Sarah Lewis: Embrace the near win

翻译人员: Shiwen He 校对人员: Nova Upinel Altesse

I feel so fortunate that my first job

我很幸运，我的第一份工作

was working at the Museum of Modern Art

是在现代艺术博物馆里，

on a retrospective of painter Elizabeth Murray.

给画家伊丽莎白·默里办一个回顾展。

I learned so much from her.

我从她那里学到很多。

After the curator Robert Storr

在馆长罗伯特·斯托

selected all the paintings

从她一生的作品中

from her lifetime body of work,

选取了画作之后，

I loved looking at the paintings from the 1970s.

我爱上了欣赏这些 20 世纪 70 年代的画作。

There were some motifs and elements

在她生命的后期，

that would come up again later in her life.

一些主题和元素得到重现。

I remember asking her

我记得自己问她，

what she thought of those early works.

她对那些早期作品的想法是什么。

If you didn't know they were hers,

如果人们起先不知道，

you might not have been able to guess.

也许就猜不到这些是她的作品了。

She told me that a few didn't quite meet

她告诉我，一些作品并没有

her own mark for what she wanted them to be.

达到她所希望的水准。

One of the works, in fact,

其中一幅，事实上，

so didn't meet her mark,

远没有满足她的要求，

she had set it out in the trash in her studio,

她把它扔进了公寓的垃圾箱里，

and her neighbor had taken it

之后被她的邻居拿走了，

because she saw its value.

因为她看到了其中的价值。

In that moment, my view of success

在那一刻，我对成功和创新的

and creativity changed.

想法改变了。

I realized that success is a moment,

我意识到成功是一个瞬间，

but what we're always celebrating

然而我们总是在庆祝

is creativity and mastery.

创新和卓越。

But this is the thing: What gets us to convert success

问题来了：我们如何将一次成功

into mastery?

转化为卓越的成就呢？

This is a question I've long asked myself.

这个问题我已经问了自己很久。

I think it comes when we start to value

我想这个转换在于我们开始

the gift of a near win.

重视每一次 “差一点的成功”。

I started to understand this when I went

我是这样开始理解这一点的：

on one cold May day

那是一个寒冷的五月天，

to watch a set of varsity archers,

我在曼哈顿的北角，

all women as fate would have it,

哥伦比亚大学的贝克田径综合楼里，

at the northern tip of Manhattan

观看校队弓箭手比赛，

at Columbia's Baker Athletics Complex.

碰巧的是选手全是女性。

I wanted to see what's called archer's paradox,

我很想看看所谓的 “弓箭手悖论”，

the idea that in order to actually hit your target,

就是说，为了击中目标，

you have to aim at something slightly skew from it.

你必须在瞄准时稍微偏离目标。

I stood and watched as the coach

我站在那里，看到教练

drove up these women in this gray van,

把那些女生用灰色的卡车送过去，

and they exited with this kind of relaxed focus.

然后她们离开，神情自若，

One held a half-eaten ice cream cone in one hand

有个人的右手还拿着一个 吃了一半的甜筒冰淇淋，

and arrows in the left with yellow fletching.

左手拿着黄色箭羽的箭。

And they passed me and smiled,

她们笑着从我身边走过，

but they sized me up as they

不过她们走向场地的时候

made their way to the turf,

打量了我一下，

and spoke to each other not with words

她们不出声地彼此交流，

but with numbers, degrees, I thought,

我猜是用数字、角度之类

positions for how they might plan

来谈论她们可能计划好的

to hit their target.

射击位置。

I stood behind one archer as her coach

我当时站在一个弓箭手后面，

stood in between us to maybe assess

她的教练站在我们中间，

who might need support, and watched her,

可能是看看谁需要支撑，还有照看她，

and I didn't understand how even one

我甚至不知道怎么样

was going to hit the ten ring.

才能击中十环。

The ten ring from the standard 75-yard distance,

十环在 75 码之外，

it looks as small as a matchstick tip

看上去和一臂以外的火柴头

held out at arm's length.

一般大小，

And this is while holding 50 pounds of draw weight

而且每次发射都要发力 50 磅。

on each shot.

而且每次发射都要发力 50 磅。

She first hit a seven, I remember, and then a nine,

那个弓箭手第一次射中了 7 环， 我记得接下来是个 9 环，

and then two tens,

然后是 2 个十环，

and then the next arrow

接下来的那支箭

didn't even hit the target.

