deep work
by Victor Cassone
由Victor Cassone
如何使用Deep Work成为更好的程序员 (How to use Deep Work to become a better programmer)
深入专注的能力是程序员可以学习的最重要技能之一。 (The ability to focus deeply is one of the most important skills a programmer can learn.)
I believe one of the biggest differences between a good programmer and a great programmer is the ability to focus deeply over long stretches of time.
我相信优秀的程序员和优秀的程序员之间的最大区别之一是能够长时间专注于目标。
Learning to focus is crucial to the life of a programmer because we are constantly learning new things and solving complex problems. Developing good focus habits is a requirement to do both effectively. There’s just no way around it.
学习焦点对程序员的生活至关重要，因为我们不断学习新事物并解决复杂的问题。 养成良好的专注习惯是有效地做到两点的要求。 只是没有办法。
In our current society, cultivating long stretches of distraction-free focus is becoming increasingly rare. The constant draw of digital life is making it harder and harder to go deep on complex problems. We end up spending our days in a state of shallow focus jumping from notification to notification.
在我们当前的社会中，培养长期无干扰的注意力变得越来越少了。 随着数字生活的不断发展，越来越难以解决复杂的问题。 我们最终将自己的日子花在了从通知到通知的短暂关注上。
If we want to reach our true potential as a programmer (or anything else really), we need to start taking our focus habits more seriously. Deep focus is the key to producing our best work and it will unlock a level of ability we didn’t know existed.
如果我们想发挥程序员的真正潜力(或其他真正的潜力)，则需要开始认真对待自己的专注习惯。 集中精力是产生我们最好的作品的关键，它将释放我们不知道存在的能力水平。
In this article, I will discuss why good focus habits are important and provide you with some tips/trick you can use in your daily life.
在本文中，我将讨论为什么良好的专注习惯很重要，并为您提供一些可以在日常生活中使用的技巧。
深度工作 (Deep Work)
Cal Newport, in his book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, defines the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task, you guessed it, Deep Work. As Newport defines it:
卡尔·纽波特(Cal Newport)在他的《 深度工作：分散注意力世界中成功的规则》一书中定义了集中注意力而不分散注意力的能力。 按照纽波特的定义：
“It[Deep Work] is a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship.”
“ [深工作]是一项技能，可让您快速掌握复杂的信息并在更短的时间内产生更好的结果。 深入的工作将使您的工作做得更好，并提供手Craft.io带来的真正满足感。”
Stated simply, Deep Work is the ability to shut out the world and focus solely on the task at hand.
简而言之，“深入工作”是一种将世界拒之门外并仅专注于手头任务的能力。
Deep Work is a skill that can add huge benefits to our personal and professional lives. Newport equates it to a superpower that will help you get more done in a shorter amount of time and produce higher quality work.
深度工作是一项可以为我们的个人和职业生活带来巨大好处的技能。 纽波特将其等同于一种超级大国，它将帮助您在更短的时间内完成更多工作并产生更高质量的工作。
Newport also points out that Deep Work will help you stay valuable in our ever-changing economy.
纽波特还指出，“深入工作”将帮助您在瞬息万变的经济中保持价值。
“To remain valuable in our economy… you must master the art of quickly learning complicated things. This task requires Deep Work. If you don’t cultivate this ability, you’re likely to fall behind as technology advances.”
“要在我们的经济中保持价值……您必须掌握快速学习复杂事物的技巧。 此任务需要深入工作。 如果您不培养这种能力，那么随着技术的进步，您很可能会落后。”
Unfortunately, in our highly distracting world, Deep Work is becoming a lost art. It’s becoming increasingly important but our ability to cultivate it is quickly diminishing.
不幸的是，在我们高度分散的世界中，“深度工作”正在成为一门失传的艺术。 它变得越来越重要，但是我们的种植能力正在Swift下降。
So how can we start cultivating more Deep Work into our lives as programmers?
那么，我们如何才能开始在程序员的生活中培养更多的Deep Work？
Let’s start with understanding why it’s so hard to stay focused in the first place.
让我们开始理解为什么一开始很难集中精力。
根本原因 (The Root Cause)
Everything we do throughout our day involves goals. Whether it’s driving a car, making lunch, or reading this article, we subconsciously (or consciously) set micro-goals for the tasks we want to complete. Our day is essentially a series of micro-goals.
