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"To do two things at once is to do neither."
“同时做两件事，则两件都做不成。”
It's a great smackdown of multitasking, isn't it, often attributed to the Roman writer Publilius Syrus,
这是对多任务工作方式的一个巨大打击，这一概念常被认为是罗马作家普布利留斯·西罗斯提出的，
although you know how these things are, he probably never said it.
但你也知道这是怎么一回事，他可能从来没有说过这句话。
What I'm interested in, though, is -- is it true?
我感兴趣的是，它正确吗？
I mean, it's obviously true for emailing at the dinner table
我想，这一概念应该是正确的，若你在餐桌上发邮件，
or texting while driving or possibly for live tweeting at TED Talk, as well.
或在开车时发短信，也可能是在TED演讲现场推文。
But I'd like to argue that for an important kind of activity,
但我想说的是，在做一种重要的活动时
doing two things at once or three or even four -- is exactly what we should be aiming for.
双管齐下，甚至是三、四管齐下，正是我们应该追求的目标。
Look no further than Albert Einstein.
看看爱因斯坦就知道了。
In 1905, he published four remarkable scientific papers.
1905年，他出版了四篇出色的科学论文。
One of them was on Brownian motion, it provided empirical evidence that atoms exist,
其中一个有关布朗运动。它提供了原子存在的实证，
and it laid out the basic mathematics behind most of financial economics.
并阐明了大多数金融经济学背后的基本数学原理。
Another one was on the theory of special relativity.
另一个是关于狭义相对论。
Another one was on the photoelectric effect, that's why solar panels work, it's a nice one.
还有一个有关光电效应。这就是太阳能电池板的工作原理，这是篇不错的论文，
Gave him the Nobel prize for that one.
让他得了诺贝尔奖。
And the fourth introduced an equation you might have heard of: E equals mc squared.
第四篇论文介绍了一个你可能听说过的方程：E = mc^2。
So, tell me again how you shouldn't do several things at once.
所以你能再告诉我你不应该同时做几件事情？
Now, obviously, working simultaneously on Brownian motion, special relativity and the photoelectric effect
现在，很明显，同时研究布朗运动，特殊相对论和光电效应，
it's not exactly the same kind of multitasking as Snapchatting while you're watching "Westworld."
这种多任务处理与你在看《西部世界》时发Snapchat不太一样。
Very different. And Einstein, yeah, well, Einstein's -- he's Einstein, he's one of a kind, he's unique.
非常不一样。而且，爱因斯坦，他是爱因斯坦啊！他是独特的，独一无二的。
But the pattern of behavior that Einstein was demonstrating, that's not unique at all.
但爱因斯坦所展示的行为并不独特。
It's very common among highly creative people, both artists and scientists,
在极具创造力的人中很常见，包括艺术家和科学家，
and I'd like to give it a name: slow-motion multitasking.
我想给它起个名字：慢动作多任务处理。
Slow-motion multitasking feels like a counterintuitive idea.
慢动作多任务处理感觉像是一个违反直觉的想法。
What I'm describing here is having multiple projects on the go at the same time,
我在这描述的是同时在承担多个项目，
and you move backwards and forwards between topics as the mood takes you, or as the situation demands.
但你可以随着自己的心情或情况的变化在项目之间移动。
But the reason it seems counterintuitive is because we're used to lapsing into multitasking out of desperation.
但是它看起来违反常理的原因在于我们习惯于出于绝望而一心多用。
We're in a hurry, we want to do everything at once.
我们很着急；我们想同时做所有事情。
If we were willing to slow multitasking down, we might find that it works quite brilliantly.
如果我们愿意放慢多任务处理，我们会发现它非常出色。
Sixty years ago, a young psychologist by the name of Bernice Eiduson
六十年前，一位年轻的心理学家伯妮丝·艾杜森
began a long research project into the personalities and the working habits of 40 leading scientists.
