来源：《今日心理学》
原文刊登日期：2021年3月2日
In the career world, résumés are the yardstick with which we measure our progress. This metric is one of the few ways we can size up our successes, and there’s something about having that standardized measurement of accomplishment that intimidates even the most exceptional overachiever.
在职业领域，简历是我们衡量自己进步的标尺。这个指标是我们衡量成功的为数不多的方法之一，而这种标准化的成就衡量标准甚至会让最杰出的超常成就者感到害怕。
Seeing that every accomplishment, every job, all the internships, and volunteer work that you’ve ever had can be summed up in 12-point Times New Roman type without even filling an entire page is discouraging. Pondering your newfound inadequacy you ask yourself: Is this all I am? Am I really this average?
看到你所取得的每一项成就、每一份工作、所有实习和志愿工作都可以用12号的泰晤士新罗马字体来概括，甚至连一整页都填不满，这是令人沮丧的。思考你新发现的不足，你会问自己：这就是我吗？我真的这么普通吗？
Yes. You really are that average. And that’s okay.
It seems we have created a distorted view of being average, and consequently, we try to avoid it at all costs. A study on averageness shows just how distorted our perspective is. Participants overall tended to label their own abilities as above average, but the study also found evidence that people consider average as being synonymous with having below-average abilities rather than interpreting the term with its literal definition.
似乎我们对普通的看法扭曲了，因此，我们试图不惜一切代价避免普通。一项关于普通水平的研究表明，我们的观点是多么扭曲。总体而言，参与者倾向于给自己的能力贴上“高于普通水平”的标签，但研究也发现，人们认为“普通水平”等同于“低于普通水平”，而不是按照字面意思来解释这个词。
With each scroll or connection through social media, we're reminded not of our own accomplishments, but of those of others—things you didn’t achieve but everyone else did. We are reminded of the cars we don’t drive and the places we haven’t been. The tech age has opened our eyes to the lives we don’t have.
通过社交媒体的每一次滚动或连接，提醒我们的不是我们自己的成就，而是其他人的成就——你没有做到但其他人都做到了的事情。我们会想起自己没开过的车和没去过的地方。科技时代让我们看到了我们所没有的生活。
The achievement culture is at an all-time high. We were told from infancy that those of our generation, Gen Z, are unique, exceptional, and capable of doing whatever we set our minds to, but we have reached territory where these affirmations no longer apply.
成功文化达到了前所未有的高度。我们从婴儿时期就被告知，我们这一代人，Z世代，是独一无二的，与众不同的，能够做任何我们下定决心要做的事情，但我们已经到达了这些断言不再适用的领域。
Everyone dreams of being that person who does it all—balancing a career, a family, and a social life as if they were fine china. If all we seek is high achievements or being the best, we will find only disappointment. Maybe we should switch our version of success from quantitative to qualitative to help us realize that being average is pretty good. Surrendering to an average existence could be, paradoxically, how we find our better and happier selves. It’s not simply the case that success leads to happiness; happiness itself may lead to greater success. Maybe, it’s time we reprioritize what’s worth striving for.
每个人都梦想着能做到一应俱全——把事业、家庭和社交生活当成精美的瓷器。如果我们所追求的只是高成就或成为最好的，我们只会发现失望。也许我们应该把我们的成功从定量的转变成定性的，以帮助我们意识到普通水平是很好的。矛盾的是，屈服于平凡的存在，可能会让我们找到更好、更快乐的自我。并不是简单地说成功会带来幸福；快乐本身可能会带来更大的成功。也许，是时候重新考虑什么是值得争取的了。