我们一整天所做的每一件事都涉及目标。 无论是开车，午餐或阅读本文，我们都在潜意识中(或有意识地)为要完成的任务设定了微型目标。 我们的一天实质上是一系列微型目标。
A distraction is simply an internal or external event that interrupts one of our goals.
分心只是一个内部或外部事件，会打断我们的目标之一。
In the book The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World, authors Adam Gazzaley and Larry Rosen point out that humans are very good at setting goals and very susceptible to goal interruptions, and for good reason.
在《分散注意力：高科技世界中的古老大脑》一书中，作者亚当·加扎利和拉里·罗森指出，人类有很好的设定目标的能力，并且很容易受到目标干扰的影响，这是有充分理由的。
To our hunter-gatherer ancestors, responding to new information and interrupting our goals was one of the most valuable tools in our survival toolkit.
对于我们的狩猎采集祖先来说，响应新信息并中断我们的目标是我们生存工具包中最有价值的工具之一。
If we were trying to collect fruit and we heard a rustle in a nearby bush, we would interrupt our goal, react to the new information and set a new micro-goal. Maybe it was the wind, or maybe it was a tiger.
如果我们试图采摘水果，并且听到附近灌木丛中沙沙作响的声音，我们将打断我们的目标，对新信息做出React并设定新的微型目标。 也许是风，或者也许是老虎。
The information we gathered about our environment was often just as valuable as the food we were collecting.
我们收集的有关环境的信息通常与我们收集的食物一样有价值。
New information about our environment allowed us to set better goals and decrease our chances of being attacked by a predator. We slowly became information foraging animals and started treating the need for information in a similar way as the need for food.
有关环境的新信息使我们能够设定更好的目标，并减少被捕食者攻击的机会。 我们逐渐成为信息搜寻动物，并开始以与食物需求相似的方式来处理对信息的需求。
This psychological evolution served us well on the savanna but it doesn’t serve us as nicely in the modern world.
这种心理上的演变在热带稀树草原上为我们提供了很好的服务，但在现代世界中却没有为我们提供很好的服务。
Our immense desire for information still exists because our subconscious still thinks we’re in a primitive environment where there’s a scarcity of information, rather than an abundance.
我们对信息的巨大渴望仍然存在，因为我们的潜意识仍然认为我们处在原始环境中，那里的信息匮乏而不是信息丰富。
Our brains aren’t designed for a world of screens and notifications.
我们的大脑不是为屏幕和通知而设计的。
为什么分心有害？ (Why are distractions harmful?)
In a way, the cards are stacked against us. But there’s still hope!
从某种程度上来说，这些牌对我们来说是堆砌的。 但是仍然有希望！
Fighting back distractions and cultivating Deep Work is a skill just like anything else.
像其他任何东西一样，反抗分心和培养深度工作是一项技能。
Anders Ericsson, a leading researcher on expert performers, points out that a major difference between elite performers and novices is their ability to maintain intense focus over long periods of time. As Cal Newport points out in Deep Work:
领先的专家级演奏家研究人员安德斯·爱立信(Anders Ericsson)指出，精英演奏家和新手之间的主要区别在于他们能够长期保持高度专注。 正如Cal Newport在Deep Work中指出的那样：
“Ericsson notes that for a novice, somewhere around an hour a day of intense concentration seems to be a limit, while for experts this number can expand to as many as four hours — but rarely more.”
“爱立信指出，对于一个新手来说，每天大约一个小时的集中注意力似乎是一个极限，而对于专家来说，这个数字可以扩展到多达四个小时，但很少会更长。”
These experts aren’t born with the ability of intense concentration. It’s a skill they’ve developed over time. Elite performers understand the importance of undistracted focus and have put effort towards training their mental muscles.
这些专家并非天生具有集中精力的能力。 他们随着时间的推移发展了这项技能。 优秀的表演者了解专心致志的重要性，并已努力锻炼其精神肌肉。
The moral of the story is that our minds can be conditioned to thrive in a distraction-free environment.
这个故事的寓意是，我们的思想可以在不受干扰的环境中成长。
It starts with an understanding that even small distractions can have a big impact on our performance.
