Recently, I was giving a talk to 160 senior executives at a large bank. As part of the talk, I asked them to fill out something we call "The Energy Audit," as a way of assessing how well they are managing their own energy. Here is some of what we discovered:
最近，我与一家大银行的160位高级主管进行了面谈，作为面谈的内容之一，我向他们提出了有关“精力审计”的问题，主要是用来获知他们是如何管理自己的精力的。以下就是所获得的部分结果：

77% said they had trouble focusing on one thing at a time, and felt easily distracted during the day.
77%的人表示他们很难一次只做一件事情，很容易就会分心。

80% said they take too little time to think strategically and creatively, and spend too much of their time reacting to immediate demands rather than focusing on activities with long-term value and higher leverage.
80%的人表示他们很少把时间花在思考战略性和创造性的事物上。他们把大量的时间都花在了处理即时需求上，而不是那些可以带来长期利益和高回报率的事情上。

54% said they often feel impatient, frustrated or irritable at work, especially when demand gets high.
54%的人表示他们常常会在工作中感到不耐烦、受挫或暴躁，特别是在力不从心的时候，更会如此。

How surprising is it that leaders with such a profile would make short-sighted and ill-considered decisions? The pictures those numbers paint ought to be alarming.
即使是厉害的高管也会做出短视、欠考虑的决定，你是不是对这样的结果感到惊奇？以上这些数据带来的结果足以为我们敲响了警钟。

So what steps can we take to address this energy crisis?
那么我们要怎么做才能有效地应对“精力危机”呢？

1. Even small amounts of sleep deprivation — anything less than 8 hours — take a progressive toll on people's ability to sustain attention, which is a sine qua non of both efficiency and quality at any given task. Don't allow, or at least discourage, early morning or late night calls or meetings.
即使是一点点的睡眠不足（任何少于8小时的睡眠），也会影响到一个人整体的精神状态，使人不易保持精神的高度集中，这是影响工作效率和质量的重要因素。不允许、至少不鼓励时间太早或太晚的电话或会议。

2. Even with sufficient sleep, human beings aren't designed to work for more than 90 minutes continuously at the highest level of focus. The more continuously we work without a break, the more we deplete our capacity to make rational, reflective decisions.
即使保证了充足的睡眠，人类也不适于连续高强度地工作90分钟以上。我们越是不休息长时间地工作，就越容易耗尽我们的能力，让我们不能做出合理的、能够反应问题的决定。

3. Eating high-energy foods at frequent intervals — lean proteins and complex carbohydrates at least every three hours — ensures access to a steady level of glucose, which is our most primary source of energy and capacity.
常吃点高能量食品。每三个小时可以补充一点富含高蛋白和合成碳水化合物的食物，从而保证葡萄糖维持在正常水平，这是我们精力和能力的源泉。

4. Walking out is not simply a way to build endurance, strength and better health, it's also a powerful form of mental and emotional renewal and therefore builds capacity across multiple energy dimensions.
到户外散散步不仅是一种培养耐力、实力，有助健康的简单方法，也是恢复身心状态的有效方式，这样你就有足够精力来处理各种问题了。

5. Time with loved ones, and for activities we deeply enjoy, are powerful sources of emotional renewal and fuel positive emotions. The better we feel, the better we perform.
与我们所爱之人相处，参与自己喜欢的活动，这些都是恢复并提升我们的积极情绪的好方法。我们自我感觉越是良好，就越能出色地工作。

Don't email people at night or on weekends, and don't expect them to email you. If it's urgent, call them, so they don't feel compelled to constantly check their digital devices.
不要在晚上或周末给别人发邮件，也不要指望别人会在这些时间段里给你回复。如果真的是紧急事件的话，直接打电话给对方，这样他们就不需要被迫不断地查看邮箱了。

6. Doing one thing at a time, in an absorbed way, is not only more efficient, but also leads to higher quality work.
一心一用，全神贯注地做一件事，这种方法更高效、也更高质。

Encourage your people to set aside times every day for uninterrupted focus — above all by doing the most important thing first every day for 60 to 90 minutes, and then taking a break.
鼓励大家每天留出一段可以集中精力做事的时间，把一天中最重要的事放在这段时间里，时长约60-90分钟即可，然后休息一下。

Success isn't about getting more out of your people. It's about investing more in them.
成功不是向别人索取更多，而是向他们投资更多。