The happy secret to better work | Shawn Achor

翻译人员: Ting Huang 校对人员: Angelia King

When I was seven years old and my sister was just five years old,

我七岁的时候我妹妹才五岁。

we were playing on top of a bunk bed.

我们当时在一个双层床的上铺玩

I was two years older than my sister at the time --

那时候我比她大两岁

当然，我现在也比她大两岁

I mean, I'm two years older than her now --

but at the time it meant she had to do everything that I wanted to do,

但是在当时这意味着她必须全都听我的

and I wanted to play war.

我想玩战争游戏

So we were up on top of our bunk beds.

于是我们爬到了双层床的上铺

And on one side of the bunk bed,

在床的一侧

I had put out all of my G.I. Joe soldiers and weaponry.

我放上了我所有的玩具大兵和武器

另一边则是我妹妹的小马玩偶

And on the other side were all my sister's My Little Ponies

时刻准备着进行一场骑兵突击

ready for a cavalry charge.

There are differing accounts of what actually happened that afternoon,

后来我们对那天下午发生的事情有不同的说法

但是既然我妹妹今天不在场

but since my sister is not here with us today,

我就跟你们说说到底发生了什么

let me tell you the true story --

（笑声）

(Laughter)

which is my sister's a little on the clumsy side.

事实就是我妹妹有点笨手笨脚的

Somehow, without any help or push from her older brother at all,

不知道怎么回事，我这个做哥哥的既没碰她也没推她，

Amy disappeared off of the top of the bunk bed

我妹妹艾米突然就从上铺掉下去了

狠狠地摔到了地上

and landed with this crash on the floor.

我万分紧张地从床的一侧往下瞄

I nervously peered over the side of the bed

想知道发生了什么事

to see what had befallen my fallen sister

and saw that she had landed painfully on her hands and knees

然后发现她痛苦地趴在地上

四脚着地

on all fours on the ground.

I was nervous because my parents had charged me

我特别紧张，因为父母已经叮嘱过我

一定要保证妹妹和我

with making sure that my sister and I

played as safely and as quietly as possible.

玩耍的时候注意安全，不要太闹腾

And seeing as how I had accidentally broken Amy's arm

这时候我突然想起来一星期之前

just one week before --

我才不小心弄破了艾米的胳膊

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Laughter ends)

我颇具英雄气概地把她

heroically pushing her out of the way of an oncoming imaginary sniper bullet,

从一个假想的扑面而来的狙击手子弹中推开

（笑声）

(Laughter)

到现在她都还没有谢我呢

for which I have yet to be thanked, I was trying as hard as I could --

我当时可是拼了命的

她甚至都没看到那子弹迎面扑来

she didn't even see it coming --

I was trying hard to be on my best behavior.

我可是拼命展示了我最厉害的一面

然后我看到我妹妹的脸

And I saw my sister's face,

this wail of pain and suffering and surprise

她满脸痛苦、惊讶的表情

threatening to erupt from her mouth and wake my parents

马上就要哭出来了，极有可能吵醒

习惯在漫长冬季午睡的父母

from the long winter's nap for which they had settled.

所以我做了一件

So I did the only thing

my frantic seven year-old brain could think to do to avert this tragedy.

一个手忙脚乱的七岁小孩唯一能想到的事，来扭转悲剧

And if you have children, you've seen this hundreds of times.

如果你有孩子的话，你肯定见过好几百次了

我说，“艾米，艾米，好了，别哭了，别哭了

I said, "Amy, wait. Don't cry. Did you see how you landed?

你看到你是怎么落地的么？

No human lands on all fours like that.

人类是不会那样四脚朝地落下去的

Amy, I think this means you're a unicorn."

艾米，我觉得这意味着你就是传说中的独角兽。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now, that was cheating,

很明显这是骗她的，因为我妹妹现在最不想做的就是

because there was nothing she would want more

than not to be Amy the hurt five year-old little sister,

那个受伤的五岁小妹妹艾米，

想做的是超级独角兽艾米

but Amy the special unicorn.

