You haven’t experienced anything near what you’re capable of.
你还没有体验过你真正能够做到的事情。
And if you learn how to unlock that power, you can do what most people consider impossible.
如果你学会了如何解锁那种力量，你就能做到大多数人认为不可能的事情。
Unfortunately, most people have the idea of success completely backward.
不幸的是，大多数人对成功的理解完全是反着的。
They think they need to grind for 12 hours a day like their favorite entrepreneur to see any form of result.
他们认为自己需要像他们最喜欢的企业家那样每天拼命工作 12 小时，才能看到任何成果。
The reality is, you have responsibilities. I get it. Some of you can’t just magically scrape back time. You may have a job, kids, spouse. Those things are important. Meaning, you probably have one hour a day you can put toward a better future.
现实是，你有责任。我明白。有些人没法凭空挤出时间。你可能有工作、孩子、伴侣。这些都很重要。也就是说，你每天大概只有一个小时能用来创造更好的未来。
And that’s a great thing, because you can drastically change your life in 365 hours.
这是一件很棒的事，因为你可以在 365 小时内彻底改变你的生活。
One hour a day.
每天一小时。
One meaningful project.
一个有意义的项目。
One vision for your future.
一个关于你未来的愿景。
If you can spend 8 hours building someone else’s dreams, you can spend 1 hour building your own.
如果你能花 8 小时为别人实现梦想，你也能花 1 小时为自己实现梦想。
You don’t need more time. You need a deep sense of clarity that allows you to make the most of the time you currently have. And you need to feel like your efforts are making a difference in your life.
你不需要更多时间。你需要的是一种深刻的清晰感，让你能充分利用现在拥有的时间。你还需要感受到自己的努力正在改变你的生活。
A pattern I’ve noticed in successful creatives and CEOs - that didn’t sacrifice their life for success - is that they physically worked very little, yet people see them as hard workers. Mentally, they were always thinking, plotting, and scheming. They worked in their mind. And once they were clear on their idea, they executed with speed that others couldn’t compete with.
我注意到一个成功的创意人士和 CEO 的共同点——他们没有为成功牺牲生活——就是他们实际工作很少，但大家却觉得他们很努力。其实，他们一直在脑子里思考、策划、谋划。他们是在头脑里工作。一旦想法清晰了，他们执行起来的速度让别人望尘莫及。
Productivity is like fitness, and you wouldn’t train 8 hours a day with no food or sleep and expect to make progress. The same applies to the mind.
生产力就像健身，你不会在没有食物或睡眠的情况下每天训练 8 小时，还指望有所进步。对大脑来说也是一样的道理。
With that, there are 3 types of work:
这样一来，就有三种类型的工作：
- Building – Intense bursts of deep work to bring a project to life, like a product, service, or brand.
构建——通过高强度的深度工作，让一个项目变为现实，比如产品、服务或品牌。 - Maintenance – Consistent and often repetitive work that you’ve systemized to keep what you built alive, like marketing or customer service.
维护——你已经将其系统化的持续且经常重复的工作，用来维持你所建立的事物的运转，比如市场营销或客户服务。 - Recovery – Subconscious work that almost everyone ignores. The rest, leisure, and lack of narrow focused stress that allows breakthrough ideas to form the future of your work.
恢复——几乎所有人都会忽视的潜意识工作。休息、娱乐，以及没有狭隘压力的状态，让突破性的想法塑造你工作的未来。
Your goal, then, is to build for one hour a day until you are able to pursue what you want full time. Then you start to think about transitioning into maintenance work.
你的目标就是每天花一个小时去构建，直到你能够全职追求自己想要的东西。然后你就可以开始考虑转向维护工作了。
But what do you build?
但你在构建什么？
How do you pierce through the distractions and inner voice that seems to be your enemy?
你是如何穿透那些让你分心的事和似乎是你敌人的内心声音的？
Where do you find a never ending source of motivation to show up every day?
你每天坚持出现的动力源泉是从哪里来的？
The answers to those questions determine much of your life.
这些问题的答案决定了你生活的很大一部分。
This is part 2 of the last article that seemed to break X - sorry Elon.
这是上一篇似乎让 X 崩溃的文章的第二部分——抱歉，Elon。
This one will be just as comprehensive. A complete productivity masterclass so you can get 10 books worth of knowledge from one article.
这篇同样全面。一次完整的效率大师课，让你一篇文章收获相当于 10 本书的知识。
My hope is that I leave you with no option but to feel clear on what you want out of life and how to get it.
我希望让你别无选择，只能清楚知道自己想要什么，以及如何实现。
Because of that, this will be long. All I ask is that you dedicate your full attention. If you don’t have the time, bookmark it and come back to it.
因此，这会很长。我只希望你能全神贯注。如果你现在没时间，可以先收藏，之后再来看。
Let’s begin.
让我们开始吧。
I – Why it’s so hard to sit down and do the work我——为什么坐下来开始工作这么难
The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy—or attention—is invested in realistic goals, and when skills match the opportunities for action. The pursuit of a goal brings order in awareness because a person must concentrate attention on the task at hand and momentarily forget everything else. – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
内在体验的最佳状态是意识中有秩序。当心理能量——也就是注意力——投入到现实目标上，并且技能与行动机会相匹配时，这种状态就会出现。追求目标会让意识变得有序，因为人必须专注于手头的任务，暂时忘记其他一切。 – 米哈里·契克森米哈伊
Your mind is a supercomputer running the game of life.
你的大脑就是运行人生游戏的超级计算机。
Your attention (an incredibly scarce resource), is the RAM.
你的注意力（一种极其稀缺的资源）就是内存。
RAM, for the non-technical, means “random access memory.” It determines the performance of the computer.