首先要理解的是，即使干扰很小，也会对我们的表现产生重大影响。
A quick glance to your phone might seem harmless, however, there are consequences that come along with it. As Adam Gazzaley pointed out in an interview with NPR:
快速浏览您的手机似乎无害，但是会带来一些后果。 正如Adam Gazzaley在接受NPR采访时指出的那样：
“When we switch between tasks, we suffer a degradation of performance that then could impact every aspect of our cognition from our emotional regulation to our decision making to our learning process, as well as real-world activities like school and work and safety on the road.”
“当我们在任务之间切换时，我们的表现会受到影响，这可能会影响我们认知的各个方面，从情绪调节到决策到学习过程，以及现实世界中的活动(如学校，工作和安全)，路。”
When we are constantly switching tasks, we’re activating and deactivating different parts of our brain. The problem is our brains don’t work like light switches. They take time to boot up.
当我们不断切换任务时，就会激活和停用大脑的不同部分。 问题在于我们的大脑不能像电灯开关那样工作。 他们需要时间来启动。
It’s impossible to put our full brain power towards a problem if we are constantly switching tasks. What ends up happening is we spend more time than necessary learning something new or solving a problem.
如果我们不断地切换任务，就不可能将我们的全部脑力用于解决问题。 最终发生的事情是，我们花费的时间超过了学习新知识或解决问题的必要时间。
Creating good focus habits is crucial to activating your full brain power.
养成良好的专注习惯对于激活您的全部脑力至关重要。
控制您的注意力 (Take control of your attention)
We find ourselves in a predicament.
我们发现自己陷入了困境。
We need undistracted focus to learn/perform more effectively. However, our psychology makes us susceptible to distractions and we live in a world that’s constantly trying to grab our attention.
我们需要专心致志，以更有效地学习/执行。 但是，我们的心理使我们容易分心，我们生活在一个不断努力吸引注意力的世界中。
What can we do?
我们可以做什么？
In Distracted Mind, the authors outlined four scientifically proven ways to help us avoid distractions. They include decreasing anxiety, decreasing boredom, decreasing accessibility to information, and increasing our meta-cognition about the harms of distractions.
作者在《分散注意力》中概述了四种经科学证明的方法来帮助我们避免分散注意力。 它们包括减少焦虑，减少无聊，减少获取信息的机会以及增强我们对分心的危害的元认知。
Let’s go through each of these categories and provide some real tactics you can use.
让我们逐一介绍这些类别，并提供一些您可以使用的实际策略。
焦虑 (Anxiety)
Programming can be an anxiety-inducing job. Many people feel some degree of imposter syndrome for a large chunk of their careers. Fixing bugs and adding new features to a production application can put gray hairs on just about anyone’s head.
编程可能会引起焦虑。 许多人在职业生涯的大部分时间里都感觉到某种程度的冒名顶替综合症。 修复错误并在生产应用程序中添加新功能可以使几乎任何人头顶白发。
Reducing anxiety is tricky. Every person has different reasons to be anxious and our bodies all have slightly different responses.
减轻焦虑是棘手的。 每个人都有不同的焦虑原因，我们的身体都有不同的React。
I’m not a trained psychologist (and I don’t play one on TV), so I won’t give you any medical advice. However, here are a few techniques I’ve found helpful when I find myself frequently turning to distractions to avoid anxiety.
我不是训练有素的心理学家(而且我不在电视上玩)，所以我不会给您任何医疗建议。 但是，当我发现自己经常分散注意力以避免焦虑时，可以使用以下一些技巧。
- Take a few deep breaths — Deep breaths are a proven way to lower your blood pressure and recenter your mind. It’s probably the simplest and most effective tactic you can use. 深呼吸几次-深呼吸是降低血压，更新思想的一种行之有效的方法。 这可能是您可以使用的最简单，最有效的策略。
- Schedule a time to confront whatever’s on your mind — There are things in your control and there are things out of your control. Find time to think through the things that are actually in your control. Come up with a plan and do everything you can to handle the things that you can actually control. Once handled, you’ll feel more comfortable letting the cards fall where they may. 安排时间面对您的想法-有些事情在您的控制之中，有些事情在您的控制之外。 抽出时间思考一下您实际掌握的事情。 制定一个计划，并尽一切可能处理您可以实际控制的事情。 处理后，让卡片掉落在它们可能会落在的地方会更舒服。
- Write out your worries — Writing out what’s on your mind is a simple way to clear your mind. You can use a notebook or a text editor. When you feel anxious, stop working for a minute and quickly write down whatever’s on your mind. I use this technique frequently and it has been a big anxiety reducer for me. 写出您的担忧-写出您的想法是清除想法的一种简单方法。 您可以使用笔记本或文本编辑器。 当您感到焦虑时，请停止工作一分钟，然后Swift写下您的想法。 我经常使用这种技术，这对我来说是一个很大的减轻焦虑的方法。
无聊 (Boredom)
It’s true, software development can be boring sometimes. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
没错，有时软件开发可能很无聊。 并非所有的阳光和彩虹。
Writing boilerplate code or doing design tweaks aren’t the most entertaining activities. However, it’s a reality of the job and it’s mostly unavoidable.
