TED | 如何把你重视的事情做得更好

演讲简介：2016 | 在本段视频中，爱德华多·布里塞诺告诉我们如何在自己关心的事务上做得更好的方法，无论这个事务是工作，家庭还是自己的爱好。他同时分享了一些有用的方法，这样你可以一直保持学习并且一直觉得你在进步。

 

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Most of us go through life trying to do our best at whatever we do, whether it's our job, family, school or anything else. I feel that way. I try my best. But some time ago, I came to a realization that I wasn't getting much better at the things I cared most about, whether it was being a husband or a friend or a professional or teammate, and I wasn't improving much at those things even though I was spending a lot of time working hard at them.

这一辈子，不管是我们的工作事务、家庭琐事、学校任务或是其他，我们大都尽己所能做到最好，我这么想，也这么做。但是一段时间以我意识到，我在我最在乎的事情上并没有进步，不管是作为丈夫或是朋友，或是专家，或者队友。即使我在这些事上花费了大量时间，做了很多努力，我却没有太多进步。

 

I've since realized from conversations I've had and from research that this stagnation, despite hard work, turns out to be pretty common. So I'd like to share with you some insights into why that is and what we can all do about it. What I've learned is that the most effective people and teams in any domain do something we can all emulate.

我之后在与他人的谈话和研究中意识到，这种白白耗费努力的停滞，原来非常普遍。所以我想与大家分享一些，关于它为何发生和如何应对的见解。我所了解的是，无论哪个领域，最高效的个人和团队，都会做一件我们可以效仿的事情。

 

They go through life deliberately alternating between two zones: the learning zone and the performance zone.

生活中，他们有意识的在两个区域转换：学习区和展现区。

 

The learning zone is when our goal is to improve. Then we do activities designed for improvement, concentrating on what we haven't mastered yet, which means we have to expect to make mistakes, knowing that we will learn from them. That is very different from what we do when we're in our performance zone, which is when our goal is to do something as best as we can, to execute. Then we concentrate on what we have already mastered and we try to minimize mistakes.

在学习区，我们希冀进步，我们为了进步而计划行为，将精力集中在那些我们还没有掌握的东西上，我们意识到自己会犯错，并且知道我们会从中汲取什么教训。这和我们在展现区做的完全不同，在展现区我们的目标是做到最好，去执行，我们在已经掌握的东西上集中精力，并尽力把错误缩小。

 

Both of these zones should be part of our lives, but being clear about when we want to be in each of them, with what goal, focus and expectations, helps us better perform and better improve. The performance zone maximizes our immediate performance, while the learning zone maximizes our growth and our future performance.

这两个区域都应是我们生活的一部分，但是在进入区域之前，想清楚我们进的是哪个区，我们的目标是什么、精力放在哪、有什么样的期望，这会帮助我们更好的提升或表现在展现区将展现最大化，在学习区将进步最大化并在未来的展现中将其表现。

 

The reason many of us don't improve much despite our hard work is that we tend to spend almost all of our time in the performance zone. This hinders our growth, and ironically, over the long term, also our performance.

我们努力工作却没有太多进步的原因，是我们往往将时间都花在了展现区里。这阻碍着我们的进步，更讽刺的是，长久来看，这也影响着我们的展现。

 

So what does the learning zone look like? Take Demosthenes, a political leader and the greatest orator and lawyer in ancient Greece. To become great, he didn't spend all his time just being an orator or a lawyer, which would be his performance zone. But instead, he did activities designed for improvement.

那学习区是什么样的呢？看看古希腊的政治领导者、最伟大的演说家、律师，狄摩西尼吧。为了成就伟大，他没有把所有时间花费在仅仅作为演说家或者律师上-- 也就是他展现区的一部分。反而，他为了进步规划行为。

 

Of course, he studied a lot. He studied law and philosophy with guidance from mentors, but he also realized that being a lawyer involved persuading other people, so he also studied great speeches and acting. To get rid of an odd habit he had of involuntarily lifting his shoulder, he practiced his speeches in front of a mirror, and he suspended a sword from the ceiling so that if he raised his shoulder, it would hurt.

是的，他大量地学习。他不仅在导师的帮助下学习法律和哲学，他还意识到了律师的职责包括说服他人，所以他研习了许多伟大的演说和表演。 为了戒掉他不自主抬胳膊的习惯， 他在一面镜子前练习演说， 并将一把剑吊在房梁上， 这样如果他抬起了肩膀， 剑就会刺痛他。

 

To speak more clearly despite a lisp, he went through his speeches with stones in his mouth. He built an underground room where he could practice without interruptions and not disturb other people. And since courts at the time were very noisy, he also practiced by the ocean, projecting his voice above the roar of the waves. His activities in the learning zone were very different from his activities in court, his performance zone. In the learning zone, he did what Dr. Anders Ericsson calls deliberate practice.

为了发音清晰，他在演说时嘴里含着石头。他还建造了一个地下室，这样他在练习的时候就不会被打扰，也不会打扰到别人。因为那时候的法庭很嘈杂，对此他在海边练习，保证声音在海浪的咆哮中清晰可听。他在学习区所做的行为，和他在法庭上的行为，也就是他展现区的行为，远远不同。 在学习区， 安德斯•埃里克森博士称这种行为为“有意练习”。

 

This involves breaking down abilities into component skills, being clear about what subskill we're working to improve, like keeping our shoulders down, giving full concentration to a high level of challenge outside our comfort zone, just beyond what we can currently do, using frequent feedback with repetition and adjustments, and ideally engaging the guidance of a skilled coach, because activities designed for improvement are domain-specific, and great teachers and coaches know what those activities are and can also give us expert feedback.

这种练习包括了将能力转化为所需技能， 对我们需要提升什么非主要技能非常清楚， 就像狄摩西尼将肩膀放低， 还有将精力集中在我们舒适区之外、 更高一级的挑战， 做超越我们现在正做的事， 在重复和调整中得到反馈， 最好能得到熟练者的指导， 因为为了进步而设定行为 是件很内行的事。好的老师和教练了解什么行为能带来进步， 也能给我们专业的反馈。

 

It is this type of practice in the learning zone which leads to substantial improvement, not just time on task performing. For example, research shows that after the first couple of years working in a profession, performance usually plateaus. This has been shown to be true in teaching, general medicine, nursing and other fields, and it happens because once we think we have become good enough, adequate, then we stop spending time in the learning zone. We focus all our time on just doing our job, performing, which turns out not to be a great way to improve.

学习区中，给我们带来很大的进步的，正是这样的练习， 而不是单纯的完成任务。 例如，研究表明，在某一行业最初工作的几年， 展现的进步会停滞。这已经在教育、普通内科、护理和其他领域都到了印证，我们一旦认为自己足够好、足够适合工作，而停止学习， 它就会发生在我们身上。 我们仅是把时间花费在完成工作上， 也就是展现， 这决不是进步的好方法。