你为什么会出现瓶颈期？（下）

Beyoncé

当碧昂斯（Beyoncé，美国女歌手）巡回演唱时，在演唱中，她处在表现区，不过每天晚上回到酒店，就进入学习区。她观看刚刚录制的演唱视频，寻找能改善的缺陷，对象包括她自己、她的伴舞和摄影师。第二天早上，这些人都会得到好几张纸的笔记，写满了可以改进的地方。接下来他们就要不断改善，力争在下一场演唱会中做的更好。这是一个螺旋式的进步，但我们要知道我们何时学习、何时工作，两者不要混淆。在我们需要在两者上都花时间的时候，我们在学习区待的越久、提高的越大。

When Beyoncé is on tour, during the concert, she's in her performance zone, but every night when she gets back to the hotel room, she goes right back into her learning zone. She watches a video of the show that just ended. She identifies opportunities for improvement, for herself, her dancers and her camera staff. And the next morning, everyone receives pages of notes with what to adjust, which they then work on during the day before the next performance. It's a spiral to ever-increasing capabilities, but we need to know when we seek to learn, and when we seek to perform, and while we want to spend time doing both, the more time we spend in the learning zone, the more we'll improve.

那我们怎样才能有更多时间在学习区呢？

首先，我们必须相信并了解我们可以进步，我们称之为“进步大脑机制”。

其次，我们必须想要在某项特定技能上有所提升。一定要有我们关心的目标，因为这需要时间和汗水。

再其次，我们必须知道如何提高，我们能做些什么。而不是像我年轻时弹吉他一样，把几首歌翻来覆去的弹，不进行任何的刻意练习。

最后，我们需要在低风险条件下。因为如果错误是可以接受的，那发生错误的后果一定不能太严重。一个走钢丝的杂技演员不能在下面没有防护网的情况下练习新的杂技，而一个运动员不能在冠军赛中首次尝试一个新的动作。

So how can we spend more time in the learning zone? First, we must believe and understand that we can improve, what we call a growth mindset. Second, we must want to improve at that particular skill. There has to be a purpose we care about, because it takes time and effort. Third, we must have an idea about how to improve, what we can do to improve, not how I used to practice the guitar as a teenager, performing songs over and over again, but doing deliberate practice. And fourth, we must be in a low-stakes situation, because if mistakes are to be expected, then the consequence of making them must not be catastrophic, or even very significant. A tightrope walker doesn't practice new tricks without a net underneath, and an athlete wouldn't set out to first try a new move during a championship match.

我们把大部分时间都花在表现区的一个原因是我们所处的环境时常是高风险的，而这其实并没有必要。我们给每一个人创造了一个社交风险，即使是在我们应该学习的学校也是如此。我并不是在说标准化考试，我说的是在学校里的每一天。很多人从小学到大学都认为一旦他们犯错，别人就会看轻他们。这也不奇怪他们总是压力很大，并且不愿意为学习冒险。学生们知道错误并不讨喜，而老师和家长都只渴望听到正确的答案。我们拒绝错误，而不是拥抱错误并从中学习。我们期待特定的答案，而不是鼓励学生开放式思考。其实，从这些开放性思考中我们都可以学到很多。当所有的作业都有一个分数或评级，甚至还会算入期末考试，而不是用来练习、犯错、反馈和改正时，我们就在告诉学生学校是一个表现区。

One reason that in our lives we spend so much time in the performance zone is that our environments often are, unnecessarily, high stakes. We create social risks for one another, even in schools which are supposed to be all about learning, and I'm not talking about standardized tests. I mean that every minute of every day, many students in elementary schools through colleges feel that if they make a mistake, others will think less of them. No wonder they're always stressed out and not taking the risks necessary for learning. But they learn that mistakes are undesirable inadvertently when teachers or parents are eager to hear just correct answers and reject mistakes rather than welcome and examine them to learn from them, or when we look for narrow responses rather than encourage more exploratory thinking that we can all learn from. When all homework or student work has a number or a letter on it, and counts towards a final grade, rather than being used for practice, mistakes, feedback and revision, we send the message that school is a performance zone.

