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.
我认为我的工作效率至少比平均水平高一些，人们有时会向我询问提高工作效率的秘诀。所以我决定把它们全部写在一个地方。

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. 
复合增长作为一个财务概念被讨论，但它也适用于职业，而且它很神奇。在 50 年的时间里，生产率的小幅提高是非常值得的。因此，有必要弄清楚如何优化生产力。如果你每天比别人多做 10%，进步 1%，复​​合的差异是巨大的。

What you work on 你在做什么

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.
如果它朝着毫无价值的方向前进，那么你移动多快都没有关系。选择正确的工作是生产力最重要的因素，通常几乎被忽略。所以多想想吧！独立思考很难，但你可以通过练习变得更好。

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着强烈的信念，这在普通人群中是很少见的。如果你发现自己总是同意你最后一次交谈的人，那就不好了。有时你当然会错，但要培养坚持自己信念的信心。当您在大多数人看不到的重要事情上是正确的时，它会让您变得勇敢。

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.
我确保在我的日程安排中留出足够的时间来考虑要做什么。对我来说，最好的方法是读书、和有趣的人一起出去玩，以及花时间在大自然中。

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.
我了解到，在我不关心或不喜欢的事情上，我的工作效率不会很高。所以我只是尽量不让自己处于必须做这些事情的境地（通过委派、避免或其他方式）。你不喜欢的东西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.  
顺便说一句，这里有一个关于委派的重要教训：记住其他人在做他们喜欢做的事情时也是最有效率的，并且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，并以那种方式授权。

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. 
如果你发现自己在很长一段时间内都不喜欢自己所做的事情，请认真考虑换一份工作。短期的倦怠会发生，但如果休息一段时间后还没有解决，也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.
我很幸运能找到我非常喜欢的工作，我愿意免费做，这让我很容易真正有效率。

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.
重要的是要知道你可以学到任何你想学的东西，而且你可以很快变得更好。最初几次，这感觉像是一个不太可能发生的奇迹，但最终你学会相信自己可以做到。

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. 
出色的工作通常需要某种同事。试着和聪明、多产、快乐、积极的人在一起，他们不会贬低你的抱负。我喜欢和那些推动我并激励我变得更好的人在一起。在你力所能及的范围内，避开相反类型的人——让他们占用你的思维周期的代价是可怕的。

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完成工作。没有多少捷径。如果你要做一些非常重要的事情，你很可能会既聪明又努力地工作。最大的奖项竞争激烈。并非在每个领域都是如此（有些伟大的数学家从来没有每周花那么多小时工作），但在大多数领域都是如此。

Prioritization 优先次序

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”、“不要把时间浪费在愚蠢的事情上”和“列很多清单”。

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.
我强烈推荐使用列表。我列出了我每年、每月和每天想要完成的事情。列表非常有针对性，它们帮助我处理多项任务，因为我不必在脑海中保留那么多。如果我没有心情完成某项特定任务，我总能找到其他让我兴奋的事情。

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.
我更喜欢写在纸上的清单。添加和删​​除任务很容易。我可以在会议期间访问它们而不会感到粗鲁。我经常重新抄录清单，这迫使我考虑清单上的所有内容，并让我有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).  
我不会为分类或尝试调整任务大小或类似的事情而烦恼（我所做的最多就是在真正重要的项目旁边放一个星号）。

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.
我尝试以产生动力的方式确定优先顺序。我完成的越多，我的感觉就越好，然后我就完成得越多。我喜欢在每一天开始和结束时做一些我能真正取得进步的事情。

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. 
我坚持不懈地完成我最重要的项目——我发现如果我真的想要某事发生并且我努力推动，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.
我尽量无情地拒绝某些东西，并以尽可能快的方式做非关键的事情。我可能太过分了——例如，我几乎可以肯定我在回复电子邮件时简洁到粗鲁的地步。

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.
我通常尽量避免参加会议，因为我发现时间成本很高——我在办公室的时间得到了最大的价值。然而，在您的日程表中留出足够的空间以允许偶遇和接触新的人和想法是至关重要的。拥有一个开放的网络是有价值的；虽然我参加的随机会议中可能有 90% 是浪费时间，但另外 10% 确实弥补了它。

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 小时内。默认的 1 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. 
我每天有不同的时间尝试用于不同类型的工作。早上的前几个小时绝对是我一天中最有效率的时间，所以那时我不会让任何人安排任何事情。我尽量在下午开会。每当我觉得自己的注意力开始减弱时，我就会休息一下或转换任务。

I don’t think most people value their time enough—I am surprised by the number of people I know who make $100 an hour and yet will spend a couple of hours doing something they don’t want to do to save $20.
我认为大多数人都没有足够重视他们的时间——令我惊讶的是，我认识的许多人每小时赚 100 美元，但他们会花几个小时做他们不想做的事情以节省 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.
另外，不要陷入生产力色情的陷阱——为了自身的利益而追求生产力是没有帮助的。许多人花太多时间思考如何完美优化他们的系统，而没有足够多地询问他们是否在处理正确的问题。无论您使用什么系统，或者如果您正在做错误的事情，您是否每秒都在挤出时间，这并不重要。

