酷兔英语


'What's eight times eight?' I asked Isabelle, my 9-year-old daughter who was practicing her times tables. Her eyes glazed over.


8乘8等于多少?"我问9岁的女儿伊莎贝尔(Isabelle)。她正在练习乘法口诀,目光已经变得呆滞起来。



We were on a plane and had about two hours to kill. I figured running through the twos to the twelves would take about 20 minutes.


当时我们正在飞机上,大约有两个小时的空闲时间。我本来估计过一遍乘法表可能需要20分钟。



But we were 40 minutes into the task and still at it.


但是实际上我们已经进行了40分钟,而且还没有结束。



The first 10 minutes had gone smoothly; with quick, accurate replies she was well on her way to finishing in our allotted time.


刚开始的10分钟一切顺利;她总能快速、准确地给出答案,在我们预计的时间内完成任务似乎没有什么问题。



But as we continued, each question took longer to answer. It wasn't that the questions were getting harder -- I had mixed up the tables, interspersing easy questions with harder ones -- so what was it?


但是接下来,她回答每个问题花的时间越来越长。原因不在于我的问题越来越难──我并没有按照乘法表上的顺序,而是把简单的问题和难题相间开来──那么原因到底是什么呢?



'What are you thinking about?' I asked her.


"你在想什么呢?"我问她。



'Fairy dust,' she said bashfully.


"仙女魔法粉",她有些羞愧地回答道。



It was only once we completed the tables -- an hour after we started -- that I realized my mistake: I had pushed her past her point of task fatigue.


直到我们把整个乘法表过完一遍──从开始到结束总共花了一个小时──我才意识到了我的错误:我把她折腾得太累了。



This is not just a 9-year-old issue.


这不仅仅是一个9岁孩子的问题。



We all reach task fatigue. It's that point of diminishing returns when the effort we're putting into staying on task seems greater than the effort we're putting into moving forward in the task. It's that point when our productivity plummets, when our eyes glaze over and our mind wanders. Not that it's always bad to let the mind wander, it's just bad if you're trying to focus.


我们每个人都会产生任务疲劳。这时,我们为了维持某项任务投入的精力超出了为推动其进展所付出的精力,因而收获越来越少;我们的效率也急速下降,还会变得目光呆滞、心不在焉。这并不意味着心不在焉永远是坏事,但当你想要聚精会神的时候,那样肯定是不好的。



If we're really driven, we try to push through. We snap our heads back toward our computerscreen and tell ourselves to pull it together and keep working.


如果我们确实下定了决心,那么我们一定会全力以赴。我们会把自己硬拉回电脑屏幕前,并且告诉自己振作起来继续工作。



Which, it turns out, is a huge productivity-sapping mistake.


但结果,我们却犯了效率低下的错误。



When Isabelle finally finished her times tables, she took out her book and started reading - with total focus. So it wasn't that her focus was depleted, it was just that her focus for the math task was depleted and as a result, it took her a painful, frustrating hour to complete it.


在伊莎贝尔终于完成乘法表后,她打开书开始全神贯注地读了起来。所以,问题不在于她无法集中精力,而是她无法集中精力做算术题而已。结果,她花了一个小时的时间痛苦地、沮丧地做完了那些题目。



See, task fatigue is not the same as focus fatigue. We still have plenty of focus left to use, just not on the same task that exhausted us. The solution? Diversify your focus. Give up the illusion of singular focus and choose multiple areas on which to focus.


明白了吧,任务疲劳和精力疲劳不是一回事。我们还有余力,只是无法用在早已让我们疲惫不堪的同一项任务上面。那么,如何解决这一问题呢?分散你的精力。放弃仅仅专注于某一项任务的幻想,而去选择多个可以集中精力的领域。



This sounds counter-intuitive; we always hear that if you really want to get something done, you should spend all your time on it.


这话听起来有点儿不合常理;我们总是听别人说,如果你真正想要做成一件事,那么你就应该把所有的时间花在这件事上面。



If you're out of a job, you're more likely to find one if you spend all your time looking for one, right?


如果你失业了,如果你把所有的时间都用来找工作,那么你找到工作的几率就会大一些,对吧?



Wrong!


错!



How long can you spend on job search sites before fatigue sets in? For most of us, not very long.


如果一直泡在求职网站上,多长时间以后你会开始觉得疲倦?对于我们当中的大多数人来说,不会很久。



And here's what happens when we try: We unconsciously and insidiously distract ourselves with activities of little or no productive value. If you're Isabelle, you think about fairy dust.


如果我们非要这么做,那么我们会不自觉地因为一些几乎或者完全没有效率的事情而分神。如果你是伊莎贝尔,你会想到仙女魔法粉。



To guard against this, identify five broad areas of focus that add value to your life. That way, when your focus on one task starts to slip, you've got four other valuable and productive areas waiting to take its place. You won't waste time spinning your wheels or deciding what to do next.


为避免此种情形出现,你应该确定五个对你的生活有价值的领域。这样的话,当你开始对某一项任务无法集中精力时,你还有其他四个有价值、有效率的领域可以选择,而不会坐在转椅里浪费时间或者决定接下来要做什么了。



So how does it work in practice? Let's say you're looking for a job. Obviously, you'd put that at the top of your focus list, but you might also want to focus on spending time with family; learning Chinese; working on your blog and growing your personal network.


那么,它在实际生活中如何发挥作用呢?比如说,你正在找一份工作。毫无疑问,你会把它作为当前的首要任务,但是你也可能想花些时间陪陪家人;学习中文;写写博客并且拓展一下人际关系。



To be clear, I'm not suggesting you multitask. Multitasking is even more of a drain on focus than focus. I'm suggesting you switch-task - move from one task to another once you start to lose concentration.


准确地说,我并不是建议你同时完成多个任务。一下子做太多事不仅无助于集中精力,甚至还会导致精力分散。我是在建议你转换任务──一旦开始无法集中精力做某一件事情,就换件事情做吧。



Certainly there are some important areas of focus that you will enjoy more than others. Isabelle enjoys reading more than math, and can maintain her focus longer in that area. But even with areas you find enjoyable, task fatigue sets in. And then, it will be time to switch again.


当然,你会有一些更为青睐的重要领域。伊莎贝尔喜欢阅读胜过算术,而且能够在阅读时较长时间地保持注意力。但即使是在你喜欢的领域,任务疲劳也无法避免。到那时,你就又该换件事情做了。



'Daddy,' Isabelle said to me after reading for some time, 'let's do some math facts before we land.'


"爸爸,"伊萨贝尔读了会儿书以后和我说,"我们在飞机降落前再做几道算术题吧。"



'Eight times eight?' I asked.


"8乘8等于多少?"我问。



'Sixty-four!' She replied, without any hesitation at all.


"64!"她脱口而出。



PETER BREGMAN


PETER BREGMAN