RAM，对非技术人员来说，指的是“随机存取存储器”。它决定了电脑的性能。
The more programs and browser tabs you have open, the slower your computer will be. The mind works the same way, but there’s one major caveat… you have a threshold for how much your mind can process.
打开的程序和浏览器标签越多，电脑就会越慢。大脑也是一样的，但有一个重要的区别……你的大脑有一个能处理信息的上限。
Humans can process around 50 bits of conscious information per second. The unconscious mind can manage about 11 million bits per second (this is for things like walking, sensing, accessing stored habits or patterns), but that’s aside the point.
人类每秒只能处理大约 50 比特的有意识信息。而无意识大脑每秒可以处理大约 1100 万比特的信息（比如走路、感知、调用储存的习惯或模式），但这不是重点。
In other words, when you add it up, you have about 125 billion bits of information to “use up” in your lifetime. That’s it. That’s your potential. Every single thing you give your attention lowers that number by a small amount. That should terrify you.
换句话说，算下来你一生中大约有 1250 亿比特的信息可以“用掉”。就这些。这就是你的潜力。你关注的每一件事都会让这个数字减少一点点。这应该让你感到害怕。
Sadly, most people live with multiple high-demand programs running at the same time. It’s no wonder they can’t focus. Their attention is split between thoughts about regretful past mistakes, thoughts about stressful future tasks, desires for pleasure and entertainment to escape those, and open loops of tasks they were supposed to complete but forgot about (I’m looking at you dudes who forgot to take out the trash).
遗憾的是，大多数人同时运行着多个高负荷程序，难怪他们无法集中注意力。他们的注意力被分散在对过去遗憾错误的思考、对未来压力任务的担忧、渴望享乐和娱乐以逃避这些压力，以及那些本该完成却忘记了的任务（我就是在说你们这些忘了倒垃圾的兄弟们）。
The list of distractions goes on, and that’s the danger.
分心的事情层出不穷，这才是危险所在。
If you understand entropy, you understand that by doing nothing with your life, it only becomes more chaotic and overwhelming.
如果你理解熵，你就会明白，如果你对生活无所作为，它只会变得更加混乱和难以掌控。
You don’t stay the same.
你不会一直保持不变。
You dig yourself deeper into a rut without trying.
你不努力就会让自己越陷越深。
The good life demands consistent effort toward your own goals. You know the feeling. When everything aligns and you enter a blur of fulfilling work. I want to show you how to replicate it.
美好生活需要你为自己的目标持续努力。你懂那种感觉吧？当一切都顺利，你全身心投入到充实的工作中。我想教你如何复制这种状态。
Entropy, for those wondering, is one of the most fundamental principles in physics. The simple version is that there are vastly more ways for things to be disorganized than organized, so systems naturally tend toward messier and often more chaotic states. Energy needs to be put into keeping things ordered.
熵，给好奇的人解释一下，是物理学中最基本的原理之一。简单来说，事物变得无序的方式远远多于有序的方式，所以系统自然会趋向于更混乱、更杂乱的状态。要让事物保持有序，就需要投入能量。
As an everyday example, if you don’t put energy into maintaining your bookshelf, books will end up all over your house, at your friend’s house, and in places you didn’t think they could end up. The longer you go without organizing your shelf, the more effort it will take when you finally decide to.
举个日常例子，如果你不花精力整理你的书架，书就会散落在你家各处、你朋友家，甚至一些你想不到的地方。你越久不整理书架，等你终于决定整理时，就会越费劲。
Further, if you don’t put effort into cleaning your room, it will slowly get messier and messier until you’re late for work because your good socks are under a pizza box from last week.
另外，如果你不花心思打扫房间，房间就会越来越乱，直到有一天你因为找不到好袜子——它们被压在上周的披萨盒下面——而上班迟到。
Psychic entropy (or the mind tending toward disorder) can then be a useful metaphor to view focus and distractions through. This can be useful for creativity, as we will learn when we talk about a better type of routine, but when it comes to focused work, it’s obvious why you can’t laser in on one thing.
心理熵（或者说大脑趋向于混乱）可以作为一个有用的隐喻，帮助我们理解专注与分心。这对创造力很有帮助，我们在讨论更好的日常习惯时会学到这一点，但当涉及到专注工作时，很明显你为什么无法全神贯注于一件事。
You aren’t productive because you don’t have clarity.
你没有效率，是因为你没有清晰的目标。
You don’t have clarity because you allow your attention to drift toward one distraction, and before you know it, your mind is like the end of a frat party. People passed out everywhere and you don’t even know where to start cleaning.
你没有清晰的思路，是因为你让注意力被各种干扰分散，等你回过神来，你的大脑就像兄弟会派对结束时的现场——到处都是“醉倒”的人，你甚至不知道该从哪里开始清理。
The good thing is that the solution is simple, but powerful.
好消息是，解决方案既简单又强大。
II – How to unlock insane focus on command二——如何随时激发超强专注力
Clarity, importance, and urgency.
清晰、重要性和紧迫性。
Those are the critical ingredients that prevent distractions from penetrating your mind. Those are the requirements needed for deep focused work.
这些是防止干扰侵入你大脑的关键要素。这些也是进行深度专注工作的必要条件。
- To gain clarity, you need to choose a task that is challenging enough to be novel.
要获得清晰的认知，你需要选择一个具有挑战性的新任务。 - If that task overwhelms you, you need to break the task down into sub-goals that you do have clarity on. Then, you execute and acquire the skill that allows you to continue moving to the main task.
如果这个任务让你感到压力太大，你需要把它分解成你能清楚理解的小目标。然后，你去执行这些小目标，并获得让你继续完成主要任务所需的技能。 - For you to find something important, you need to fully understand (1) where your life will end up without achieving the goal and (2) what your potential could be if you achieved the goal.
