希望你不要胆小如鼠地过这一生Don’t let fear hold you back from living your life.

Don’t let fear hold you back from living your life.

In my ‘first career’ I landed what I thought was a pretty plum job working in marketing for a large multinational. It had been pitched as a really important position, with a lot of exciting opportunities for me to really make my mark.

在我的“第一份职业”中，我拿到了一份我当时认为相当不错的工作——在一家大型跨国公司从事市场营销。那份工作被描述得极具重要性，充满了各种令人兴奋的机会，我以为自己终于能在这份岗位上大展身手。

To my dismay, within a couple months of arriving I discovered the reality was very different. I found myself working in a very dysfunctional team with a manager who was clearly either going through a mid-life crisis or just more focused on other things outside our department. I suspect both. Day after day I would show up and try to make my mark on the role with close to no direction and zero feedback.

然而，几个月后我却发现现实完全不是那样。我所在的团队非常混乱，而我的经理似乎正经历某种中年危机，或者只是对我们部门以外的事情更感兴趣——我猜两者都有。每天我都努力地投入工作，试图在岗位上有所作为，但几乎得不到任何指导或反馈。

As the months passed, I found myself increasingly disillusioned. By the time I was nearing a year in the role I decided I could bear it no longer and began looking for a new position outside the company.

随着时间的推移，我的失望感越来越强烈。快满一年的时候，我终于受够了，决定寻找新的机会离开这家公司。

At the exit interview with the department director, he asked me why I was leaving. I decided I had nothing to lose and may as well be candid with him.

在离职面谈中，部门主管问我为什么要走。我觉得反正也没什么可失去的，便坦诚地告诉了他原因。

To my surprise he conveyed sincere disappointment and then asked why I hadn’t spoken up earlier to share my concerns as he would have appreciated the opportunity to have addressed them.

出乎我意料的是，他表现出真诚的失望，并问我为什么之前没有早点说出我的困扰——他本希望有机会去解决这些问题。

The truth was, I was simply too timid to rock the boat and too afraid of the fallout.

事实是，我那时太胆怯，不敢“搅动局面”，害怕因此引起麻烦或遭到不良后果。

The lesson was an important one. When we cower from addressing issues for fear of rocking the boat, we sell out on ourselves and can end up being rocked out of it anyway.

这个经历给了我一个重要的教训：当我们因为害怕惹事而选择沉默时，实际上是出卖了自己，最终也可能被“船”摇出去。

When I look back on some of the not-so-pleasant experiences in my career and relationships, on every single occasion I can identify where I held back from confronting an issue when I shouldn’t have because I was afraid someone might think I was being difficult, hard to get along with, uncooperative or pushy.

回顾我职业生涯和人际关系中那些不太愉快的经历，每一次我都能找到一个共同点——我在应该直面问题的时候退缩了，只因为害怕别人会认为我难相处、不合群、不合作或太强势。

I was trying to be a nice person-agreeable and easy to work with. Alas, I was trying too hard.

我只是想做一个“好人”——讨人喜欢、容易共事的人。但很遗憾，我太过用力去讨好别人了。

I like nice people. Who doesn’t, right? But, like every virtue, too much niceness can have a downside.

我喜欢“好人”，谁不喜欢呢?但就像所有美德一样，“太好”也有副作用。

Of course, being agreeable, affable and amenable is often a great thing, helping you to build trusting and rewarding relationships. Likewise, no-one likes someone who is forever forcing their opinion, constantly argumentative and overly demanding.

当然，友善、随和、乐于合作往往是好事，这能帮助你建立信任而有益的关系。同样地，没有人喜欢那种总是强加自己意见、好争论、过分苛求的人。

However, if you’re not willing to push back from time to time, you can find yourself feeling increasingly resentful and frustrated, and unable to accomplish what you want.

然而，如果你从不愿意适度地反击、表达不同意见，你可能会越来越感到压抑、沮丧，并最终无法实现你真正想要的目标。

Ita Buttrose once shared with me that the world would be a very dull place if no-one ever rocked the boat.

伊塔·巴特罗斯（Ita Buttrose）曾对我说过：“如果没有人敢摇晃那条船，这个世界将会无比乏味。”

Likewise, if all you ever do is ‘go along to get along’ you’ll sometimes diminish yourself and deprive others of the impact you’d make by speaking up and putting forward your opinion, even if it ruffles the odd feather.

的确，如果你总是选择“随波逐流”，那么有时候你不仅会削弱自己的影响力，还会剥夺他人从你真诚表达中受益的机会——即使那会让某些人有点不舒服。

Sure, there’ll be people who won’t always agree with you. Some may think you’re being a pain in the butt. Criticism and confrontation may ensue.

当然，会有人不同意你的看法，甚至有人会觉得你“难搞”。你可能会面临批评或冲突。

However, in today’s workplace where ‘yes-men’ (and women) who are quick to take the safe option can seem all too plentiful,those who are willing to speak their mind-courteously, but candidly-not only add more value, but become more valued by those around them.

然而，在当今的职场里，那些只会一味附和、选择安全路线的“好好先生”和“好好小姐”比比皆是。而那些愿意坦率、礼貌、但真诚地表达自己想法的人，不仅能创造更多价值，也会因此更受他人重视。

As Margaret Thatcher once said, ‘If you set out to be liked, you will accomplish nothing’.

正如玛格丽特·撒切尔所言：如果你的目标是取悦所有人，你将一事无成。