渣翻，慘不忍睹，求指教。

One idea I’ve been pondering over lately is to what extent reading about self-improvement is a complement versus a substitute for taking self-improvement action.

最近我一直在思考一件事情：對自我提高來說进宝，看書看到什么程度是補充，什么程度是替代呢枷恕？

Complements and substitutes are terms that come from economics. A complement to a product is something you buy more of when you buy the product. Think popcorn and movies. The more movies you go to, the more likely you are to buy popcorn (at least here in North America). Wine and fine dining. Cars and gasoline. These are all complements.

補充和替代是來自經(jīng)濟學(xué)的詞匯党晋。補充是你在買一個物品的時候額外購買的部分。想想爆米花和電影徐块，看的電影越多未玻，越有可能購買爆米花（至少在北美是這樣）。酒和正式餐廳胡控，汽車和汽油深胳，這些都是補充。

The standard view of self-improvement writing, whether it’s fitness books, cookbooks, business books or popular psychology is that it should assist with personal development. That is to say, the more books you read, the more likely you are to actually work on improving yourself.

一般來說铜犬，不管是健康書籍舞终、菜譜、商業(yè)賬簿癣猾，還是大眾心理學(xué)敛劝，它們都應(yīng)該對個人提升有所幫助。也就是說纷宇，看越多的書夸盟，越有可能真的去提高自己。

The alternative view, of course, is that reading isn’t a complement but a substitute.

當(dāng)然了像捶，還有另外一種看法：閱讀不是補充而是替代上陕。

Substitutes, again from economics, are products that compete with each other. When you go to the movie theater, each movie acts as a partial substitute of the others. If you go to see one, you forego the other. Similarly, Italian wines and French wines are substitutes, as is gasoline from different gas stations.

在經(jīng)濟學(xué)中，替代意味著兩者的相互競爭拓春。當(dāng)你去電影院的時候释簿，每一部電影都有可能被其他的替代，看這部就等于放棄了另一部硼莽。同樣的庶溶，意大利酒和法國酒，這個加油站和其他加油站。

Here the theory is that what we really want out of personal development, both in active efforts and passive consumption, is that good feeling that we’re doing something to improve our situation. It’s an anxiety-reducing effect that the challenges we’re facing are somehow being dealt with, even if they aren’t being resolved immediately. Since both reading and doing something alleviate this tension, they are substitutes, and consuming one will decrease consumption of the other.

有研究表明偏螺，我們從個人提升中想要的是正在做事以及改善現(xiàn)狀的感覺行疏，不管通過主動努力還是被動消費。這對減輕焦慮很有幫助套像，畢竟我們面對的挑戰(zhàn)正在被處理酿联，哪怕不是立刻解決。既然閱讀和做事能夠減輕壓力夺巩，那么它們就是替代性行為货葬，也就是說做其中一樣會減少做另外一樣的可能。

Which Dominates: The Substitute or Complement?

哪個占有優(yōu)勢劲够，補充還是替代？

My own feeling is that both of these effects exist, and which dominates won’t be a universal consideration but will depend on a lot of factors.

我感覺兩者都存在休傍，哪個占優(yōu)勢不是放之四海皆準(zhǔn)而是隨一堆因素而定征绎。

One factor probably has to do with the material itself. Some types of self-improvement probably work as substitutes. They provide a large emotional payoff (and, thus, work well in anxiety-reduction), but they may be weak on substantial follow-up. Being weak on the latter, they don’t make good complements.

其中一個因素可能和材料有關(guān)。有些類型的自我提升本來就是替代性的磨取。它們提供大量的情緒性報酬（當(dāng)然人柿，對降低焦慮非常有幫助），但對后續(xù)行為影響較弱忙厌，也就是說不能產(chǎn)生好的補充凫岖。

Another factor, however, is probably the nature of the self-improvement task itself. Some types of self-improvement work are probably particularly difficult, emotionally unrewarding and complicated. Because the anxiety-reduction from working in those areas is so hard to come by, it might be easier to seek it from consuming self-improvement material passively instead.

另一個因素有可能是自我提升這件事本身。有些類型的自我提升非常困難逢净，情緒上沒有回報還復(fù)雜哥放。在做這件事的時候很難降低焦慮感，而通過消費自我提升的材料則更容易爹土。

While I’d like to think I avoid the worst of the self-help vapidness of the former, I admit that many of the self-improvement problems I focus on here are exactly the kind of nebulous, hard-to-work-on, abstract categories that may encourage substitution.

我自認(rèn)為避免了乏味自助最壞的方面甥雕，但還是要承認(rèn)，我專注的很多自我提升的問題正是那種模糊的胀茵，難以解決的社露，抽象的，很可能導(dǎo)致替代的類型琼娘。

As an example, compare what I write to a cookbook. The latter has a quite straightforward application, and therefore is more likely to serve as a complement to actual cooking. Of course it’s not a pure effect—some people buy cookbooks to alleviate the anxiety that they don’t cook enough, or need to learn to cook, and then don’t actually use them. But I imagine this is not the majority.

