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RahafHarfoushWWW_2019V-_过度劳累如何抑制我们的创造力_-
A few years ago, my obsession with productivity got so bad that I suffered an episode of burnout that scared the hell out of me. 几年前, 我对生产效率的过度执着 导致我那段时间精疲力竭。 这把我自己彻底吓到了。
obsession:n.痴迷;困扰;[内科][心理]强迫观念; productivity:n.生产力;生产率;生产能力; episode:n.一段经历;片段,插曲;一集; burnout:n.烧坏;燃料烧尽;
I'm talking insomnia , weight gain, hair loss -- the works. 我经历了失眠,发胖,脱发—— 但依旧在工作。
insomnia:n.失眠症,失眠;
I was so overworked that my brain literally couldn't come up with another idea. 由于劳累过度, 我的大脑真的一个 新点子都想不出来。
overworked:adj.工作过多的; v.(使)过度劳累,过分努力; (overwork的过去分词和过去式) literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地: come up with:提出;想出;赶上;
That indicated to me that my identity was linked with this idea of productivity. 那表明了我的个人身份认同是与 生产效率联系在一起的。
indicated:v.表明;显示;象征;暗示;示意;(indicate的过去分词和过去式) identity:n.身份;同一性,一致;特性;恒等式;
[The Way We Work] 【我们工作的方式】
Do you feel guilty if you haven't been productive enough during the day? 你会不会因为觉得自己 白天不够高效而产生负罪感？
guilty:adj.有罪的;内疚的; productive:adj.能生产的;生产的,生产性的;多产的;富有成效的;
Do you spend hours reading productivity hacks , trying new frameworks and testing new apps to get even more done? 你是否曾花费数小时 阅读那些提高生产力的小窍门, 尝试新的工作框架 和新的 app （应用程序） 以达到完成更多工作的目的？
hacks:出租汽车;老马(hack的复数);
I've tried them all -- task apps, calendar apps, time-management apps, things that are meant to manage your day. 所有这些方法我都试过了—— 任务管理 app ,日历 app , 时间管理 app , 那些用来帮助你管理时间的工具。
calendar:n.日历;挂历;v.把…记入日程表中;
We've been so obsessed with doing more that we've missed the most important thing. 我们对完成更多这个目标的痴迷 让我们忽略了最重要的一点。
obsessed:v.使痴迷;使迷恋;使着迷;(obsess的过去式和过去分词)
Many of these tools aren't helping. 其实这些工具中的大多数 并不能帮到我们。
They're making things worse. 它们反而让事情变得更糟了。
OK, let's talk about productivity for a second. 我们来谈一谈生产效率这个概念。
Historically , productivity as we know it today was used during the industrial revolution . 我们现在提到的生产效率 曾被用在工业革命时期。
Historically:adv.历史上地;从历史观点上说; industrial revolution:n.工业革命;
It was a system that measured performance based on consistent output . 那是一个根据持续产出 从而衡量工作表现的系统。
measured:adj.缓慢谨慎的; v.测量; (measure的过去分词和过去式) performance:n.性能;表现;业绩;表演; consistent:adj.始终如一的,一致的;坚持的; output:n.(人、机器、机构的)产量;输出;输出功率;输出量;v.输出;
You clocked into your shift and were responsible for creating X number of widgets on the assembly line . 你准时打卡上班, 负责在流水线上
shift:n.移动;变化;手段;轮班;v.移动;转变;转换; responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的; widgets:n.小工具(widget的复数);窗体小部件; assembly line:na.装配线;
At the end of the day, it was pretty easy to see who worked hard and who hadn't. 到了每天结束的时候, 很容易就能知道 哪些人工作比较认真, 以及哪些不那么认真。
When we shifted to a knowledge economy , people suddenly had tasks that were much more abstract , things like writing, problem-solving or strategizing , tasks that weren't easy to measure. 当我们转变到知识经济时代, 人们的工作任务 忽然就变得更抽象了, 像是写作、解决问题, 或是制定策略, 这些都是不能被轻易衡量的工作。
shifted:转移;移动(shift的过去式和过去分词); knowledge economy:知识经济; abstract:n.摘要; adj.抽象的; vt.摘要; vi.做摘要; problem-solving:adj.问题解决的;n.解决问题;找出问题的答案; strategizing:v.战略化;战略构想;(strategize的现在分词)
Companies struggled to figure out how to tell who was working and who wasn't, so they just adopted the old systems as best as they could, leading to things like the dreaded time sheet where everyone is under pressure to justify how they spend every second of their day. 企业也发现辨别谁在工作, 谁在偷懒变得更难了, 所以他们只能尽可能 采用那套旧系统来衡量。 由此导致了诸如令人心生恐惧的 考勤表等事物的诞生, 让大家为了解释 自己怎么利用工作中的每分每秒而倍感压力。