开始了一个漫长的研究项目，深入了解40名领先科学家的个性和工作习惯。
Einstein was already dead, but four of her subjects won Nobel prizes, including Linus Pauling and Richard Feynman.
爱因斯坦当时已经逝世，但她研究的其他四位都得过诺贝尔奖，包括莱纳斯·鲍林和理查德·费曼。
The research went on for decades, in fact, it continued even after professor Eiduson herself had died.
这项研究持续了几十年。事实上，在艾杜森教授去世之后，它仍在继续。
And one of the questions that it answered was,
它回答的一个问题是，
"How is it that some scientists are able to go on producing important work right through their lives?"
“一些科学家是如何在有生之年不断从事并出产重要成果？
What is it about these people? Is it their personality, is it their skill set, their daily routines, what?
这些人到底是怎么回事？是他们的个性？他们的技能？还是他们的日常生活？到底是什么？
Well, a pattern that emerged was clear, and I think to some people surprising.
出现的模式很明显，对一些人来说，也许是令人惊讶的。
The top scientists kept changing the subject.
顶尖的科学家会不断改变研究主题。
They would shift topics repeatedly during their first 100 published research papers.
他们会不断变换研究方向在他们发表的前100篇研究论文中。
Do you want to guess how often? Three times? Five times? No.
你想猜猜变了多少次吗？三次？五次？不对。
On average, the most enduringly creative scientists switched topics 43 times in their first 100 research papers.
平均而言，最有创造力的科学家在发表的前一百篇研究论文中变换了43次主题。
Seems that the secret to creativity is multitasking in slow motion.
看来，创造力的秘诀是多任务处理，慢动作地进行。
Eiduson's research suggests we need to reclaim multitasking and remind ourselves how powerful it can be.
艾杜森的研究表明，我们需要改造多任务处理，并提醒自己它的有用之处。
And she's not the only person to have found this.
而且她不是唯一发现这个的人。
Different researchers, using different methods to study different highly creative people
不同的研究人员使用不同的方法来研究不同的、具有高度创造力的人，
have found that very often they have multiple projects in progress at the same time,
他们发现这些人经常会同时进行多个项目，
and they're also far more likely than most of us to have serious hobbies.
而且他们比我们大多数人更有可能拥有专业的爱好。
Slow-motion multitasking among creative people is ubiquitous. So, why?
慢动作多任务处理在创意者之间无处不在。那为什么呢？
I think there are three reasons. And the first is the simplest.
我认为有三个原因。第一个是最简单的。
Creativity often comes when you take an idea from its original context and you move it somewhere else.
创意往往出现于把一个想法从原始情景中提取出来，并把它转移到其他地方。
It's easier to think outside the box if you spend your time clambering from one box into another.
若你可以自由移动于已有的多框架之间，跳出固有思维框架会变简单。
For an example of this, consider the original eureka moment.
例如，考虑最初的尤里卡时刻。
Archimedes -- he's wrestling with a difficult problem.
阿基米德--他在与一个困难的问题博弈。
And he realizes, in a flash, he can solve it, using the displacement of water.
在一瞬间，他意识到可以用水的位移来解决这个问题。
And if you believe the story, this idea comes to him as he's taking a bath,
如果你相信那个故事，这是当他泡澡事想到的办法，
lowering himself in, and he's watching the water level rise and fall.
降低自己身位，观察水位上升和下降。
And if solving a problem while having a bath isn't multitasking, I don't know what is.
如果在泡澡时解决问题还不是多任务处理，我不知道什么是了。
The second reason that multitasking can work is that learning to do one thing well can often help you do something else.
多任务处理非常有效的第二个原因是，学做一件事常常可以帮助你做别的事情。
Any athlete can tell you about the benefits of cross-training.
任何运动员都会告诉你交叉训练的好处。
It's possible to cross-train your mind, too.