要找到对你来说重要的东西，你需要完全明白：(1) 如果没有实现目标，你的人生最终会怎样；(2) 如果实现了目标，你的潜力又会有多大。
Urgency is what gets you to sit down and work right now rather than later, but we’ll discuss the exact protocol for all of this in a few paragraphs.
紧迫感让你现在坐下来工作，而不是拖到以后，不过我们会在接下来的几段里详细讨论这一切的具体协议。
The simplest formula for reaching the flow state, or the most optimal state of experience, is to ensure that the challenge you are taking on is just barely above your skill level.
进入心流状态或最优体验状态的最简单方法，就是确保你所面对的挑战恰好略高于你的技能水平。
Because think about it.
想想看吧。
If the challenge of a goal is too high for your skill level, you get anxious. If the challenge is too low, you get bored. In a video game, you wouldn’t fight a level 100 character when you are a level 1. It wouldn’t be fun, obviously.
如果目标的挑战难度远超你的能力，你会感到焦虑；如果挑战太低，你会觉得无聊。在电子游戏里，你不会用 1 级角色去挑战 100 级角色，那显然一点都不好玩。
Imagine you’re at a job. The work is repetitive and doesn’t challenge you in the slightest. You get bored, and that boredom leads to self-centeredness. Your focus breaks and you start to think of better things you could be doing.
想象一下你在一份工作中，工作内容重复，完全没有挑战性。你感到无聊，这种无聊让你变得以自我为中心。你的注意力开始分散，开始想着自己还能做些什么更有意义的事情。
Now imagine you’re forced to speak in front of a thousand people. You haven’t practiced before. It’s overwhelming, so you become anxious. That anxiety leads to self-consciousness. Your focus turns inward and negative thoughts flood your mind about how you aren’t good enough.
现在想象一下，你被迫在一千人面前发言。你之前没有练习过。这让人压力山大，所以你变得焦虑。这种焦虑让你变得自我意识过强。你的注意力开始转向内心，负面想法涌上心头，觉得自己不够好。
But these aren’t always a bad thing.
但这些并不总是坏事。
Boredom, in fact, can be a gateway to novelty.
事实上，无聊可以成为通往新奇的门户。
Anxiety can very well be the chaos you need for ultimate creativity.
焦虑很可能正是你实现极致创造力所需的混乱。
Your inability to sit in a room alone is likely the source of most of your problems.
你无法独自待在一个房间里，很可能是你大多数问题的根源。
So what’s missing?
那还缺什么？
The answer lies in the fact that everyone works too much.
答案就在于每个人都工作得太多了。
III – The routines of highly successful creatives三、高度成功的创意人士的日常习惯
I’ve always had some form of aversion toward Western work culture.
我一直对西方的工作文化有些排斥。
- 80-hour work weeks
每周工作 80 小时 - High-pressure environments
高压环境 - Little time for rest and recovery
几乎没有时间休息和恢复
It never seemed “right” to me. It was mechanical. Robotic. Soulless. Why would I work on something I dislike, for people I dislike, knowing that my actions don’t contribute to my future? Because if they did, I wouldn’t have a problem working, because it wouldn’t feel like work.
这对我来说从来都不“对劲”。一切都是机械的，像机器人一样，没有灵魂。我为什么要为我不喜欢的人做我不喜欢的事，还明知道我的努力对我的未来毫无帮助？如果这些努力真的对我有意义，我就不会抗拒工作，因为那样就不会觉得是在“工作”。
Most people wear overwork as a badge of honor.
大多数人把过度工作当作荣誉徽章。
But the artists, creatives, and visionaries we actually remember aren’t participating in that imaginary race.
但我们真正记住的艺术家、创意者和梦想家，并没有参与那场想象中的竞赛。
The ancient Greeks, as an example, saw rest as a gift. It was the pinnacle of civilized life. Almost every ancient society recognized that both work and rest were necessary for a good life. One provided the means to live, the other gave meaning to life. It wasn’t until industrialization that 9-5 jobs even became a thing, and now we can’t imagine our lives any other way. Before that, most people were self-employed farmers and artisans. They directed their own work, which is going to be a critical decision one must make as AI continues to accelerate the automation of jobs.
以古希腊人为例，他们把休息视为一种恩赐，是文明生活的巅峰。几乎每个古代社会都认识到，工作和休息对于美好生活都是必不可少的。工作提供了生存的手段，而休息赋予了生活意义。直到工业化时代，朝九晚五的工作才出现，如今我们已经无法想象生活还有其他方式。在那之前，大多数人都是自雇的农民和工匠，他们自己安排工作。随着 AI 不断加速工作自动化，这将成为每个人必须做出的关键决定。
When we reverse engineer the lifestyles of highly successful creatives, we see the same pattern.
当我们逆向分析那些极其成功的创意人士的生活方式时，会发现同样的模式。
They didn’t grind 16 hours a day (well, sometimes they did, but it was because they chose to, not because they were forced to, massive difference).
他们不是每天工作 16 小时（嗯，有时候确实是，但那是他们自己选择的，不是被逼的，这差别可大了）。
In fact, most of their time was spent in leisure, yet they contributed some of the most important ideas to society that have impacted our lives today. They lounged by the pool, played tennis, or paced the grounds of the Apple campus because they were one of the few people who realized what happens in the brain while at rest. That’s when their best “work” was done.
事实上，他们的大部分时间都花在休闲上，但他们却为社会贡献了一些最重要的思想，影响了我们今天的生活。他们会在泳池边休息，打网球，或者在 Apple 园区里散步，因为他们是少数几个意识到大脑在休息时会发生什么的人。正是在那时，他们完成了最出色的“工作”。
(By the way, when I say “rest,” I don’t mean bubblebaths and wine. Most people use cheap pleasures as an escape from the life they hate and call it rest.)