struggled:v.奋斗;努力;争取;艰难地行进;抗争;(struggle的过去式和过去分词) adopted:adj.被收养的;被采用的;v.采用;接受;(adopt的过去式和过去分词); dreaded:adj.令人畏惧的,可怕的;v.惧怕(dread的过去分词); time sheet:n.考勤表;工作时间记录单; justify:v.证明合法;整理版面;替…辩护;
There's just one problem. 这只是其中一个问题。
These systems don't make a lot of sense for creative work. 这些系统并不适用于 创造性的工作。
creative:adj.创造性的;
We still think of productivity as an endurance sport. 我们现在仍然把工作效率 视为一种耐力运动。
endurance:n.忍耐力;忍耐;持久;耐久;
You try to churn out as many blog posts or we cram our day full of meetings. 我们试图写出 尽可能多的博客文章, 或用各种会议来塞满我们的一天。
churn:v.剧烈搅动;(使)猛烈翻腾;反胃,恶心;感到不安;n.搅乳器; blog:n.博客;部落格;网络日志; cram:v.把…塞进; n.填塞;
But this model of constant output isn't conducive to creative thought. 但是这种持续产出的模型 并不有益于创造性思维。
conducive:adj.有益的;有助于…的;
Today, knowledge workers are facing a big challenge. 现在,知识工作者 面临着一项巨大的挑战。
We're expected to be constantly productive and creative in equal measure. 我们被要求一直维持 在一个有同等效率 和创造力的状态。
constantly:adv.不断地;时常地;
But it's actually almost impossible for our brains to continuously generate new ideas with no rest. 但是让我们的大脑持续不断地 迸发出新点子且不停歇 是几乎不可能的。
continuously:adv.连续不断地; generate:v.产生;引起;
In fact, downtime is a necessity for our brain to recover and to operate properly. 事实上,适当的休息 对恢复我们的大脑, 并让其正常运转是必要的。
downtime:n.(工厂等由于检修,待料等的)停工期;[电子]故障停机时间;
Consider that according to a team of researchers from the University of Southern California, letting our minds wander is an essential mental state that helps us develop our identity, process social interactions , and it even influences our internal moral compass . 根据南加州大学 一个研究者团队的研究, 让我们的大脑开会小差是一种 必要的精神状态。 它可以帮助塑造我们的身份认同, 处理人际交往, 它甚至能影响我们 心灵内部的道德罗盘。
according to:根据,据说; essential:n.要点;要素;实质;必需品;adj.完全必要的;必不可少的;极其重要的;本质的; mental:adj.精神的;脑力的;疯的;n.精神病患者; process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的; interactions:n.[计]交互,相互作用;相互交流;干扰;(interaction复数) influences:n.影响; v.影响; internal:n.内脏;本质;adj.内部的;里面的;体内的;(机构)内部的; moral:n.寓意;品行;教益;adj.道德的;道义上的;道德上的;品行端正的; compass:n.罗盘;指南针;圆规;范围;界限;v.理解;领悟;将…包围;成功办到
Our need for a break flies in the face of our cultural narrative about hustling , in other words, the stories that we as a society tell each other about what success looks like and what it takes to get there. 我们对于休息的需要与 我们对忙碌的文化叙述相违背。 换句话说,我们身处的社会 告诉我们每个人成功是什么样的, 以及为了达到成功需要付出什么。
flies in the face of:当面反抗;公然违抗; cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的; narrative:n.叙述;故事;讲述;adj.叙事的,叙述的;叙事体的; hustling:v.猛推;催促(某人);兜售,取得;(hustle的现在分词)
Stories like the American Dream , which is one of our most deeply rooted beliefs. 比如我们其中 一个根深蒂固的信仰:美国梦。
American Dream:n.美国梦(美国人传统的价值观和社会标准,如民主、权利平等和财富);
This tells us that if we work hard, we'll be successful. 它告诉我们只要我们努力工作, 我们就会成功。
But there's a flip side . 但它所隐含的另一面则是:
flip side:反面;
If you aren't successful, it must mean that you're not working hard enough. 如果你不成功, 那么这一定是因为你还不够努力。
And if you don't think you're doing enough, of course you're going to stay late, pull all-nighters and push yourself hard even when you know better. 如果你觉得自己做的不够, 那么你当然会 开始加班,开夜车, 尽管知道这样做不好 却依然把自己逼得很紧。
all-nighters:n.通宵的活动;通宵活动的人;
Productivity has wrapped itself up in our self-worth , so that it's almost impossible for us to allow ourselves to stop working. 工作效率把自己 包装成了我们自我价值的一部分。 造成我们几乎不可能会允许自己 停下工作的脚步。
wrapped:adj.极高兴的;十分满意的;v.用…包裹;用…缠绕;(wrap的过去分词和过去式) self-worth:n.自我价值;自尊;自负;
