来源：《今日心理学》
原文刊登日期：2021年11月2日
本文适合2023考生
It is a fact of human life that we prefer to add rather than subtract. Change isn’t easy. Human instinct is to solve problems by adding to what already exists, making things more complicated. In our personal lives, work lives, and organizations, we introduce new routines and policies on top of existing ones, until we are bound in a web of complexity.
我们喜欢加而不喜欢减，这是人类生活的一个事实。改变并不容易。人类的直觉是通过增加已经存在的东西来解决问题，使事情变得更复杂。在我们的个人生活、工作和各种组织中，我们在现有的惯例和政策之上引入新的惯例和政策，直到我们被束缚在一个复杂的网络中。
Inertia inclines us to continue doing things we’ve done before; so does having invested money, time, or effort in them. On top of that, we squeeze in meetings and other commitments even though we have neither the time nor the desire to do them. What is true of individuals is true of organizations. As organizational research shows, upper-level managers, on assuming a new role, introduce programs of change by adding solutions, routines, and policies to the formal organizational structure. A proposal to eliminate a practice or task could even have negative consequences if it is seen as not creative, positive, forthcoming, or appreciative of co-workers. We may also believe that existing routines are there for a reason.
惯性使我们倾向于继续做我们以前做过的事情；在这些事情上投入金钱、时间或精力也是如此。除此之外，即使我们既没有时间也没有意愿去做这些事情，我们也会挤出时间去开会和做其他事情。对个人适用的，对组织也适用。组织科学研究表明，高层管理者在承担新角色时，通过向正式组织结构中添加解决方案、惯例和政策，引入改革计划。如果一项取消做法或任务的提议被视为缺乏创造性、积极性、主动性或对同事的感谢，那么它甚至可能产生负面后果。我们也可能认为，现有的惯例存在是有原因的。
By definition, routines are solutions to yesterday’s problems. They relieve us of having to think through every step we take. The brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic procedure, and the more internalized it is, the less brain power is needed. So we can use our brains for better or more demanding things. And therein lies the problem. When we are doing them, we leave our routines unquestioned.
按照定义，惯例是对昨天问题的解决方案。它们使我们不必考虑我们所采取的每一步。大脑将一系列的动作转换成一个自动的过程，它越内化，就越不需要脑力。所以我们可以用我们的大脑去做更好或要求更高的事情。这就是问题所在。当我们在做这些事情的时候，我们不会去怀疑我们的日常习惯。
Once the pandemic hit, however, many existing practices had little relevence to new problems. Commuting did not stop viral spread. People were forced to subtract old procedures, meetings, and all kinds of social events from their calendars and to-do lists. After the shock of disruption, many found it rewarding to have done so.
然而，新冠大流行爆发后，许多现有做法与新问题几乎没有关联。通勤并没有阻止病毒的传播。人们被迫从日历和待办事项列表中删除旧的程序、会议和各种社交活动。在经历了混乱的冲击之后，许多人发现这样做是值得的。
People discovered not only that change by subtraction was possible but that deletion and simplification can make life more fulfilling. Subtraction leaves room for renewal. It’s also in keeping with much ancient wisdom. Aristotle’s observation that we become what we repeatedly do advises us to be selective about the habits and routines we adopt.
人们不仅发现通过减法来改变是可能的，还发现删除和简化可以让生活更充实。减法留出了改进的空间。这也符合许多古老的智慧。亚里士多德观察到，我们反复做什么，就会变成什么，他建议我们对我们养成的习惯和惯例要有选择性。
We now have an unprecedented opportunity to choose how to resume our lives. The world is too complex to be navigated just with routines, but without them we become lost and inefficient. We need to return only to the ones that match current problems and make life more rewarding.
我们现在有一个前所未有的机会来选择如何恢复我们的生活。这个世界太复杂了，单靠惯例是无法驾驭的，但如果没有惯例，我们就会迷失方向，效率低下。我们只需要回到那些能够匹配当前问题并让生活更有意义的惯例上。