职场英语：“鸭梨山大”的时候如何减压

Feeling stressed? Of course you are. You have too much on your plate, deadlines are looming, people are counting on you, and to top it all off, you still have holiday shopping to do. You are under a lot of pressure — so much that at times, you suspect the quality of your work suffers for it.

觉得有压力?这是再正常不过的了。你有太多事要操心，最后期限迫在眉睫，别人还都指望着你，最糟糕的是，你假期还要血拼购物呢。你承受着一堆压力——压力太大，以至于有时候，你会怀疑工作质量因此受到了影响。

This is life in the modern workplace. The difference between those who are successful and those who aren't is not whether or not you suffer from stress, but how you deal with it when you do.Here are seven scientifically-proven strategies for defeating stress whenever it strikes.

这就是现在的职场生活。成功人士与常人的区别不是在于有没有遇到压力，而是在于如何处理它们。下面有7个经过科学验证的方法，可以帮你在压力来袭时战胜压力。

1. Have self-compassion.

1.自惜自怜

Self-compassion is, in essence, cutting yourself some slack. It's being willing to look at your mistakes or failures with kindness and understanding — without harsh criticism or defensiveness. Studies show that people who are self-compassionate are happier, more optimistic, and less anxious and depressed. That's probably not surprising. But here's the kicker: they are more successful, too. Most of us believe that we need to be hard on ourselves to perform at our best, but it turns out that's 100 percent wrong.So remember that to err is human, and give yourself a break.

“自怜”在本质上是放自己一马。你更愿意用仁慈和理解的心态看待错误或失败——而不是严厉的批评或抵触心理。研究表明那些自我怜悯的人更幸福、更乐观、焦虑和沮丧也会更少，这并不令人惊讶。但有趣的是：这些人也更成功。我们很多人认为对自己应该严格些，这样才能表现的最好，但是结果说明这种想法大错特错。所以请记得人孰无过，要给自己休息的时间。

2. Remember the "Big Picture."

2.记得“大愿景”

Anything you need or want to do can be thought of in more than one way. For instance, "exercising" can be described in Big Picture terms, like "getting healthier" — the why of exercising — or it can be described in more concrete terms, like "running two miles" — the how of exercising. Thinking Big Picture about the work you do can be very energizing in the face of stress and challenge, because you are linking one particular, often small action to a greater meaning or purpose. So when staying that extra hour at work at the end of an exhausting day is thought of as "helping my career" rather than "answering emails for 60 more minutes," you'll be much more likely to want to stay put and work hard.

你做的每件事都不只有一种思考方法。比方说，“锻炼”如果往大方面想，可以是“变得更健康”(锻炼的原因)或者是更具体的“跑两英里”(如何锻炼)。当面对压力或挑战时想想“大愿景”能让你很有动力，因为你把一个具体的、往往是很小的行动联系到很大的意义或目的上。所以当你劳累一天后还要多做一小时工作时，想想“这对职业生涯有帮助”而不是“还要多回60分钟邮件”，这样你会更愿意加班并努力工作。

3. Rely on routines.

3. 依靠常规方法

If I ask you to name the major causes of stress in your work life, you would probably say things like deadlines, a heavy workload, bureaucracy, or your terrible boss. You probably wouldn't say "having to make so many decisions," because most people aren't aware that this is a powerful and pervasive cause of stress in their lives. (This is why shopping is so exhausting — it's not the horrible concrete floors, it's all that deciding.)

如果我问你工作中主要的压力来源，你可能会说截止期限、繁重的工作压力、官僚制度或糟糕的老板之类的事。你大概不会说“不得不做很多决定”，因为很多人没有意识到这是他们生活中普遍又强大的压力来源。(这就是为什么逛街会那么精疲力尽的原因——不是因为一层层可怕的楼梯，而是因为要做决定。)

The solution is to reduce the number of decisions you need to make by using routines. If there's something you need to do every day, do it at the same time every day. In fact, President Obama,mentioned using this strategy himself in a recent interview:

解决这类问题可以用模式化方法减少要做决定的数量。如果有些事你每天都要做，那每天都在相同的时候做。实际上，奥巴马总统在最近的采访中提到了自己使用这种方法：

You'll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make. You need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to routinize yourself. You can't be going through the day distracted by trivia.

你们看我只穿灰色或蓝色的衣服。我不想在吃穿上头疼，因为其他太多事需要我做决定了。你需要集中做决定的精力，你需要将自己“模式化”。你不能在一天中因琐事分心。

4. Take five (or ten) minutes to do something you find interesting.

花5到10分钟时间做让你感兴趣的事。

It doesn't matter what it is, so long as it interests you. Recent research shows that interest doesn't just keep you going despite fatigue, it actually replenishes your energy. And then that replenished energy flows into whatever you do next.

