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Bartleby
巴托比專欄
Silver linings: The small consolations of office irritations.
一線光亮：辦公室煩心事的小小安慰。
Even people who love their jobs have a few gripes.
即使是熱愛工作的人也會有幾句怨言。
Even people who excel at their work have their share of worries.
即使是工作表現出色的人也有自己的煩憂。
The office environment makes it hard to concentrate; their colleagues are annoying beyond belief; their career path within the organisation is not obvious.
辦公室環境讓人很難集中注意力，同事們難以置信地令人討厭，自己在組織內的職業道路并不清晰。
There are aspects of the workplace, like “reply all” email threads and any kind of role-playing, which are completely beyond redemption.
工作中的某些方面，比如“回復全部”的一連串往來郵件和任何類型的角色扮演，都是沒有辦法補救的。
This column is here to administer the balm of consolation for some of work’s recurring irritations.
但對于工作中反復出現的一些煩心事，本專欄倒是可以提供一些慰藉的靈藥。
Start with a pervasive problem: being interrupted.
首先是一個普遍存在的問題：被打斷。
You have muted notifications on Slack and cleared your calendar; the Prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No 1 is playing; your fingers are poised above the keyboard and a thought of world-altering profundity is gradually taking shape in your mind.
你將Slack上的通知靜音，做完了日歷上的待辦事項，巴赫第一號大提琴組曲的前奏正在播放，你的手指懸于鍵盤上方，一個足以改變世界的深刻想法正在你的腦海中逐漸成形。
Then there is a knock at the door, and a colleague asks if you have a minute to discuss the air-conditioning.
然后有人敲門，一位同事問你是否有時間討論一下空調的問題。
By the time they have gone, so has that momentous thought and any sense of well-being.
等他們離開了，那個重要想法和任何幸福感也都消失了。
Context-switching of this sort is more than simply annoying.
這種環境切換不僅僅是令人討厭。
A survey conducted in 2021 found that it takes people nine and a half minutes to resume a focused state of mind after switching between apps.
2021年進行的一項調查發現，在不同應用之間切換后，人們需要九分半鐘才能恢復專注的精神狀態。
But there is a bright side to being interrupted.
但被打斷也有積極的一面。
A paper by Harshad Puranik of the University of Illinois Chicago and his co-authors asked a sample of employees in America to record how often they were distracted by colleagues and to report their sense of belonging to their organisations.
伊利諾伊芝加哥大學的哈沙德·普拉尼克和其合著者發表了一篇論文，讓被抽樣的一些美國員工記錄他們因同事而分心的頻率，并報告他們在組織的歸屬感。
They found that being interrupted involves a social interaction with colleagues that can strengthen a worker’s feelings of connection.
他們發現，被打斷涉及與同事之間的社交互動，這可以加強員工的與人連接之感。
The next time a knock comes, remind yourself that at least you are not lonely.
下次有人敲門時，提醒自己至少你并不孤獨。
What about some of the characters who make office life so teeth-grinding?
對于那些讓你在辦公室生活中咬牙切齒的角色，又該怎么辦呢？
Every company has its share of toadies who specialise in managing up: flattering the bosses and claiming more credit than is their due.
每家公司都有專會向上管理的馬屁精：奉承老板，把多于他們應得的功勞攬在自己身上。
Unctuousness is undoubtedly irritating.
諂媚油滑無疑令人惱火。
But it, too, can sometimes have wider benefits.
但有時也可能有更大的好處。
Recent research by Wei Cai of Columbia Business School and her co-authors found that teams performed better when they had some crawlers among them.
哥倫比亞大學商學院的蔡薇和其合著者最近的研究發現，當團隊中有一些馬屁精時，團隊的表現會更好。
People who got better assessments from their superiors than from their peers in performance-review processes were designated as “upward influencers” in the study.
在這項研究中，那些在績效評估過程中，從上級那里比從同事那里得到更好評價的人被認定為“向上影響者”。
Too many characters of this sort is bad: at some point, team members will expend more effort competing for recognition than getting actual work done.
這類角色太多是不好的：到了某個階段，團隊成員將花費更多精力來爭取認可，而不是完成實際工作。
But because these personality types are prepared to invest more time communicating with their managers, the presence of a handful of them ensures that a team does not become invisible to the bosses.
但由于這類性格的人準備好要投入更多時間與經理溝通，所以這一少部分人的存在確保了整個團隊不會在老板眼中隱形。
A few suck-ups can be good for everyone.
有幾個馬屁精對每個人都有好處。
What of traits that workers find most irritating about themselves, the things that may be holding them back?
員工最惱火自己的什么特點？可能阻礙他們前進的是什么？
Impostor syndrome, the belief some people have that they do not deserve to be in positions of influence, is usually thought of as being bad for individuals and organisations alike.
冒名頂替者綜合癥，即一些人認為自己不配擔任有影響力的職位，人們通常認為這種心態對個人和組織都不利。
But it can have an upside.
但它也有積極的一面。
Research by Basima Tewfik of the MIT Sloan School of Management found that people who worry about being an impostor are regarded by others as having better interpersonal skills than those who are untroubled by self-doubt.
麻省理工學院斯隆管理學院的巴西瑪·圖菲克的研究發現，在其他人看來，擔心成為冒名頂替者的人比那些不為自我懷疑所困擾的人擁有更好的人際交往技巧。
It may be that a concern about lacking competence leads people to compensate by developing stronger relationships with others.
也許，因為擔憂能力不足，人們會通過與他人建立更牢固的關系來進行補償。
In a world that increasingly prizes collaboration and soft skills, that is not to be sniffed at.
在一個越來越重視合作和軟技能的世界里，這一點不容忽視。
Weaknesses can turn into advantages in other ways, too.
弱點也可以在其他方面轉化為優勢。
The idealised entrepreneur may drip with confidence and charisma, for example.
例如，理想化的企業家可能洋溢著自信和魅力。
But not everyone fits that mould.
但并非每個人都是這種性格。
In a recent study, Lauren Howe and Jochen Menges of the University of Zurich asked participants in an investment game who had been asked about their own flaws to allocate funds to startups.
在最近的一項研究中，蘇黎世大學的勞倫·霍韋和約亨·門格斯要求一項投資游戲的參與者為初創企業分配資金，這些參與者被問及自己有什么缺點。
They found that entrepreneurs who reveal a personal shortcoming, such as indecisiveness or insecurity, are more likely to attract funding from investors who share these same characteristics.
他們發現，展露出優柔寡斷或缺乏安全感等個人缺點的創業者，更有可能從具有相同特點的投資者那里獲得資金。
Some weaknesses are not to be admitted: stupidity, say, or narcolepsy.
有些弱點是不能承認的：比如愚蠢或嗜睡癥。
But flaws can sometimes help people get ahead, not hinder them.
但缺點有時可以幫助人們取得進展，而不是阻礙他們。
The problem with silver linings is that they are attached to clouds.
一線光亮的問題在于它們附著在烏云之上。
You are still being interrupted all the time.
你仍然總是被人打斷。
You are still surrounded by annoying colleagues.
你仍然被討厭的同事包圍。
Impostor syndrome still causes you unnecessary anxiety.
冒名頂替者綜合癥仍然給你帶來不必要的焦慮。
Your weaknesses are still weaknesses.
你的弱點仍然是弱點。
But there are bright sides to most things in office life, and they go beyond the payslip.
但辦公室生活中的大多數事情都有光明的一面，而且它們并不局限于工資條。