当然，以前她是完全没有做独角兽这个想法的

Of course, this option was open to her brain

at no point in the past.

于是就看到我那可怜的、被我控制了的妹妹如何纠结

And you could see how my poor, manipulated sister faced conflict,

她的小脑袋正在决定究竟是继续

as her little brain attempted to devote resources

回味刚才经历的那些

to feeling the pain and suffering and surprise she just experienced,

疼痛、折磨和惊讶

还是仔细考虑她作为独角兽的新身份

or contemplating her new-found identity as a unicorn.

后者胜出了

And the latter won.

Instead of crying or ceasing our play,

于是她没哭，也没有停止游戏

instead of waking my parents,

更没有吵醒我们的父母

with all the negative consequences for me,

这些负面的影响都没有产生

a smile spread across her face

她脸上划过一丝微笑

and she scrambled back up onto the bunk bed

重新爬回到双层床的上铺，带着作为一只小独角兽的荣耀

with all the grace of a baby unicorn --

（笑声）

(Laughter)

还有一条受伤的腿

with one broken leg.

我们在五岁或七岁

What we stumbled across

at this tender age of just five and seven --

无意间发现的道理其实是

we had no idea at the time --

当然当时我们并不知情

was was going be at the vanguard of a scientific revolution

后来一个科学革命的先锋观点

occurring two decades later in the way that we look at the human brain.

发生在二十年后，主要研究人脑的问题

我们当时的发现叫做积极心理学

We had stumbled across something called positive psychology,

这也是我今天站在这里的原因

which is the reason I'm here today

and the reason that I wake up every morning.

同时也是我每天早晨醒来的原因

当我刚开始在学术圈外谈论这个研究时

When I started talking about this research

在公司以及学校

outside of academia, with companies and schools,

他们强调的第一件事就是

the first thing they said to never do is to start with a graph.

永远不要以图表开始你的谈话

The first thing I want to do is start with a graph.

我在这里想做的第一件事恰恰就是用图表开始我的演讲

This graph looks boring,

这个图表看起来很枯燥

but it is the reason I get excited and wake up every morning.

但是它恰恰就是我每天保持兴奋并醒来的原因

而且这个表什么也不是，它是一个假数据

And this graph doesn't even mean anything; it's fake data.

我们从这些数据中发现——

What we found is --

（笑声）

(Laughter)

If I got this data studying you, I would be thrilled,

如果我用这些数据来研究在座的各位，估计我会很兴奋

because there's a trend there,

因为很明显这里有一个趋势

and that means that I can get published,

这意味着我可以将这个出版了

which is all that really matters.

这才是最关键的

There is one weird red dot above the curve,

事实是这个曲线上方有一个奇怪的红点

there's one weirdo in the room --

就是说在座有一个古怪的人

I know who you are, I saw you earlier --

我知道是哪位，刚才我看到你了

that's no problem.

这个不是问题

That's no problem, as most of you know, because I can just delete that dot.

你们都知道，这并不是问题

因为我完全可以删除这个点

I can delete that dot because that's clearly a measurement error.

我能删掉它是因为这明显是一个测量错误

我们都知道它是一个测量错误

And we know that's a measurement error because it's messing up my data.

因为它把我的数据弄乱了

(Laughter)

So one of the first things we teach people

所以通常经济学、统计学、商务学以及心理学课程

都会教大家的一件事

in economics, statistics, business and psychology courses

is how, in a statistically valid way, do we eliminate the weirdos.

是为保持数据的有效性，我们如何删除奇怪的数据

我们如何通过删除异常值

How do we eliminate the outliers so we can find the line of best fit?

来找出最合适的曲线呢？

Which is fantastic if I'm trying to find out

令人惊讶的是，当我试图研究

how many Advil the average person should be taking -- two.

每个人应该服用的雅维（解热镇痛药）数量时，我发现应该是两粒

But if I'm interested in your potential,

但是如果我对可能性感兴趣，如果我对你的潜力

或者快乐、生产力

or for happiness or productivity or energy or creativity,

或者精力、创造力感兴趣，

we're creating the cult of the average with science.