（顺便说一下，当我说“休息”时，我并不是指泡泡浴和红酒。大多数人用廉价的享乐来逃避他们讨厌的生活，然后称之为休息。）
Rest occurs when focus shifts inward.
当注意力转向内在时，休息就发生了。
When you stop focusing on external tasks, your brain automatically shifts into the Default Mode Network, which connects regions of the brain associated with visual thinking and creativity.
当你不再专注于外部任务时，你的大脑会自动切换到默认模式网络，这会连接与视觉思维和创造力相关的大脑区域。
The interesting thing is, our brains don’t use much less energy in this mode. Meaning, while you are at rest, your brain is still at work, and it is working quite hard. This is the secret of successful creatives. They take their rest, because society isn’t going to give it to them, and their brain lights up with ideas that they can quickly jot down. Then, when it’s time for a deep focus session, they bring those ideas to life by applying them to a meaningful project that leads to the future they desire.
有趣的是，我们的大脑在这种模式下并没有减少多少能量消耗。也就是说，即使你在休息时，大脑仍在工作，而且工作得很努力。这就是成功创意人士的秘密。他们会主动休息，因为社会不会主动给他们休息的机会，而他们的大脑会迸发出各种想法，能迅速记下来。然后，当需要深度专注的时候，他们会把这些想法应用到有意义的项目上，推动自己迈向理想的未来。
With that, the best daily routine does not come from the latest podcast you listened to. It comes from 3 activities.
所以，最好的日常习惯并不是你最近听的播客里说的，而是来自于三个活动。
- One that fills your mind – you need education, ideas, and novel resources you can apply toward your goals. This leads to intrinsic motivation.
能充实你头脑的——你需要教育、想法和可以应用于目标的新资源。这会带来自我驱动力。 - One that empties your mind – you don’t want to be trapped in a chaotic bubble of thoughts and useful ideas. That’s exactly how you make zero progress. Write things down.
让你的大脑清空——你可不想被混乱的思绪和有用的想法困住。那样你就完全无法进步。把事情写下来。 - One that uses your mind – you need a vessel to focus your efforts. A project. A business. Something of your own that you can apply your education and ideas to.
一个能用到你头脑的——你需要一个载体来集中你的努力。一个项目、一门生意，或者属于你自己的东西，让你能将所学和想法付诸实践。
We will discuss the last one so you can get into a state of deep focused work, but for now, you have my permission to rest, because that is what makes your work impactful.
我们稍后会讨论最后一个，这样你就能进入深度专注的工作状态。但现在，你有我的允许去休息，因为休息才让你的工作更有影响力。
Go on a walk.
去散步吧。
Drive up to the woods for a day.
开车去树林待一天。
Pull out a notebook and imagine a better future.
拿出笔记本，想象一个更美好的未来。
Of course, this all sounds cute, but it still doesn’t help the people who don’t know what to do. And it especially doesn’t help the people who don’t have the motivation to step into a new life.
当然，这一切听起来都很美好，但对那些不知道该怎么办的人来说并没有帮助。尤其是对那些没有动力迈入新生活的人，更是无济于事。
IV – You need to be extreme if you want your life to change四——如果你想让生活发生改变，你就得极端一点
There are a few moments in my life that I remember vividly.
我生命中有几个时刻我记得特别清楚。
They always followed the same pattern.
他们总是遵循同样的模式。
First, I felt a sense of tension with the lack of progress I was making. I knew something had to change.
起初，我因为没有进展而感到紧张。我知道必须做出一些改变。
Second, that tension became unbearable. I knew that I was letting my future self down.
其次，那种紧张变得无法忍受。我知道我让未来的自己失望了。
Third, I disappeared. I started over from scratch. My life seemingly flipped in an instant and I entered a season of deep obsession towards a goal.
第三，我消失了。我从零开始。我的生活似乎在一瞬间翻转，我进入了对一个目标极度痴迷的阶段。
I wanted to understand this process, so I went looking. Here’s what I found.
我想了解这个过程，所以去查了一下。这就是我发现的。
- Being extreme changes your brain
极端行为会改变你的大脑
“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
“一起激活的神经元会连在一起。”
Neuroplasticity, as you may know, is your brain’s ability to rewire itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Your brain isn’t fixed and rigid. It can adapt, learn, and change based on your experiences, thoughts, and actions.
神经可塑性，正如你可能知道的，是指你大脑通过在一生中形成新的神经连接来自我重塑的能力。你的大脑不是固定不变、僵化的。它可以根据你的经历、想法和行为进行适应、学习和改变。
Being extreme about changing your life helps quicken this process.
对改变生活保持极端态度有助于加快这个过程。
People scream about how “consistency is key,” which is true due to repetition reinforcing neural pathways through consistent effort, but we can take it a step further.
人们总是喊着“坚持是关键”，这确实没错，因为重复会通过持续努力强化神经通路，但我们还能更进一步。
Novelty and challenge stimulate neuroplasticity even more.
新奇和挑战能更强烈地激发神经可塑性。
So, when you flip the switch and pursue a goal with all your might, you put your brain in an environment that quickly adapts and helps that become your new standard.
所以，当你下定决心全力追求一个目标时，你会让大脑处于一个能够快速适应并帮助你把它变成新常态的环境中。
- Intensity and obsession create a neurochemical cocktail
2）强度和痴迷会产生一种神经化学混合物
Most people fall into a rut because they seek extrinsic motivators.
大多数人陷入困境是因为他们追求外在的激励。
But when you’re obsessed in the context of this discussion, you are fueled by intrinsic motivators.
