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Personal Productivity in the 21st Century

时间:2012-10-26 02:51来源:互联网 提供网友:laura6688   字体: [ ]
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 Personal Productivity in the 21st Century

What does it mean to be productive? The “gurus” have given us a few ideas — it means to “get things done”, to be “highly effective”, to know who it was, exactly, who moved your cheese. What things, effective at what, and who is bringing cheese to work anyway are questions that these books don’t — and can’t — answer.

There’s something profoundly old-fashioned about much of our productivity literature today. I’ll admit — I’m quite a fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, but there are aspects of his work and his philosophy that bug1 me, that hearken back to the Industrial Psychology2 of the early 20th century. Whenever he talks about “cranking widgets”, I can’t help but see in my mind Charlie Chaplin the Modern Times haplessly wielding3 a wrench4 against an ever-increasing onslaught of bolts that need tightening5. And from there, I’m led inevitably6 to the famous image of Chaplin being dragged through the cogs and wheels of the machine — a fitting metaphor7 for how many people feel when they try to put all Allen’s ideas into practice.
The others — Covey, Drucker, and the flood of personal development books aimed at managers and executives that fill the business shelf at Borders — bring to mind the business world of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. I see Covey and my mind flips8 to Darren Stephens heading off to work at the ad agency, or men with hats whistling at the pretty girls in the secretarial pool in some madcap ’50s comedy. I see ZIg Ziglar’s books on the shelf (tons of them!) and imagine Willy Loman out there on the road, desperate for one more sale.
The productivity gurus of the last century seem to be describing a world where water coolers and coffee breaks still rule, where the non-smokers are the outcasts, where short-sleeved white shirts are matched with white, chest-length ties and topped off with neatly9 parted hair. They’re not describing worlds I’m familiar with — they’re not describing worlds I suspect most of us are familiar with.
The 21st Century Worker
While I’m sure there are still Old School corporate10 executives out there, and boiler11 room salesmen, and more than a few factory workers (though they’re rare in the US, where less than 10% of our working population is involved in production), the professional of today isn’t likely to be any of those. Work in the Western world has been redefined as knowledge work — the production of ideas, not goods. We’re paid to think, not make.
What does that mean in terms of productivity? In the 20th century, a worker’s productivity was measured in terms of how many widgets s/he cranked in a day, an hour — even a minute. Employers set up cameras and filmed workers at their machines, allowing them to time the steps taken to complete a task down to 1/28th of a second (most of the early development of film-making technology came from manufacturers, not artists). How do you measure the generation of ideas? How do you reduce thinking to a widget you can crank?
The answer, of course, is that you can’t. Which is why, I think, so many people balk12 at much of the advice offered by the likes of Allen, Covey, Drucker, and the lesser13 luminaries14 of the personal productivity world — and why creative people tend to be especially suspicious of their systems. It seems unnatural15 to, say, schedule a block of time when we can think uninterrupted — ideas tend not to respect our schedules very much.
It’s why, too, the idea of writing things down when they occur to us and following them up during our scheduled processing time also puts many people off — when we get a really good idea, we want to follow up on it now. Even if that means putting off whatever work’s in front of us.
Getting Creativity Done
There is a place in even the most creative person’s life for the kind of discipline offered by the systems of the productivity gurus. In fact, I’d say that a lot of us need those systems even more than the executives and managers that they’re aimed at. Getting places on time, forcing ourselves to handle our household necessities, keeping on top of our income and outlay16 — these are things that don’t come naturally to a lot of creative people, and following a productivity system can make that part of our lives a lot easier — which should in theory help us free up more time and energy for doing the creative stuff that gets us going.
But I think there’s also an empty space, a lacuna (a favorite word of mine that I almost never get to use!) that we need to deal with. How can we keep our schedules rigid17 enough that we know what we need to do when we need to do it, but flexible enough that we can focus on the things that feed our passion? How can we educate the people around us who see us sitting in our office (or den18, or on a bench at the park) staring into space and think we’re goofing19 off, so that they understand that this still time is part of our work — the most important part of our work? How can we break free from the economic model that posits20 time as a spendable thing, and measures only successful outcomes — when we learn most from the failures?
Tomorrow, we’re posting an interview of Guy Kawasaki, a man I agree with totally about 50% of the time (and the other 50% of the time utterly21 disagree with). In the interview, Guy says “People should stop looking for grails and start looking for personal enlightenment.” What he means — or what I mean when I quote him — is that the idea that there needs to be a financial payoff to every idea, the idea that the “return” is more important than the “investment”, all too often keeps us from pouring ourselves into things that we don’t see any way to measure. And yet those are the things that are the things we should be most willing to invest ourselves in: family, friendship, beauty, truth, trust, community — enlightenment.
