译注：
本文提出了五种方法，即减少工作量、专注于幸福、健康生活习惯、正确的休息、向后比较而不是向前。
本文作者安德鲁·费尔比（Andrew Ferebee）是《男人的知识》（Knowledge For Men）的创始人，也是亚马逊畅销书作家。此专栏最早出现在 Quora 上。
图源: Patrik Theander via Flickr
原标题：How to stay focused and productive without getting burnt out
文：Andrew Ferebee
译：清单待完成
After growing my business to nearly 7 figures and managing over a dozen employees, I have realized that mastering the art and science of focus and productivity is far more counter-intuitive than one would expect.
在将自己的业务增长至近7位数，并管理10多名员工之后，我才意识到，掌握注意力（focus）和生产率（productivity））的艺术和科学，远比想象中的要更加违反直觉。
Despite the advice that you hear on social media to “Hustle”, “Grind”, and “Work 16 Hours a Day”, the science, and my personal evidence show that this advice is horseshit (pardon my French).
尽管你在社交媒体上听到「忙碌」、「辛苦工作」和「每天工作16小时」等建议，但科学以及我的个人经验都显示，这些建议乃是胡说八道（horseshit）（请原谅我的粗口）。
When you boil it down to the basics, focus and productivity require two things… Time and energy.
当你追根溯源时，注意力（focus）和生产率（productivity）仅需要两样东西：时间和精力。
If you have 16 hours of work to complete but only 12 hours in which to do it… You are screwed.
如果有16个小时的工作需要完成，但你只有12个小时的时间……你会搞砸的。
Likewise, if you have 16 hours to complete 6 hours of projects but you don’t have the energy to get out of bed… You are also screwed.
同样地，如果你有16个小时来完成6个小时的项目，但是你没有精力从床上爬起来……你同样会搞砸的。
With this in mind, here are my 5 tips for staying focused and productive without burnout.
考虑到这一点，以下是我的5个小贴士，让你保持专注（focused）和高效（productive），而不会精疲力竭。
*Note: There have already been some great responses to this question so I will do my best to provide unique insights that extend beyond the Pomodoro technique, eating that frog, etc. However I STRONGLY recommend all of the tactics mentioned in the Answer Wiki*
* 注意：对于此问题已经有了一些很好的回答，因此我会尽我所能提供一些独特的见解，不只是那些司空见惯的「番茄工作法」（Pomodoro technique），「吃掉那只青蛙」（eating that frog）等。我强烈推荐答案中提到的所有策略 *
（「番茄工作法」：用定时器将时间分段，每工作25分钟为一个番茄时间，休息5分钟；每4个番茄时间后休息15分钟。「吃掉那只青蛙」：每天早晨醒来第一件事就是吃掉一只青蛙，即先解决最具有挑战性的任务。--译注）
①
Stop overextending yourself a.k.a. DO LESS WORK
停止承担过多事务，即减少工作量。
One of the biggest ironies of productivity and success is that achieving more often requires that you do less.
生产率和成功最大的讽刺之一就是，想要获得更多，你就必须做得更少。
But before you ignore this point and roll your eyes at the computer screen, I want you to hear me out.
在你忽略这一点，并对着电脑屏幕翻白眼之前，请听我把话说完。
Doing GREAT work requires that you are selective about WHAT work you do.
要做好工作，意味着你必须有选择性地完成工作。
Productivity requires that you have sufficient amounts of time to do everything and like I said, you cannot cram 16 hours of work into 12 hours… No matter how hard you try.
生产率要求你有足够的时间来完成所有的事情；就像我说的，无论你多么努力，都不能把16个小时的工作塞进12个小时里去。
Not too long ago, I noticed that one of my employees’ (who at the time was a subcontractor) performance was slipping.
不久前，我注意到我的一个员工（他当时是项目分包者）的表现正在下滑。
When I confronted him about the issues with his work, he told me that he was exhausted and overextended.
当我询问他工作的问题时，他告诉我，他已经精疲力尽，且承担太多事务了。
And when he showed me how many projects he was juggling I wasn’t surprised…
当他向我展示自己同时进行多少项目时，我并不感到惊讶。
He had become caught in the trap of doing too much to do anything effectively.
他陷入了一个陷阱：做得太多，以至于无法有效地做任何事情。
I told him to relax and suggested that he cut back on his obligations and remove any clients who weren’t paying him what he was worth.
我让他放松一下，并建议他消减自己的职责，并推掉那些没有付足金钱的客户。
He followed my recommendations and doubled his income by doing less work but doing that work at a greater level.
他遵循了我的建议，通过减少工作量使自己的收入翻倍，并且是以更好的工作水平完成的。
Most people, especially entrepreneurs and freelancers tend to bite off more than they can chew because they want to make quick cash.