甚至没有射到靶上。

And I saw that gave her more tenacity,

我看出这些使她更有韧性了，

and she went after it again and again.

她一次又一次地射箭。

For three hours this went on.

三小时就这样过去了。

At the end of the practice, one of the archers

在练习的最后，其中一个弓箭手

was so taxed that she lied out on the ground

精疲力竭地躺在地上，

just star-fished,

像只海星，

her head looking up at the sky,

她仰头望天，

trying to find what T.S. Eliot might call

试图寻找艾略特所说的 （T.S.Eliot：诗人，1948 年诺贝尔文学奖得主）

that still point of the turning world.

转动不息的世界里的静止点。

It's so rare in American culture,

在美国文化里，这种现象很少见。

there's so little that's vocational about it anymore,

已经很少有如此专业的事情，

to look at what doggedness looks like

看上去这么傻，

with this level of exactitude,

还要如此精确。

what it means to align your body posture

这意味着你要摆好姿势，

for three hours in order to hit a target,

坚持 3 个小时去射击一个目标，

pursuing a kind of excellence in obscurity.

在一片模糊中追寻卓越。

But I stayed because I realized I was witnessing

我留下来，是因为自己亲眼目睹了

what's so rare to glimpse,

这难得的瞬间：

that difference between success and mastery.

成功和卓越的区别。

So success is hitting that ten ring,

所以说，成功是打中十环，

but mastery is knowing that it means nothing

然而卓越是你懂得：

if you can't do it again and again.

如果不去一次次地尝试，就会一无所得。

Mastery is not just the same as excellence, though.

但是，卓越和优异不尽相同，

It's not the same as success,

也和成功不一样，

which I see as an event,

成功在我看来是一次事件，

a moment in time,

一个时刻，

and a label that the world confers upon you.

一个世界赋予你的标签。

Mastery is not a commitment to a goal

卓越不是对某个目标的承诺，

but to a constant pursuit.

而是一个持续的追求。

What gets us to do this,

而让我们不断追求，

what get us to forward thrust more

能把我们推得更远的方法，

is to value the near win.

就是重视 “差一点的胜利”

How many times have we designated something

有多少次我们将一些作品

a classic, a masterpiece even,

定义为经典之作，甚至是大师级作品，

while its creator considers it hopelessly unfinished,

即使作者认为它根本无望完成，

riddled with difficulties and flaws,

充满了困难和瑕疵，

in other words, a near win?

换言之，是一个 “差一点的成功” ？

Elizabeth Murray surprised me

伊丽莎白·默里让我感到惊讶，

with her admission about her earlier paintings.

她接受了自己早期的画作。

Painter Paul Cézanne so often thought his works were incomplete

画家保罗·塞尚经常认为 他的作品不够完善，

that he would deliberately leave them aside

他会故意把它们丢在一边，

with the intention of picking them back up again,

心里想着一会再捡回来。

but at the end of his life,

然而到了他生命的终点，

the result was that he had only signed

结果就是他只在 10% 的

10 percent of his paintings.

画作上签了名。

His favorite novel was "The [Unknown] Masterpiece" by Honoré de Balzac,

塞尚最喜欢的小说 是巴尔扎克的《不为人知的杰作》，

and he felt the protagonist was the painter himself.

他觉得自己就是那个画家主角。

Franz Kafka saw incompletion

弗兰兹·卡夫卡能看到缺点，

when others would find only works to praise,

而其他人只找到赞美的作品，

so much so that he wanted all of his diaries,

以至于他想把他所有的日记、

manuscripts, letters and even sketches

手稿、信件和草稿，

burned upon his death.

死后全部焚烧。

His friend refused to honor the request,

他的朋友拒绝这样做，

and because of that, we now have all the works

正因如此，我们现在还有这些

we now do by Kafka:

卡夫卡的作品：

"America," "The Trial" and "The Castle,"

《亚美利加》、《审判》、《城堡》，

a work so incomplete it even stops mid-sentence.

这个作品不完整到有破句。

The pursuit of mastery, in other words,

对卓越的追求，换句话说，

is an ever-onward almost.

几乎是要不断向前的。

"Lord, grant that I desire

“神啊，您赐给我的欲望

more than I can accomplish,"

超过了我的能力。“

Michelangelo implored,

米开朗基罗这样祷告，

as if to that Old Testament God on the Sistine Chapel,

对着西斯廷教堂穹顶上的旧约之神，

and he himself was that Adam

他自己变成了亚当，

with his finger outstretched

向前伸出手指

and not quite touching that God's hand.

