作者：山姆·奥特曼
I think I am at least somewhat more productive than average, and people sometimes ask me for productivity tips. So I decided to just write them all down in one place.
我认为我的生产力至少比平均水平高一些，有时人们会向我请教提高生产力的秘诀。所以我决定把所有的建议都写在一起。
Compound growth gets discussed as a financial concept, but it works in careers as well, and it is magic. A small productivity gain, compounded over 50 years, is worth a lot. So it’s worth figuring out how to optimize productivity. If you get 10% more done and 1% better every day compared to someone else, the compounded difference is massive.
复利通常被用作金融概念，但在职业生涯中同样适用，并且它非常神奇。微小的生产力提升，经过50年的复利计算，其价值非常大。因此，研究如何优化生产力是值得的。如果你每天比别人多做10%的工作，并且每天进步1%，那么复利的差异将是巨大的。
What you work on
你为什么而工作
It doesn’t matter how fast you move if it’s in a worthless direction. Picking the right thing to work on is the most important element of productivity and usually almost ignored. So think about it more! Independent thought is hard but it’s something you can get better at with practice.
如果你朝着毫无价值的方向快速前进，那么速度再快也没有用。选择正确的工作方向是生产力的最重要因素，但通常却被忽视。所以，花更多的时间来思考这个问题吧！独立思考很难，但你可以通过练习变得更擅长。
The most impressive people I know have strong beliefs about the world, which is rare in the general population. If you find yourself always agreeing with whomever you last spoke with, that’s bad. You will of course be wrong sometimes, but develop the confidence to stick with your convictions. It will let you be courageous when you’re right about something important that most people don’t see.
我认识的最令人印象深刻的人对世界有强烈的信念，这在普通人群中很少见。如果你发现自己总是同意最后一个与你交谈的人，那是不好的。你当然有时会犯错，但要培养坚持自己信念的信心。当你对某些重要但大多数人没有看到的事情有正确看法时，这会让你有勇气坚持下去。
I make sure to leave enough time in my schedule to think about what to work on. The best ways for me to do this are reading books, hanging out with interesting people, and spending time in nature.
我确保在我的日程中留出足够的时间来思考该做什么。对我来说，最好的方法是阅读书籍，与有趣的人交往，以及花时间亲近自然。
I’ve learned that I can’t be very productive working on things I don’t care about or don’t like. So I just try not to put myself in a position where I have to do them (by delegating, avoiding, or something else). Stuff that you don’t like is a painful drag on morale and momentum.
我已经明白，如果我不关心或不喜欢某些事情，我就无法高效工作。所以我尽量不让自己处于必须做这些事情的位置（通过委派、避免或其他方法）。你不喜欢的事情会严重拖累士气和动力。
By the way, here is an important lesson about delegation: remember that everyone else is also most productive when they’re doing what they like, and do what you’d want other people to do for you—try to figure out who likes (and is good at) doing what, and delegate that way.
顺便说一下，关于委派有一个重要的教训：记住，其他人在做他们喜欢的事情时也最有生产力，做你希望别人为你做的事情——试着找出谁喜欢（并且擅长）做什么，并以此方式委派任务。
If you find yourself not liking what you’re doing for a long period of time, seriously consider a major job change. Short-term burnout happens, but if it isn’t resolved with some time off, maybe it’s time to do something you’re more interested in.
如果你发现自己长期不喜欢所做的事情，认真考虑换工作。短期的倦怠是正常的，但如果不能通过休息解决，或许是时候做一些你更感兴趣的事情了。
I’ve been very fortunate to find work I like so much I’d do it for free, which makes it easy to be really productive.
我很幸运能找到我如此喜欢的工作，即使是免费我也愿意做，这使得我很容易保持高效。
It’s important to learn that you can learn anything you want, and that you can get better quickly. This feels like an unlikely miracle the first few times it happens, but eventually you learn to trust that you can do it.
重要的是要学会你可以学习任何你想学的东西，并且你可以很快变得更好。第一次发生时，这感觉像是不可能的奇迹，但最终你会学会相信你可以做到。
Doing great work usually requires colleagues of some sort. Try to be around smart, productive, happy, and positive people that don’t belittle your ambitions. I love being around people who push me and inspire me to be better. To the degree you able to, avoid the opposite kind of people—the cost of letting them take up your mental cycles is horrific.
做出色的工作通常需要一些同事。尽量与聪明、积极、快乐且积极向上的人相处，这些人不会贬低你的雄心壮志。我喜欢和那些推动我并激励我变得更好的人在一起。尽量避免相反类型的人——让他们占用你的精神资源代价惨重。
You have to both pick the right problem and do the work. There aren’t many shortcuts. If you’re going to do something really important, you are very likely going to work both smart and hard. The biggest prizes are heavily competed for. This isn’t true in every field (there are great mathematicians who never spend that many hours a week working) but it is in most.