大多数人，尤其是企业家和自由职业者，想挣快钱，往往会贪多而嚼不烂。
Sure this might be a great tactic if you need to make up rent money or pay the IRS, but in the long term your work will always suffer, your clients will leave you, and you will be more stressed and less productive than ever.
当然，如果你需要支付租金或税金，这可能是个好的策略；但是从长远来看，你的工作会将会受到影响，你的客户会离开你，你会比以往更有压力，效率也会更低。
The bottom line?
底线是什么？
Do less work and do it better until you are paid more for your time.
少做点工作，要做的更好，直到你的单位时间价值得到提升。
②
Focus on your happiness before you focus on your productivity
在专注于生产率之前，先专注于幸福
New York Time ’s best-selling author of The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor reveals some interesting data in his book.
《纽约时报》畅销书《幸福优势》（The Happiness Advantage）的作者肖恩·阿克尔（Shawn Achor），在他的书中揭示了一些有趣的数据。
The one that caught my eye the most is that happiness and fulfillment are the best predictors of success and productivity… NOT the other way around.
最让我感兴趣的是，幸福（happiness）和满足（fulfillment）是成功（success）和生产率（productivity）最佳预测因素……而不是反过来。
So what does this mean?
那么这意味着什么呢？
It means that if you want to be more productive and successful, you should focus on your happiness first!
这意味着如果你想变得更加高效和成功，首先应该关注自己的幸福！
I know that this probably sounds completely backwards to many of you, but the science is in and one of the quickest ways to boost your productivity is to boost your happiness.
我知道，这对于大多数人来说，可能听起来彻底颠倒了；但科学已经证明，提高生产率最快的方法之一就是提高你的幸福。
So how do you actually go about doing this?
那么如何做到这一点的呢？
Personally, I recommend the following
就我个人而言，我建议如下：
● Write down 5 things you are grateful for professionally and personally every single morning
● 每天早上，写下5件让你感激的事情，无论是职业上的还是个人方面的。
● Start meditating for at least 20 minutes a day
● 每天开始至少冥想20分钟。
● Watch standup comedy and other funny content during your free time
● 在空闲时间观看喜剧和其他有趣的内容。
● Spend more time with people you like and cut out toxic individuals
● 花更多的时间与喜欢的人在一起，并切断有毒的关系。
● Get out in nature
● 到大自然中走走。
③
Exercise, eat clean, and sleep hard
锻炼身体，吃得干净，好好睡觉
Look…
听着。
Sh!t happens and sometimes, you will need to work overtime and push hard in order to make ends meet and achieve your goals.
糟心事总会发生；有时，你需要加班加点，努力工作，以维持生计，实现自己的目标。
These times are just a part of the human experience and shouldn’t be seen as something negative.
这些时光只是人类经历的一部分，不应该被视为消极的东西。
However…
然而……
When times like this do happen, your health and diet are normally the first things to suffer…
当这样的事情发生时，你的健康和饮食通常是首先遭殃的。
Which is a huge mistake.
这是一个巨大的错误。
Remember earlier how I said that all productivity and focus require more time and energy?
还记得上文我所说的，所有的生产率（productivity）和注意力（focus）都需要更多的时间和精力？
Well, almost ALL of your energy is derived from your activity, diet, and sleep.
是的，几乎所有的精力都来源于你的活动、饮食和睡眠。
Which means that they should be one of your biggest priorities.
这意味着这些应该是你最重要的优先事项。
Even though these activities take more time, they give you more energy allowing you to operate at a higher level throughout the rest of your day.
即使这些活动需要较多时间，但也会给你提供更多的能量，让你在一天的其余时间里保持较高的精力水平。
Here are a few tips to optimize each.
以下是一些优化技巧。
● Just eat real food… Cut out the processed crap, gluten, sugar etc.
● 只吃真正的食物。戒断垃圾食品、麸质、糖等。
● Sleep at least 8 hours a night in a blacked out room with the thermostat set to 67 F (if you have trouble falling asleep drink a glass of decaf tea with one TBSP of raw honey and 2 TBSP of apple cider vinegar)
● 每晚在昏暗的房间里至少睡8个小时，恒温器设置为华氏67°F（摄氏19.44℃）（如果你入睡困难，可以喝一杯无咖啡因茶，加上1汤匙原蜜和2汤匙苹果醋）。
● Exercise for 60 minutes 3x a week, preferably lifting heavy weights and doing HIIT cardio. Every day you should walk for 30 minutes and get in a brief
● 每周锻炼三次，每次60分钟，最好是举重和HIIT有氧运动。每天你都应该步行30分钟，然后短暂休息一下。
● Drink 3 cups of coffee a day but do so before 2 p.m. and cycle off of it every 2 weeks so you don’t build a tolerance.