其实你也可以交叉训练你的头脑。
A few years ago, researchers took 18 randomly chosen medical students
几年前，研究人员随机选择了18个医科学生，
and they enrolled them in a course at the Philadelphia Museum of Art,
让他们去听一门在费城艺术博物馆的课程，
where they learned to criticize and analyze works of visual art.
在那里他们学会了鉴赏视觉艺术作品。
And at the end of the course, these students were compared with a control group of their fellow medical students.
在课程结束时，这些学生与医学院的同窗对照组进行了比较。
And the ones who had taken the art course
那些参加艺术课程的人
had become substantially better at performing tasks such as diagnosing diseases of the eye by analyzing photographs.
在分析照片诊断眼部疾病等任务方面完成得更好。
They'd become better eye doctors.
他们成为了更好的眼科医生。
So if we want to become better at what we do, maybe we should spend some time doing something else,
因此，如果我们想在自己的工作上变得更好，也许我们应该花一些时间做别的事情，
even if the two fields appear to be as completely distinct as ophthalmology and the history of art.
即使这两个领域看似毫无联系，就像是眼科医疗和艺术史一样。
And if you'd like an example of this, should we go for a less intimidating example than Einstein? OK.
如果你想要一个例子--让我们去看看不如爱因斯坦那么极端的例子？好的。
Michael Crichton, creator of "Jurassic Park" and "E.R."
迈克尔·克里顿，创造了《侏罗纪公园》和《急诊室故事》。
So in the 1970s, he originally trained as a doctor,
在20世纪70年代，他最初受过训练成为医生，
but then he wrote novels and he directed the original "Westworld" movie.
但后来他写了小说，他执导了最初的《西部世界》电影。
But also, and this is less well-known,
但还有--这不太为人所知，
he also wrote nonfiction books, about art, about medicine, about computer programming.
他还写纪实文学，有关艺术、医药和计算机编程。
So in 1995, he enjoyed the fruits of all this variety by penning the world's most commercially successful book.
所以在1995年，他通过书写了世界上最商业成功的书籍，享受了这些果实。
And the world's most commercially successful TV series.
还有创造了世界上最成功的商业电视剧
And the world's most commercially successful movie. In 1996, he did it all over again.
还有创造了世界上最成功的商业电影。1996年，他又做到了。
There's a third reason why slow-motion multitasking can help us solve problems.
慢动作多任务处理可以帮助解决问题有第三个原因。
It can provide assistance when we're stuck. This can't happen in an instant.
当我们陷入困境时，它可以提供帮助。这可以在瞬间发生。
So, imagine that feeling of working on a crossword puzzle and you can't figure out the answer,
所以想象一下，在玩填字游戏时的感觉，你无法想出一个答案，
and the reason you can't is because the wrong answer is stuck in your head.
而你想不出的原因是因为错误的答案在你脑中挥之不去。
It's very easy -- just go and do something else.
这很容易解决，只需要去做别的事情就行。
You know, switch topics, switch context, you'll forget the wrong answer
切换主题，切换环境，你会忘记错误的答案，
and that gives the right answer space to pop into the front of your mind.
让出空间，使正确的答案弹入脑中。
But on the slower timescale that interests me, being stuck is a much more serious thing.
但在我感兴趣的较慢的时间尺度上，被卡住是一个更严重的事情。
You get turned down for funding. Your cell cultures won't grow, your rockets keep crashing.
你的资金申请被拒绝了。你的细胞培育不会生长，你的火箭不断坠毁。
Nobody wants to publish you fantasy novel about a school for wizards.
没有人愿意发表你的关于一所巫师学校的奇幻小说。
Or maybe you just can't find the solution to the problem that you're working on.
或者，也许你无法找到解决你正在处理的问题的方法。
And being stuck like that means stasis, stress, possibly even depression.