用我寫的菜譜來打個比方峭弟。菜譜有著直接的應(yīng)用步驟，因此更可能促進大家動手去下廚脱拼。當(dāng)然不完全是這樣瞒瘸，有些人購買菜譜只是為了減輕不會做菜的焦慮，或者需要學(xué)著做菜熄浓，之后不會再去看它們挨务。我猜大部分人不會這么做。

On the other hand, consider improving your ability to learn effectively, combat procrastination or improve your career. These are all hard pursuits that, even when you’re doing them right, have mixed emotional payoffs in the short-term. As such, I can imagine people consuming self-improvement material here as a way to get that emotional payoff more reliably than doing the actual work.

另一方面，提高學(xué)習(xí)效率谎柄、戰(zhàn)勝拖延或者提升職業(yè)生涯丁侄，這些都很難獲得，哪怕你做得都對朝巫，在短期內(nèi)只能獲得混雜的情感報酬（完全讀不通）鸿摇。因此我可以想象大家正消費自我提升材料來獲得情感報酬，而不是去做實際工作劈猿。

Note: Let me be clear that I don’t think anyone is actually conscious of this distinction, even if they abuse it. What probably happens, psychologically, is that there’s a desire to improve something, or more accurately, a desire to feel like things are going to be improved. When this desire is strong enough, it can trigger motivation to do something about it. Sometimes that manifests as taking action. Sometimes that manifests as buying a book that you tell yourself you’ll use, but never do.

小貼士：我要指明的是不是每個人都意識到這個特點拙吉，哪怕他們正到處濫用。用心理學(xué)上的說法揪荣，最有可能的是改善的愿望筷黔，更確切地說，事情似乎將被改善的愿望仗颈。當(dāng)這種愿望足夠強烈的時候會觸發(fā)做點什么的動機佛舱，有時候以行動呈現(xiàn)，有時候只是購買可能會用的書挨决，而實際上從未用過请祖。

The Problem with Substitution

替代的問題

I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is doing her doctorate in clinical psychology. I mentioned another friend of ours who was having some anxiety and who I was trying to offer encouragement.

我曾和一位在臨床心理學(xué)讀博的朋友聊過，說有個朋友有點焦慮脖祈，然后我嘗試著鼓勵他肆捕。

To my surprise, she told me that this was likely harmful in the long-run. The best treatment doesn’t get patients to reduce their anxiety by consoling them, but by confronting that anxiety, which will increase it in the short-run, but has the long-term effect of reducing the intensity of anxiety the next time it comes up.

驚訝的是，她告訴我長期來看這樣做對他是有害的盖高。最好的方法不是通過安慰減輕他們的焦慮慎陵，而是幫他們直面焦慮。在短期內(nèi)這會使焦慮增加喻奥，但長期來看荆姆，這能減輕焦慮再次到來時的強度。

The problem here was, again, one of substitution. By offering consolation, you are escaping from your anxiety. It provides short-term relief, but it only reinforces the pattern that created the anxiety in the first place.

問題再次回到了替代映凳。通過提供安慰胆筒，你從焦慮中逃離。你能獲得短暫的安慰诈豌，但是增強了起初產(chǎn)生焦慮的模式（感覺不太對）仆救。

This is the problem with the substitution effect in self-improvement. If you are using reading a blog like this, buying books or doing “research” as a way of reducing the tension you feel that something needs to be improved, that can be potentially harmful. Without doing something and solving the underlying issue, consuming more information is counterproductive.

這就是替代在在自我提升中產(chǎn)生的問題。在有事情需要改善時矫渔，如果通過閱讀像我這樣的博客彤蔽，買書，或者做研究來減輕壓力庙洼，這可能有害顿痪。不去做事和解決潛在問題镊辕，而僅僅吸收更多的信息是不會產(chǎn)生創(chuàng)造力的。

When to Decide If You Need a Break?

I’ve experienced self-improvement both as complements and as substitutes in my own life.

在生活中蚁袭，我經(jīng)歷了自我提升作為補充和替代的兩方面征懈。

The key difference, it seems to me, is a question about how much effort are you expending to actively work on the areas you’re reading about. If the answer is low or zero, and it has been for some time, but the amount of time you’re spending consuming information is significant, you may be having some kind of substitution effect.

對我來說，最大的不同是你需要在這件事情上花費多少努力揩悄。有時候答案是0或者很少卖哎，但更多時候花在吸收信息上的時間非常多，我有可能做了代替性的努力删性。

I’ve had success in cutting down my consumption. That tends to increase angst about whatever issue you wanted to use the material to solve, momentarily, but that same energy can hopefully be redirected towards taking some action.

我成功地降低了吸收信息的數(shù)量亏娜。這可能增加焦慮，不知道用什么材料來解決問題蹬挺，但同樣的能量很有可能直指行動维贺。

Similarly, I’ve had times when I’ve been engaged in a lot of action and really benefited from having complementary material guide me through. Unfortunately, this isn’t an area I can give an easy prescription to read less or read more. Both might be useful! Instead, you need to look more closely at yourself–what are you using the time you spend reading books and blogs on. Is it a substitute for real action or a complement to it. Only you can decide.

我曾經(jīng)在大量行動的同時，從補充性的資料中有所收伙巴帮。不幸的是溯泣，這不是一個我能簡單給出多讀或少讀建議的領(lǐng)域。兩者都可能是有用的晰韵。你需要審視自己，看書看博客時你在做什么熟妓，是為了行動的補充性閱讀雪猪，或者僅僅是替代？只有你能確定起愈。