我们现在所做的就是对科学里的平均概念的迷信

If I asked a question like,

如果我问一个问题，比如说

"How fast can a child learn how to read in a classroom?"

“一个孩子在教室里学习阅读能有多快？”

scientists change the answer to

科学家们会把问题变成“孩子在教室学习阅读

"How fast does the average child learn how to read in that classroom?"

的平均速度是多少？”

然后我们会把教室里的孩子都设想成平均水平

and we tailor the class towards the average.

如果你低于这个平均线

If you fall below the average,

心理学家就会感到很惊讶

then psychologists get thrilled,

因为这意味着你要么有抑郁症要么有身心障碍

because that means you're depressed or have a disorder,

或者很可能二者兼具

or hopefully both.

We're hoping for both because our business model is,

我们希望你二者兼具，因为我们的商业模式是

if you come into a therapy session with one problem,

如果你因为一个毛病来进行治疗

我们希望你离开的时候知道自己其实是有10个毛病的

we want to make sure you leave knowing you have ten,

这样你就会一遍又一遍地来进行治疗

so you keep coming back.

We'll go back into your childhood if necessary,

如果必要的话我们会追溯到你的童年

但是最后我们想做的是使你变得正常

but eventually we want to make you normal again.

但是正常这个概念只是指的平均水平

But normal is merely average.

And positive psychology posits that if we study what is merely average,

我以及积极心理学家们假设的是

如果我们只研究平均水平

we will remain merely average.

我们就会一直停留在平均水平上

Then instead of deleting those positive outliers,

因此我们不会删除那些积极的异常值

我想做的是研究这些异常值的人群

what I intentionally do is come into a population like this one

然后探究其中的原因

and say, why?

为什么你们中有些人远远高于这个平均曲线？

Why are some of you high above the curve

包括你的智商、运动能力、音乐才能

in terms of intellectual, athletic, musical ability,

创造力、精力

creativity, energy levels,

resiliency in the face of challenge, sense of humor?

面对挑战的弹性以及幽默感？

不管是哪方面，我不会删除你，而是去研究你

Whatever it is, instead of deleting you, what I want to do is study you.

因为或许我们可以收集信息

Because maybe we can glean information,

不仅仅是把平均值下面的人提高到平均曲线上去

not just how to move people up to the average,

而是如何将整个平均曲线提高

but move the entire average up in our companies and schools worldwide.

无论是在全世界范围内的公司还是学校都是如此

The reason this graph is important to me

这个图表对我很重要

is, on the news, the majority of the information is not positive.

因为每当我打开新闻频道时，似乎大部分的信息

都不是积极的，事实上是消极的

in fact it's negative.

Most of it's about murder, corruption, diseases, natural disasters.

大部分都是关于谋杀、腐败、疾病、自然灾害

And very quickly, my brain starts to think

我立即想到

这才是世界上真正的消极和积极所占的比例

that's the accurate ratio of negative to positive in the world.

这其实造成了一种叫做

This creates "the medical school syndrome."

医学院综合症的东西

During the first year of medical training,

如果你认识读过医学院的人

as you read through a list of all the symptoms and diseases,

你就会知道在医学院一年级的时候

当你读完一份关于所有可能发生的疾病和相关症状的列表

suddenly you realize you have all of them.

你马上就会感觉好像所有这些症状和疾病自己都有

(Laughter)

我有一个妹夫叫波波，这是另一件事了

I have a brother in-law named Bobo, which is a whole other story.

波波和我那个“独角兽艾米”妹妹结婚了

Bobo married Amy the unicorn.

Bobo called me on the phone --

有一天他从耶鲁医学院

(Laughter)

给我打来电话

from Yale Medical School,

and Bobo said, "Shawn, I have leprosy."

他说，“肖恩，我得麻风病了”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Which, even at Yale, is extraordinarily rare.

这个病，在耶鲁都是其极罕见的

But I had no idea how to console poor Bobo

但是我不知道怎么来安慰可怜的波波

because he had just gotten over an entire week of menopause.

