Regret can be a terrible addiction. Those who suffer from it so often become bitter and full of self-pity.

后悔是一件很可怕的东西, 它会让人上瘾. 那些经常感到后悔的人会变得更加悲天悯人, 自顾自怜.

It is an emotion that serious entrepreneurs cannot afford: they must keep pressing onwards and should not look back with remorse, dwelling on errors of long ago.

而对于企业家来说, 他们绝对不可以对 “后悔” 这种情绪上瘾. 他们必须时刻坚持前进, 不能总是回望很久以前犯下的错误而懊悔自责.

As Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, said: “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Entrepreneurs must learn to manage the conflict between constant experimentation – which means lots of painful mistakes – and a fear of failure, which can lead to paralysis.

正如电话机的发明者亚历山大•格拉汉姆•贝尔所言, “当人生的一扇门关闭了, 总会有另一扇门为你打开; 然而, 我们却经常久久地回顾那扇关闭了的门, 懊悔不已, 却没有看到那扇为我们打开的门.” 企业家必须学会如何平衡各种不断的尝试和害怕失败的心理之间的矛盾. 这些尝试可能意味着许多痛苦的失误, 而害怕失败的心理则可能导致你停滞不前.

Likewise, past glory can be a killer. For example, Greg Dyke, who is a clever fellow, still harks back too much to his resignation as director-general of the BBC. He should move on and stop moaning about the injustice of it all.

同样的, 过去的荣耀也可能是毁灭你的杀手. 比如说, 格里格•戴克, 一个头脑聪明的人, 至今仍然对他当初辞去BBC总裁一职耿耿于怀. 他应该立即停止抱怨所有的不公, 继续前进.

And Tim Waterstone should give up trying to buy back his bookshop chain, which he finally left more than 10 years ago (after selling it once and then getting involved again). He has tried to repurchase it at least five times, if rumour is to be believed. Possibly the root of the problem is that he exaggerates the chain’s importance, once saying: “Waterstone’s does more for the day-to-day cultural life of the nation than perhaps anything or anyone else.”

而蒂姆•沃特斯通, 既然十年前已经决定离开他的连锁书店了, 现在就应该放弃试图回购连锁书店的计划(他曾经将书店出售, 后来又买回来). 如果传言属实的话, 他曾经至少五次试图将它买回来. 问题的根源可能是, 他过于高估书店的价值. 他曾说, “Waterstone’s 在本国日常文化生活层面上所做的贡献是任何东西和任何人都不能比拟的.”