但在这次讨论的语境下，当你痴迷时，你是被内在动力驱动的。
Each of which stacks onto and strengthens each other in a way that sustains some degree of flow (optimal experience, or one of the most enjoyable states of mind):
每一项都会相互叠加并增强，以某种方式维持一定程度的心流（最佳体验，或最令人愉悦的心理状态）
- Curiosity – The desire to explore the unknown, learn how to change, and fill knowledge gaps. Results in good dopamine from novelty and norepinephrine which heightens attention preparing you to learn.
好奇心——探索未知、学习如何改变并填补知识空白的渴望。新奇带来积极的多巴胺，同时去甲肾上腺素提升注意力，让你为学习做好准备。 - Passion – An intense enthusiasm is built for the path that allows you to change your life. Results in more good dopamine and norepinephrine.
激情——对能改变你人生的道路充满强烈热情。这会带来更多的多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素。 - Purpose – The feeling that your actions contribute to something larger than yourself. Achieving goals results in more dopamine which reinforces behavior. Serotonin stems from significance and belonging. Oxytocin stems from connection.
目标感——让你觉得自己的行为对比自己更大的事物有所贡献。实现目标会产生更多多巴胺，从而强化行为。血清素源自于意义感和归属感。催产素则来自于连接感。 - Autonomy – The desire to direct your own life and work. To control your choices, actions, and environment. Results in yet again more dopamine and a reduction in cortisol (the stress from feeling put in a box), allowing for creative decision making.
自主性——渴望掌控自己的人生和工作，掌控自己的选择、行为和环境。这会再次带来更多多巴胺，并减少皮质醇（因被束缚而产生的压力），从而促进创造性的决策。 - Mastery – The process of learning and growing is its own reward. Results in sustainable good dopamine that keeps you in the game.
精通——学习和成长的过程本身就是一种奖励。它能带来持续的良性多巴胺，让你一直保持动力。
You start with curiosity and experimentation until you find one thing that pulls you deeper.
你从好奇和尝试开始，直到找到让你更深入投入的一件事。
You become passionate in the goal once enough effort is invested. You don’t just choose your passion.
一旦投入了足够的努力，你就会对目标充满热情。热情不是你随便选择的。
You attach that passion to something greater than yourself – a purpose.
你把那份热情寄托在比自己更伟大的事物上——一种使命感。
You break off the default path and acquire the skill to be autonomous and direct your own work, often through entrepreneurship.
你打破了默认的道路，获得了自主和自我引导工作的能力，通常是通过创业实现的。
You shift from shallow reasoning (making money, etc) to a philosophical sense of mastery, allowing you to stay in the game.
你从浅显的理由（赚钱等）转变为一种哲学层面的掌控感，这让你能够持续参与其中。
You will understand how all of these come into play when we incorporate them into a daily focused work block.
当我们把这些融入到每天专注的工作时间段时，你就会明白它们是如何发挥作用的。
- Your mind filters reality based on what you’re obsessed with
3）你的大脑会根据你所执着的事物来过滤现实
The man who conceives himself to be a “failure-type person” will find some way to fail, in spite of all his good intentions, or his willpower, even if opportunity is literally dumped in his lap. The person who conceives himself to be a victim of injustice, one “who was meant to suffer,” will invariably find circumstances to verify his opinions. – Maxwell Maltz
把自己认为是“失败型人格”的人，无论有多好的意愿或多强的意志力，即使机会摆在面前，也总会找到失败的方法。把自己看作受害者、“注定要受苦”的人，也总会在生活中找到证据来验证自己的看法。 ——麦克斯韦尔·马尔兹
Your brain operates on a salience network.
你的大脑依靠显著性网络运作。
Meaning, whatever provides the most dopamine becomes the most important.
也就是说，能带来最多多巴胺的东西就变得最重要。
For our ancestors, their sole goal was sex and survival. That was what was important to them. Their minds were biased toward noticing scarce resources, such as fat, sugar, or salt.
对我们的祖先来说，他们唯一的目标就是性和生存。这才是他们认为重要的事情。他们的大脑更容易注意到稀缺资源，比如脂肪、糖或盐。
This has led to the cheap dopamine epidemic we find ourselves in.
这导致了我们现在所处的廉价多巴胺泛滥。
Our brain used to point out resources that would allow us to survive and thrive, but now there are so many distractions that we get trapped in this overwhelming bubble of nothingness. Our lives only become substantially worse unless we rip the band-aid off and laser in on a goal we choose for ourselves.
我们的脑子曾经会帮我们找到能让我们生存和发展的资源，但现在有太多干扰，让我们困在一团无所事事的混乱中。除非我们果断行动，专注于自己选择的目标，否则生活只会变得越来越糟。
Then, when you are obsessed with that goal, your mind starts to heal, and your newfound curiosity will guide you toward the knowledge, skills, and actions required for your unique form of success.
然后，当你痴迷于那个目标时，你的内心开始愈合，你新生的好奇心会引导你获得实现独特成功所需的知识、技能和行动。
That leads us into how to structure your life to maximize this effect.
这就引出了如何规划你的生活以最大化这种效果。
V – The deep work routine that changed my lifeV – 改变我人生的深度工作习惯
You need a routine.
你需要一个规律。
And if you think you don’t, you may not realize that you already have a routine that you didn’t create. Your parents, teachers, employers, and society did.
如果你认为自己没有，其实你可能没意识到你已经有了一个并非自己制定的日常。是你的父母、老师、雇主和社会帮你安排的。
Or your “routine” is not having a routine, which is still a routine.
或者你的“日常”就是没有日常，这其实也是一种日常。
But we don’t just want any old routine.
但我们可不想要随便的老套路。
We want to ensure that what you are working on moves the needle toward the life you want.
我们希望确保你正在做的事情能真正推动你想要的生活向前发展。
Especially if you only have one hour to spare.
