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Busyness and the Illusion of Being Productive
忙碌与富有成效的假象
In her book Daring Greatly, Dr Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, describes being “crazy busy” as a numbing strategy that allows us to avoid facing the truth of our lives. “I often say that when they start having 12-step meetings for busy-aholics, they’ll need to rent out football stadiums.”
She explains that we would rather fill the time with activities—any kind of activity—than to take the risk of finding ourselves alone with our thoughts. And our society encourages this behavior: being idle or having too much free time is often considered a sign of laziness.
Furthermore, being “crazy busy” both justifies and reinforces living on autopilot. Instead of stopping for a few minutes to ask ourselves why we’re doing something, we keep on mindlessly churning work that may or may not lead to a goal we actually care about. It’s also one of the only socially acceptable excuses to not do the things that matter. Taking time for yourself? Feeling irritated? Forgot to do something important for a friend? You can blame it on being too busy.
Being busy does not equal being productive. When I get distracted by email notifications or when I check social media in the middle of writing an article, the interruption may give me the illusion of being busy. It will take longer to write the article because I keep breaking my state of flow. I will feel like I have worked all afternoon on something, when in reality I just didn’t manage to focus enough to get it done quicker.
By feeling constantly busy, I also don’t leave room for pure creative thinking—instead, I’m filling my brain with external stimuli to give it something to do. As the study I mentioned earlier shows, it feels good. We like being busy. It’s reassuring. But it doesn’t mean it’s good for us.
参考译文：
休斯顿大学的研究教授布雷内-布朗博士在她的《大胆地去做》一书中将 「疯狂地忙碌 」描述为一种让我们避免面对生活的真相「钝化策略」，「我常说，当他们开始为 「忙碌狂 」开12步会议（一种治疗成瘾习惯的项目）时，他们需要把橄榄球场全都包了（才能坐得下）」。
她解释说，我们宁愿用活动--任何形式的活动--来填充时间，也不愿冒险独自思考。我们的社会也鼓励这种行为：无所事事或空闲时间过多往往被认为是懒惰的表现。
此外，「忙得不可开交 」既证明了生活在「自动驾驶」状态下是合理的，也强化了这种状态。我们不会停下来几分钟问问自己为什么要做某件事情，而是继续漫不经心地工作，而这些工作不一定有助于实现我们真正关心的目标。这也是社会上唯一可以接受的不做重要事情的借口之一。摸鱼了？嫌烦了？忘了为朋友做一件重要的事？你都可以归咎于「太忙了」。
忙碌并不等于高效。当我在写文章时被电子邮件通知分心或查看社交媒体时，这种干扰可能会给我造成忙的错觉。因为我不断打破自己的「心流状态」，所以写文章的时间会更长。我会觉得自己为某事忙活了一下午，而实际上，我只是没有足够专注，所以才不能更快地完成任务。
如果我觉得自己一直很忙，就不会给纯粹的创造性思维留下空间，相反，我会用外部刺激来充实大脑，让它有事可做。正如我前面提到的研究表明，这种感觉很好。我们喜欢忙碌。这让人安心。但这并不意味着这对我们有好处。
The Busyness Matrix
忙碌矩阵
Between work tasks and social commitments, it’s easy to spend your entire week running around without really knowing where the time has gone. To break free from busyness, I have created a simple tool you can use to conduct a busyness audit and see what’s keeping you so busy.
You’ll ideally need a full week of data, but if your routine doesn’t change too much throughout the week you could do this in just one day.
First, track your time and record what you spend it on. You can simply put everything you do in your calendar.
Then, place these tasks and activities in the following matrix, based on relevance and meaningfulness:
Relevance is based on how aligned the tasks and activities are with your current professional and personal commitments. Meaningfulness is based on how alive these tasks make you feel.
For instance, attending a boring networking event is relevant but probably not meaningful. An exciting work project or planning your next holiday is both relevant and meaningful. Taking an online course to learn how to speak Chinese may not be relevant to your current commitments, but may feel highly meaningful.
Attending meetings with no clear agenda or aimlessly browsing social media are neither relevant nor meaningful.
参考译文：
Now, look at your Busyness Matrix, and look at each quadrant in this order：
-Irrelevant/Meaningless:
Can you reduce or get rid of any of these?
-Irrelevant/Meaningful:
Are you sure you don’t have too many going on at the same time?
-Relevant/Meaningless:
Can you delegate some of these?
-Relevant/Meaningful:
Do you have enough time and energy for these?
Once you’re done with the audit, you can make changes in your life and work to reclaim your time. However, don’t try to tackle the quadrants all at once. Start eliminating as many irrelevant/meaningless tasks, and work your way up to making space for relevant/meaningful ones.
参考译文：
现在，看看你的「忙碌矩阵」，并按以下顺序查看每个象限：
- 无关/无意义：你能减少或删除其中任何一项吗？
- 无关/有意义：你确定没有同时进行太多活动吗？
- 相关/无意义：你能将其中一些委托给别人吗？
- 相关/有意义：你有足够的时间和精力来做这些事情吗？
完成审核后，你就可以改变生活和工作方式，收回时间。但是，不要试图一次性解决所有象限的问题。从尽可能多地删除「无关/无意义」的任务开始，逐步为「相关/有意义」的任务腾出空间。
Getting Off the Hamster Wheel 脱离仓鼠转轮
Breaking our addiction to busyness doesn’t have to be hard, but it does require a conscious mindset shift. Having more free time is something we say we want, but it’s going against our deeply rooted fear of being alone with our thoughts and facing the reality of our lives. That’s why it can be liberating, but also pretty scary.
