"Translation" refuses to do more: Easy life achieves outstanding achievement

English Original: If you're Busy, you ' re Doing Something wrong:the surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite achievers by studyhacks

A study from Berlin

As early as the 1990s, a three-person group of psychologists from the school began to study the violinist in the Universit?t der Künste, a long-established art university in the heart of West Berlin.

As described in their later psychological commentary (psychological Review), the researchers invited the Academy's music professors to help them select a group of outstanding violinist--in the eyes of the professor, the students could become professional performers in the future.

We call this group the elite performer.

In contrast, the researchers chose a group of students from the school's College of Education. These students are going to be music teachers in the future. They were enthusiastic about the violin, but according to the professor, their abilities were not at the same level as the first group.

We call this group a regular performer.

Three of researchers raised questions through a series of in-depth interviews. They send diaries to their students, and they send their students home in 24 hours a day for 50 minutes to carefully record their time distribution.

After getting enough data, the researchers began to try to answer an important question: Why are elite performers better than average performers?

An obvious guess is that elite performers work harder than regular performers. That is, they are willing to do the necessary long-time rigorous practice (Tiger mom-style hours) to become excellent, while the average performer is to pass the time to enjoy life.

However, the findings of the research data are not as people think ...

The pattern behind the decryption of excellence

First, we can overturn the assumption that elite performers practice more. The diary shows that the average time spent on each of the two groups of exercises per week is equal (about one hour).

The difference is in how time is arranged. Elite performers spend 3 times as much time on deliberate practice (deliberate practice) as regular performers. Deliberate practice refers to a methodical but uncomfortable practice designed for the enhancement of ability.

It is not surprising that the importance of deliberate practice has been repeatedly raised and repeated (C.F, Gladwell).

The researchers did not stop there.

They also studied how the students arranged their time. They found that regular performers practiced all day. The chart in the paper shows that the practice time has not changed during the day, and the average practice time is a straight line from the time of day.

In contrast, elite performers perform consolidation exercises in two clear periods. When plotting the ratio curve of average practice time and activity time for these players, you will see two outstanding peaks: one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

In fact, the higher the player level, the more prominent the peak. For the elite-the few elite performers who are qualified to enter Germany's two best orchestras-there is basically no departure from the two practice sessions of the day.

For the players in his field, the effect of exertion in daily life is also very significant. For example, sleep: elite players sleep more than one hours longer than regular players.

The same is true for fatigue elimination. The researchers asked the performers how much time they practiced and participated in amateur activity each week-a subjective indicator of the importance of eliminating fatigue. The data show that elite performers are significantly more relaxed than average performers, while top performers are the most relaxed.

Hard work is different from hard work.

Summary of the above results:

▲ regular performers and elite performers work the same hours (50 hours per week on music,

▲ But they did not spend their time on the right exercises (they spent 3 times times less time on key deliberate exercises than elite performers,

▲ Further, their practice is scattered throughout the whole. So even if they do not practice more than the elite performers, they will sleep less and feel stressed, not to mention the level of performance is still so bad.

I will continue to see this phenomenon when we study high achievers. For example, in the study of top students more frequently, I even gave it a name: The relaxed Rhodes Scholar paradox (the paradox of the relaxed Rhodes scholar).

Here, translators do not find a better Chinese counterpart in hard work and hard-to-work, and the reader can refer to the explanations below.

This study has given me some inspiration for this paradox. It provides experimental evidence that there is a difference between hard work and hard work:

▲ diligent work is a deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is not fun, but every day does not need to do a lot (elite performers do 3.5 hours a day deliberately practice, two times completed). While deliberate practice provides a measurable way to improve your technology, it creates a strong sense of satisfaction and motivation. So, while deliberate practice is hard, it can be done in a relaxed and enjoyable day without exhausting you.

On the other hand, hard work can be exhausting. It will keep you in a state of error every day, and you will feel tired and stressed like the regular performers in Berlin study. As we have just learned, this has no effect on improving outcomes.

This analysis has come to a very important conclusion. Whether you are a student or a person in the workplace, if your goal is to achieve an outstanding life, then busyness and tiredness should be your enemy. If you feel stressed and working late for a long time, you are wrong. You're like a regular performer at the University of the arts-not the elite. You are building your life by working hard rather than working hard.

The advice of this study, and my own advice, is to simply live: to do less, but to be fully engaged and absorbed in it. After you finish your work, enjoy the rest of your time.

"Translation" refuses to do more: Easy life achieves outstanding achievement