● 每天喝3杯咖啡，但是要在下午2点之前喝完，然后每隔两周暂停，然后继续，如此循环，这样你就不会产生依赖性。
④
Do the RIGHT things with your down time
在休息时间做正确的事情
While I was looking at some of the other answers in this thread, I noticed a common theme… Almost everyone suggests that you take more breaks to maximize your down time.
当我阅读这个帖子的其他回答时，我注意到了一个共同的主题：几乎每个人都建议你多休息，以便充分利用休息时间。
However…
然而……
I also noticed that very few responses tell you what to do when you take these breaks.
我还注意到，很少有人告诉你，休息时该做什么。
Here’s the thing…
是这样的……
If you are taking regular breaks (as you should be) but you are spending them surfing on social media, watching porn, playing video games, or pounding beers, your productivity and health will suffer.
如果你定期休息（你应当如此），却把休息时间花在浏览社交媒体、看色情电影、玩电子游戏、或狂饮啤酒上，那么你的生产率和健康都会受到影响。
You need to do the right things to make the most of these breaks.
你需要做正确的事情，来充分利用这些休息时间。
What are the “right” things?
什么是「正确的」事情？
Glad you asked.
很高兴你问了。
● Exercise
● 运动
● Meditate
● 冥想
● Read
●阅读
● Connect with someone else (not social media)
● 与他人联系（不是通过社交媒体）
● Walk outside in nature
● 到大自然中走走
● Take up a hobby or instrument
● 从事爱好或乐器
Do things that will force you to grow and keep your mind and body active, the goal here isn’t total relaxation (that’s a necessary thing but different from a break)
做一些会驱使你成长的事情，让你的思想与身体保持活跃。此目的并不是为了纯粹的放松（这不同于休息，却是有必要的）。
⑤
Compare backwards not forwards
向后比较而不是向前
Most people I know who suffer from high levels of burnout, stress, and anxiety have one thing in common…
我认识的那些患有严重倦怠、压力和焦虑的人，他们都有一个共同点：
They compare themselves forwards instead of backwards.
他们将自己向前比较而不是向后。
What do I mean by this?
这么说是什么意思呢？
Well, when these people have a bad day at work, say they lost a deal, were forced to fire an employee, or struggled to meet a quota… They compare their performance to how they think it ought to be (their future ideal) instead of comparing themselves to how they used to be.
当这些人在工作中度过了糟糕的一天，他们失去了一个交易、被迫解雇一名员工、或者难以达成一个指标……他们将自己的表现，与他们认为自己应当做到的（他们未来的理想状况）进行比较，而不是与自己过去状况进行比较。
Now you might be thinking, “Andrew, what the hell does this have to do with productivity” but hear me out.
现在你可能会想，「这和生产率有什么关系」，请听我说完。
Your productivity and focus, as we have already talked about, is largely determined by your energy levels and the amount of time that you have for a task.
你的生产率和注意力，正如我们之前讨论过的，很大程度上取决于你的精力水平和完成任务所需的时间。
Now how much energy and time can you expect to have when you are constantly beating yourself up and comparing yourself to unrealistic ideals and expectations?
现在，当你不断地打击自己，并将自己与不切实际的理想和期望相比较，你还能指望有多少精力和时间呢？
I’ll answer for you… Very Little.
我来替你回答……很少。
And when you regularly entertain these thought patterns, you start to slowly chip away at your happiness and general contentment in life (which fucks up point 2) resulting in even less energy and motivation to get things done.
当你经常使用这样的思维模式时，你开始慢慢地削弱你生活中的幸福感和普遍满足感 ，从而导致了更少的精力和动力，来完成事情。
So if you are serious about your productivity, then you need to stop wasting time comparing yourself to who you think you should be.
因此，如果你认真对待自己的生产率，那么就不要再时间浪费，将自己与未来期望中的自己进行比较。
Instead… Be grateful and look at how far you have come.
相反，你应心存感激，看看你已达成多少。
When you take a step back and look at your journey, you will be filled with gratitude and you will put your problems into perspective, eliminating burnout and increasing your ability to perform and focus.
当你后退一步回顾自己的旅程时，你会充满感激，客观地看待自己的问题，消除倦怠，并提高自己的表现能力和注意力。
Hope this helps.
希望这能有所帮助。
——END——
原文：theladders.com/career-advice/how-to-stay-focused-and-productive-without-getting-burnt-out
本文基于知识共享（Creative Commons），由「清单待完成」翻译发布，仅供个人学习交流使用。
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