像那样被卡死，意味着停滞、压力，甚至抑郁症。
But if you have another exciting, challenging project to work on,
但是，如果你还有另一个令人兴奋的、具有挑战性的项目，
being stuck on one is just an opportunity to do something else.
被困在一个项目上只是一个做其他事情的机会。
We could all get stuck sometimes, even Albert Einstein.
有时候我们都会被卡住，爱因斯坦也是这样。
Ten years after the original, miraculous year that I described,
在我刚刚描绘的奇迹年的十年后，
Einstein was putting together the pieces of his theory of general relativity, his greatest achievement.
爱因斯坦在把他的广义相对论的碎片理论拼凑在一起，这是他最大的成就。
And he was exhausted. And so he turned to an easier problem. He proposed the stimulated emission of radiation.
但这也让他疲惫不堪。于是，他转向了一个较容易的问题。他提出了受激发射（SER）。
Which, as you may know, is the S in laser.
你可能知道，它的缩写就激光（laser）中的S。
So he's laying down the theoretical foundation for the laser beam,
他为激光束奠定了理论基础，
and then, while he's doing that, he moves back to general relativity, and he's refreshed.
然后，当他正研究这个时，他又回去研究广义相对论，他恢复精神振作起来。
He sees what the theory implies -- that the universe isn't static. It's expanding.
他明白了理论所暗示的，即宇宙不是静止的。它是不断扩大的。
It's an idea so staggering, Einstein can't bring himself to believe it for years.
这是一个如此惊人的想法，多年来爱因斯坦自己都不相信它。
Look, if you get stuck and you get the ball rolling on laser beams, you're in pretty good shape.
你看，如果你卡住了，你得在激光束上下下功夫，这样你的状态会相当不错。
So, that's the case for slow-motion multitasking.
所以慢动作多任务就是这样。
And I'm not promising that it's going to turn you into Einstein.
我并不能保证它会把你变成爱因斯坦。
I'm not even promising it's going to turn you into Michael Crichton.
我甚至没法保证它会把你变成迈克尔·克里顿。
But it is a powerful way to organize our creative lives.
但它是一个有效的方式来组织我们的创意生活。
But there's a problem. How do we stop all of these projects becoming completely overwhelming?
但有一个问题。当所有项目变得完有些难以应付时，我们怎么来阻止它呢？
How do we keep all these ideas straight in our minds?
我们如何将所有这些想法保持在脑海中？
Well, here's a simple solution, a practical solution from the great American choreographer, Twyla Tharp.
这里有一个简单的解决方案，这是来自伟大的美国编舞家崔拉·夏普的实用方案。
Over the last few decades, she's blurred boundaries, mixed genres, won prizes,
在过去的几十年里，她跨界，混合流派，获奖无数，
danced to the music of everybody, from Philip Glass to Billy Joel.
她伴随着从菲利普·格拉斯到比利·乔尔的音乐起舞。
She's written three books. I mean, she's a slow-motion multitasker, of course she is.
她写了三本书。我的意思是，她是一个慢动作多任务机，当然，她是。
She says, "You have to be all things. Why exclude? You have to be everything."
她说，“你必须成为一切。为什么要排除呢？你必须成为一切。”
And Tharp's method for preventing all of these different projects from becoming overwhelming is a simple one.
夏普不让这些不同的项目使她喘不过气的方法很简单。
She gives each project a big cardboard box, writes the name of the project on the side of the box.
她给每个项目一个大的纸箱，在盒子侧面写上项目的名称。
And into it, she tosses DVDs and books, magazine cuttings, theater programs, physical objects,
她把DVD、书籍、杂志剪报、戏剧单，各种物品扔进去，
really anything that's provided a source of creative inspiration.
任何会成为灵感源泉的物品。
And she writes, "The box means I never have to worry about forgetting.
她写道：“盒子意味着我永远不必担心遗忘。
One of the biggest fears for a creative person is that some brilliant idea will get lost
对于一个有创造力的人的最大的恐惧，是一些绝妙的主意会被忘记，
because you didn't write it down and put it in a safe place.
