不求事事完美
2010-08-11 01:44:30   来源：英文   评论：0 点击：

　　I was inspired by an observation by Voltaire to make my resolution, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." In other words, instead of pushing yourself to an impossible "perfect," and therefore getting nowhere, accept "good." Many things worth doing are worth doing badly.

　　在做出一项决意时，我谨记伏尔泰的箴言：“至善者，善之敌”。换言之，不要逼迫自己实现不可能的“完美”，而是去接受“好”。许多事情值得去做，但不需要事事完美。

　　I have a friend who never exercises unless she's training for a marathon; as a consequence, she almost never exercises. I never push myself when I exercise, and although I suspect she scoffs at my wimpy（= wimpish：懦弱的，无用的）work-outs, I've managed to get myself to exercise several times a week for years. If I'd tried to have a more ambitious work-out, I'm sure I wouldn't have exercised at all.

　　我有一个朋友从来不锻炼，除非去练马拉松。结果，她几乎一直都没有锻炼。而我锻炼的时候，从来不会勉强自己。虽然我怀疑她看不起我的低锻炼强度，可是数年来我能坚持每周锻炼几次。如果我设定一个更高的锻炼目标，我肯定根本不会去锻炼。

　　Along the same lines, I told a friend that one of my happiness-project resolutions was to "Remember birthdays," and so I was sending out happy-birthday emails. He said, "Oh, you shouldn't email! You should call or write a hand-written note, that's much nicer." True – but I won't. And it's better to get something done imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly.

　　同理，我曾告诉一位朋友，在我的“快乐计划”中，有一条是“记住生日”，因此我会发送生日祝福电子邮件。他说：“哦，你不该发电子邮件！应该打电话、写留言，这让人感觉更好。” 是啊——但是我不会去做。不完美地做了某件事总比追求完美而一事无成的好。

　　The perfect can also become the enemy of the good in the quest for perfect information. There are two ways to approach decision-making: as a satisficer (yes, that is a word) or as a maximizer.

　　在获得详尽信息上，“完美”也会成为“好”的敌人。有两种决策者：满足者（这个词是有的)和最大化者。