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A powerful way to unleash your natural creativity
"To do two things at once is to do neither." It's a great smackdown of multitasking, isn't it, often attributed to the Roman writer Publilius Syrus, although you know how these things are, he probably never said it. What I'm interested in, though, is -- is it true? I mean, it's obviously true for emailing at the dinner table or texting while driving or possibly for live tweeting at TED Talk, as well. But I'd like to argue that for an important kind of activity, doing two things at once -- or three or even four -- is exactly what we should be aiming for.同时做两件事 则两件都做不成。 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， 但你也知道这是怎么一回事 他可能从来没有说过这句话。 我感兴趣的是，它正确吗？ 我想，这一概念应该是正确的， 若你在餐桌上发邮件， 或在开车时发短信，也可能是 在TED演讲现场推文。 但我想说的是， 在做一种重要的活动时 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. In 1905, he published four remarkable scientific papers. One of them was on Brownian motion, it provided empirical evidence that atoms exist, and it laid out the basic mathematics behind most of financial economics. Another one was on the theory of special relativity. Another one was on the photoelectric effect, that's why solar panels work, it's a nice one. Gave him the Nobel prize for that one. And the fourth introduced an equation you might have heard of: E equals mc squared. So, tell me again how you shouldn't do several things at once.
看看爱因斯坦就知道了。 1905 年，他出版了 四篇出色的科学论文。 其中一个有关布朗运动。 它提供了原子存在的实证， 并阐明了大多数金融经济学背后的 基本数学原理。 另一个是关于 狭义相对论。 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， 让他得了诺贝尔奖。 第四篇论文介绍了一个 你可能听说过的方程： E = mc^2 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 -- it's not exactly the same kind of multitasking as Snapchatting while you're watching "Westworld." Very different. And Einstein, yeah, well, Einstein's -- he's Einstein, he's one of a kind, he's unique. But the pattern of behavior that Einstein was demonstrating, that's not unique at all. It's very common among highly creative people, both artists and scientists, and I'd like to give it a name: slow-motion multitasking.
现在，很明显，同时研究 布朗运动，特殊相对论 和光电效应， 这种多任务处理与 你在看《西部世界》时 发Snapchat不太一样。 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。 但爱因斯坦所展示的行为 并不独特。 在极具创造力的人中很常见， 包括艺术家和科学家， 我想给它起个名字： 慢动作多任务处理。
Slow-motion multitasking feels like a counterintuitive idea. What I'm describing here is having multiple projects on the go at the same time, and you move backwards and forwards between topics as the mood takes you, or as the situation demands. But the reason it seems counterintuitive is because we're used to lapsing into multitasking out of desperation. We're in a hurry, we want to do everything at once. If we were willing to slow multitasking down, we might find that it works quite brilliantly. Sixty years ago, a young psychologist by the name of Bernice Eiduson began a long research project into the personalities and the working habits of 40 leading scientists. Einstein was already dead, but four of her subjects won Nobel prizes, including Linus Pauling and Richard Feynman. The research went on for decades, in fact, it continued even after professor Eiduson herself had died. And one of the questions that it answered was, "How is it that some scientists are able to go on producing important work right through their lives?" What is it about these people? Is it their personality, is it their skill set, their daily routines, what?
慢动作多任务处理 感觉像是一个违反直觉的想法。 我在这描述的是 同时在承担多个项目， 但你可以随着自己的心情或 情况的变化 在项目之间移动。 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。 我们很着急； 我们想同时做所有事情。 如果我们 愿意放慢多任务处理， 我们会发现 它非常出色。 六十年前，一位年轻的心理学家 伯妮丝 · 艾杜森 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。 爱因斯坦已逝世，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。 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。 它回答的一个问题是 一些科学家是如何在有生之年 不断从事并出产重要成果？ 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？ 到底是么？
Well, a pattern that emerged was clear, and I think to some people surprising. The top scientists kept changing the subject. They would shift topics repeatedly during their first 100 published research papers. Do you want to guess how often? Three times? Five times? No. On average, the most enduringly creative scientists switched topics 43 times in their first 100 research papers. Seems that the secret to creativity is multitasking in slow motion. Eiduson's research suggests we need to reclaim multitasking and remind ourselves how powerful it can be. And she's not the only person to have found this. Different researchers, using different methods to study different highly creative people have found that very often they have multiple projects in progress at the same time, and they're also far more likely than most of us to have serious hobbies. Slow-motion multitasking among creative people is ubiquitous. So, why?
出现的模式很明显， 对一些人来说，也许是令人惊讶的 顶尖的科学家会 不断改变研究主题。 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。 你想猜猜变了多少次吗？ 三次？ 五次？ 不对。 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。 看来，创造力的秘诀是多任务处理， 慢动作地进行。 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。 而且她不是唯一发现这个的人。 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， 他们发现这些人经常会 同时进行多个项目，而且他们 比我们大多数人更有可能 拥有专业的爱好。 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. Creativity often comes when you take an idea from its original context and you move it somewhere else. It's easier to think outside the box if you spend your time clambering from one box into another. For an example of this, consider the original eureka moment. Archimedes -- he's wrestling with a difficult problem. And he realizes, in a flash, he can solve it, using the displacement of water. And if you believe the story, this idea comes to him as he's taking a bath, lowering himself in, and he's watching the water level rise and fall. And if solving a problem while having a bath isn't multitasking, I don't know what is.