在我们上班的地方也是这样。在我指导咨询的一些公司中，我经常看到零缺陷执行文化，领导们建立这些文化以鼓励出色的工作表现。但这让员工待着他们自己的已知的圈子内，不去尝试新的东西。所以公司很难创新、有所提升，最终落后于人。

The same is true in our workplaces. In the companies I consult with, I often see flawless execution cultures which leaders foster to encourage great work. But that leads employees to stay within what they know and not try new things, so companies struggle to innovate and improve, and they fall behind.

我们可以通过对话，商议我们何时处于哪个区域，从而创造更多的进步空间。我们可以在哪些地方做的更好，如何去做？我们何时该执行任务、将错误将至最低？通过这种方式，我们清晰地明白我们该在什么地方做出出色的表现，又在什么时候通过什么方式支持理解别人？

We can create more spaces for growth by starting conversations with one another about when we want to be in each zone. What do we want to get better at and how? And when do we want to execute and minimize mistakes? That way, we gain clarity about what success is, when, and how to best support one another.

但如果我们发现自己处在一个漫长的高风险状态下，觉得无法进行那样的对话，那该怎么办？作为个人，我们可以做到如下三点。

一、在高风险的环境下，我们自己创造低风险的状态。这种情况下，错误的风险很小。比如，我们可以找一个导师或值得信任的同事，互换想法、相互批评、甚至是角色扮演。亦或者，随着项目的开展，我们进行问题反馈的会议。再者，我们定好时间进行阅读、看学习视频或参加网络课程。这些只是一些例子，大家还可以自己想办法。

二、我们可以认真的工作、执行任务，但事后要去反思我们下次什么地方可以做的更好。就像碧昂斯一样。我们还可以观察并模仿专家。这些观察、反思和调整就是学习区。

三、我们可以领导和降低他人的风险，与他人分享我们希望提高的地方，问别人我们不懂的问题，寻求反馈建议，分享我们的错误和我们学到的内容。从而让其他人感到安心，并做相同的事情。

But what if we find ourselves in a chronic high-stakes setting and we feel we can't start those conversations yet? Then here are three things that we can still do as individuals. First, we can create low-stakes islands in an otherwise high-stakes sea. These are spaces where mistakes have little consequence. For example, we might find a mentor or a trusted colleague with whom we can exchange ideas or have vulnerable conversations or even role-play. Or we can ask for feedback-oriented meetings as projects progress. Or we can set aside time to read or watch videos or take online courses. Those are just some examples. Second, we can execute and perform as we're expected, but then reflect on what we could do better next time, like Beyoncé does, and we can observe and emulate experts. The observation, reflection and adjustment is a learning zone. And finally, we can lead and lower the stakes for others by sharing what we want to get better at, by asking questions about what we don't know, by soliciting feedback and by sharing our mistakes and what we've learned from them, so that others can feel safe to do the same.

真正的信心来自进行持续不断的学习。试想一下，我们在生活中并不是工作、工作、工作、表现、表现、表现，我们花更多的时间探索、询问、聆听、实验、反思、努力，并成为我们想成为的人；我们每个人都有自己努力进步的方向；我们创造更多的低风险环境；我们在自己和同事中都清晰的明白何时学习、何时表现；那我们的生活该是怎样一番景象。我们的努力变得至关重要，我们的进步永不停歇，而我们可以从最好变得更好。

Real confidence is about modeling ongoing learning. What if, instead of spending our lives doing, doing, doing, performing, performing, performing, we spent more time exploring, asking, listening, experimenting, reflecting, striving and becoming? What if we each always had something we were working to improve? What if we created more low-stakes islands and waters? And what if we got clear, within ourselves and with our teammates, about when we seek to learn and when we seek to perform, so that our efforts can become more consequential, our improvement never-ending and our best even better?

谢谢！

Thank you.