maybe you can't work 50 hours a week, spend time with your kids, and write that screenplay, and that's OK.)

(a) 要達成這個目標我需要些什麼，能不能得到所需要的東西?不妨跳出來想想大局。如果成功達成這個目標所需要的時間和精力會迫使你犧牲其它一些更重要的目標，那麼也許你就該適時收手。(也許你無法一週既要工作50個小時，又要花時間陪孩子，又要寫劇本，那就是時候了。)

(b)Will reaching this goal cost me too much? Will it make me unhappy? Sometimes the problem isn't limited time and energy, it's that you really don't like what you're doing as much as you thought you would. You find the process of reaching the goal boring, frustrating, or unrewarding. Circumstances change, and it's OK for your goals to change too.

(b) 要達成這個目標代價會不會太高?會令我感到不快嗎?有時候問題並不在於時間或者精力，而是你並不像自己原來以爲的那樣喜歡現在所做的事情。你發現實現目標的過程乏味不堪、令人沮喪甚至根本不值得。形勢變了，目標也應該作出改變。

Once you've made up your mind that quitting is right move:

決定捨棄後：

- Stop dwelling on the past. When regrets about sunk costs creep into your thinking, have a replacement thought ready, one that focuses on everything you gain from walking away and moving on. (Example: If I feel guilty about giving up on my unfinished novel, then I'll remember how good it feels to have more time on the weekends with my kids.)

- 拋開過去向前看。不要再糾結於失去的沉沒成本，想想別的事情，將注意力集中到毅然放棄和向前邁進會給你帶來的收穫上。(例如：當我對放棄未寫完的小說感到內疚時，就會去想週末有更多時間陪孩子的美好感覺。)

- Replace the goal with one that does work for you. To keep yourself moving forward and feeling satisfied with your choice, give some thought to what you will do instead. If you just don't have the time to write a 600-page novel, is there some other way you could express your thoughts and creativity that you do have time for, like blogging?

- 改成更適合自己的目標。要保持前進的動力，讓自己對所做的選擇感到滿意，就想想你接下來將做的事情吧。要是沒有時間去寫600頁的長篇小說，可不可以換成其它更省時間但同樣能夠表達思想和創意的途徑，比如寫博客?

Learning to know when to fold 'em is essential for your well-being, and ultimately for your personal and professional success, too. When you can give up on a goal that isn't working, you'll be freeing up the valuable resources you need to make the most of the goals you do pursue the ones really worth pursuing.

要想幸福，並且在生活和事業上取得成功，學會適時取捨至關重要。放棄不合適的目標，你才能集中更多寶貴的資源，全力以赴去追求真正值得追求的目標。