However, we seldom accord the business of decision-making the kind of careful attention it requires.

然而，我們對於做決定往往不夠重視。

When faced with a large decision, we lack rituals and procedures.

面臨重大抉擇時，我們缺乏儀式和既定流程。

We typically procrastinate, lean on the nearest person, or rush headlong into an unexamined solution.

我們習慣拖延，仰賴親近的人，或一頭栽入待檢驗的解決方案。

Fortunately, decision-making is a skill and, like any other, it can be taught.

幸好，做決定是種能力，所以跟其他能力一樣可經由學習而得。

The chief enemy of good decisions is a lack of sufficient perspectives on a problem.

好決策的阻礙就是對問題缺乏全面理解。

We should systematically think through any issue from five distinct angles:

我們應系統性的從五個角度檢視問題：

Through the eyes of, variously, our Enemy, our Gut, Death, Caution and Courage.

透過敵人、直覺、死亡、謹慎和勇氣這幾種視角。

As we try out, juggle with and then synthesize these oblique perspectives,

當我們嘗試並評估並綜合這些因素時，

we will feel our sense of possibility expand

我們就會發現可能性變大了，

and a tolerable way forward gradually emerge from the present confusion.

而能夠從困惑中慢慢找到可行的方法。

Enemy.

敵人。

Our enemies have deep insights into us: They know our frailties, they actively want the worst for us

我們的敵人很了解我們：他們知道我們的弱點，並希望最壞的情況發生。

and they're bringing a desperate, mean intelligence to bear on our case.

它們帶來充滿惡意又使人絕望的消息。

Thinking of them helps beautifully to clarify our thoughts.

用敵人的角度思考幫助我們釐清思緒。

It can be unfeasibly hard to be a true friend to ourselves in the way we should be.

要成為自己真正的朋友很難，而那正是我們應該要做的。

Our minds may well go blank if asked to imagine what a sweet and well-meaning person might advise us to do next.

如果想像一個完美、善良的人會提供哪些建議，我們的腦袋可能會一片空白。

We're so much better at getting into the heads of our bitterest foes.

我們更擅長去揣測敵人的心思。

They appreciate our weaknesses and temptations like no other.

他們很欣賞我們的弱點和誘惑。

We can at last put these characters to constructive use,

我們至少能善用這些特質：

by doing the very opposite of what we suspect, probably very correctly, they might propose and say.

做出與假設的敵對建議完全相反的決定。

We will be energized and focused by the haunting voices of those dispiriting but very telling and mesmerizing judges:

我們受令人消沉卻蠱惑人心的批判聲音激勵且保持專注。

Those who refuse to believe in us.

那些拒絕相信我們的人的聲音。

In a sense, we know the answer already, or at least one version of it.

某種層面來說，我們早就知道答案了，或是其中一種答案。

We call it gut-instinct and it's there from the moment a dilemma first appears.

我們所謂的直覺，在我們遇到兩難的情況就會出現。

The Gut is the accumulation of all the decision-making lessons we've ever derived across our lives, revealed unconsciously at speed.

直覺由我們一生中的種種決定積累而成，在潛意識下迅速顯露。

Most of us have become rather good at not listening to the Gut.

我們經常擅長忽略直覺。

Probably it got us into trouble a number of times,

可能因為它曾帶來不少麻煩，

maybe pushing us into some crazy moments for which we paid dear.

可能將我們逼入瘋狂的局面，令我們損失慘重。

So now we pride ourselves on being thinking people, who take their time, gather evidence

所以我們以思考為傲，重視花時間蒐集證據

and make full use of their higher mental powers, as well we should.

並用高度發達的智慧解決問題。

Nevertheless, we thereby lose a source of important insight.

然而，我們喪失一個重要的資源。

We should be brave enough to invite our Gut to the decision-making table,

我們應該勇於邀請直覺參與決策流程，

not necessarily in order to follow it, but in order to know what it wants,

這不代表要完全聽從其意見，而是了解其想法，

and then submit its stubborn and impatient certainties to gentle, rational cross-examination.

再溫和地以理性來檢視其倔強和不耐煩的特質。

Death.

死亡。

The largest, but always easily-forgotten certainty,

最重大卻容易被忽略的事實是，

is that all our decisions are unfolding in the backdrop of a giant ticking death clock.

我們必須體認所有決定的背後是有限的生命時鐘。

We should listen to its beat and take its daunting messages to heart.

我們應該聽著他的節奏、牢記他的警訊。

The thought of Death has a habit of highlighting our responsibilities to ourselves

想到死亡會讓我們更注重對自己的責任，

and of weakening our concern for living according to what is expected of us by society.