不管是什么，只要是让你感兴趣的事就行。最近研究表明兴趣不只能让你在疲劳时继续前行，也能恢复能量。然后被恢复的能量可以帮你做接下来的事。

Keep these two very important points in mind: First, interesting is not the same thing as pleasant, fun, or relaxing (though they are certainly not mutually exclusive.) Taking a lunch break might be relaxing, and if the food is good it will probably be pleasant. But unless you are eating at the new molecular gastronomy restaurant, it probably won't be interesting. So it won't replenish your energy.

把以下两点铭记心中：首先，兴趣和高兴、有趣、放松不一样(虽然有共同之处)。午间休息或许可以放轻松，美食也会让人很愉悦，但是除非在新开的分子烹饪学餐厅用餐，不然也算不上“有兴趣”，所以也不会恢复你的能量。

Second, interesting does not have to mean effortless. The same studies that showed that interest replenished energy showed that it did so even when the interesting task was difficult and required effort.

第二，兴趣不代表毫不费力的事。以上研究也同样表明，有兴趣的事可能会很困难，要很努力完成。

5. Add where and when to your to-do list.

5. 把时间和地点加在要做的事上

Do you have a to-do list? And do you find that a day or a week (or sometimes longer) will frequently pass by without a single item getting checked off? Stressful, isn't it? What you need is a way to get the things done that you set out to do in a timely manner.

你有要做的事情吗?你会不会发现明明什么都没做，一天或一周(有时候会更久)就匆匆而逝呢?很有压力，是吧?你需要的是找到一种方法可以让事情按时做完。

This particular form of planning is a really powerful way to help you achieve any goal. Nearly 200 studies, on everything from diet and exercise to negotiation and time management, have shown that deciding in advance when and where you will complete a task (e.g., "If it is 4pm, then I will return any phone calls I should return today") can double or triple your chances of actually doing it.

这里推荐一种强大的可以完成愿望的方法，即计划明细。从饮食、健康到协商、时间管理各个方面的将近200个研究，都显示(使用计划明细)事先计划完成任务的时间和地点(举个例子，下午四点，我要回那些今天本来要回的电话)可以将你真正完成事情的几率将提高两到三倍。

6. See your work in terms of progress, not perfection.

6. 把工作看成进步的方法，而不是追求完美。

We all approach the goals we pursue with one of two mindsets: what I call the Be-Good mindset, where the focus is on proving that you have a lot of ability and that you already know what you're doing, and the Get-Better mindset, where the focus is on developing your ability and learning new skills. You can think of it as the difference between wanting to show that you are smart versus wanting to get smarter.

我们都用两种心态达成目标：一种被我称为“把事情做好”的心态，主要用来证明你有能力，也已经知道如何做了。另一种是“将来可以更好”的心态，主要目的在提高能力和学习新技能上。你可以想想“展现自己的聪慧”和“让自己更聪慧”的差别。

When you have a Be-Good mindset, you expect to be able to do everything perfectly right out of the gate, and you constantly (often unconsciously) compare yourself to other people. You quickly start to doubt your ability when things don't go smoothly, and this creates a lot of stress and anxiety. Ironically, worrying about your ability makes you much more likely to ultimately fail.

当你有“把事情做好”的心态，你希望每件事都能做得完美、恰如其分，而且一直(经常是无意识地)把自己和其他人做比较。当事情不顺时，你很快开始怀疑自己的能力，这将造成很大的压力和焦虑。讽刺的是，担心自己能力会让你更有可能失败。

A Get-Better mindset leads instead to self-comparison and a concern with making progress — how well are you doing today, compared with how you did yesterday, last month, or last year? When you think about what you are doing in terms of learning and improving, accepting that you may make some mistakes along the way and you stay motivated despite the setbacks that might occur.

“将来可以更好”的心态，却是自我比较和对取得进步的关心——和昨天、上个月、去年相比较，今天做得有多好?当想到在学习和取得进步方面所做的事时，要接受在过程中犯错误的可能，即使会遇到挫折，你也要保持前进的动力。

7. Think about the progress that you've already made.

7. 想想你已经取得的成就

Psychologically, it's often not whether we've reached our goal, but the rate at which we are closing the gap between where we are now and where we want to end up that determines how we feel. It can be enormously helpful to take a moment and reflect on what you've accomplished so far before turning your attention to the challenges that remain ahead.

从心理上说，我们怎么想不取决于能否达成目标，而在于如何快速缩小现实与目标的距离。在把注意力转向将来的挑战时，花点时间思考下目前取得的成就，这将非常有用。