你必须选择正确的问题并付诸实践。没有太多捷径。如果你要做一些真正重要的事情，很可能你需要既聪明又努力地工作。最大的奖励通常竞争激烈。这在大多数领域都是如此（虽然有些杰出的数学家每周工作时间不多，但在大多数领域并非如此）。
Prioritization
保证做事情的优先级
My system has three key pillars: “Make sure to get the important shit done”, “Don’t waste time on stupid shit”, and “make a lot of lists”.
我的系统有三个关键支柱：“确保完成重要的事情”，“不要浪费时间在愚蠢的事情上”，以及“做很多清单”。
I highly recommend using lists. I make lists of what I want to accomplish each year, each month, and each day. Lists are very focusing, and they help me with multitasking because I don’t have to keep as much in my head. If I’m not in the mood for some particular task, I can always find something else I’m excited to do.
我强烈推荐使用清单。我列出每年、每月和每天要完成的事情。清单非常有助于集中注意力，并且帮助我多任务处理，因为我不必把所有事情都记在脑子里。如果我不想做某个特定任务，我总能找到其他让我感兴趣的事情。
I prefer lists written down on paper. It’s easy to add and remove tasks. I can access them during meetings without feeling rude. I re-transcribe lists frequently, which forces me to think about everything on the list and gives me an opportunity to add and remove items.
我喜欢用纸写清单。添加和删除任务很容易。在会议中查看清单也不会显得无礼。我经常重新抄写清单，这迫使我思考清单上的每一项，并给我机会添加和删除项目。
I don’t bother with categorization or trying to size tasks or anything like that (the most I do is put a star next to really important items).
我不进行分类或试图衡量任务大小（最多只是在非常重要的项目旁边标注星号）。
I try to prioritize in a way that generates momentum. The more I get done, the better I feel, and then the more I get done. I like to start and end each day with something I can really make progress on.
我试图以一种能产生动力的方式进行优先级排序。我完成的越多，感觉越好，然后我完成的就越多。我喜欢每天开始和结束时都做一些可以真正取得进展的事情。
I am relentless about getting my most important projects done—I’ve found that if I really want something to happen and I push hard enough, it usually happens.
我对完成最重要的项目非常执着——我发现如果我真的想要某件事发生并且我足够努力地推动它，它通常会发生。
I try to be ruthless about saying no to stuff, and doing non-critical things in the quickest way possible. I probably take this too far—for example, I am almost sure I am terse to the point of rudeness when replying to emails.
我试图无情地拒绝无关紧要的事情，并以最快的方式处理非关键任务。我可能走得太远了——例如，我几乎可以确定在回复电子邮件时我的简短程度近乎无礼。
I generally try to avoid meetings and conferences as I find the time cost to be huge—I get the most value out of time in my office. However, it is critical that you keep enough space in your schedule to allow for chance encounters and exposure to new people and ideas. Having an open network is valuable; though probably 90% of the random meetings I take are a waste of time, the other 10% really make up for it.
我通常避免参加会议和会议，因为我觉得时间成本太高——我在办公室的时间最有价值。然而，确保你的日程中有足够的空间来应对偶然的会面和接触新的人和想法是很重要的。保持开放的网络是有价值的；尽管我参加的随机会议中可能有90%是浪费时间，但另外10%真的弥补了这些浪费。
I find most meetings are best scheduled for 15-20 minutes, or 2 hours. The default of 1 hour is usually wrong, and leads to a lot of wasted time.
我发现大多数会议最好安排在15-20分钟或2小时。默认的一小时通常是错误的，会导致大量时间浪费。
I have different times of day I try to use for different kinds of work. The first few hours of the morning are definitely my most productive time of the day, so I don’t let anyone schedule anything then. I try to do meetings in the afternoon. I take a break, or switch tasks, whenever I feel my attention starting to fade.
我一天中不同的时间段用于不同种类的工作。早上的头几个小时无疑是我一天中最有效率的时间，所以我不让任何人安排这个时间段的事情。我尽量在下午开会。每当我感觉注意力开始涣散时，我就会休息或换任务。
I don’t think most people value their time enough—I am surprised by the number of people I know who make 20.
我认为大多数人没有足够重视他们的时间——我认识的许多人每小时赚100美元，却愿意花几小时做他们不想做的事情来省20美元。
Also, don’t fall into the trap of productivity porn—chasing productivity for its own sake isn’t helpful. Many people spend too much time thinking about how to perfectly optimize their system, and not nearly enough asking if they’re working on the right problems. It doesn’t matter what system you use or if you squeeze out every second if you’re working on the wrong thing.