削弱為迎合社會期待而萌生的生活顧慮。

It's a terrifying agent of authenticity.

它是令人恐懼的真相代理人。

Death may lend us a perverse new sort of confidence to tackle challenges.

它讓我們能夠反向操作而有信心面對挑戰。

By frightening us about one enormous thing,

用一件重大的事實嚇唬我們，

it may make us less scared of the many smaller obstacles in our way.

反而讓我們較不懼怕其他瑣碎的阻礙。

Our lives won't be what they could be

我們的人生將會有所不同，

unless we submit pretty much every choice we face to the arbiter of eternity and oblivion.

除非我們把所有的決策都交給永恆和被遺忘的仲裁者。

Caution.

謹慎。

Somewhere around the table at every decision must be the voice of caution.

每個決策都需要謹慎的參與。

It wears dowdy clothes and speaks quietly.

它穿著破舊的衣服，說話輕聲細語。

It certainly lacks glamour in an age of bravado and bombast.

在絢麗、充滿爆發力的時代，它顯然欠缺魅力。

It's easy to feel that we must always and invariably jump because life has to be about giving the new a go.

常常我們覺得必須勇往直前，因為人生就是要挑戰新事物。

But it may not be. Let's remember, Caution clears its throat to tell us

但事實可能不是如此。記住，謹慎苦口婆心地告訴我們

that most new businesses fail, most schemes end in disaster

很多新創事業都會失敗、很多計畫慘烈終結，

and most future relationships will merely rehash the themes of a current, unsatisfactory one.

而大部分的戀情最後都會重蹈覆轍，變得乏味又令人不滿。

Furthermore, there is a huge amount to be lost

而且要付出的代價太大了，

and there are many people around us who may get very hurt by our ambitions.

身邊很多人都會因為我們的野心而受傷。

The devil one knows may just have the edge over the many demons one doesn't quite.

謹慎的魔鬼可能知道許多其他惡魔未曾想過的事物。

Caution doesn't look down on the idea of compromise,

謹慎不會小看妥協，

it recognizes that there are, at points, simply no ideal options for the imperfect beings we ultimately are.

它承認有的時候，確實沒有理想的選擇，因為我們終究不完美。

Caution has the bravery not always to try to rebel against reality.

謹慎的勇氣在於不總是試圖反抗現實。

Courage.

勇氣。

From an early age, we've learnt how to follow the rules,

從小，我們就被教導要守規矩、

wait in line and do the dutiful, expected things. We can be good boys and girls.

排隊、做家事和盡責。我們要當好男孩、好女孩。

It got us to where we are today.

我們一路這樣走過來。

There would have been no other way to learn how to spell,

可能沒有其他方法可以學習拼音、

drive a car or take up a position in the working world.

開車或找到適合的工作。

But there can now be a subtle risk from an opposite direction.

但現在可能有隱約的反向風險，

The risk of being overly faithful for too long to conventions that were dreamt up without our particular interests and hopes in mind.

長期對於我們沒有任何興趣或期望、憑空想像出來的傳統太過執著的風險。

At points, we need vigorously to relearn the art of Courage,

有時候，我們必須積極學習勇氣的藝術，

to remember that the happiest lives have invariably had inflection points

記得最開心的人生肯定會出現轉折點，

where people did the slightly unexpected and weird thing, took a gamble and won.

做出無法預期的奇怪決策，因放手賭了一把而獲勝。

Sometimes, Caution is just weakness and cowardice wrapped up in the cloak of self-deception.

有時謹慎只是自我欺騙，是披著斗篷的弱點和怯懦。

Courage and Caution need to fight this one out, without any presumption of victory on either side.

謹慎和勇氣必須彼此抗衡，不去做誰會勝利的假設。

Any hard decision we make will always by definition not be perfect.

所有困難的決定到最後都會如本質般的不完美。

But with such thinking behind us, we have a slightly better chance than usual of opting for the good enough choice.

但是經過不同角度的思考，我們比較能做出當下最好的決策。

Our videos are just the start of our content.

影片只是我們服務的一部分。

We believe in making the world a more emotionally intelligent place,

我們致力於創造情商更好的世界，

and to that end, we have now also published some extraordinary books,

為此，我們也出版過一些很棒的書籍

as well as other merchandise that re-enforces some of the themes illustrated in our videos.

和相關周邊產品，進一步探討部分影片的主題。

Please click on the link below to see more.

請點擊連結以了解更多相關資訊。