却无法碰触到神的手。

Mastery is in the reaching, not the arriving.

卓越是追求的过程，而不是结果。

It's in constantly wanting to close that gap

它要持续不断地缩小

between where you are and where you want to be.

现实的自己和理想的自己 之间的差距。

Mastery is about sacrificing for your craft

卓越是为自己的才华而做出牺牲，

and not for the sake of crafting your career.

而不是为了开发自己的事业。

How many inventors and untold entrepreneurs

有多少发明家和无名的企业家们

live out this phenomenon?

在现实中印证了这一现象？

We see it even in the life

我们甚至能看到

of the indomitable Arctic explorer Ben Saunders,

不屈不挠的北极探险家本·桑德斯，

who tells me that his triumphs

他跟我说起自己的辉煌

are not merely the result

不仅仅是一次

of a grand achievement,

伟大成功的结果。

but of the propulsion of a lineage of near wins.

而是由一系列 “差一点的成功” 推动的。

We thrive when we stay at our own leading edge.

当我们处于领先优势时， 我们就能成长。

It's a wisdom understood by Duke Ellington,

艾灵顿公爵领悟了这一智慧， （Duke Ellington（1899–1974年）， 美国著名作曲家、钢琴家、乐队队长。）

who said that his favorite song out of his repertoire

他说在自己的作品中，最喜欢的

was always the next one,

永远是下一首。

always the one he had yet to compose.

永远是他还没有写好的那首。

Part of the reason that the near win

差一点的胜利是卓越的内涵，

is inbuilt to mastery

一部分是因为

is because the greater our proficiency,

我们做事越熟练，就越清楚地知道：

the more clearly we might see

我们并不完全了解

that we don't know all that we thought we did.

那些我们自认为了解的事物。

It's called the Dunning–Kruger effect.

这被称为 “达克效应”。 （Dunning–Kruger effect）

The Paris Review got it out of James Baldwin

《巴黎评论》采访詹姆斯·鲍德温时， （ James Baldwin：美国当代著名小说家、 散文家、戏剧家和社会评论家）

when they asked him,

他的回应正是如此。他被问道：

"What do you think increases with knowledge?"

“您认为是什么增加了知识？”

and he said, "You learn how little you know."

他回答说：“知道的越少，学到的越多。”

Success motivates us, but a near win

成功激励我们，然而 “差一点儿成功”

can propel us in an ongoing quest.

能推动我们不断追寻。

One of the most vivid examples of this comes

最生动的例子之一，就是

when we look at the difference

当奥运比赛结束时，

between Olympic silver medalists

我们观察银牌获得者

and bronze medalists after a competition.

和铜牌获得者之间的差距。

Thomas Gilovich and his team from Cornell

托马斯·季洛维奇和他在康奈尔大学的团队

studied this difference and found

研究了银牌和铜牌获得者的情绪差别。

that the frustration silver medalists feel

他们发现银牌获得者相对沮丧，

compared to bronze, who are typically a bit

而铜牌获得者通常更开心一点，

more happy to have just not received fourth place

因为他们没有拿到第四名，

and not medaled at all,

总比没有奖牌的强。

gives silver medalists a focus

在后续的比赛中

on follow-up competition.

集中关注银牌获得者。

We see it even in the gambling industry

我们发现甚至在博彩界，

that once picked up on this phenomenon

那里从前就深谙 “差点就成功”

of the near win

这一现象。

and created these scratch-off tickets

“刮刮乐”类型的彩票被创造出来，

that had a higher than average rate of near wins

这些彩票可能的中奖率超过平均数，

and so compelled people to buy more tickets

这样会促使人们去买更多的彩票，

that they were called heart-stoppers,

这些人被称作 "心脏骤停者" ,

and were set on a gambling industry set of abuses

这些博彩界的滥用手法发生在

in Britain in the 1970s.

1970 年代的英国。

The reason the near win has a propulsion

差一点的成功之所以有推动力，

is because it changes our view of the landscape

是因为它改变了我们观察的角度，

and puts our goals, which we tend to put

同时，把我们的目标

at a distance, into more proximate vicinity

从我们认为的那个距离

to where we stand.

拉近到我们所在的地方。

If I ask you to envision what a great day looks like next week,

如果我请你想象 下周一个美好的日子，

you might describe it in more general terms.