此外，不要陷入追求生产力本身的陷阱——追求生产力的完美优化并没有帮助。很多人花太多时间思考如何完美地优化他们的系统，却没有足够多地问自己是否在处理正确的问题。如果你在做错误的事情，那么无论你用什么系统或者挤出每一秒都是无意义的。
The right goal is to allocate your year optimally, not your day.
正确的目标是合理分配你的一年，而不是你的一天。
Physical factors
保证身体健康
Very likely what is optimal for me won’t be optimal for you. You’ll have to experiment to find out what works best for your body. It’s definitely worth doing—it helps in all aspects of life, and you’ll feel a lot better and happier overall.
非常可能对我有效的方法对你并不适用。你需要进行实验来找出最适合你的身体的方法。这绝对是值得的——它有助于生活的各个方面，你会感觉更好更快乐。
It probably took a little bit of my time every week for a few years to arrive at what works best for me, but my sense is if I do a good job at all the below I’m at least 1.5x more productive than if not.
我大概花了几年的时间，每周花一点时间来找到最适合我的方法，但我的感觉是，如果我在下面所有方面都做得好，我的生产力至少会提高1.5倍。
Sleep seems to be the most important physical factor in productivity for me. Some sort of sleep tracker to figure out how to sleep best is helpful. I’ve found the only thing I’m consistent with are in the set-it-and-forget-it category, and I really like the Emfit QS+Active.
对我来说，睡眠似乎是生产力最重要的身体因素。一种睡眠追踪器来找出最佳睡眠方式是有帮助的。我发现唯一我能坚持的是“一劳永逸”的东西，我非常喜欢Emfit QS+Active。
I like a cold, dark, quiet room, and a great mattress (I resisted spending a bunch of money on a great mattress for years, which was stupid—it makes a huge difference to my sleep quality. I love this one). Not eating a lot in the few hours before sleep helps. Not drinking alcohol helps a lot, though I’m not willing to do that all the time.
我喜欢冷的、黑暗的、安静的房间和一张好床垫（多年来我一直不愿意花一大笔钱买一张好床垫，这是愚蠢的——它对我的睡眠质量有很大的影响。我喜欢这款床垫）。睡前几小时不吃大量食物有帮助。不喝酒有很大帮助，尽管我不愿意一直这样做。
I use a Chili Pad to be cold while I sleep if I can’t get the room cold enough, which is great but loud (I set it up to have the cooler unit outside my room).
如果我不能让房间足够冷，我会使用Chili Pad来保持睡眠时的凉爽，这是很棒的但很吵（我把冷却装置放在我的房间外）。
When traveling, I use an eye mask and ear plugs.
旅行时，我使用眼罩和耳塞。
This is likely to be controversial, but I take a low dose of sleeping pills (like a third of a normal dose) or a very low dose of cannabis whenever I can’t sleep. I am a bad sleeper in general, and a particularly bad sleeper when I travel. It likely has tradeoffs, but so does not sleeping well. If you can already sleep well, I wouldn’t recommend this.
这可能有争议，但我在无法入睡时会服用低剂量的安眠药（比如正常剂量的三分之一）或非常低剂量的大麻。我一般睡眠不好，旅行时特别糟糕。这可能有权衡，但不良的睡眠也是如此。如果你已经睡得很好，我不推荐这么做。
I use a full spectrum LED light most mornings for about 10-15 minutes while I catch up on email. It’s great—if you try nothing else in here, this is the thing I’d try. It’s a ridiculous gain for me. I like this one, and it’s easy to travel with.
我大多数早晨使用全光谱LED灯大约10-15分钟，同时查看电子邮件。这很棒——如果你只尝试这里的一样东西，这是我最推荐的。这对我来说是个巨大的提升。我喜欢这个，并且它容易携带旅行。
Exercise is probably the second most important physical factor. I tried a number of different exercise programs for a few months each and the one that seemed best was lifting heavy weights 3x a week for an hour, and high intensity interval training occasionally. In addition to productivity gains, this is also the exercise program that makes me feel the best overall.
运动可能是第二重要的身体因素。我尝试了几个月的不同运动计划，最好的似乎是每周举重3次，每次1小时，并偶尔进行高强度间歇训练。除了生产力的提高，这也是让我整体感觉最好的运动计划。
The third area is nutrition. I very rarely eat breakfast, so I get about 15 hours of fasting most days (except an espresso when I wake up). I know this is contrary to most advice, and I suspect it’s not optimal for most people, but it definitely works well for me.
