作者： Dan Pallotta ， 2010 年 9 月 17 日

Comparing yourself with Steve Jobs is not healthy. Never mind that it's probably the pastime of every alpha male and female businessperson on the planet these days.

    拿自己跟史蒂夫·乔布斯相比对你可没什么好处，不过貌似这已经成为这个星球上大多数商界的“型男靓女”消遣时所津津乐道的话题了。

Drawing inspiration from Steve Jobs — or from anyone else you admire — studying them, and learning from them, now those are different matters. But all too often we conflate admiration and comparison. They're two completely different things. One is smart, the other debilitating.

    我们会从史蒂夫·乔布斯身上汲取灵感（或者从任何你所欣赏的人身上），然后研究他们，进而向他们学习。但如今时过境迁，我们常常将“钦佩”和“对比”混为一谈，而这其实是两件完全不同的事——一个是明智的，而另一个却是在“自讨苦吃”！

Comparison sounds like this: "Why aren't I that creative?" "How come I don't have the negotiating cajones he does?" "How come I can't manage my people to that level of excellence?" "Why can't I run two companies at once like he does?" "Why didn't I have the guts to drop out of college and do what I really wanted to do?" "How come I haven't had a comeback?" And it's no surprise what comes next: "What a loser I am. I'll never be like him. I'll never be able to do anything that big. If I were sitting across the office from him he'd make mincemeat of me. I just don't have what he has."

    所谓的“对比”是这样的：“为什么我不能像他那样富有创意？”；“为什么我没有他那些谈判技巧？”；“为什么我不能像他那样使员工变得那么卓越？”；“ 为什么我不能像他那样同时运作两家公司？”；“为什么我没有胆量像他那样中途辍学而去做自己想做的事情？”；“为什么我不能‘大起大落’一回？”这些问题 的答案是毋庸置疑的：“我真 TM 是个失败者！我永远也不能像他那样！我永远无法实现他那样宏伟的成就！如果我坐在他对面的办公室里，他一定会把我批得体无完肤！他所拥有的一切我都没有！”

The loop is repeated every hour or every time you read something about your icon, whichever comes first.

    每隔一小时，或者当你读到关于你的偶像的消息时，这些问题就会在你的脑海里重复一遍，不管谁先谁后！

And this is healthy how?

    这当然是不健康的！

Such comparisons spiral you into depression. They demotivate you, demoralize you, and generally suck every last bit of enthusiasm and aliveness out of you, so that you go into your next meeting or activity unable to contribute an ounce of energy to the room. How could you? You just annihilated your spirit.

    这样的“对比”会让你陷入低沉的状态之中，它们会使你变得消极，会让你士气低落，并且会带走你仅有的最后一丝热情和生气！所以当你接下来去参加会议或者活动的时候，你自然没有更多的精气神儿来应付了！你怎么可能会有呢？你的精神已经被你自己给消灭了！

Don't touch hot stoves, don't forget to call your mother on Mother's Day, and don't compare yourself with others. Wire this into your brain. Ruthlessly comparing yourself with others has become confused with some kind of tough-love work ethic. It isn't the same thing. And it isn't the least bit productive. It leaves you with nothing but personal unhappiness, and you can't create very much of anything with that.

    不要去碰热炉子（它会伤到你）！记得在母亲节问候你的老妈！不要总是和别人比来比去！——把这些忠告都刻到自己的脑袋里！总拿自己和别人对比是件非常残忍的事情，这会和那些“ 爱之深，责之切 ”的职业准则混为一谈，而这本来就不是一回事！同时这对你的工作效率一点好处也没有，它所带给你的只有“郁闷”，在这种状态下，你只会一事无成！

Because we confuse destructive comparisons with a strong work ethic, we make a habit of them, and mental habits get hardwired into our brains.

    因为我们把这种极具破坏性的“对比”和“职业准则”弄混了，我们甚至将这种“对比”当成是一种已经融入到我们大脑之中的思维习惯！

Break the cycle. Do an intervention on yourself. Begin the process of permanently rewiring your brain by consciously recognizing that this thing you thought was good, or responsible, is in fact the opposite.

    赶紧打破这种循环吧！试着让自己跳出来！重新树立起已有的“自我意识”，告诉自己你的想法是正确的，或者干脆进行“反向思考”（相对于以前的思维模式）！

There's a saying, "You can't afford the luxury of a negative thought." It's true. And comparing yourself to others is the equivalent of smothering yourself in negative thought. The feelings of self-loathing that follow are ultimately self-centered and self-indulgent in the most negative possible way. Yes, it's a form of self-pity.

    俗话说：“好高骛远有害身心健康！”这话是完全正确的。而拿自己和别人进行对比就等同于否定了你自己，这种“自我厌恶”情绪所导致的最终结果就是“唯心主义”和“自我放纵”！是的，这的确是条“自我毁灭”的路！

And if all that isn't enough, consider this: The last way you will ever get to play in a game remotely like the one your icons play in is by comparing yourself with them.