特别是如果你只有一个小时的空闲时间。
The protocol below will help you determine what is worth that one hour of your time.
下面的协议将帮助你判断什么事情值得你花一个小时的时间。
Other than that, I would highly encourage you to take intentional rest throughout your days.
除此之外，我强烈建议你在每天中有意识地休息。
Personally, I structure my days as a priority ladder.
就我个人而言，我会把每天安排成一个优先级阶梯。
I write first thing in the morning, as that is my highest leverage task. In my businesses, I’m the distribution guy. The success of the company is dependent on how well my writing does. 1 post can reach millions, which is an absurd amount of leverage (of course, that doesn’t happen every time).
我每天早上第一件事就是写作，因为这是我最有影响力的任务。在我的公司里，我负责内容分发。公司的成功取决于我的写作表现。一篇帖子可以触达数百万用户，这种影响力简直不可思议（当然，并不是每次都能这样）。
For other people, especially if they haven’t started on their own path, building the product could be the most important task to spend their one hour on. Then, once it’s built (remember that there are 3 types of work - building, maintenance, recovery), they can start to shift their priorities around.
对于其他人，尤其是那些还没有开始自己道路的人来说，打造产品可能是他们最值得花一个小时去做的最重要的任务。然后，一旦产品完成（记住有三种类型的工作——建设、维护、恢复），他们就可以开始调整自己的优先级了。
I tend to structure my work blocks in two ways - productivity blocks and creativity blocks. Two completely different modes of focus. One narrow one open.
我通常会把工作时间分为两种——高效区块和创意区块。两种完全不同的专注模式。一个专注狭窄，一个思维开放。
I work on the highest priority task for block one, first thing in the morning, then I go on a walk as a creativity block (remember the Default Mode Network in the brain). On that walk, sometimes I read, sometimes I think, other times I try to solve a problem. Then I repeat the process for a few more rounds until that day’s work is done. That acts as a hard stop for thinking about work, allowing my mind to do what it does best.
我早上第一件事就是处理区块一的最高优先级任务，然后我会去散步，把它当作激发创造力的时间（记住大脑中的默认模式网络）。散步时，有时候我会读书，有时候会思考，有时候会尝试解决问题。然后我会重复这个流程几轮，直到当天的工作完成。这就像是给工作思考设了个硬性停止，让我的大脑能做它最擅长的事。
With that out of the way, here’s the protocol to launch into a season of intense progress toward your goals.
说完这些，下面就是开启高强度进步季、朝着目标前进的协议。
- Vision & Anti Vision
1）愿景 & 反愿景
Become brutally aware of 2 things:
对两件事要极度清醒：
- What you don’t want
你不想要的 - Where you will end up if you keep taking the same actions
如果你一直采取相同的行动，你最终会到达哪里
Observe the masses and see where mindless action leads. It’s not pretty. Sit with your thoughts here. It’s easier to know what you don’t want (from experience) than what you want (from imagination).
观察大众，看看盲目行动会导致什么结果。并不好看。在这里静下心来思考。通过经验，你更容易知道自己不想要什么，而不是凭想象知道自己想要什么。
So, create an anti-vision for your future.
所以，为你的未来制定一个反面愿景。
Sit with a notebook and get specific.
拿起笔记本，具体写下来。
Write out every single thing that you don’t want and why. You should feel this deep sense of discomfort start to do it. Do not stop writing until you feel this.
写下你不想要的每一件事，以及原因。你应该开始感受到一种深深的不适感。只有当你感受到这种不适时，才可以停笔。
With that discomfort, get petty. Like really petty. Write down exactly what your life would look like if you were able to create it from scratch. Think of the big goals you’ve always thought of achieving but set on the bookshelf because they aren’t “rational.”
带着那种不适，变得小气点，真的很小气。写下如果你能从零开始创造生活，你的生活会是什么样子。想想那些你一直想实现但因为“不理性”而搁置一旁的大目标。
If your friends and family think you wouldn’t achieve these goals, even better.
如果你的朋友和家人认为你达不到这些目标，那就更好了。
In that same notebook from above, write out exactly what you are going to do to achieve those things. Write down every little thing you will need to learn. From the top down - your ideal future to the exact step you must take - map out what needs to be done.
在上面提到的同一本笔记本里，写下你要做什么来实现这些目标。把你需要学习的每一件小事都记下来。从理想的未来到你必须采取的具体步骤——把需要完成的事情都规划出来。
The last thing you are going to write down is all of the potential distractions standing in the way of the life you want.
你最后要写下的是所有可能阻碍你实现理想生活的干扰因素。
Success is less about being disciplined and more about removing the distractions that make discipline difficult.
成功与其说是自律，不如说是去除那些让自律变得困难的干扰。
Next, disappear.
接下来，消失。
Not from life, but from what is binding you to your old ways.
不是来自生活，而是来自那些束缚你旧有方式的东西。
These can be people, games, apps. It’s easier to remove everything at once and deal with the pain than it is to tell everyone your plans (and listen to their crab-in-a-bucket opinions).
这些可以是人、游戏、应用。一次性全部删掉然后承受痛苦，比告诉每个人你的计划（还要听他们像螃蟹拉同伴一样的意见）要容易多了。
In other words, break your addiction with feeling horrible.
换句话说，戒掉你对糟糕情绪的依赖。
Usually due to giving time and energy to people, activities, and things that don’t care for your well-being.
通常是因为把时间和精力花在那些不关心你福祉的人、活动和事情上。
You don’t need to explain yourself.
你不需要解释自己。
- Create A Hierarchy Of Goals
2）建立目标层级
The mind craves order.
大脑渴望秩序。
You need to create a new mental frame that you can tap into at anytime. And remember, you need to put energy into the system that will create the life you want, or else your mind will slowly become more disordered and chaotic, whether you like it or not.