第三个领域是营养。我很少吃早餐，所以大多数天我有大约15小时的禁食时间（除了早上醒来时喝一杯浓咖啡）。我知道这与大多数建议相悖，我怀疑这对大多数人来说并不理想，但对我来说确实有效。
Eating lots of sugar is the thing that makes me feel the worst and that I try hardest to avoid. I also try to avoid foods that aggravate my digestion or spike up inflammation (for example, very spicy foods). I don’t have much willpower when it comes to sweet things, so I mostly just try to keep junk food out of the house.
吃大量糖分是让我感觉最差的事情，也是我最努力避免的。我也尽量避免让我的消化系统恶化或引发炎症的食物（例如，非常辣的食物）。我在甜食方面没有太多意志力，所以我主要是尽量不在家里存放垃圾食品。
I have one big shot of espresso immediately when I wake up and one after lunch. I assume this is about 200mg total of caffeine per day. I tried a few other configurations; this was the one that worked by far the best. I otherwise aggressively avoid stimulants, but I will have more coffee if I’m super tired and really need to get something done.
我每天早上醒来时喝一大杯浓咖啡，午餐后再喝一杯。我假设这总共大约是200毫克的咖啡因。我试过其他几种配置；这远远是最有效的。我还积极避免其他兴奋剂，但如果我非常疲倦并且确实需要完成某事，我会喝更多咖啡。
I’m vegetarian and have been since I was a kid, and I supplement methyl B-12, Omega-3, Iron, and Vitamin D-3. I got to this list with a year or so of quarterly blood tests; it’s worked for me ever since (I re-test maybe every year and a half or so). There are many doctors who will happily work with you on a super comprehensive blood test (and services like WellnessFX). I also go out of my way to drink a lot of protein shakes, which I hate and I wouldn’t do if I weren’t vegetarian.
我是素食主义者，从小就是，并且补充甲基B-12、Omega-3、铁和维生素D-3。通过一年的季度血液测试，我得到了这个清单；它一直对我有效（我大约每年半左右重新测试一次）。有很多医生愿意与你合作进行超级全面的血液测试（以及像WellnessFX这样的服务）。我还特意喝了很多蛋白质奶昔，我讨厌喝，但如果我不是素食主义者，我不会这样做。
Other stuff
其他事项
Here’s what I like in a workspace: natural light, quiet, knowing that I won’t be interrupted if I don’t want to be, long blocks of time, and being comfortable and relaxed (I’ve got a beautiful desk with a couple of 4k monitors on it in my office, but I spend almost all my time on my couch with my laptop).
这是我喜欢的工作空间：自然光、安静、知道如果我不想被打扰就不会被打扰、长时间的时间块，以及舒适和放松（我在办公室有一个漂亮的桌子，上面有几个4k显示器，但我几乎所有时间都在沙发上用笔记本电脑工作）。
I wrote custom software for the annoying things I have to do frequently, which is great. I also made an effort to learn to type really fast and the keyboard shortcuts that help with my workflow.
我编写了用于频繁执行的烦人事情的自定义软件，这很棒。我还努力学习快速打字和有助于工作流程的键盘快捷键。
Like most people, I sometimes go through periods of a week or two where I just have no motivation to do anything (I suspect it may have something to do with nutrition). This sucks and always seems to happen at inconvenient times. I have not figured out what to do about it besides wait for the fog to lift, and to trust that eventually it always does. And I generally try to avoid people and situations that put me in bad moods, which is good advice whether you care about productivity or not.
和大多数人一样，我有时会经历一两周的无所事事的时期（我怀疑这可能与营养有关）。这很糟糕，而且总是在不方便的时候发生。我还没有找到解决办法，除了等待迷雾散去，并相信它最终总会散去。并且我通常尽量避免让我心情不好的人与情况，不管你是否关心生产力，这是一个好建议。
In general, I think it’s good to overcommit a little bit. I find that I generally get done what I take on, and if I have a little bit too much to do it makes me more efficient at everything, which is a way to train to avoid distractions (a great habit to build!). However, overcommitting a lot is disastrous.
总的来说，我认为稍微超负荷承诺是好的。我发现我通常能完成我承担的任务，如果我有一点过多的事情要做，这会使我对所有事情都更有效率，这是训练避免分心的一种方式（一个很好的习惯！）。然而，过度承诺是灾难性的。
Don’t neglect your family and friends for the sake of productivity—that’s a very stupid tradeoff (and very likely a net productivity loss, because you’ll be less happy). Don’t neglect doing things you love or that clear your head either.
不要为了生产力而忽视你的家人和朋友——这是一个非常愚蠢的权衡（而且很可能是净生产力损失，因为你会不那么快乐）。也不要忽视做你喜欢的或让你头脑清醒的事情。
Finally, to repeat one more time: productivity in the wrong direction isn’t worth anything at all. Think more about what to work on.
最后，再重复一次：朝着错误方向的生产力毫无价值。多思考一下要做什么。