因为过去的整整一礼拜他一直在克服自己的更年期问题

（笑声）

(Laughter)

We're finding it's not necessarily the reality that shapes us,

所以我们发现并不一定是现实世界造就我们

but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality.

而是我们大脑用来看世界的那个镜片造就了我们的现实世界

如果我们换一副镜片，我们不仅可以改变自己的快乐程度

And if we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness,

同时还能改变每一个教育或者商业结果

we can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time.

当年申请哈佛的时候，我完全是放手一试的

I applied to Harvard on a dare.

我并没有期望能被录取，家里也没有钱供我去读大学

I didn't expect to get in, and my family had no money for college.

两周后我拿到了军事奖学金，哈佛录取我了

When I got a military scholarship two weeks later, they let me go.

突然，一个连“可能”都谈不上的事情变成现实了

Something that wasn't even a possibility became a reality.

当我到了哈佛，我以为其他人也都跟我一样把来这里读书当做一个荣耀

I assumed everyone there would see it as a privilege as well,

他们到这里来肯定都特别兴奋

that they'd be excited to be there.

即使你坐在一个满是比你聪明的人的教室里

Even in a classroom full of people smarter than you,

你也会很高兴，只是仅仅坐在那个教室就很快乐，这是我当时的感觉

I felt you'd be happy just to be in that classroom.

但是我发现

同时其他人也有类似体会

But what I found is, while some people experience that,

四年之后我从哈佛毕业

when I graduated after my four years

然后在学生宿舍和他们住了八年

and then spent the next eight years living in the dorms with the students --

这可是哈佛邀请我去的，我可不是那种八年毕不了业的人

Harvard asked me to; I wasn't that guy.

（笑声）

(Laughter)

I was an officer to counsel students through the difficult four years.

我作为哈佛的咨询师帮助学生们在四年大学时光进行心理咨询

And in my research and my teaching,

在我的研究和教学中

I found that these students, no matter how happy they were

我发现，无论这些学生入学之前取得的成功

让他们多么快乐

with their original success of getting into the school,

two weeks later their brains were focused, not on the privilege of being there,

两周之后他们的注意力就不在作为一名哈佛学子的荣耀感了

也不在哲学或者物理学上面

nor on their philosophy or physics,

他们的注意力集中在竞争、作业、

but on the competition, the workload,

各种烦恼、压力和抱怨上面

the hassles, stresses, complaints.

When I first went in there, I walked into the freshmen dining hall,

当我第一次开始工作的时候，我走进了新生食堂

我的来自德克萨斯州瓦克市的朋友在那里等我，我就是在瓦克市长大的

which is where my friends from Waco, Texas, which is where I grew up --

我知道你们可能有人听说过这个地方

I know some of you know this.

他们来看望我，并在食堂里四处参观

When they'd visit, they'd look around,

他们说，“这个新生食堂看起来有点像

and say, "This dining hall looks like something out of Hogwart's."

电影哈利·波特里面霍格瓦茨魔法学校的食堂。”的确那个食堂是挺像的

这边的是电影哈利·波特里面霍格瓦茨魔法学校的食堂，另一边是哈佛的食堂

It does, because that was Hogwart's and that's Harvard.

当他们看到这些时，

And when they see this,

they say, "Why do you waste your time studying happiness at Harvard?

他们说，“肖恩，你为什么浪费时间在哈佛研究快乐这个问题呢？

说真的，哈佛大学的学生有什么

What does a Harvard student possibly have to be unhappy about?"

感到不快乐的理由么？”

这个问题恰恰包含了

Embedded within that question

is the key to understanding the science of happiness.

理解快乐这门科学的关键

因为这个问题假设

Because what that question assumes

通过外部条件是可以预测我们的快乐程度的

is that our external world is predictive of our happiness levels,

但实际上，如果我了解你所有的外部条件

when in reality, if I know everything about your external world,

我只能预测你长期快乐程度的10%。

I can only predict 10% of your long-term happiness.

