We all fail, all the time.
我们都会经历失败，一直都会。
We might miss a call with a client because of an emergency work meeting, or miss that meeting because another project has suddenly become urgent. And then we (or our families) get sick, and we have to shift priorities around again.
我们可能会因为一次紧急会议而错过客户电话，也可能因为某个突如其来的项目错过一场会议。有时候自己或者家人生病了，也不得不将原定计划的优先顺序进行调整。
These unsystematic failures are benign, though.
然而，这些非系统性的失败其实是良性的。
They reflect that all of us have limited resources. There simply is not enough time, energy, or money, to do everything you want to do all the time. Part of being a responsible adult is learning to make tradeoffs: balancing your conflicting goals and trying to get as much done as you can in the time you have.
因为它们在某种角度阐明，我们所有人掌握的资源都很有限。每个人都没有足够的时间、精力和金钱去做我们想做的所有事情。作为一个负责任的成年人，我们应该学会权衡：权衡那些互相冲突的目标，在自己所拥有的时间内尽量多完成一些。
Unsystematic failures can also help you calibrate the right approach to the specific tradeoff between effort and accuracy. If you fail occasionally, you’re probably hitting the right balance. If you fail too often, you’re probably not putting in enough effort.
非系统性失败，会帮助你把握努力和方向之间的平衡。如果你偶尔失败，说明也许你已经把握了正确的方向。但如果经常失败，则意味着你不够努力。
If you never fail, then chances are you are spending too much time on most of your projects, because in general, the longer you work on a project, the better it gets. By polishing a particular project to a high gloss, you’re giving yourself less time for other things that require your attention.
如果你从不失败，那恰恰证明你在大多数项目上都花费了太多的时间。因为一般来说，在一个项目上花的时间越多，得到的结果就越好。然而，精雕细琢某一个项目，意味着你为其他事情分配的时间在减少。
The trick is to figure out how much effort is enough for each project, so that over time, you manage to take care of most of the things you need to do and do them well enough.
事情的关键在于，你要清晰明确每个项目究竟该付出多少努力，这样才能照顾到绝大多数需要完成的事情，并一一做好。
The thing you really need to watch out for is systematic failure.
你真正需要当心的是系统性失败。
Systematic failure happens when there’s a particular goal you want to achieve, but never get to.
系统性失败，指的是你有想要追求的具体目标，但却一直未能达成。
Maybe it’s a major achievement, like writing a book or applying for a fellowship. It could be an important daily goal, like exercising or eating healthier.
它可能是一项重要目标，比如写一本书或是申请一个奖学金，也可以是一项重要的日常目标，比如锻炼身体或是健康饮食等。
No matter what it is, the causes of systematic failures usually boil down to some combination of these three factors:
不管是什么，系统性失败的原因，通常可以归结为以下3点：
1. Short-term pressures versus long-term goals. This is the most obvious culprit. Most of us are drawn to achieve pressing short-term goals rather than put time into long-term projects. Lots of research suggests that our brains are wired to prefer tasks that pay off in the short-term rather than those whose benefit is long-term.
1.短期压力与长期目标冲突。这是最显而易见的原因。我们大多数人都会被吸引去完成短期目标，而不是花时间进行长远规划。大量研究证明，我们的大脑更倾向于完成短期内获益的任务，而不是在未来很长一段时间才会有成效的目标。
For example, many people have told me that they would like to write a book, but have never managed to do it. The reason for this failure is that there are always other tasks that require their attention in the moment, and so they fail to make progress on the book.
例如，许多人都曾对我说他们想写一本书，但却从来没能真正实现。导致这一失败的原因，就是总有其他一些事在占据着他们的精力，因此就不能在写书这件事上有任何进展。
The people who do manage to accomplish their long-term goals create regular space to make progress on them. For example, almost everyone I know who has completed a book (without hiring a ghost-writer, that is) has devoted blocks of time each week to writing.
能够实现长期目标的人，往往会打造一个规律的节奏慢慢向前推进。还是拿写书来举例，但凡我认识的成功写完一本书的人，都会每周抽出固定时间来写作。
2. Environments that are hostile to our goals. Without even realizing it, we often do what is easiest to accomplish rather than what we say is most important. Email is a great example. If you are like most people, you keep your email program open at work all day.