你需要建立一个随时可以切换的新思维模式。记住，你必须为能创造理想生活的系统投入精力，否则无论你愿不愿意，你的大脑都会逐渐变得更加混乱和无序。
That’s what we’re doing here.
这正是我们在这里做的事。
We’re creating an impenetrable frame.
我们正在打造一道坚不可摧的框架。
We aren’t setting goals in hopes that we achieve them.
我们设定目标不是仅仅希望能实现它们。
Big goals are for direction. Small goals are for clarity. You are simply making an educated guess at the path you need to take. When it comes to actually moving along that path, you will need to adapt in real time, which is what we will learn last.
大目标指明方向，小目标带来清晰。你只是在对需要走的路做出有根据的猜测。真正走在这条路上时，你需要实时调整，这也是我们最后要学的内容。
You don’t need endless motivation when the task in front of you is so stupidly simple that you can’t help but complete it.
当你面前的任务简单到让你忍不住完成时，你根本不需要无尽的动力。
Break down your vision into small pieces.
把你的愿景拆分成小目标。
Create a 10-year goal.
制定一个十年目标。
Then a 1-year goal.
然后是一个一年的目标。
Then a 1-month goal.
然后是一个月的目标。
Then a 1-week goal.
然后设定一个一周目标。
But now we need something worth working on. That is arguably the missing piece from most people’s lives.
但现在我们需要一些值得努力的事情。这可以说是大多数人生活中缺失的一环。
- Project-Based Learning
3）项目制学习
You know what you don’t want out of life.
你知道自己不想要什么。
You have an idea of what you want out of life.
你知道自己想要什么样的生活。
Now you need to acquire the skills and knowledge that bridge the gap between both.
现在你需要掌握能够弥合两者之间差距的技能和知识。
How do you slowly start moving into the unknown by having a way to order any potential chaos along the way?
你如何通过一种方法，在前进过程中有序应对可能出现的混乱，从而慢慢迈向未知？
Personal projects.
个人项目。
When you watch endless tutorials, you fill your mind with noise. Most of that information goes to waste. It leads to overwhelm, anxiety, and slows down how fast you learn. When it comes time to actually build the project, you feel as if you learned nothing, because you still don’t know what to do. Endless consumption creates endless options. We don’t want that.
当你不停地看教程时，你的大脑充满了噪音。大部分信息都被浪费了。这会让你感到压力、焦虑，还会拖慢你的学习速度。等到真正要去构建项目时，你会觉得自己什么都没学到，因为你还是不知道该怎么做。无休止的输入只会带来无尽的选择。我们不想要那样。
As an example, it is rare that people just learn Photoshop from watching tutorials. They have an image they want to create. They try and fail, and from that failure, they have something specific to learn that can be directly applied. No knowledge goes to waste. You try, fail, and search for the information you need right when you need it.
举个例子，很少有人只是通过看教程来学习 Photoshop。通常是他们有想要创作的图片，尝试去做，失败了，然后从失败中发现有具体需要学习的东西，并且能直接应用。没有知识会被浪费。你尝试、失败，然后在需要的时候去寻找所需的信息。
For those wondering, a “project” can be anything. Your health can be a project. Your business can be a project. A project is simply a structured way of achieving a goal, or making progress toward a goal.
对于那些好奇的人来说，“项目”可以是任何东西。你的健康可以是一个项目，你的事业也可以是一个项目。项目只是实现目标或朝着目标前进的一种有结构的方法。
The bridge between where you are and where you want to be is a series of projects that reflect the value you’ve developed in yourself. If you’d like, you can turn that project into a product, because you’ve solved a problem in your own life and can now help others do the same. A quality project is the only qualification you need to start a business nowadays, or even get hired by posting about it online, which is an incredible thing considering it is one of the last options to take once everything is automated out of existence.
你现在所在的位置和你想去的地方之间的桥梁，是一系列体现你自身价值的项目。如果你愿意，你可以把这个项目变成一款产品，因为你已经解决了自己生活中的一个问题，现在也能帮助别人做到同样的事。如今，一个高质量的项目就是你创业所需的唯一资质，甚至只需在网上分享，就有可能被雇佣。考虑到当一切都被自动化取代后，这已经是为数不多的选择之一，这真的很不可思议。
Here’s how you start:
你可以这样开始：
Choose something to build that moves the needle toward what you want in life. Think of it as a traditional goal, but a project turns that goal into a system. Create a note and brain dump everything that comes to mind. Save 3-5 sources of inspiration you want to emulate. Study those sources and break down their structure. Outline the project into sections, milestones, and what you need to learn.
选择一个能够推动你朝着人生目标前进的项目来构建。可以把它当作一个传统目标，但项目会把目标转化为一个系统。创建一个笔记，把你想到的所有内容都倾倒出来。保存 3-5 个你想要效仿的灵感来源。研究这些来源，拆解它们的结构。把项目分成不同的部分、里程碑，以及你需要学习的内容。
Now that you’re ready to start, don’t start learning. Start with what you know.
既然你已经准备好开始了，就不要从学习开始。先从你已经知道的东西开始。
Learning comes from struggle, not memorization. Start the project. Let it expose the gaps in your knowledge. Try to figure it out. Search for the answer when your mind is most likely to remember it.
学习源于挣扎，而不是死记硬背。开始做项目吧，让它暴露你的知识盲点。试着自己解决。当你最容易记住答案的时候再去查找答案。
- Lever Moving Tasks
4）杠杆移动任务
Every single day, complete at least 1-3 priority tasks that move the needle toward completing the project.
每天至少完成 1-3 项优先任务，推动项目取得实质进展。
That is the only piece of productivity advice you need.
