Roy Leighton asks you to imagine yourself at work. Everything's going well until a certain person comes in. You know who we're talking about -that one, the energy taker. The person who seems to draw the life force out of you as though they were some kind of sponge!

Roy Leighton请您想象一下工作中的自己。一切进展顺利，直到某个人的到来。你知道我们在说谁——就是那个人：精力吸食者。他们就像某种海绵一样吸食着你的能量。

To start infecting your environment

开始影响你的环境

Where previously you were quite relaxed and focused, you now tense up and question your ability. Your energy is going by the second. This certain person chatters on at you about something, not listening to your responses, while only seeking to talk about their issues and how you can help them. You stammer some feeble responses by way of reply, feeling your strength ebb away until you find an excuse to leave.

之前你很放松、精力集中，现在却神经紧张、开始怀疑自己的能力。你的精力每秒钟都在流失。这个人对你喋喋不休，从不理会你的反应，只是谈论他们自己的事情，还有你怎么能够帮助他们。你结结巴巴地作出一个无力的回应，同时感觉自己的力量在消退，直到你找到一个借口离开。

Sitting in the toilet cubicle a few minutes later, you reflect on what has just happened. Why does this person have such an impact on you and how can you overcome it so that work ceases to be a place of torture?

几分钟后坐在厕所马桶间，你开始思考到底发生了什么。为什么此人对你有这么大的影响，如何能战胜这种影响，从而使办公室不再是受虐场。

What you can do

你能做的

One solution is look at things from a military-style perspective---when you want to make a change to an environment or situation you can do it in two ways: infection or explosion. There are several practical things that you can do.

一个解决办法是用军事眼光看待问题——当你想要改变一下现状时，你有两个方法可用：慢慢影响环境或者激烈爆发。这里有一些切实可行的办法。

Explosion is radical and immediate - there are usually casualties and fall-out. Infection is about making slow, positive change - influencing others by your positive example. Its effects are more lasting and often more beneficial.

爆发激烈而且直接——往往会有伤亡和损失。而影响是指做出缓慢、积极的改变——通过自己的积极榜样影响别人。其效果更持久、往往好处也更大。

At work we usually wait until we've had enough of a particular situation and explode, leaving a lot of bad feeling and damage. If we can begin to infect our environment in a positive way on a daily basis, the changes will be lasting, less damaging and sustainable.

工作中我们往往一直等到再也忍受不了才彻底爆发，导致很多坏情绪和伤害。如果我们能通过每天以积极的方式去影响我们的环境，那么改变将更持久、伤害更少并且可以接受。