欧美人文风情第209篇:嘘...别说出你的个人目标

 Everyone, please think of your biggest personal goal. Okay? For real—you can take a second. You gotta feel this to learn it.  各位，请想一想你最大的个人目标。好吗？认真的——你可以花一点时间思考。你必须得想想才能知道。

Take a few seconds and think of your personal biggest goal, okay? 花几秒钟然后想想你个人最大的目标，好？

Imagine deciding right now that you're going to do it. Imagine telling someone that you meet today what you're going to do.  想像一下现在就决定你要去实践了。想像一下跟某个你今天见到的人说你要做的事。

Imagine their congratulations and their high image of you. Doesn't it feel good to say it out loud?  想像一下他们的祝贺和对你产生的好印象。大声说出来感觉很棒对吧？

Don't you feel one step closer already, like it's already becoming part of your identity?  你难道不觉得离目标已经更近一步，像是那已经成为你这个人的一部分？

Well, bad news: You should've kept your mouth shut, because that good feeling now will make you less likely to do it. 这个嘛，坏消息：你应该保持沉默的，因为那美妙的感觉现在会让你比较不可能去实践目标了。

The repeated psychology¹ tests have proven that telling someone your goal makes it less likely to happen.  一再进行的心理试验证实，告诉某人你的目标使之较不可能实现。

Anytime you have a goal, there are some steps that need to be done, some work that needs to be done, in order to achieve it.  每当你有个目标时，会有一些步骤需要完成、一些工作需要做，以达到那目标。

Ideally, you would not be satisfied until you'd actually done the work.  一般来说，你在没真正完成工作前是不会感到满足的。

But when you tell someone your goal and they acknowledge² it, psychologists have found that it's called a "social reality."  不过当你告诉某人你的目标且他们认同时，心理学家发现这叫做“社会真实”。

The mind is kind of tricked into feeling that it's already done.  大脑有点像被诱骗产生目标已达成的感觉。

And then, because you felt that satisfaction, you're less motivated to do the actual hard work necessary.  接着，因为你感受到那种满足，你就比较没动力去做实际需要下的困难功夫。

So this goes against the conventional wisdom that we should tell our friends our goals—right? 所以这和一般看法认为我们应该要告诉朋友自己的目标相悖——对吧？

so they hold us to it. So, let's look at the proof. 这样朋友才能使我们信守承诺。那么，我们来看看实验证明。

1926: Kurt Lewin, founder³ of social psychology, called this "substitution."  1926 年：Kurt Lewin，社会心理学的创始人，称之“替代”。

1933: Wera Mahler found when it was acknowledged⁴ by others, it felt real in the mind.  1933 年：Wera Mahler 发现当目标被其他人认可时，心理感觉就像成真了。

1982: Peter Gollwitzer wrote a whole book about this, and in 2009, he did some new tests that were published. 1982 年：Peter Gollwitzer 就此写了一整本书，而在 2009 年，他做了些新实验并被发表于世。

It goes like this: 163 people across four separate tests, everyone wrote down their personal goal;  那实验是像这样：四个不同实验的 163 人，每人写下他们的个人目标；

then half of them announced their commitment to this goal to the room, and half didn't.  接着其中半数人向屋内的人宣布他们对此目标的决心，而半数人则未。

And then everyone was given 45 minutes of work that would directly lead them towards their goal,  接着所有人被分配 45 分钟的作业，那会直接将他们导向自己的目标，

but they were told that they could stop at any time.  不过实验对象被告知能随时停止。

Now, those who kept their mouths shut worked the entire 45 minutes, on average,  现在，那些没说出目标的人平均上都工作了整整 45 分钟，

and when asked afterwards, said that they felt that they had a long way to go still to achieve their goal.  之后被询问时，他们说觉得自己离达成目标还有很长一段路。

But those who had announced it quit after only 33 minutes, on average,  不过那些已经宣告的人平均来说仅过 33 分钟就不干了，

and when asked afterwards, said that they felt much closer to achieving their goal. 而在事后被询问时，他们说觉得离达成目标靠近许多。

So, if this is true, what can we do? Well, you could resist the temptation to announce your goal.  所以，如果这是真的，我们可以做什么？嗯，你可以对抗想昭告自己目标的诱惑。

You can delay the gratification that the social acknowledgment brings.  你可以缓缓社会认同所带来的那种满足感。

And you can understand that your mind mistakes the talking for the doing.  还有你可以了解你的大脑会误将出一张嘴当成真正做事。

But if you do need to talk about something, you can state it in a way that gives you no satisfaction,  不过如果你真的必须说些什么，你可以用一种不会给你任何满足感的方式说，

such as, "I really wanna run this marathon, so I need to train five times a week. And kick my ass⁵ if I don't, okay?" 例如：“我真的很想跑这场马拉松，所以我需要一星期训练五次。如果我没做到就教训我，好吗？”

So, audience, next time you're tempted⁶ to tell someone your goal, what will you say? Exactly! Well done. 所以，观众们，下次你很想要告诉某人你的目标时，你会说什么？没错!干得好。

 

1 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

2 acknowledge   

vt.承认...的权威，告知，收到，报偿

参考例句：

• With so much evidence against him he had to acknowledge his error.在这么多的证据面前，他不得不承认错误。
• It is ungracious of me not to acknowledge your help.你大力帮助而我尚未表示谢意，十分失礼。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 acknowledged   

adj.公认的v.承认( acknowledge的过去式和过去分词 )；鸣谢；对…打招呼；告知已收到

参考例句：

• He acknowledged publicly that he might have made a mistake. 他当众承认自己可能犯了个错误。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police acknowledged that three police vehicles were damaged. 警方承认有三辆警车被毁。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

6 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。