因为你没有把它写下来，并把它保存下来。
I don't worry about that. Because I know where to find it. It's all in the box."
我不用担心。因为我知道在哪里可以找到它。都在盒子里。”
You can manage many ideas like this, either in physical boxes or in their digital equivalents.
你可以通过这种方式管理许多想法，无论是在盒子还是利用电子设备。
So, I would like to urge you to embrace the art of slow-motion multitasking.
所以，我想力劝大家接受慢动作多任务工作。
Not because you're in a hurry, but because you're in no hurry at all.
不是因为你想匆忙完成一件事，而是因为你根本不着急。
And I want to give you one final example, my favorite example. Charles Darwin.
我想给你们最后一个例子，我最喜欢的例子：查尔斯·达尔文。
A man whose slow-burning multitasking is so staggering, I need a diagram to explain it all to you.
他的慢动作多任务处理能力非常惊人，我需要一个图表来向你解释一切。
We know what Darwin was doing at different times,
我们知道达尔文在不同的时间做了不同的事，
because the creativity researchers Howard Gruber and Sara Davis have analyzed his diaries and his notebooks.
因为创造力研究人员霍华德·格鲁伯和萨拉·戴维斯分析了他的日记和他的笔记本。
So, when he left school, age of 18, he was initially interested in two fields, zoology and geology.
所以当他18岁离开学校时，他最初对两个领域感兴趣：动物学和地质学。
Pretty soon, he signed up to be the onboard naturalist on the "Beagle."
不久，他报名成为小猎犬船上的博物学家。
This is the ship that eventually took five years to sail all the way around the southern oceans of the Earth,
这艘船最终花了五年时间在地球的南部海洋中航行，
stopping at the Galápagos, passing through the Indian ocean.
停靠在加拉帕戈斯，穿过印度洋。
While he was on the "Beagle," he began researching coral reefs.
当他在小猎犬号上时，他开始研究珊瑚礁。
This is a great synergy between his two interests in zoology and geology,
这让他在研究动物学和地质学之间有了巨大协同作用，
and it starts to get him thinking about slow processes.
并开始让他思考缓慢进程。
But when he gets back from the voyage, his interests start to expand even further: psychology, botany;
但是当他的航程结束后，他的兴趣开始进一步扩大--心理学，植物学；
for the rest of his life, he's moving backwards and forwards between these different fields.
他的余生，他就在这些不同的领域之间移动。
He never quite abandons any of them.
他从来没有抛弃过任何一项。
In 1837, he begins work on two very interesting projects. One of them: earthworms.
1837年，他开始了两个非常有趣的项目，其中之一，蚯蚓。
The other, a little notebook which he titles "The transmutation of species."
另一个则是名为《物种的演变》的笔记本。
Then, Darwin starts studying my field, economics.
然后，达尔文开始研究我的领域，经济学。
He reads a book by the economist Thomas Malthus. And he has his eureka moment.
他读了一本经济学家托马斯·马尔萨斯的书。他有了他的尤里卡瞬间。
In a flash, he realizes how species could emerge and evolve slowly, through this process of the survival of the fittest.
在那一瞬间，他意识到物种如何能够通过适者生存缓慢地出现和进化。
It all comes to him, he writes it all down, every single important element of the theory of evolution, in that notebook.
当想到这一切时，他把这些都写下来，进化论的每一个重要元素他都写进了笔记本里。
But then, a new project. His son William is born.
但随后，他又有了一个新的项目。他的儿子威廉的诞生。
Well, there's a natural experiment right there, you get to observe the development of a human infant.
这是一个很自然的实验--你可以观察一个人类婴儿的发育。
So immediately, Darwin starts making notes.
因此，达尔文立即开始做笔记。
Now, of course, he's still working on the theory of evolution and the development of the human infant.