剩下的90%

90 percent of your long-term happiness is predicted not by the external world,

都不是靠外部条件可以预测的

而是取决于你的大脑如何理解这个世界

but by the way your brain processes the world.

如果我们做一点改变

And if we change it,

if we change our formula for happiness and success,

改变我们关于快乐和成功的定义准则

我们需要改变

we can change the way that we can then affect reality.

自己影响现实的方式

What we found is that only 25% of job successes are predicted by IQ,

我们发现只有25%的职业成功

是由IQ决定的

75 percent of job successes

其余75%

are predicted by your optimism levels, your social support

是由你的积极程度、人脉

and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.

以及把压力视为挑战而不是威胁的能力决定的

I talked to a New England boarding school, probably the most prestigious one,

我跟新英格兰一个寄宿学校谈起这个问题，这个学校应该是最著名的寄宿学校

他们说，“我们知道这个问题，

and they said, "We already know that.

所以每年，我们不仅教学，我们还有一周健康课。

So every year, instead of just teaching our students, we have a wellness week.

这个事情让我们都很兴奋。周一晚上请世界著名专家

And we're so excited. Monday night we have the world's leading expert

来讲青少年抑郁问题

will speak about adolescent depression.

周二晚上讲校园暴力和恃强欺弱问题

Tuesday night it's school violence and bullying.

周三晚上是饮食紊乱问题

Wednesday night is eating disorders.

周四晚上是吸毒问题

Thursday night is illicit drug use.

周五晚上我们正在讨论危险的性行为与快乐之间的抉择

And Friday night we're trying to decide between risky sex or happiness."

（笑声）

(Laughter)

I said, "That's most people's Friday nights."

我说，“大多数人周五晚都考虑这个”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

Which I'm glad you liked, but they did not like that at all.

很高兴你们喜欢这个回答，但是他们似乎一点都不喜欢

电话里一阵沉默

Silence on the phone.

And into the silence, I said, "I'd be happy to speak at your school,

为了打破沉默，我说“我很乐意在贵校做演讲，

但是你们也知道，这其实不是健康周，而是疾病周

but that's not a wellness week, that's a sickness week.

你们列出了可能发生的消极事情

You've outlined all the negative things that can happen,

却没有提到积极的方面。”

but not talked about the positive."

没有疾病并不代表健康

The absence of disease is not health.

我们应该这样获得健康：

Here's how we get to health:

We need to reverse the formula for happiness and success.

我们需要重新定义健康和成功的概念

In the last three years, I've traveled to 45 countries,

过去的三年里，我到过45个国家

和那里的学校、公司合作

working with schools and companies in the midst of an economic downturn.

在这个经济危机时期

And I found that most companies and schools

我发现大部分公司和学校

follow a formula for success, which is this:

有这样一个成功的准则，就是

如果我更努力，我就会更成功

If I work harder, I'll be more successful.

如果我更成功，我就会更快乐

And if I'm more successful, then I'll be happier.

That undergirds most of our parenting and managing styles,

这符合我们大多数父母的教育方式，以及公司的管理方式

也符合我们行为激励的原则

the way that we motivate our behavior.

但问题是从科学角度说这个观点是不成立的，是落后的，有两点原因

And the problem is it's scientifically broken and backwards for two reasons.

第一，每次你觉得成功的时候

Every time your brain has a success,

you just changed the goalpost of what success looked like.

你就会对成功重新进行定义

比如你取得了好成绩，接下来你必须取得更好的成绩

You got good grades, now you have to get better grades,

你进了一所好学校，接下来你必须进入更好的学校

you got into a good school and after you get into a better one,

你找到了一个好工作，下一步你得找到一个更好的工作

你达到了销售目标，下一步必须制定更多的销售目标

you got a good job, now you have to get a better job,

如果说快乐在成功的相反面，你永远不会得到快乐

you hit your sales target, we're going to change it.

我们所做的是把成功抬高到了

And if happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there.

社会的认知层面以外

We've pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon, as a society.

这是因为我们觉得我们必须成功

这样才会快乐

And that's because we think we have to be successful,

但真正的问题是我们的大脑却在相反的方向运行

then we'll be happier.