    如果所有的这些都还不够的话，试想一下：如果你总拿自己和你的偶像相对比，那么他们在这个世界上的“玩法”你永远也学不会！

When I was in my 20s I moved to Los Angeles to try and get a record deal as a singer and songwriter. I compared myself with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell constantly. Using that approach, I never produced a remotely memorable song. And then I started observing pop/rock songwriter John Cougar. He was derided by the critics for being derivative of, but never nearly as insightful or affecting as, the greats. In a brilliant stroke of authenticity, he dropped the name I assume record producers had forced on him and began using his real name — John Mellencamp. As he embraced his own inadequacies, he began to write about things that were actually real and personal to him, instead of trying to channel Bob Seeger, and suddenly he was producing critically acclaimed music. He went on to found Farm Aid and in 2008 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

    我在 20 多岁的时候搬到洛杉矶，希望能作为一名歌手或歌曲创作者而得到一份唱片合约。我经常把自己与 Bob Dyla n ① 和 Joni Mitchel l ② 进行对比，在这种情形下，我没有创作出一首值得纪念的好作品！之后我对 John Cougar （流行摇滚歌手）进行了一番观察，由于他一直在模仿那些明星们的音乐（几乎没有属于自己的风格和作品），所以也一直被众多的批评之声所嘲笑。但是当他的事业如日中天的时候，他选择了放弃以前的名字！当时他的唱片制作人强迫他使用自己的真实名字—— John Mellencamp 。而当他面对自己的不足之处时，他开始写出一些真实且真正属于他自己的作品来，于是他不再去模仿 Bob Seeger ，而这时候他的音乐在突然间就受到了众人的喜爱，之后他参与了“农场援助”慈善演出并于 2008 年入选“摇滚名人堂”！ （ ① Bob Dylan ： 1941 年生人，有着重要影响力的美国唱作人，民谣歌手，音乐家，诗人，获 2008 年诺贝尔文学奖提名； ② Joni Mitchell ： 1943 年生人， 上个世纪最成功的女歌手之一，她的音乐影响了目前很多成功的歌手，在音乐风格方面不断创新的她，涉及民谣、摇滚、爵士等众多领域，并且她还是位出色的诗人和画家——译者注 ）

Using Mellencamp as my model — which meant being true to me and not someone else — I began writing much better, much more authentic material, and even had a song recorded by Edgar Winter.

    于是我把 Mellencamp 当成是自己的榜样——这意味着我要忠于我自己，而不是别人——于是我的创作开始有所好转，作品变得更加真实，甚至有首歌被 Edgar Winter 选中！

I heard an interview on NPR the other day with Justin Townes Earle, a great and now successful songwriter in his own right, and son of Mellencamp's contemporary, the great rural songwriter Steve Earle. Justin bears his dad's last name, and his middle name was given to him in honor of the legendary songwriter Townes Van Zandt. He was asked if this was a burden, to be compared with these guys. His response was brilliant:

    最近，我在 NPR （美国国家公共广播电台）上听到了一期著名音乐创作者 Justin Townes Earle 的访谈节目，他是伟大的乡村音乐作曲家 Steve Earle （和 Mellencamp 同一时代）的儿子， Justin 跟了他父亲的姓，而他的中间名（ Townes ）是向传奇作曲家 Townes Van Zandt 致敬。当被问及和这些人相比对他来说会不会是个负担时，他的回答非常精彩：

"I know both of 'em. They ain't legends to me. They're just regular guys. I've seen them throw up on themselves... I knew early on that anyone that decided they were going to be in competition with Steve Earle and Townsend Van Zandt as a songwriter is gonna live a fool's life. You just gotta try and write for yourself and not worry about what other people think. I think that that's what screws a lotta people up. You're not Dylan...you're who you are and you gotta learn who you are in order to write decent songs."

    “他们两个我都很熟悉，但他们对我来说并不是传奇，他们也是普通人，我也知道他们曾经放弃过自己……我很早就清楚，如果一位作曲者试图与 Steve Earle 和 Townsend Van Zandt 相对比，那他就注定要过上一辈子傻瓜的生活！我认为一个人只需要不断尝试、为自己而创作，不要去担心别人是怎么想的，就可以让自己振作起来！你不是 Dylan ，你只是你自己！只有你真正了解了自己，才能写出像样的作品来！”

And this credo has made him a success.

    正是这个信念，让 Justin 取得了成功！

Steve Earle or Steve Jobs — if you're comparing yourself with them you're betraying yourself and your life and all of the possibility that lies within it.

    现在，如果你拿自己和 Steve Earle 或者 Steve Jobs 相对比，那么就意味着你背叛了你自己！而你的生活和潜在的价值都将在未来活在一片“谎言”之中！

作者简介： Dan Pallotta ，“帕洛塔团队工作者”（ Pallotta TeamWorks ）（一家位于加利福尼亚洛杉矶的项目策划营销公司）的创始人和首席执行官。