When you think “I should be more productive”, you're probably imagining doing more. Working more hours, getting through more work during those hours, clearing your inbox, cleaning out the garage … just thinking about it is enough to make you feel exhausted already.
当你想着“我要提高生产力”的时候,你大概指的是我要多干点活,比如:多干几个小时的活,在这段时间里多完成点工作,清空收件箱,打扫车库等等。光想想这些事,就已经让你感到筋疲力尽了吧。

The truth about productivity, though, is that we don't necessarily become more productive –producing more worthwhile results in our lives –by constantly doing more and more. Real productivity might actually come from doing less.
关于生产力的真相是,我们并不需要干越来越多的活,而是要做有价值的工作。真正的生产力常常意味着少干活。

Less Really Is More
少就是多

I expect you're familiar with the Pareto principle – that 80% of results are derived from 20% of effort. While this doesn't hold true for every single situation, it's a good principle to keep in mind. There are probably some areas in your life where you're expending a lot of effort for negligible results.
我想你可能听过著名的帕累托原理,即80%的成果是由20%的努力得来的。尽管这一原理不是在任何条件下都能成立的,但是的确值得你牢记,因为在你生活中的某些方面,你可能就花了大力气却只得到了微不足道的成果。

By doing less –cutting back in the areas which don't really matter –you'll have more energy, focus and enthusiasm for those things which do make a difference.
做得少意味着少花力气在那些无关紧要的事上,把更多的精力关注在那些能起到关键作用的事情上去。

要高效还是要有效?

Productivity advice often revolves around making us more efficient. Keep a to-do list. Use a timer to keep you on track. Blitz through your emails. Learn a bunch of keyboard shortcuts.
很多提高生产力的建议提倡要高效。把要做的事情列张清单,准备个定时器好让自己集中注意力,迅速处理邮件,学会使用键盘上的快捷键等等。

It's often good advice –but it's easy to start missing the point. Being efficient isn't enough –sure, you might be racing through your to-do list faster and faster, but are the items on that list really worth doing in the first place?
这些建议是很好,但可能忽略了关键的一点。光有效率并不够,你也许可以越来越快地完成清单上所列的工作,但是这些工作是不是真的值得你放在首要位置去完成呢?

Although effectiveness and efficiency can support one another, there's sometimes a tension between the two. Being effective, on the other hand, means looking at the impact of our actions. To be effective, you might have to take a step back from being busy, and look at the real priorities in your life.
尽管高效工作和有效工作是相辅相成的,但两者也有不同之处。有效工作意味着你要认清你的工作所带来的影响。你可能需要从繁忙的工作状态中后退一步,认真审视一下什么事情应该是你在生活中优先考虑的。