编写样板代码或进行设计调整并不是最有趣的活动。 但是，这是工作的现实，这几乎是不可避免的。
So, how can you make the boring parts of the job interesting?
那么，如何使工作中无聊的部分变得有趣呢？
Here are a few techniques I’ve found effective:
以下是一些我发现有效的技术：
- Make your code beautiful — Do everything you can to make your code as beautiful as possible. Try to make it flawless. Try to knock the socks off the next person who comes across your work. 使代码漂亮—尽一切可能使代码尽可能漂亮。 尝试使其无瑕。 试着将袜子踢掉与您工作相关的下一个人。
- Compete against yourself — I sometimes set up mini competitions with myself. I will try to squeeze a bunch of work into a small time frame. Competing against yourself is an easy way to add more flavor to your workday. Warning: don’t use this as an excuse to write poor code. 与自己竞争-我有时会和自己一起参加迷你比赛。 我将尝试将大量工作压缩到一个小的时间范围内。 与自己竞争是增加工作日趣味的简单方法。 警告：请勿以此为借口编写不良代码。
- Sneak in some extra learning — When you find yourself writing code that’s not challenging, find ways to learn something new. If you writing some CSS code, maybe take a minute or two to actually figure out what overflow: hidden does. I sometimes put Post-it notes on my laptop with text-editor key commands. This gives me something to focus on and it improves my text editor skills. 偷偷摸摸地进行一些额外的学习-当您发现自己编写的代码并不具有挑战性时，请找到学习新知识的方法。 如果您编写一些CSS代码，则可能要花一两分钟才能真正弄清楚什么是溢出：隐藏会发生什么。 有时，我会使用文本编辑器键盘命令将便利贴放在笔记本电脑上。 这给了我一些重点，并提高了我的文本编辑器技能。
增加元认知 (Increase Metacognition)
It’s important to understand why being distracted can be harmful and maintaining high levels of focus is beneficial.
重要的是要了解为什么分散注意力可能有害并且保持高度专注是有益的。
This article is a good start but I’d encourage you to continue researching the topic. I’d also encourage you to observe yourself and see the benefits of Deep Work first hand.
本文是一个好的开始，但我鼓励您继续研究该主题。 我也鼓励您自己观察并亲身体验Deep Work的好处。
Having awareness of the importance of Deep Work will add extra motivation to change course when you find yourself getting distracted. It will also help you recognize when you’ve fallen off the wagon.
当您发现自己分心时，了解“深度工作”的重要性将增加改变路线的额外动力。 它还将帮助您识别何时跌落马车。
Here are a few of my favorite books on the topics if you’re looking to do a more research.
如果您想进行更多研究，这里有一些我最喜欢的主题书籍。
Also, consider some sort mindful practice and/or an exercise routine. Both have been scientifically proven to increase your self-control. Adam Gazzaley, the author of Distracted Mind, highly recommends both.
另外，考虑某种正念练习和/或锻炼程序。 两者均已被科学证明可以增强您的自我控制能力。 《分散精神》的作者亚当·加扎利(Adam Gazzaley)强烈推荐两者。
降低可及性 (Decrease Accessibility)
This concept is relatively simple. The harder it is to get to a distraction, the less likely you’re going to give into it.
这个概念比较简单。 分心的难度越大，您投入的可能性就越小。
Distractions can come from two places: internally or externally.
分心可以来自两个地方：内部或外部。
Internal distractions come from inside of you. They are the random desires you have to check Twitter or go look at the news.
内部分心来自你内部。 它们是您必须查看Twitter或查看新闻的随机愿望。
External distractions come from your environment. They are the co-worker coming up to talk to you or the person having a loud conversation behind you.