But our brains work in the opposite order.

如果你现在可以提高某个人的积极心理程度

If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present,

那么他的大脑就会经历我们称为快乐优势论的过程

then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage,

这时你的大脑在积极方面的表现

明显优于

which is your brain at positive performs significantly better

它在消极、中立或者沮丧方面的表现

than at negative, neutral or stressed.

你的智商提高、创造力提高、精力也提高了

Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise.

事实上，我们发现

In fact, we've found that every single business outcome improves.

每件事的结果都改善了

处于积极状态的大脑的生产力比

Your brain at positive is 31% more productive

处于消极、中立或者沮丧状态下高31%

than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed.

你的销售额能提高37%

You're 37% better at sales.

Doctors are 19 percent faster, more accurate

医生得出正确诊断的速度和准确率

at coming up with the correct diagnosis

也提高了19%

when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed.

当他的大脑处于积极状态而不是消极、中立或沮丧状态下

这意味着我们可以彻底改变这个准则

Which means we can reverse the formula.

如果现在我们可以找到一种使自己变得积极的方法

If we can find a way of becoming positive in the present,

那么大脑运转会更成功

then our brains work even more successfully

我们会工作得更努力、更快速、更聪明。

as we're able to work harder, faster and more intelligently.

我们需要改变这个准则，

We need to be able to reverse this formula

so we can start to see what our brains are actually capable of.

所以我们现在就来看看大脑究竟有多大能力

当你有积极的心态时，多巴胺就会进入你的大脑系统

Because dopamine, which floods into your system when you're positive,

它有两个作用

has two functions.

多巴胺不仅可以使你更快乐

Not only does it make you happier,

同时还可以打开大脑中所有的学习中心

it turns on all of the learning centers in your brain

让你以另一种方式来适应这个世界

allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way.

我们发现你可以通过训练自己的大脑

We've found there are ways that you can train your brain

来使自己更加积极

to be able to become more positive.

在一个连续21天进行的每次持续两分钟的实验里

In just a two-minute span of time done for 21 days in a row,

我们可以重新连接你的大脑线路

we can actually rewire your brain,

使你的大脑可以变得

allowing your brain to actually work more optimistically and more successfully.

更积极、更成功

我们现在正在做这些研究

We've done these things in research now

在我合作过的每一个公司

in every company that I've worked with,

让他们写下三件他们要感谢的事情

getting them to write down three new things that they're grateful for

连续21天，每天三件新的事情

这个实验结束的时候

for 21 days in a row, three new things each day.

他们的大脑会形成一种模式

And at the end of that,

their brain starts to retain a pattern

首先会以积极的心态看待这个世界，而不是消极的

of scanning the world not for the negative, but for the positive first.

回顾过去24小时你经历的一件积极的事情

Journaling about one positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours

会让你的大脑重新经历一遍那件事情

实践告诉人们你的行为是很重要的

allows your brain to relive it.

我们发现冥想可以

Exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters.

使你克服文化多动症

We find that meditation allows your brain

to get over the cultural ADHD that we've been creating

这个多动症是由于我们同时做不同的事情造成的

冥想可以让你的大脑集中精力在手头的一项工作中

by trying to do multiple tasks at once

and allows our brains to focus on the task at hand.

最后，看似随机的善举其实是有意识的善举

And finally, random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness.

当人们打开收件箱时，

我们让他们写一封积极的邮件

We get people, when they open up their inbox,

表扬或者感谢他们社交网中的某个人

to write one positive email

通过这些行为

praising or thanking somebody in their support network.

就像训练身体一样训练大脑

And by doing these activities

我们发现我们可以彻底改变快乐和成功的准则

and by training your brain just like we train our bodies,

通过这些事情，我们不仅可以创造出积极的影响力

what we've found is we can reverse the formula for happiness and success,

还可以创造一个真正的革命

and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity,

非常感谢

but a real revolution.

（掌声）

Thank you very much.

(Applause)