7.Optimizing Intensity
七、优化强度

Researchers have known for decades that there is a relationship between the optimal intensity of attention and the complexity of the task you want to perform.
数十年来，研究者已经知道你想要完成的任务的复杂性与最佳注意力强度之间存在一定的关系。

The Yerkes Dodson Law says that increasing alertness has an inverted U function on task performance.Not enough focus, and you perform poorly.Too much arousal and you’re also impaired over someone calmer.Importantly, there’s a relationship between the optimal top of this performance curve and the complexity of the task.Namely, simpler tasks suffer less from being overly alert than do complex ones.
[耶基斯——多德森定律]表明，随着警觉性提高，任务表现呈倒U型变化。专注不足，则表现不佳；而太过激动，表现也会不如更平静的人。重要的是，表现曲线的最优点与任务复杂性之间存在某种联系，即相比于困难任务，简单任务不太受到过分警觉的影响。


One analogy to think about this is that focus is like shining a spotlight.A high degree of alertness (intense music, a few cups of coffee, etc.), is like making the beam of light very narrow.This helps if the thinking of the task can be neatly enclosed in that beam of light.
可以通过一个类比来思考这个问题。专注就像闪烁的聚光灯，高度警觉（强烈的音乐、几杯咖啡等）就像使光束变得非常窄。如果对任务的思考可以整齐地包含在这束光中，那么这样聚集的光束将很有帮助。

However, if you have a complicated or creative task, one that requires a more diffuse set of skills and memories which need to be drawn upon, then this highly focused beam is quite fragile.It needs to flit between things quickly and is more likely to break off and get distracted in the process.
然而，如果你面临的是复杂的或创造性的任务，需要利用更发散的技能和记忆，那么这束高度聚集的光线则过于脆弱。它需要在不同事物间飞快地移动，很容易在此过程中中断、转移。

For particularly creative problem solving, even a normal, relaxed state of focus may be too constrained to contain the answer.You may need to engage in a relatively low state of focus to be able to successfully pull together all the diffuse elements of thinking required to solve the problem.
对于特别需要创造性的问题解决，即使正常、放松状态的专注都可能限制过强以致无法想出答案。你可能需要更低水平的专注才能把解决问题所需的全部分散内容联系到一起。

Therefore, highly concentrated focus, while it is an improvement over absent mindedness in 95% of cases, has some situations where it may actually backfire.In those 5% of cases, a distracted mind may be a helpful mind, provided it is distracted in the right way. Even if they are rare, these cases are often the most important, since creative breakthroughs often have disproportionate value over normal work.
因此，尽管在95%的情况下高度专注相对于心不在焉更好，但在一些情况下事实上可能适得其反。在另外5%的情况下，分散的注意力也许更有帮助，条件是分散的方式要正确。即使很少见，但这5%的情况通常是最重要的，因为创造性的突破通常具有远高于常规工作的价值。

The key to productive unfocus is simple:
进入有效的非专注状态的关键很简单：

Focus until you get stuck.If a problem can be solved at a higher level of focus, you’ll be more productive overall to continue. It’s only when this fails that productive unfocus makes sense.
1.一直保持专注，直到被卡住。
如果一个问题可以在更高的专注水平得到解决。那么继续专注整体上会更有成效；只有当专注无法解决问题时，有效的非专注状态才有意义。

No, really, focus until you get stuck.Staying focused in the “stuck” state for longer is going to mentally prime you to work on a solution in the unfocused stage, so you don’t want to prematurely wander off and forget about the problem altogether. Five to fifteen minutes of being stuck is good for a hard problem.
2.不，真的，一直保持专注，直到被卡住。
在“卡住”的状态保持专注更长时间，将使你在精神上做好准备，在不专注阶段寻找解决办法，从而不会过早地神游四海，完全忘了这个问题。对于困难问题来说，被卡住五到十五分钟比较好。

Allow yourself to stop working on the problem, but don’t get focused on anything else.I recommend taking a “smart” break.This can mean going for a walk, meditating, sitting quietly, drinking some water or something that is otherwise not mentally engaging. Having a conversation with another person can be especially helpful, since it changes the patterns you were using to solve the problem individually before.
3.允许自己不再钻研这个问题，但也不要专注到其他事情上。我推荐“聪明”地的休息一下，可以是散步、冥想、安静地坐着、喝水或其它不需要耗费心力的事情。与其他人聊天也格外有用，因为这会改变你之前独自解决问题的模式。

In this time, think about things, but don’t try to control your mind towards a solution.You want it to wander a bit, but the priming given to focusing on the problem beforehand should mean you have an urge to solve it that keeps you from getting completely lost.
4.在此期间，考虑事情，但不要试图控制你的意识以寻求解答。你会希望思绪徘徊一会儿，但之前专注思考这个问题所做的准备意味着你有解决问题的驱动力，让你不会彻底迷失。

The way to think of this is like letting your beam of light go maximally broad and diffuse, to pick up wider routes to solve the problem than you might have otherwise envisioned.What you don’t want to do is focus on some distractor, since that will keep your attentive beam tight, but focused in an area of thinking that probably isn’t helpful.
可以这样想，让你的光束尽可能地宽广分散，从而选择没预想到的、范围更广的路径解决问题。你不会想要专注在一些分心的事物上，因为那会让你注意力的光束保持聚拢，而不要专注在无助于思考解决问题的领域。

How much time you spend in this absent minded mode of focus and the more standard type will depend a lot on the problems you’re facing.It’s useful, however, to recognize how the intensity of focus relates to the complexity of the task you’re involved in, so that you can maximize the usefulness of your focus.
应该花多少时间在这种心不在焉的专注模式上，又应该花多少时间在更常规的专注模式上，取决于你面临的问题。但认识到专注的强度与所要解决问题的复杂性之间的关系是很有用的，从而可以最大化专注的有效性。