比較優勢:1817年的經濟學理論助你清單革命

The end of your working day is approaching and you look at all the items still waiting to be struck off your to-do list.

一天的工作快要結束了，你看着自己的計劃清單，(卻發現)上面的所有事項都等着完成。

Tiffany Dufu, an expert on women’s leadership and the author of the new book Drop the Ball: Achieving more by Doing Less, might have a solution for you.

蒂芙尼•杜芙，女性領導力方面的專家，同時也是《犯錯誤：做的更少得到更多》這本新書的作者，她或許能爲你提供一些解決方法。

In her book, to be released on 14 February, Ms Dufu explains how she balances a career with a busy personal life. She urges woman to stop striving for perfection in both their professional and personal lives: do more by expecting less of yourself.

在她2月14日即將發行的書中，杜芙女士詳述她如何平衡職場生活與繁忙的個人生活。她勸告女人們停止同時在職場和個人生活上追求完美：降低一點要求能做的更多。

Pressure to stay ahead is a common reason many successful professionals are on the verge of burning out and so – according to Quartz – Ms Dufu recommends using the theory of comparative advantage, a principle developed by the classical economist David Ricardo in 1817 to explain the benefits of free trade.

保持領先的壓力是許多職場成功人士處於累垮邊緣的普遍原因，因此——根據Quartz（某資訊類網站）——杜芙女士建議使用比較優勢的理論，一種1817年由古典經濟學家大衛•李嘉圖創建並用於解釋自由貿易優勢的經濟學原理。

The economic principle stipulates that countries should specialise in a certain class of products for export and that they should import the rest, even if the country can make all of the products better and faster.

這項經濟學原理要求某一國家應當專門從事某一類產品的出口而進口其他產品，即使這個國家能將所有的產品生產得又快又好。

Applied at home this means more will get done when we focus on what we do best and most efficiently, and delegate the rest.

適用於個人就意味着，我們應該集中於完成更多我們能做的又好又快的事情，並把剩下的事情交給其他人做。

“We live our lives by default, kind of like the ringtone on your iPhone that never changes because it’s working fine,” Ms Dufu told Quartz. She says, however, that if we start to be more selective – choose to intentionally drop some balls if you will—then we can achieve more.

“我們過着自己的人生，這有點像你的蘋果手機鈴聲從不更換，因爲它工作得很好”杜芙夫人這樣告訴Quartz。她說，然而，如果我們開始做選擇——如果你願意的話選擇有意犯一些錯誤——這樣的話我們能收穫更多。

Speaking to Forbes for an article last year, Ms Dufu summed her theory up by saying that “more will get done at home when we focus on our highest and best use and delegate the rest”.

去年接受《福布斯》雜誌採訪時，杜芙夫人把她的理論概括爲“集中完成更多做的又好又快的事情，撒手其他事”。

On her website, Ms Dufu writes that her aim in life is to “advance women and girls” and says that she strives towards seeing “a world in which women’s gifts and voices are fully harnessed for the benefit of all of us”.

在她的網站上，杜芙夫人寫到，她人生的目標是“提升婦女和女孩的地位”，並且她還說，她正爲能夠看到“在這個世界上女性的天賦和聲音能爲了人類的進步而被充分利用”而努力。

“I’ve experienced firsthand that power comes from having a clear purpose and the passion to pursue it,”she writes.“Brave authenticity, uncompromising integrity, and graceful resilience along the way don’t hurt either.”

“我親身體會到力量來源於有一個清晰的目標以及實現目標的決心，”她寫到，“如果擁有真正的勇敢、不屈的正義或者良好的應變能力會更好。”