外部干扰来自您的环境。 他们是与您交谈或在您身后大声交谈的人的同事。
Luckily, external and internal distraction can be (mostly) managed. Here are a few things you can do to help reign them in:
幸运的是，可以(主要)管理外部和内部的干扰。 您可以采取以下几项措施来统治它们：
Self-Control (Mac OS X 10.5+) — a Mac app that completely blocks websites for a set amount of time. Be warned, there’s no way to stop the timer once it’s started.
自我控制 (Mac OS X 10.5+)-一个Mac应用程序，在一段时间内完全封锁网站。 请注意，计时器一旦启动便无法停止。
FocusFilter (Chrome Extension) — I built this Chrome Extension to help me stay focused. FocusFilter puts a passphrase between you and distracting websites. It also provides other random tools to help you spend less time on distracting websites.
FocusFilter (Chrome扩展程序)—我构建了此Chrome扩展程序以帮助我保持专注。 FocusFilter在您和分散注意力的网站之间添加了密码短语。 它还提供了其他随机工具，以帮助您减少在分散注意力的网站上的时间。
BlockSite (Chrome Extension) — This is a great tool that completely blocks websites.
BlockSite (Chrome扩展程序)-这是一个很好的工具，可以完全阻止网站。
- Airplane mode + put your phone away — Phones are designed to distract you. Every app on your phone wants you to use it (why else would they exist?). When I really need to buckle down, I put my phone in airplane mode and put it out of sight. It’s important you do both. Unless you are waiting for some important news, the outside world can probably wait a few hours for you to respond. 飞行模式+放开手机-手机旨在分散您的注意力。 手机上的每个应用都希望您使用它(为什么还会存在？)。 当我真的需要弯腰的时候，我将手机置于飞行模式，并且看不见它。 两者都重要。 除非您正在等待一些重要新闻，否则外界可能会等待几个小时才能做出响应。
- Put Deep Work time slots on your calendar — mark your public calendar or put up a Do Not Disturb Sign so others can know not the interrupt you when you’re trying to go deep. This helps set expectations with the people around you. 在日历上放置“深度工作”时隙—标记您的公共日历或设置“请勿打扰”标志，这样当您尝试深入时其他人就不会知道打扰您。 这有助于与您周围的人树立期望。
- Craft your environment — Your work location has a huge impact on focus. Open workplaces are great for a lot of things, focus isn’t one of them. If possible, try to find a quiet location for a few hours that’s away from people or other distractions. If you can’t get away, headphones and a long playlist works. The key is to set up your environment in a way that decreases the chances of some sort of external distraction. 精心打造您的环境-您的工作地点对集中精力有很大影响。 开放式工作场所在很多方面都很有用，重点不是其中之一。 如果可能的话，尝试在几个小时内找到一个安静的地方，远离人们或其他干扰。 如果您无法摆脱困境，可以使用耳机和长播放列表。 关键是要以减少某种形式的外部干扰的方式来设置环境。
结论 (Conclusion)
I truly believe that developing good focus habits and avoid distractions will help you at any stage of your programming journey.
我坚信养成良好的专注习惯并避免分神，这将在您编程的任何阶段为您提供帮助。
The better you become at cultivating Deep Work, the more you’ll surprise yourself and others with your new-found abilities. You will find yourself enjoying your work more and opening up time to pursue other activities in your personal and professional lives.
您越能培养Deep Work，您就会以自己的新能力使自己和其他人感到惊讶。 您会发现自己更加享受工作，并腾出时间从事个人和职业生活中的其他活动。
I can’t say I’m perfect at integrating Deep Work into my life. It’s a constant battle and it’s too easy to fall prey to the distracting world of digital life.
我不能说我非常擅长将Deep Work融入生活。 这是一场持续不断的战斗，很容易成为分散注意力的数字生活世界的猎物。
However, it’s worth the attempt because the benefits are just too great to ignore.
但是，这是值得尝试的，因为好处实在太大而无法忽略。
Leave a comment below if you have any focus tips I didn’t mention!
如果您有我未提及的重点提示，请在下面发表评论！
If you’re interested in trying out FocusFilter, you can install FocusFilter here.
如果您有兴趣试用FocusFilter， 可以在此处安装FocusFilter 。
翻译自: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-deep-work-to-become-a-better-programmer-9c7d856cdec2/
deep work
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