So what’s the answer? Where’s the “hack”? To be honest, I don’t know. I have infinitely22 more questions than solutions right now. But this month, I’ve asked our writers (including myself) to take on some of the issues I’m raising here. I’ve asked them to consider what’s missing in the productivity systems we have today, and what have we missed in them that’s especially valuable? Stay tuned23 throughout the month as we explore these issues, and feel free to bring up your own questions — and your own solutions — in the comments.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 bug 5skzf     
n.虫子;故障;窃听器;vt.纠缠;装窃听器
参考例句:
  • There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
  • The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。
2 psychology U0Wze     
n.心理,心理学,心理状态
参考例句:
  • She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
  • He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
3 wielding 53606bfcdd21f22ffbfd93b313b1f557     
手持着使用(武器、工具等)( wield的现在分词 ); 具有; 运用(权力); 施加(影响)
参考例句:
  • The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
  • He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。
4 wrench FMvzF     
v.猛拧;挣脱;使扭伤;n.扳手;痛苦,难受
参考例句:
  • He gave a wrench to his ankle when he jumped down.他跳下去的时候扭伤了足踝。
  • It was a wrench to leave the old home.离开这个老家非常痛苦。
5 tightening 19aa014b47fbdfbc013e5abf18b64642     
上紧,固定,紧密
参考例句:
  • Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前,检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
  • It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。
6 inevitably x7axc     
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地
参考例句:
  • In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去,毫无疑问是会散伙的。
  • Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。
7 metaphor o78zD     
n.隐喻,暗喻
参考例句:
  • Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方,我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
  • In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。
8 flips 7337c22810735b9942f519ddc7d4e919     
轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 ); 按(开关); 快速翻转; 急挥
参考例句:
  • Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时,打开电视收看节目。
  • He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。
9 neatly ynZzBp     
adv.整洁地,干净地,灵巧地,熟练地
参考例句:
  • Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
  • The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。
10 corporate 7olzl     
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
参考例句:
  • This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
  • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
11 boiler OtNzI     
n.锅炉;煮器(壶,锅等)
参考例句:
  • That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
  • This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。
12 balk RP2y1     
n.大方木料;v.妨碍;不愿前进或从事某事
参考例句:
  • We get strong indications that his agent would balk at that request.我们得到的强烈暗示是他的经纪人会回避那个要求。
  • He shored up the wall with a thick balk of wood.他用一根粗大的木头把墙撑住。
13 lesser UpxzJL     
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地
参考例句:
  • Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
  • She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及,但程度较轻。
14 luminaries be8d22de6c5bd0e82c77d9c04758673e     
n.杰出人物,名人(luminary的复数形式)
参考例句:
  • In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 亚14:6那日、必没有光.三光必退缩。 来自互联网
  • Includes household filament light bulbs & luminaries. 包括家用的白炙灯泡和光源。 来自互联网
15 unnatural 5f2zAc     
adj.不自然的;反常的
参考例句:
  • Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗?
  • She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。
16 outlay amlz8A     
n.费用,经费,支出;v.花费
参考例句:
  • There was very little outlay on new machinery.添置新机器的开支微乎其微。
  • The outlay seems to bear no relation to the object aimed at.这费用似乎和预期目的完全不相称。
17 rigid jDPyf     
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的
参考例句:
  • She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
  • The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严,几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。
18 den 5w9xk     
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室
参考例句:
  • There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
  • The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。
19 goofing 6344645ec8383b649f7c8180b633282e     
v.弄糟( goof的现在分词 );混;打发时间;出大错
参考例句:
  • He should have been studying instead of goofing around last night. 他昨晚应该念书,不应该混。 来自走遍美国快乐40招
  • Why don't you just admit you're goofing off? 偷了懒就偷了赖,还不爽爽快快承认? 来自辞典例句
20 posits 8950efc94f9b4ac24ee8a6f147f5c198     
v.假定,设想,假设( posit的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • If a book is hard going, it ought to be good. If it posits a complex moral situation, it ought to be even better. 如果一本书很难读,那么它应该是一本好书;如果它提出了一个复杂的道德状况,那么它就更应该是本好书了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Ray posits that this miracle is an object lesson for the disciples. 雷把这个奇事当作教训信徒们的事件。 来自互联网
21 utterly ZfpzM1     
adv.完全地,绝对地
参考例句:
  • Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民,把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
  • I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。
22 infinitely 0qhz2I     
adv.无限地,无穷地
参考例句:
  • There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
  • The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。
23 tuned b40b43fd5af2db4fbfeb4e83856e4876     
adj.调谐的,已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 );调整;(给收音机、电视等)调谐;使协调
参考例句:
  • The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味,老少皆宜。
  • The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》
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