当然，他同时还在研究进化论以及人类婴儿的生长。
But during all of this, he realizes he doesn't really know enough about taxonomy. So he starts studying that.
但同时，他意识到自己对分类学的了解不够。于是，他开始研究这个。
And in the end, he spends eight years becoming the world's leading expert on barnacles.
最后，他花了8年时间成为世界领先的藤壶专家。
Then, "Natural Selection." A book that he's to continue working on for his entire life, he never finishes it.
还有《自然选择》这本书。他的余生持续在写这本书，但他从来没有完成它。
"Origin of Species" is finally published 20 years after Darwin set out all the basic elements.
《物种起源》出版于达尔文开始列出基本原理的二十年后。
Then, the "Descent of Man," controversial book.
之后，《人类的由来》这本极具争议的书出版了。
And then, the book about the development of the human infant.
接下来是一本关于人类婴儿发育的书。
The one that was inspired when he could see his son, William, crawling on the sitting room floor in front of him.
这本书的灵感来自于他所观察到他的儿子威廉在客厅地板上爬来爬去。
When the book was published, William was 37 years old.
当这本书出版时，威廉已经是37岁了。
And all this time, Darwin's working on earthworms.
这一切发生时，达尔文一直在研究蚯蚓。
He fills his billiard room with earthworms in pots, with glass covers.
他在台球室里放满了玻璃罩罐子里的蚯蚓。
He shines lights on them, to see if they'll respond.
他把灯照在它们身上，看它们是否会回应。
He holds a hot poker next to them, to see if they move away.
他把剑叶兰在它们旁边，看看它们是否会移动。
He chews tobacco and... He blows on the earthworms to see if they have a sense of smell.
他咀嚼烟草...并向蚯蚓吹气，看看它们是否有嗅觉。
He even plays the bassoon at the earthworms.
他甚至为蚯蚓吹奏巴松管。
I like to think of this great man when he's tired, he's stressed,
我喜欢想像这个伟人，当他累了、有压力时，
he's anxious about the reception of his book "The Descent of Man."
他很担心他的书《人类的起源》会受到欢迎。
You or I might log into Facebook or turn on the television.
你我感到压力时，可能会刷脸书或看电视。
Darwin would go into the billiard room to relax by studying the earthworms intensely.
达尔文则会走进入台球室，通过深入研究蚯蚓来放松。
And that's why it's appropriate that one of his last great works is the "Formation of Vegetable Mould Through The Action of Worms."
达尔文的最后一件伟作是《腐植土的产生与蚯蚓的作用》，这一点也不足为奇。
He worked upon that book for 44 years. We don't live in the 19th century anymore.
他在那本书上工作了44年。我们不再生活在19世纪了。
I don't think any of us could sit on our creative or scientific projects for 44 years.
我不认为我们任何人可以在我们的创意或科学项目上花44年。
But we do have something to learn from the great slow-motion multitaskers.
但是，我们确实要向那些伟大的慢动作多任务者学习。
From Einstein and Darwin to Michael Crichton and Twyla Tharp.
从爱因斯坦和达尔文，到迈克尔·克里顿和崔拉·夏普。
The modern world seems to present us with a choice.
现代世界似乎给我们一个选择。
If we're not going to fast-twitch from browser window to browser window,
如果我们不打算在浏览器窗口之间快速切换，
we have to live like a hermit, focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else.
我们就得像隐士一样生活--专注于一件事，排除一切。
I think that's a false dilemma. We can make multitasking work for us, unleashing our natural creativity.
我认为这是一个虚假的困境。我们可以让多任务工作帮主我们，释放我们的自然创造力。
We just need to slow it down.
我们只需要慢下来。
So ... Make a list of your projects. Put down your phone.
所以，列出你的项目。放下你的手机。
Pick up a couple of cardboard boxes. And get to work. Thank you very much.
拿起几个纸箱。开始工作吧！非常感谢。
