Are You Lifehacking Too Much?
英语课
Are You Lifehacking Too Much?
Nick Cernis of Put Things Off recently declared that productivity is dead. He said that “our obsession 2 with ‘productivity’ is getting in the way of our lives.” Nick started out by saying that the productivity industry is out of control, and that it’s making us less efficient, not more. I agree with Nick, and I can tell you why the productivity industry is like that: it’s about making money.
The Productivity Industry is Out of Control
Somewhere along the way, many productivity merchants realized that us “Productivians,” as Nick lovingly refers to us, will try just about anything if it gives us an extra thirty seconds at the end of the day. So the useful information stopped and the crap that leaves readers unsatisfied became the norm, because productivity is like food: if it doesn’t satisfy you, you’ll go get more until it does.
Only in this case, unlike food, the chances of you getting full the more you consume are pretty slim.
One of the things I learned quickly when I started writing for Lifehack was that this is a site run by people who are truly concerned with finding the most efficient and effective ways of not only working, but living. Writing here, the concept of hacking 1 your life begins to permeate 3 the way you think, breathe and sleep.
The Industry Succeeds By Putting Your Focus In The Wrong Place
When I first realized that there was something wrong with the productivity industry, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what made it wrong. But writing at Lifehack meant that I not only thought about writing and productivity on a daily basis but also writing about productivity. I had to watch the industry and figure out how to write for it.
I did not like what I was noticing as I did my research, and I decided 4 that the research would serve as an indication of what not to do. You know the saying:
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”
The productivity industry succeeds by giving customers productivity tips, but not teaching them how productivity works and why. That’s why I knew there was something wrong with the productivity industry: if it worked, then it would teach people right the first time and there wouldn’t be so many repeat customers looking for ‘the secret.’ Lifehacking sites are the exception because their focus is not on systems, but what could reasonably be called extensions to systems; hacks 5 to make life easier.
The focus is put on consuming information, not taking action.
So, is lifehacking and productivity making you less effective because you’re addicted 6 to the information, but not to actually implementing 8 things? Or are your efforts sabotaged 9 from the get-go because the system you’re using was designed to sell, not work?
Step In The Right Direction
I know that the bulk of people reading about productivity don’t end up getting more productive. It’s not always because the information is bad; it’s often incomplete, but still works (as part of the aforementioned effort to get repeat customers), or more likely, the user is too lazy to put these things into action.
There is nothing productive about reading productivity blogs incessantly 10. And I’ll take Anxiety over a paper to-do list any day, but sometimes the best way of getting things done is to make a list of things you need to do and just do them. It’s never done for you while you’re reading, though. Reading about productivity is a good use of time because it teaches you how to save time, but under three conditions:
The information is honest, complete, and effective,
The information, harking back to the proverb I quoted earlier, doesn’t give the answer to you, but teaches you how it works, and
You implement 7 it.
If the productivity interest has made you less effective, it’s mostly because the focus is on intaking information and not acting 11 on it. So how do you step in the right direction?
HealthTop TipsNutritionLifestyle
1. Cut down your information channels
There is very little quality information around, and I’m not just talking about productivity information. There is tonne upon tonne of crap with only a few nuggets of gold well-hidden in the pile. As Dustin recently wrote, what we need is not less information, but more good quality information. The first step to being able to take in more good quality information is to cut down the poor quality stuff.
I’m assuming that you do most of your reading, especially on productivity, from a feed reader, but there’s also a strong following in productivity books, too, so the same advice applies.
Go through each of your feeds, books, regularly visited sites, and ask yourself: Has this actually helped me lately?
Then it’s a matter of introspection: is that because I failed to implement good information, or because the information was poor?
Usually it’s impossible to tell if the information is poor until you’ve done some implementation 12, so if you can’t decide, put some information to use until you can make a judgement. We want plenty of good information; the point here isn’t minimalism, but getting rid of everything that’s not helping 13 you.
When you can determine where you’re getting the greatest benefits, you can easily cut everything else out without the fear that you’re going to miss “the secret” to productivity (the secret being, in my opinion, to just do it).
More on managing information here.
2. Start Implementing The Good Stuff
Steve Pavlina’s 30 day trial is an excellent tool. You can use it on just about everything. When you find information that is going to be useful, the temptation is to flag or star it, or print it out for later. Instead, put it into action with a 30 day trial and see if your productivity benefits from the effort.
If you don’t start implementing the high quality advice you’re now receiving, then there’s no use reading it all - you could be more productive doing work than learning to be productive!
Is your addiction 14 to sites like this one, Lifehacker, 43 Folders 15, Zen Habits and Steve Pavlina actually making you less effective? These are all great sites - the problem isn’t with them; the problem is with the reader. If you fall into this category, do something about it before you realize how many years of productive time you’ve wasted!
n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动
- The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
- We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。
n.困扰,无法摆脱的思想(或情感)
- I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
- She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。
v.弥漫,遍布,散布;渗入,渗透
- Water will easily permeate a cotton dress.水很容易渗透棉布衣服。
- After a while it begins to permeate through your skin.过了一会,它会开始渗入你的皮肤。
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
黑客
- But there are hacks who take advantage of people like Teddy. 但有些无赖会占类似泰迪的人的便宜。 来自电影对白
- I want those two hacks back here, right now. 我要那两个雇工回到这儿,现在就回。 来自互联网
adj.沉溺于....的,对...上瘾的
- He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
- She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。
n.(pl.)工具,器具;vt.实行,实施,执行
- Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划,除非你能完成这项计划。
- The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。
v.实现( implement的现在分词 );执行;贯彻;使生效
- -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
- He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句
阴谋破坏(某事物)( sabotage的过去式和过去分词 )
- The main pipeline supplying water was sabotaged by rebels. 供水主管道被叛乱分子蓄意破坏了。
- They had no competition because competitors found their trucks burned and sabotaged. 他们之所以没有竞争对象,那是因为竞争对象老是发现自己的卡车遭火烧或被破坏。 来自教父部分
ad.不停地
- The machines roar incessantly during the hours of daylight. 机器在白天隆隆地响个不停。
- It rained incessantly for the whole two weeks. 雨不间断地下了整整两个星期。
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
- Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
- During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
n.上瘾入迷,嗜好
- He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
- Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。
n.文件夹( folder的名词复数 );纸夹;(某些计算机系统中的)文件夹;页面叠
- Encrypt and compress individual files and folders. The program is compact, efficient and user friendly. 加密和压缩的个人档案和folders.the计划是紧凑,高效和用户友好。 来自互联网
- By insertion of photocopies,all folders can be maintained complete with little extra effort. 插入它的复制本,不费多大力量就能使所有文件夹保持完整。 来自辞典例句
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