I've always secretly wanted to be a machine. I felt like if I was a machine, I'd never let things fall through the cracks, I wouldn't forget things, and I'd do everything I needed to do on time every time. I knew there were people out there that were like this, and I wanted to know what makes them tick.
我背地裡總是希望自己是一台機器。 我覺得,如果我是機器, 我就永遠不會讓東西掉到 縫縫裡,我就不會健忘, 且每次我都能準時做完 我必須做的每件事。 我知道真有的像這樣的人存在, 而我想知道,是怎麼辦到的。 〔我們的工作之道〕
[The Way We Work]
So a few years ago, I started a newsletter called Super Organizers, where I profiled 50 of the top performers in a variety of fields. I've talked to managers who track everything they do in a day in 15-minute increments. I've talked to investors who keep spreadsheets of every single person they’ve ever met, and CEOs who keep their calendars basically empty and rarely ever do meetings, ever.
幾年前,我創辦了 《超級組織者》電子報, 我在電子報中介紹 五十位各領域的佼佼者。 我和每十五分鐘就追蹤 每天做的每件事的經理談過, 我和用試算表記錄曾經 見過的每個人的投資者談過, 我和行事曆基本上 是全空的總裁談過, 他們幾乎不開會。 我自己也嘗試過許多密訣, 想讓我更接近我的理想。
I've also experimented with a lot of hacks myself to try to get me closer to my ideal. I've taped my mouth shut while I'm sleeping and stared at a sunlamp to increase my energy levels. I visualized my compassionate self and tried all sorts of supplements to hack my body chemistry. Sometimes the things I try work, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they're just kind of ridiculous. But I want to share with you the best trick I've learned in all of my exploring.
我在睡覺時用膠帶貼住嘴巴, 並盯著太陽燈增加我的能量。 我視覺化想像有同理心的我, 也試過各種保健食品 來改變我身體的化學。 我嘗試的方法中, 有些行得通,有些則不行, 有些就是很荒謬。 但我想和大家分享我所有 探索過程中學到的訣竅。 成為機器的理想其實是個陷阱。
The ideal of being a machine is actually a trap. It gets in the way of our productivity because it makes us blind to the roots of our actual problems. We are not machines, we’re emotional beings. And learning to skillfully recognize and work with our emotions is the only way to actually be productive day-to-day. Guilt, shame, fear, so often they're at the base of what's going on for us in ways that we barely understand. What's underneath our productivity problems isn't just a need for a new tool or system, but something going on in our emotional lives. And being aware of and observing how our emotions can affect us can open up a lot of flexibility and freedom to make progress when we'd otherwise be stuck. I found that the most productive people in the world, the ones who are most machine-like, actually recognize this and they often do three things to work with it. They're aware when they have a problem, they observe what's going on without judgment so they can understand it, and they keep experimenting with systems or teams, mindsets and tools until it changes. This might sound simple, and it is, but it's actually very hard to do because at each stage we get blocked and twisted up by the shame, guilt, fear and doubt -- the things that get in the way of seeing things clearly. To do this well requires a level of emotional mastery that is very difficult to practice. So let me walk you through it and show you how it can work.
它會阻礙我們的生產力,因為它 讓我們看不見實際問題的根源。 我們不是機器, 我們是有情感的生物。 學習如何技巧性地 辨識並處理我們的情緒 是在日常中保持生產力的唯一方法。 通常我們的問題根源其實 是罪惡感、羞恥感、恐懼, 我們卻不了解它們的影響。 我們的生產力問題背後 並不只是需要新工具或系統, 而是我們的情感生活有些狀況。 若能意識到及觀察到 我們的情緒如何影響我們, 就能讓我們更有彈性和自由, 在本來可能會卡住的地方有所進展。 我發現,世界上最有生產力的人, 最像機器的那些人, 其實都知道這一點, 且他們會做三件事來處理。 他們會意識到自己有問題了。 他們會去觀察怎麼回事, 不帶評斷,以了解狀況。 他們會持續實驗不同的系統或團隊、 心態和工具,直到有所改變。 聽起來可能很簡單,的確是。 但實行上很困難, 因為在每個階段我們都會 被羞恥感、罪惡感、恐懼, 和懷疑給阻礙或糾纏—— 讓我們無法看清真相。 要做好,就需要有實際上 很難做到的高度情緒掌控力, 讓我帶各位來了解它, 並說明怎麼讓它可行。 第一步是意識。
Awareness is the first step. That means being aware of problems in your productivity. But that's harder than it seems. No matter what the issue is, it's much easier to ignore it and hope that it goes away than to admit that something's wrong. We feel like we should be able to just do better. We feel like, well, that's the job, I should just suck it up. Whatever the problems that you're encountering in your productivity, you might not think about them that often because it's pretty painful.
