第2054期:Motivation and the fear of failure

What motivates you to work or study harder? Is it the thought of success and all the amazing things that you can achieve, or is it the fear of failure and worry about all the things that can go wrong for you? Leaders, managers, and teachers have often used one of these ideas to inspire people to work harder and achieve more. But is one better than the other? 

是什么促使你更加努力地工作或学习？ 是对成功的想法和你能实现的所有令人惊奇的事情，还是对失败的恐惧和担心所有可能给你带来麻烦的事情？ 领导者、管理者和教师经常使用这些想法之一来激励人们更加努力地工作并取得更多成就。 但其中一个比另一个更好吗？ 

A recent study looked at the effect of fear-based strategies on British secondary school students. As is so often the case, it's complicated. They found that if a test is seen as important, and students are optimistic that they can succeed, then the fear of failure can be used successfully by teachers to motivate these learners. However, if students are not confident, then fear-based approaches could trigger feelings of anxiety, which can in turn lead them to do worse on the test then they would have done otherwise. The study also found that if students are disengaged and don't care about the test in the first place, then, unsurprisingly, the fear of failure is not likely to motivate them. 

最近的一项研究探讨了基于恐惧的策略对英国中学生的影响。 正如经常发生的情况一样，它很复杂。 他们发现，如果考试被认为很重要，并且学生对自己能够成功持乐观态度，那么教师就可以成功地利用对失败的恐惧来激励这些学习者。 然而，如果学生没有信心，那么基于恐惧的方法可能会引发焦虑感，这反过来又会导致他们在考试中表现更差。 研究还发现，如果学生一开始就没有参与度并且不关心考试，那么毫不奇怪，对失败的恐惧不太可能激励他们。 

Entrepreneurs often run the risk of failure. It's a fact that most new companies will fail. But does this motivate or inhibit businesspeople? Again, it's not straightforward. The personal consequences of failure can be significant, and so founders may be motivated to work harder to avoid them. A study carried out on British and Canadian entrepreneurs found that fear of failure can improve problem solving, as people are motivated to anticipate and resolve potential issues. They may also be inspired to learn new things that will help their business or find mentors who can support them. However, the study also showed that it can lead to increased procrastination as people focus too much on what they personally fear, rather than what would be best for the business. If someone is less confident about their business idea, then they may find their decision-making negatively affected by their fears. 

企业家常常面临失败的风险。 大多数新公司都会失败，这是事实。 但这会激励还是抑制商人呢？ 同样，这并不简单。 失败对个人造成的后果可能是严重的，因此创始人可能会更加努力地工作来避免失败。 对英国和加拿大企业家进行的一项研究发现，对失败的恐惧可以改善问题的解决，因为人们有动力去预测和解决潜在的问题。 他们也可能会受到启发去学习有助于他们业务的新事物或找到可以支持他们的导师。 然而，研究还表明，这可能会导致拖延加剧，因为人们过于关注他们个人担心的事情，而不是对企业最有利的事情。 如果某人对自己的商业想法缺乏信心，那么他们可能会发现自己的决策受到恐惧的负面影响。 

Taken together, these studies show that fear-based motivation is complicated. It can drive confident people to do better, but it can also amplify our doubts and turn them into barriers. 

总的来说，这些研究表明基于恐惧的动机是复杂的。 它可以驱使自信的人做得更好，但它也可以放大我们的疑虑，并将其变成障碍。

词汇表

motivate 激励
achieve 做成，达到
inspire 激励
fear-based 基于恐惧的
optimistic 乐观的
confident 有信心的，有把握的
trigger 引发
anxiety 焦虑
disengaged 不感兴趣的，不关心的
run the risk 冒...的危险
inhibit 约束，使...有顾虑
consequence 结果，影响
inspired 受到启发的
mentor （工作中为经验较浅者提供帮助的）导师，指导人
procrastination 拖延
amplify 扩大，加深
doubt 疑虑
barrier 障碍，阻碍