The average US employee only takes half of their allocated paid vacation leave, further proving that even if we have the option to take a break, we don't. 平均而言,每位美国员工 只会用掉一半的带薪假, 进一步证明了 就算我们有选择来休息一下, 我们也不会这么做。
allocated:v.拨…(给);划…(归);分配…(给);(allocate的过去式和过去分词) option:n.选择;可选择的东西;
To be clear, I don't think that productivity or trying to improve our performance is bad. 事先说明下, 我并不认为工作效率 或者试图提高我们的工作表现 是不好的。
improve:v.改进;改善;
I'm just saying that the current models we're using to measure our creative work don't make sense . 我只是说现有的 用来衡量创造性工作的模型 并不合理。
make sense:有意义;讲得通;言之有理;
We need systems that work with our creativity and not against it. 我们需要 能促进我们创造力的系统, 而不是与之相对的系统。
[SO HOW DO WE FIX IT?] 【所以我们该如何解决这个问题？】
There is no quick fix for this problem. 解决这种情况 并没有什么快方法。
And I know, I know, that sucks . 我也知道,这很糟糕。
sucks:v.吮吸;吸;咂;啜;抽吸;抽取;(suck的第三人称单数)
No one loves a good framework or a good acronym better than me. 没有人能比我更喜欢一个好的工作框架 或一个好的缩略词了。
acronym:n.首字母缩略词;
But the truth is everyone has their own narratives that they have to uncover . 但是事实是每个人 都有自己的工作节奏。 需要每个人自己去发现。
narratives:n.叙述,故事;叙述的手法(narrative复数); uncover:v.揭开盖子;发现;揭露;揭发;
It wasn't until I started digging around my own beliefs around work that I began to unravel the root of my own work story, finally being able to let go of destructive behaviors and make positive , long-lasting changes. 直到我开始挖掘 我自己关于工作的信仰, 我才发现我自己工作方式的根源, 并最终舍弃了 那些有害的行为方式, 转而做出一些积极长期的改变。
unravel:v.解开;解体;阐释;说明;澄清;变得清楚易懂; finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; destructive:adj.破坏的;毁灭性的;有害的,消极的; positive:adj.积极的;[数]正的,[医][化学]阳性的;确定的;n.正数;[摄]正片; long-lasting:adj.持续时间长的;
And the only way to do that is by asking yourself some hard questions. 而唯一能达到这种状态的方法 就是问自己一些比较残酷的问题。
Does being busy make you feel valuable ? 忙碌能让你感觉很有自我价值吗？
valuable:adj.有价值的;贵重的;可估价的;n.贵重物品;
Who do you hold up as an example of success? 谁是你心中成功的榜样？
Where did your ideas of work ethic come from? 你都是从哪儿 学到那些工作道德的？
ethic:n.伦理;道德规范;adj.伦理的;道德的(等于ethical);
How much of who you are is linked to what you do? 你的身份认同在多大程度上 与你做的工作相关？
Your creativity, it has its own rhythms . 你的创造力有它自己的节奏。
rhythms:韵律;
Our energy fluctuates daily, weekly, even seasonally . 我们的能量在每天、每周, 甚至每个季节都会上下波动。
fluctuates:vi.波动;涨落;动摇;vt.使波动;使动摇; seasonally:adv.季节性地;周期性地;
I know that I'm always more energetic at the beginning of the week than at the end, so I front-load my workweek to account for that fact. 我知道自己在一周的开头, 通常精力更加充沛, 而非一周的末尾。 所以我相应的就把 大部分工作都移到一周的开头。
energetic:adj.精力充沛的;充满活力的;需要能量的;积极的; at the beginning of:在…的开始; front-load:adj.前面装入的[亦作front-loaded];前载; workweek:n.一周工作时间; account for:对…负有责任;对…做出解释;说明…的原因;导致;(比例)占;
As a proud night owl , I free up my afternoons and evenings for creative work. 我很自豪的说我是一个夜猫子, 所以我把下午和晚上的时间 都留给创造性的工作。
night owl:n.夜猫子;喜欢熬夜的人;
And I know I'll get more writing done in the cozy winter months than during the summer. 我也知道自己通常在舒适的冬季 比夏天能写出更多的文章。
cozy:n.保温罩;v.蒙骗;抚慰;adj.舒适的;安逸的;
And that's the secret. 而这就是秘诀。
Dismantling myths , challenging your old views, identifying your narratives -- this is the real work that we need to be doing. 拨开迷雾, 质疑你原有的观念, 发现你自己的工作节奏, 这才是我们真正需要做的。
Dismantling:v.拆开,拆卸;废除,取消;(dismantle的现在分词) myths:神话;谬见; identifying:n.识别,标识;标识关系;v.识别;(identify的现在分词)
We aren't machines, and I think it's time that we stopped working like one. 我们并不是机器, 是时候停止像机器一样工作了。