意即,要意識到 你的生產力出了問題。 但這比表面看起來的更困難。 不論問題是什麼, 忽略它並希望它會不見 總是比承認有問題要來得容易。 我們覺得自己應該能做得更好。 我們覺得,那就是工作, 我應該要忍氣吞聲。 不論你的生產力遇到了什麼問題, 你可能不會太常去想它, 因為去想它挺痛苦的。
But there's magic in becoming aware of the problems that we're ordinarily not aware of. The most productive people have regular practices that they use to maintain that awareness. Sometimes it's journaling, sometimes it's mindfulness, sometimes it's just a walk, sometimes it's therapy. But everyone has something.
但,意識到我們通常 不會意識到的問題後, 會很不可思議。 最有生產力的人 固定會用一些做法來維持那種意識。 有人靠寫日記,有人靠練習正念, 有人靠散步,有人靠心理治療。 但每個人都有種做法。
Here's an example from my own life. I have a ton of trouble staying on top of my inbox. I'm the CEO of a start-up, and so this was really hard for me to admit at first. It seemed like an indictment of me and my ability to be successful if my inbox was a mess. But last year, after a lot of reflection, I realized that I had to face the fact that the backlog was causing problems throughout my company.
以下是我自己人生中的例子。 我對於我的收件匣實在是很沒輒。 我是新創公司的執行長, 所以一開始很難承認這點。 如果我的收件匣一團亂, 似乎就是在指責我和我成功的能力。 但經過去年許多自省之後,我了解到 我得去面對這些不斷積壓的事 開始在整個公司引發問題。 一旦我意識到了問題,
Once I was aware of the problem, I could start the next step: observation. When I moved into the observation stage, I wanted to see with as little judgment as possible what usually leads to my inbox being crowded. Observing without judgment was really difficult for me. My sense of doubt and fear came up. I thought: Should I really need to do this? I really felt like I should just be able to get through my inbox without any problems. But once I got beneath that, I began to notice something really surprising. There were actually many periods where I was on top of my inbox. It's just that every couple of weeks there would be a shift where it would just turn into a giant mess. And it had a very specific trigger, either a single email I really didn't want to deal with or a really busy period in my life where I couldn't look at my inbox for a day or two. And when this happened, emails would start to pile up, and I’d start to feel shame. I'd avoid my inbox and the pile would just get way worse. It was a vicious cycle. Once I saw this, I realized that there was a logical place to intervene. What I really needed to do was to catch myself right at the point every couple of weeks where my clean inbox was turning into a mess. And if I could do that, I knew I could keep it clean the rest of the time.
我就可以開始下一步:觀察。 進入觀察階段後,我想要盡可能 不帶評斷地去了解我的收件匣 爆滿通常是什麼原因。 不帶評斷的觀察對我來說很難。 我開始感到懷疑和恐懼。 心想:我真的需要這樣做嗎? 我真心覺得我應該可以看完 收件匣中所有的信,沒問題。 但我深入了解後, 我開始注意到很驚人的事。 其實很多時候,我的收件匣 都在我的掌控當中。 只是每幾週就會出現一次 轉變,讓收件匣變得一團亂。 而觸發的原因非常明確, 可能是一封我真的很不想處理的信, 或者是我人生中一段爆忙的 時期,一、兩天無法看信。 這個狀況發生時, 信件就開始堆積,我開始感到羞恥。 我會躲避我的收件匣, 信就越堆越多,惡性循環。 知道這點之後,我便意識到 有個合理的切入點。 我需要做的,就是當 每隔幾週我乾淨的收件匣 變成一團亂的那個時點, 逮住我自己。 如果我能辦到,我知道 其他時間我都能保持不亂。 這就要帶到下一步:實驗。
This brings us to the next step: experimentation. Once productive people have recognized a problem and observed its contours without judgment, they try new solutions to find out what works. Again, this can be really easy to get twisted up about. We're all filled with preconceptions about what's in and out of bounds to experiment with, and we're really boxed in by those preconceptions. We don't want to look silly or weak. But if we allow ourselves to find what works for us, we often find things that no one else would.