Here are some simple changes you can implement:
Change your perspective. First, stop saying “I don’t have time”. Instead, say “It’s not a priority.” Remind yourself that there is enough time in a day to do the things you care about.
Less doing,
more achieving. Don’t measure productivity in terms of how many tasks you get done, but rather in terms of doing the ones that matter. Clean up your to-do list. Shift your focus from tasks to outcomes.
参考译文：
打破对忙碌的沉迷并不难，但这确实需要有意识地转变心态。我们口口声声说想要「拥有更多的自由时间」，但这却与我们根深蒂固的恐惧背道而驰：我们害怕独自面对自己的想法，害怕面对生活的现实。这就是为什么更多时间与自由虽可以解放我们，但也相当可怕。以下是一些你可以做出的简单改变：
改变你的观点。首先，不要再说「我没有时间」，而是说 「这不是优先事项」。提醒自己，每天有足够的时间去做你关心的事情。
少做事，多成事。不要用完成了多少项任务来衡量工作效率，而要用完成了哪些重要任务来衡量。清理你的待办事项清单。将注意力从任务转移到结果上。
Start saying no. Don’t take stuff on just because someone asked you. Question whether this new task will translate into meaningful outcomes. It may be strange at first (you could say “not right now” instead of “no” if that’s easier) but it will help you better manage your time.
Make peace with inaction. To help you get comfortable with doing nothing, schedule time with yourself for dedicated downtime. Reflect or take a short walk.
Reclaiming your time to focus on what really matters can have a big impact on where you will be one year from now. All these moments we spend on irrelevant and meaningless tasks to avoid being alone with ourselves can be used for thinking, exciting work, or time spent with loved ones. It all adds up pretty quickly, so getting rid of the illusion of productivity is worth the initial discomfort of confronting our own thoughts.
Relevance is based on how aligned the tasks and activities are with your current professional and personal commitments. Meaningfulness is based on how alive these tasks make you feel.
For instance, attending a boring networking event is relevant but probably not meaningful. An exciting work project or planning your next holiday is both relevant and meaningful. Taking an online course to learn how to speak Chinese may not be relevant to your current commitments, but may feel highly meaningful. Attending meetings with no clear agenda or aimlessly browsing social media are neither relevant nor meaningful.
参考译文：
开始说 「不」。不要因为别人请求就接受任务，先考量这项新任务是否能转化为有意义的成果。一开始可能显得很奇怪（你可以说 「现在不行」，而不是 「不干」，如果这样更容易接受的话），但这会帮助你更好地管理时间。
与「无为」和平相处。请为自己安排专门的休息时间以帮助你适应闲暇的生活。去思考或散散步吧。
重新掌控你的时间，专注于真正重要的事情，这会对你一年后的发展产生重大影响。我们为了避免与自己独处而花费在无关紧要和毫无意义的任务上的时间，可以用来思考、从事令人兴奋的工作，或者与所爱的人共度时光。这些时间很快就会累积起来，因此，摆脱对工作效率的幻想，值得我们在面对自己的想法时感到最初的不适。
生词积累
1. Illusion
Contextual meaning:
a false idea or belief
Potential replacements:
delusion, misconception
Common phrases:
under the illusion, illusion of control
Sentence:
The illusion of productivity can lead to a cycle of mindless work and distractions.
2. Relevance
Contextual meaning:
the relation of something to the matter at hand
Potential replacements:
pertinence, applicability
Common phrases:
relevance to, lose relevance
Sentence:
The relevance of the tasks and activities is based on how aligned they are with your current professional and personal commitments.
3. Meaningfulness
Contextual meaning:
the state or quality of having purpose or significance
Potential replacements:
significance, import
Common phrases:
find meaningfulness, lack of meaningfulness
Sentence:
Meaningfulness is based on how alive these tasks make you feel.
4. Justification
Contextual meaning:
a reason or explanation given to justify a course of action
Potential replacements:
rationale, reason
Common phrases:
provide justification, seek justification
Sentence:
We tend to do whatever it takes and to use any justification to keep busy, even if the task is meaningless.
选择题
1. In the passage, the word "numbing" in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to:
A) Stimulating.
B) Ignoring.
C) Desensitizing.
D) Encouraging.
2. The main purpose of the "Busyness Matrix" introduced in the second section is to help individuals:
A) Keep track of their daily schedule.
B) Analyze tasks to optimize time management based on relevance and meaningfulness.
C) Increase their workload for higher productivity.
D) Compare their busyness levels with others.
3. According to the passage, which of the following activities would be classified as both relevant and meaningful in the Busyness Matrix?
A) Attending a boring networking event.
B) Aimlessly browsing social media.
C) Working on an exciting work project.
D) Taking an online course unrelated to current commitments.
4. Regarding methods to "Get Off the Hamster Wheel," the author suggests that breaking the addiction to busyness:
A) Requires a complete lifestyle overhaul, which is very difficult.
B) Is impossible due to deep-rooted fears and cultural expectations.
C) Can be achieved through conscious mindset shifts and simple changes.
D) Involves filling free time with even more tasks.
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