你可能会更笼统地描述。

But if I ask you to describe a great day at TED tomorrow,

然而，如果我请你描述一下 明天在 TED ，美好的一天是什么样的，

you might describe it with granular, practical clarity.

你也许会说得很清晰又真实。

And this is what a near win does.

这就是 “差一点的成功” 做到的。

It gets us to focus on what, right now,

它能让我们集中注意力在当下的计划，

we plan to do to address that mountain in our sights.

去处理我们目之所及的那座大山。

It's Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who in 1984

杰西·乔伊娜-柯西 (Joyner-Kersee) 在1984 年

missed taking the gold in the heptathlon

以三分之一秒的差距

by one third of a second,

和七项全能金牌失之交臂，

and her husband predicted that would give her

她的丈夫预测说，这个经历会带给她

the tenacity she needed in follow-up competition.

在后续比赛中所需要的韧性。

In 1988, she won the gold in the heptathlon

1988 年，她获得了七项全能金牌，

and set a record of 7,291 points,

并刷新了 7291 分的记录，

a score that no athlete has come very close to since.

之前从未有运动员能接近这个分数。

We thrive not when we've done it all,

我们不是在一切完工之后再突破，

but when we still have more to do.

而是当我们还有更多作为的时候。

I stand here thinking and wondering

我站在这里思索和想象

about all the different ways

每一种方法，让我们有可能

that we might even manufacture a near win

在这个房间里完成哪怕一项

in this room,

差一点的成功。

how your lives might play this out,

你的生命可能如何去实现这一切，

because I think on some gut level we do know this.

因为我想，潜意识里我们确实知道。

We know that we thrive when we stay

我们知道当我们处于领先地位时，

at our own leading edge,

我们就能迅速成长，

and it's why the deliberate incomplete

这就是为什么在创新的神话里

is inbuilt into creation myths.

蕴含了有意识的未完成。

In Navajo culture, some craftsmen and women

在纳瓦霍文明中，一些男女工匠

would deliberately put an imperfection

会故意在纺织品和陶瓷上

in textiles and ceramics.

留下一点缺陷。

It's what's called a spirit line,

这被称为 “精神之线” ，

a deliberate flaw in the pattern

在花样上有意留下缺陷，

to give the weaver or maker a way out,

不去太苛求纺织工和制陶工人，

but also a reason to continue making work.

同时也是为了 让制作过程得以继续下去。

Masters are not experts because they take

大师之所以是专家，并不是因为

a subject to its conceptual end.

他们完结了某个学科的概念。

They're masters because they realize

而是因为他们意识到

that there isn't one.

终点并不存在。

Now it occurred to me, as I thought about this,

如今当我想到这些，我明白了

why the archery coach

为什么在那场练习的最后，

told me at the end of that practice,

在队员听不见的地方，

out of earshot of his archers,

射箭队教练告诉我，

that he and his colleagues never feel

他和他的同事们总是觉得

they can do enough for their team,

为队伍做的还是不够。

never feel there are enough visualization techniques

总觉得还有更多的视觉技巧、

and posture drills to help them overcome

姿势训练可以帮助她们去克服

those constant near wins.

那些连续的 “差一点的成功” 。

It didn't sound like a complaint, exactly,

这听上去真不像什么抱怨，

but just a way to let me know,

而是为了让我明白，

a kind of tender admission,

一种软性的承认，

to remind me that he knew he was giving himself over

提示我，他知道自己全身心地投入了

to a voracious, unfinished path

这条没有止境的征程，

that always required more.

这条路还在不停地延伸。

We build out of the unfinished idea,

我们挖掘未完成的想法，

even if that idea is our former self.

即使它们就是过去的自己。

This is the dynamic of mastery.

这就是卓越的动态优化。

Coming close to what you thought you wanted

不断接近你心中想要的东西，

can help you attain more than you ever dreamed

可以帮助你获得比你一度梦想的

you could.

还要多的东西。

It's what I have to imagine Elizabeth Murray

当我看到有一天，伊丽莎白·默里

was thinking when I saw her smiling

对着画廊里她的早期画作

at those early paintings one day

微笑的时候，

in the galleries.

我想她一定也是这么想的。

Even if we created utopias, I believe

虽然我们创作出了乌托邦，

we would still have the incomplete.

我相信我仍旧有未完成的追求。

Completion is a goal,

完满是一种目标，

but we hope it is never the end.

但我们希望它永无止境。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）