我认为有三个原因， 第一个是最简单的。 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。 跳出固有思维框架会变简单 若你可以自由移动于 已有的多框架之间。 例如， 考虑最初的尤里卡时刻—— 阿基米德。 他在与一个困难的问题博弈， 在一瞬间，他意识到可以用 水的位移来解决这个问题。 如果你相信那个故事， 这是当他泡澡事想到的办法， 降低自己身位，观察 水位上升和下降。 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. Any athlete can tell you about the benefits of cross-training. It's possible to cross-train your mind, too. A few years ago, researchers took 18 randomly chosen medical students and they enrolled them in a course at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where they learned to criticize and analyze works of visual art. And at the end of the course, these students were compared with a control group of their fellow medical students. And the ones who had taken the art course had become substantially better at performing tasks such as diagnosing diseases of the eye by analyzing photographs. They'd become better eye doctors. So if we want to become better at what we do, maybe we should spend some time doing something else, even if the two fields appear to be as completely distinct as ophthalmology and the history of art.
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。 任何运动员都会 告诉你交叉训练的好处。 其实你也可以交叉训练 你的头脑。 几年前，研究人员 随机选择了18个医科学生， 让他们去听一门 在费城艺术博物馆的课程， 在那里他们学会了鉴赏 视觉艺术作品。 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。 那些参加艺术课程的人在 分析照片诊断眼部疾病等任务方面 完成得更好。 他们成为更好的眼科医生。 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， 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. Michael Crichton, creator of "Jurassic Park" and "E.R." So in the 1970s, he originally trained as a doctor, but then he wrote novels and he directed the original "Westworld" movie. But also, and this is less well-known, he also wrote nonfiction books, about art, about medicine, about computer programming. So in 1995, he enjoyed the fruits of all this variety by penning the world's most commercially successful book. And the world's most commercially successful TV series. And the world's most commercially successful movie. In 1996, he did it all over again.
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。 迈克尔 · 克里顿，创造了 《侏罗纪公园》和《急诊室故事》。 在 20 世纪 70 年代， 他最初受过训练成为医生， 但后来他写了小说， 他执导了 最初的《西部世界》电影。 但还有——这不太为人所知—— 他还写纪实文学， 有关艺术、医药 和计算机编程。 所以在 1995 年， 他享受这些的果实， 通过书写了 世界上最商业成功的书籍 和创造了世界上最成功的商业电视剧 和商业电影。 1996 年，他又做到了。
There's a third reason why slow-motion multitasking can help us solve problems. It can provide assistance when we're stuck. This can't happen in an instant. So, imagine that feeling of working on a crossword puzzle and you can't figure out the answer, and the reason you can't is because the wrong answer is stuck in your head. It's very easy -- just go and do something else. You know, switch topics, switch context, you'll forget the wrong answer and that gives the right answer space to pop into the front of your mind.
慢动作多任务处理可以帮助解决问题 有第三个原因是 当我们陷入困境时， 它可以提供帮助。 这可以在瞬间发生。 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。 而你想不出的原因 是因为错误的答案 在你脑中挥之不去。 这很容易解决。 去做别的事情。 切换主题，切换环境。 你会忘记错误的答案， 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. You get turned down for funding. Your cell cultures won't grow, your rockets keep crashing. Nobody wants to publish you fantasy novel about a school for wizards. Or maybe you just can't find the solution to the problem that you're working on. And being stuck like that means stasis, stress, possibly even depression. But if you have another exciting, challenging project to work on, being stuck on one is just an opportunity to do something else.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。 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。 没有人愿意发表 你的关于一所巫师学校的奇幻小说。 或者，也许你无法找到 解决你正在处理的问题的方法。 像那样被卡死， 意味着停滞，压力， 甚至抑郁症。 但是，如果你还有另一个令人兴奋的、 具有挑战性的项目， 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. Ten years after the original, miraculous year that I described, Einstein was putting together the pieces of his theory of general relativity, his greatest achievement. And he was exhausted. And so he turned to an easier problem. He proposed the stimulated emission of radiation. Which, as you may know, is the S in laser. So he's laying down the theoretical foundation for the laser beam, and then, while he's doing that, he moves back to general relativity, and he's refreshed. He sees what the theory implies -- that the universe isn't static. It's expanding. It's an idea so staggering, Einstein can't bring himself to believe it for years. Look, if you get stuck and you get the ball rolling on laser beams, you're in pretty good shape.
有时候我们都会被卡住， 爱因斯坦也是这样。 在我刚刚描绘的奇迹年的十年后， 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， 但也让他疲惫不堪。 于是，他转向了一个 较容易的问题。 他提出了受激发射（SER）， 你可能知道， 它的缩写就激光（laser）中的”ser“。 他为激光束奠定了理论基础。 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。 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。 这是一个如此惊人的想法， 多年，爱因斯坦自己都不相信它。 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。
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