一旦有生產力的人找出問題 並且不帶評斷地做了觀察, 便會試試新解決方案是否行得通。 同樣的,這很容易混淆。 我們都有先入為主的觀念, 認定什麼可以實驗、什麼不行。 那些觀念框住了我們。 我們不想讓自己看來很蠢或很弱。 但若我們能讓自己去找出 什麼方法對我們行得通, 通常都會找到別人找不到的。 我自己做過很多實驗, 試圖處理我的收件匣問題。
I tried a lot of different experiments to deal with my inbox problems. I tried going to a new coffee shop every time I needed to power through some emails. I tried talking about it with my business partner and other people at my company to try to lower my sense of shame about it. I tried a one-touch email strategy, I tried only checking my email twice a day. But none of these really solved the problem completely. So I kept going and I had a big insight. I figured out I might be able to use my own desire not to let people down to help me get through my inbox. I'm lucky enough to split a virtual assistant with my business partner, so I wondered, what if I put an hour on my calendar a few times a week where they would babysit me. At the beginning of the hour, they'd message me and ask me how many emails I had in my inbox. And at the end of the hour, they'd message me again to ask how many I'd gotten done. I used my virtual assistant, but you could use anyone in your life. A family member or friend who struggles with something similar
每當需要費心處理一些信件時, 我就會去家新的咖啡廳。 我試著和我的生意夥伴 及同事談這件事, 以降低我對它的羞恥感。 我試過「一鍵郵件」策略, 試過一天只收兩次信。 但這些方法都無法完全解決問題。 所以我持續努力, 而我得到了重大的洞見。 我認為我可以用我 不想讓人失望的慾望, 來協助我處理完郵件。 我很幸運能和我的商業夥伴 共用一個虛擬助理, 我心想, 我能否每週安插幾個一小時時段 在行事曆上,讓它們來管我? 一小時開始時,它們會發訊息 問我有多少未讀信件。 一小時結束時,它們再次 發訊息問我處理掉了多少。 我用虛擬助理, 你可以用你身邊的任何人。 向有類似困擾的家人或朋友 提出互助的交易。 訊息來回只需要幾秒鐘。
and propose a trade. It literally takes a couple of seconds to message back and forth.
我剛想出這招時, 我立即的反應是羞恥。
When I started to consider this, my immediate reaction was shame. I felt like I should not need a babysitter to do my work. And I dreaded the conversation where I had to ask for this kind of thing. I also dreaded admitting it to anyone else. It all seemed very silly, but I decided to try it anyway. And it turns out just that little interaction a few times a week makes a gigantic difference for me. Getting a message from my assistant keeps me on task on my email and prevents the piles from being created, which makes it really easy for me to keep my inbox clean at every other time. And now I'm sitting here almost a year later with a clean inbox on a consistent basis. This may not work for you, but it does work for me. You might find that other approaches are better, like transferring your emails to your to-do list or making sure you’re following a one-touch inbox strategy or maybe even examining why you need to get through your inbox in the first place. But the only way to find that out is to try it.
我覺得我工作不應該要靠保姆。 我很怕和別人談話時 需要問到這類事情。 我也很怕向任何人承認這一點。 這方法怎麼看都很蠢, 但我仍然決定一試。 結果發現,只要每週 做幾次那種小小的互動, 就讓我大大改變了。 收到我助理的訊息, 讓我能專注處理信件。 避免信件堆積, 這讓我在其他時間 也能讓收件匣保持不亂。 近一年後,我坐在這裡, 我的收件匣一直都能維持不亂。 這招對你不見得有用, 但對我就是行得通。 對你來說,別的方法可能更好,比如 把你的信件轉到待辦事項清單, 或堅守一鍵收件匣策略, 或者甚至檢討為什麼 一開始會需要收信。 但唯有嘗試才能知道是否可行。 我在這些探索中了解到 我其實並不想成為機器。
What I've realized in all of my exploring is that I actually didn't really ever want to be a machine. I just felt guilty and ashamed for not being one. And once I started to work with that, everything changed for me.
我只是因為我不是機器 而感到罪惡和羞恥。 一旦我開始處理它, 對我而言,一切都改變了。
We think productivity is about software, notebooks and to-do lists frameworks, calendars, schedules and inboxes. And it is all of those things, but it's also about our brains and our bodies. It's about our emotions and how they guide us and sometimes get in our way. If you turn over the rock of productivity, you can find a lot hiding underneath. Identifying what's there is the best productivity hack I know.
我們認為生產力的重點就是 軟體、筆電、待辦事項清單、 架構、日曆、行事曆、收件匣。 的確這些都必要, 但也別忘了我們的大腦和身體。 重點是我們的情緒、它們 如何引導及有時阻礙我們。 翻開生產力這顆大石, 你會發現下面藏了很多東西。 就我所知最棒的生產力秘訣 就是辨識出下面藏了什麼。