2.周遭环境不利于实现目标。很多人都没有意识到，我们所处的环境，往往会驱使我们选择做那些容易实现的事情，而非重要的事情。查阅电子邮件就是个好例子。如果你像大多数人一样，就会让邮箱整天都处于登陆状态。
Consequently, each new message is an invitation to drop what you are working on to check it. It feels like work – and it’s much easier than finishing that 100-slide presentation or slogging one more time through a spreadsheet. Simply shutting off email for a few hours a day can remove this source of distraction from the environment.
其结果就是，每当有新邮件跳出来，你就一定会放下手中的事情去查看邮件。这同样也是在工作，而且比起做100页的PPT和看电子表格要容易得多。每天将邮箱关闭几个小时，就是扫除工作环境中干扰源的一项有效措施。
To make your environment more congenial, you should put up reminders of the goals you are systematically failing to achieve. Even a Post-It note on your monitor, or leaving a book you intend to read out on your desk, can be enough. Recent research suggests that these simple reminders provide cues that trigger actions, even if you are unaware that you saw them.
要想让你的工作环境更具一致性，你就该为自己系统性失败的目标设置提醒。即使电脑屏幕上的一张便利贴，或是把要读的书放在手边，都会有所帮助。近来有研究证明，这些简单的提示会触发行动，虽然你自己往往意识不到。
3. Working for too long. Many workplaces create pressure to stay at the office for more and more hours, which (paradoxically) creates opportunities for systematic failure. Work is not an Ironman competition where the last person there wins.
3.工作时间过长。许多公司都会制造压力，让员工在办公室呆的时间越来越长。自相矛盾的是，这往往会增加系统性失败出现的几率。工作并不是铁人竞赛，不是只要坚持到最后就能取胜。
Most people have an optimal number of hours they can work each day. For example, I can be productive at work for about 8-9 hours a day. If I spend any more time at work than that, then at some point, I start doing “fake work.” I may look busy, but I’m not really making progress on anything. From that point forward, any time I spend at work is taking time away from other life goals.
大多数人都会有一个每天最佳工作时长。比如说，我一天可以有效率地工作8-9个小时。一旦工作时长超过了这一区间，我便开始“假装”在工作。我可能看起来很忙，但却没能在任何事情上取得进展。在最佳时长之后，花费在工作上的任何时间都是从完成其他目标的时间里抢来的。
Get to know your own capacity for work. Then, strive to work while you are at work and not work when you are not. In that way, you can save time and energy for other non-work goals in your life.
要清楚自己的工作能力。该工作时努力工作，不该工作时就要舍得停止。这样你就可以节省时间精力，来实现那些非工作上的目标。
The next time you run into trouble, assess whether it’s an unsystematic failure. Ultimately, the systematic failures in your life are the canary in the coal mine that signals when you need to make a significant change in your actions.
下次当你遇到困难的时候，衡量一下这是系统性失败还是非系统性失败。最终，你生命中的系统性失败将是“煤矿中的金丝雀”，警示你需要在行动中做出显著改变。
When you notice a systematic failure in your life, you need to make a change in your behavior. If you don’t make a change, you will continue to fail.
当你意识到生命中的系统性失败时，必须立即做出改变，否则你会不断地失败。
Finally, if you experience a lot of unsystematic failures, it might be worth rethinking the number of tasks you are taking on. Perhaps you need to offload some responsibilities onto someone else, before you start experiencing more systematic failures.
最后，如果你总是经历很多非系统性失败，最好反思一下自己承担的任务数量。也许你需要将一部分任务分给他人，以免开始遭遇系统性失败。
阿特·马科曼 | 文
阿特·马科曼是得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial的心理学和营销学教授，也是“组织的人性维度”项目的创始主任。他撰写了超过150篇学术论文，涵盖推理、决策和动机等领域，著有《明智思维，明智改变》《领导习惯》等多部书。
译言网网友 zjcdtc、很高兴遇见你 | 译
