I’ve done a number of intensive learning projects, sometimes studying for up to twelve hours a day. The risk of going too hard and crashing is always present during projects of this intensity, so I’ve discovered some strategies for preventing burnout.
我完成了好几个高强度学习项目，有时每天学习长达12小时。这种强度的项目，始终存在着用力过猛和崩溃的风险，因此我找到了一些防止倦怠的策略。
These strategies are critical when studying isn’t your full-time job. While a five-hour-per-week project may not sound like much, it can be overwhelming when added to your existing obligations at work and home. People who study after work need to be extra careful about burnout because they have so little spare capacity if they do crash.
当你不是全职学生时，这些策略就至关重要了。一个每周投入五小时的项目听起来不多，但加上工作和家庭中已有的要履行的责任，就会变得让人难以承受。下班之后还花时间学习的人尤其要当心倦怠，因为一旦崩溃，他们几乎没有多余的精力。
Here are five tips for staying focused without burning out.
以下是五个帮你保持专注而不感到倦怠的建议。
The worst situation is to be in a state of perpetual semi-studying. This happens when people don’t have fixed studying schedules and instead feel like they should “always” be studying.
最坏的情况就是始终处于一种半学习状态。没有固定的学习安排，就会出现这种情况，让人觉得他们应该“一直”学习。
Since always studying is impossible, people sneak non-studying activities—like playing on their phone or watching television—into their learning time. Then, when they are inevitably unproductive, they feel like they have to study more hours. The end result is burnout.
由于不可能一直学习，人们就会把与学习无关的活动偷偷塞进学习时间，例如玩手机或看电视。这不可避免地导致效率低下，又让人觉得他们需要学习更长时间，结果就是精疲力竭。
One strategy is to have a clean separation between the hours you’re studying and the hours you are not. At peak intensity during the MIT Challenge, for instance, I put in about twelve hours per day. Even so, I always finished by 7 pm, and I never studied on the weekend.
一个办法是将学习时间和非学习时间清晰地区分开来。在完成MIT挑战这种最高强度的项目时，我每天投入12小时。即使如此，我也总是在晚上7点前结束，而且周末从不学习。
Much of burnout is not the actual work, but your emotional reaction to it. Studying all day will probably never be as relaxing as watching movies or hanging out with friends. But it can be a fun, meaningful challenge that you feel good after.
大部分倦怠产生的原因都不是实际工作，而是你对工作的情绪反应。整天学习或许永远无法像看电影或和朋友出去玩那样放松，但它仍然可以是有趣的、有意义的挑战，让你在完成后感觉良好。
However, for many, studying isn’t just effortful. It’s painful. They become paralyzed by anxiety about failing their test. They feel frustrated by the material or just plain bored.
然而，对许多人来说，学习不仅是费力的，还是痛苦的。他们因为对考试失败的焦虑而停止向前，或是对学习内容感到挫败，或者只是单纯的厌烦。
One thing I’ve found helpful for dealing with these emotional reactions to shifting your focus onto the work. You can make this explicit. “Work on this assignment, without interruption for 30 minutes” is an achievable task. But “finish writing this essay” can create stress when you encounter writer’s block.
应对这些情绪反应时，我发现有帮助的做法是，将注意力转移到工作上。你可以表述得更明确。“坚持30分钟不受干扰地完成这项作业”是一项可实现的任务，但“写完这篇论文”却会在遇到写作障碍时给你带来压力。
We learn best when we’re successful most of the time, but occasionally challenged. If we fail consistently, not only do we get frustrated, we learn less. The problem isn’t just emotional. Machine learning algorithms also seem to train best when their success rate is around 85%. Our frustration isn’t irrational, but a sense that our learning is perhaps not so efficient.
当我们大多数情况下成功，偶尔遇到挑战时，学习效果最好。如果一直失败，不光会感到挫败，学到的知识也少。造成这一问题的不仅是情绪，机器学习算法也在成功率85%左右时训练效果最好。挫败感并非非理性的，而是感到我们的学习或许不是那么有效。
There are plenty of ways you can adjust your success rate. One is to make the task easier. If you’re failing to do problem sets, switch to doing them open-book. If you don’t understand a key concept, try the Feynman Technique. If you’re struggling to memorize something, make a mnemonic.
调整成功率可以有很多种方式，其中之一是降低任务的难度。如果你做不出题目，就改成开卷作答；如果你不理解一个关键概念，那么试试费曼技巧；如果某个东西记不住，就借助助记符。
It’s much easier to maintain motivation throughout your studies if you can get to a smooth rate of successful trials (wherever the bar for “success” is set).
如果能够保持一个平稳的成功率（无论“成功”的标准设定在哪里），在整个学习过程中保持动力就会容易得多。
Late-night cramming is a perennial student favorite, but it’s the worst possible strategy you can employ when learning.Sleep plays a crucial role in memory consolidation. Cutting sleep while studying is like cutting your feet right before a footrace. You might think the extra studying time will help, but it only hurts you.
熬夜恶补永远是学生的最爱，但这是最糟糕的学习策略。睡眠对于记忆巩固至关重要，在学习期间牺牲睡眠就像在竞走前削掉双脚一样。你或许以为多出来的学习时间会有帮助，但它最终只会适得其反。
Exercise is another learning booster. While cutting exercise in a short-term crunch is sometimes unavoidable, maintaining good exercise habits are among the few things that reliably improve cognitive functioning. Ironically, physical training, not “brain training” games you play on your phone, may be the only kind of brain training that actually exists.
锻炼是另一个学习的助推器。虽然短期减少运动有时不可避免，但保持良好的运动习惯是少数几件能够可靠提高认知能力的事情之一。讽刺的是，身体训练，而不是你在手机上玩的“头脑训练”游戏，可能才是唯一一种真正存在的头脑训练。
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