那就是你唯一需要的效率建议。
A good rule of thumb is this:
一个不错的经验法则是：
After 2 weeks, if you haven’t made any noticeable progress toward your goals, you are not moving the right levers. You are doing something wrong. Most people won’t admit that, or they will intentionally do busy work to avoid making progress, because secretly they want to fail.
两周后，如果你在目标上没有任何明显进展，那说明你没有抓住关键点，你做错了什么。大多数人不会承认这一点，或者他们会故意做些琐事来逃避进步，因为他们内心其实想要失败。
That’s an even bigger problem.
那是个更大的问题。
Your mind notices opportunities to achieve your goals, and many people have an unconscious or deeply programmed goal of staying the same. They want to fail.
你的大脑会注意到实现目标的机会，但很多人无意识或深层次地设定了“保持现状”的目标。他们其实想要失败。
So far, our anti-distraction frame is composed of a vision → anti-vision → hierarchy of goals → projects → lever-moving tasks.
到目前为止，我们的防分心框架由视觉 → 反视觉 → 目标层级 → 项目 → 杠杆任务组成。
This creates a tight feedback loop that encourages more flow states, enjoyment, and progress.
这会形成一个紧密的反馈循环，激励更多心流状态、乐趣和进步。
That’s the foundation. That’s what pushes you deeper into the unknown.
那就是基础。正是它让你更深入地探索未知。
VI – Your potential is determined by the amount of uncertainty you’re willing to embraceVI – 你的潜力取决于你愿意接受多少不确定性
Uncertainty is signal, not noise.
不确定性是信号，不是噪音。
You’re supposed to feel lost.
你本来就应该感到迷茫。
You’re supposed to feel overwhelmed.
你本来就应该感到不知所措。
You’re supposed to feel like you have no idea what you’re doing.
你本来就应该觉得自己完全不知道自己在做什么。
What in the world did you expect to happen when you decided to change your life? Did you just think that all possible knowledge and skill would be deposited into your head the moment you tried to do something?
当你决定改变自己的人生时，你到底期望会发生什么？你是不是以为只要你一尝试做点什么，所有可能的知识和技能就会立刻灌输到你脑子里？
When you commit to building your own thing, you commit to a life of uncertainty, because you commit to a life of learning.
当你决定打造属于自己的事业时，你就选择了充满不确定的人生，因为你选择了一条不断学习的路。
The thing is, the most successful people don’t flinch at this. They don’t perceive uncertainty as something dangerous, so their fight or flight response doesn’t go off. They can trek into the unknown with a clear head, allowing them to make proper decisions.
关键在于，最成功的人对此毫不畏惧。他们并不把不确定性看作危险的东西，所以他们的战或逃响应不会启动。他们能够头脑清醒地踏入未知，从而做出正确的决定。
How?
怎么做？
Because they realized that all outsized gains lie in their ability to embrace, manage, and extend uncertainty. They realized that the “certain” life is the least rewarding.
因为他们意识到，所有超额收益都在于他们能够拥抱、管理并扩展不确定性。他们明白，“确定”的生活是最没有回报的。
A job is certain. Your paycheck reflects that. A business is uncertain, depending on what level you are operating at. Starting out with a local business, agency work, freelancing, or even information products is level one. It’s uncertain, but it’s simple, and you have a cap of about 5 million a year before you need to increase the stakes even further by hiring a team or expanding the business model into something like software or physical products.
工作是确定的，你的工资单就能证明这一点。做生意则充满不确定性，这取决于你所处的经营层级。刚开始做本地生意、代理服务、自由职业，甚至信息产品，这些都属于第一层级。虽然不确定，但很简单，而且年收入大约有 100 万到 500 万美元的上限，除非你进一步加码，比如组建团队或把商业模式扩展到软件或实物产品等领域。
The same goes for investing. You can invest your savings in a “certain” 401k. That’s level 1. You can invest in the stock market. That’s level 2. You can invest in businesses, Bitcoin, or even more uncertain assets. Naturally, those have the highest returns on investment, but also the highest risk.
投资也是一样。你可以把储蓄投资在“确定”的 401k 里，这是第一层。你可以投资股市，这是第二层。你还可以投资企业、比特币，或者更不确定的资产。很自然，这些投资的回报最高，但风险也最大。
People are so afraid of making mistakes that they make the biggest mistake of them all, not making mistakes.
人们如此害怕犯错，结果犯下了最大的错误——不去犯错。
Imagine a self-driving car.
想象一下自动驾驶汽车。
For years, it has received negative feedback that refines the system that shapes the mind of the car.
多年来，它一直收到负面反馈，这些反馈不断优化塑造汽车思维的系统。
Even though we often don’t think of it like this, the self-driving car made millions if not billions of mistakes before it could actually reach a meaningful destination.
尽管我们常常不会这样想，自动驾驶汽车在真正能够到达有意义的目的地之前，已经犯了数百万甚至数十亿次错误。
I wish I could tell you that everyone reading this can just see success the first time they start working toward a goal. But if that were the case, the goal would lose all meaning.
我真希望能告诉你们，所有看到这条推文的人第一次为目标努力时都能直接成功。但如果真是那样，这个目标就毫无意义了。
Everything we just did is useful, but I cannot hold your hand throughout the process, nor can anyone else.
我们刚才做的一切都是有用的，但我不能一直牵着你的手走完整个过程，别人也做不到。
You must go through the exact same process as every other successful person.
你必须经历和所有成功人士完全相同的过程。
You must invest in your portfolio of failures until you can afford to succeed.
你必须不断投资于你的失败组合，直到你有能力获得成功。
– Dan
– 丹
想发布自己的文章？
- DAN KOE
@thedankoe
$1 million dollar prize winner (tentative)
100 万美元奖金得主（暂定）