The right goal is to allocate your year optimally, not your day.
正确的目标是最佳地分配你的一年，而不是你的一天。

Physical factors 物理因素

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.
很可能对我而言最佳的对您而言并非最佳。您必须通过实验找出最适合您身体的方法。这绝对值得一做——它对生活的方方面面都有帮助，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.
在过去的几年里，我可能每周都会花一点时间来找到最适合我的东西，但我的感觉是，如果我在以下所有方面都做得很好，我的工作效率至少比不这样做的情况高 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，睡眠似乎是影响生产力的最重要的物理因素。某种睡眠追踪器可以帮助您了解如何睡得最好。我发现我唯一一致的是设置后忘记类别，我真的很喜欢 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.
我喜欢寒冷、黑暗、安静的房间和一张很棒的床垫（我多年来一直拒绝花一大笔钱买一张很棒的床垫，这是愚蠢的——它对我的睡眠质量产生了巨大的影响。我喜欢这个）。睡前几个小时不要吃太多东西会有所帮助。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，我会在睡觉时使用 Chili Pad 来降温，这很好但声音很大（我将它设置为在我的房间外放置冷却器）。

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.
这可能会引起争议，但每当我无法入睡时，我都会服用低剂量的安眠药（如正常剂量的三分之一）或极低剂量的大麻。总的来说，我睡不好，旅行时睡得特别不好。它可能需要权衡取舍，但睡眠不好也是如此。如果你已经睡得很好，我不会推荐这个。

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.
大多数早晨，我在处理电子邮件时使用全光谱 LED 灯大约 10-15 分钟。太棒了——如果你在这里什么都不尝试，这就是我要尝试的。这对我来说是一个荒谬的收获。我喜欢这个，而且很容易带着它去旅行。

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.  
锻炼可能是第二重要的身体因素。我尝试了几个月的许多不同的锻炼计划，似乎最好的是每周举重 3 次，持续一小时，偶尔进行高强度间歇训练。除了提高工作效率外，这也是让我整体感觉最好的锻炼计划。

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，所以大多数日子我禁食大约 15 小时（除了我醒来时喝一杯浓缩咖啡）。我知道这与大多数建议相反，我怀疑这对大多数人来说都不是最佳选择，但它对我来说绝对有效。

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.
吃太多糖是让我感觉最糟糕的事情，也是我最努力避免的事情。我也尽量避免吃会加重消化或加剧炎症的食物（例如，非常辛辣的食物）。说到甜食，我没有太多的意志力，所以我大多只是尽量把垃圾食品拒之门外。

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.
我醒来后立即喝一大杯浓缩咖啡，午饭后喝一杯。我假设这是每天约 200 毫克的咖啡因总量。我尝试了一些其他配置；这是迄今为止效果最好的一个。否则我会积极避免兴奋剂，但如果我非常累并且真的需要完成一些事情，我会喝更多的咖啡。

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，从小就是素食主义者，我补充甲基 B-12、Omega-3、铁和维生素 D-3。我通过一年左右的季度血液测试进入了这份名单；从那以后它对我一直有效（我可能每年半左右重新测试一次）。有许多医生很乐意与您合作进行超级全面的血液检查（以及 WellnessFX 等服务）。我还特意喝了很多蛋白质奶昔，我讨厌喝这种饮料，如果我不是素食主义者，我也不会这样做。

Other stuff 其他的东西

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我不会被打扰、长时间、舒适和放松（我有一张漂亮的桌子，上面有我办公室里有几台 4k 显示器，但我几乎所有时间都花在沙发上和笔记本电脑上）。

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.
我为我必须经常做的烦人的事情写了定制软件，这很棒。我还努力学习如何快速打字以及有助于我的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.
像大多数人一样，我有时会经历一两周的时间，我没有动力做任何事情（我怀疑这可能与营养有关）。这很糟糕，而且似乎总是在不方便的时候发生。除了等待迷雾散去之外，我还没有想出该怎么办，并相信最终它总是会散去。而且我通常会尽量避免让我心情不好的人和情况，无论你是否关心生产力，这都是一个很好的建议。

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，我认为过度投入一点是好的。我发现我通常会完成我承担的任务，如果我有太多事情要做，这会让我在所有事情上更有效率，这是一种避免分心的训练方法（养成一个好习惯！）。然而，过度投入是灾难性的。

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.
不要为了提高工作效率而忽视您的家人和朋友——这是一种非常愚蠢的权衡（而且很可能是净工作效率损失，因为您会不那么开心）。也不要忽视做您喜欢做的事情或让您头脑清醒的事情。

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：错误方向的生产力根本没有任何价值。多想想该做什么。