Sam Altman:Productivity

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Jun 16, 2025 08:35 AM

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核心要点 (Key Takeaways)

极端聚焦于重要之事：Altman强调，成功的关键是每年设定少数几个宏大目标，并确保它们被完成。其余的事务都是次要的。

构建系统，而非依赖蛮力：他认为，花时间建立一个好的生产力系统（包括工具、流程和习惯）是非常值得的。这笔前期投资会带来长期的巨大回报。

管理你的时间与精力，而非任务：

利用早晨：将精力最充沛的早晨用于完成实际工作，把会议等消耗精力的事情安排在下午。

创造大块专注时间：他认为会议和办公室的干扰是生产力杀手。因此，创造不被会议、电话、邮件打扰的专注时间至关重要。

日程留有空闲：完全排满的日程会扼杀创造力、偶遇和深度思考的机会。保留一些“无所事事”的时间是必要的。

无情地拒绝，谨慎地输入：

对大多数请求说“不”是保护时间和精力的关键。

对输入到大脑的信息（阅读内容、交谈对象）设立极高的标准，避免被低质量信息消耗心智。

基础健康是基石：充足的睡眠、健康的饮食（他本人是素食者，低糖，偶尔轻断食）和不使用强刺激物，是维持长期高产出的基础。

拒绝多任务：一次只做一件事。在会议中不看手机或邮件，全身心投入。

以下是Sam Altman在文中分享的具体做法和理念：

关于优先级与工作方法：

完成重要的事：这是最重要的原则。相比于处理大量琐碎事务，不如集中精力完成少数几件能带来巨大影响的事情。

制作清单：他习惯用清单来管理任务。每年会写下希望完成的目标，每天也会写下最重要的待办事项。他偏爱使用纸质记事本。

利用“火热连胜”（Hot Streaks）：当你感觉状态正佳、进展顺利时，要顺势而为，继续投入，不要被其他事情打断这种势头。

少即是多：做得少但做得精，远胜于做得多但平庸。这意味着要学会对很多“好机会”说不。

关于时间与日程管理：

保护专注时间：他发现在出差时效率更高，因为没有持续的会议和干扰。他会刻意安排“无会议、无电话、无邮件”的时间块。

日历是用来安排工作的，而非待办清单：不要让别人随意填满你的日历。应该主动在日历上为你最重要的工作预留出时间。他对默认30分钟的会议时长也持保留态度，认为应该更灵活。

拒绝与信息过滤：他会无情地拒绝各种请求，并对输入到大脑的信息来源进行严格筛选。

关于个人习惯与环境：

保证睡眠：他认为睡眠对生产力至关重要，并努力保证每晚充足的睡眠。

健康饮食：他是素食主义者，不喝咖啡，饮食清淡。他认为健康的身体是高效工作的基础。

不做多任务：他强调专注的力量，在做一件事时会完全投入，避免分心。

优化环境：他会优化自己的工作环境以提高生产力，例如使用大显示器、保证空间安静和光线充足。

关于更高层次的理念：

投资于系统：他愿意花大量时间去建立或改进一个能长期提升效率的系统，例如招聘和培训一位出色的助理。

日程中的“松弛感”：他认为日程中保留一些空闲时间（slack）非常重要。这些时间可以用来思考、应对突发事件，或者与有趣的人交流，从而带来意想不到的收获。

其他技巧：

他高度依赖助理来处理日程和事务。

他几乎从不接陌生电话。

他发现听重复性的电子音乐有助于集中注意力。

总结 (Conclusion)

Sam Altman的生产力哲学，本质上是一套关于**“如何通过系统化的方式，将有限的个人资源（时间、精力、注意力）投入到最高价值活动上”的深刻思考。它并非一套微观的“时间管理技巧”，而是一套宏观的“人生优先级管理”系统，其核心在于自律、聚焦和对基础的敬畏**。

原文：

Productivity 生产力

I think I am at least somewhat more productive than average, and people sometimes ask me for productivity tips. So I decided to just write them all down in one place.我认为我的工作效率至少比平均水平高一些，人们有时会向我询问工作效率的技巧。所以我决定把它们都写在一个地方。

Compound growth gets discussed as a financial concept, but it works in careers as well, and it is magic. A small productivity gain, compounded over 50 years, is worth a lot. So it’s worth figuring out how to optimize productivity. If you get 10% more done and 1% better every day compared to someone else, the compounded difference is massive. 复合增长作为一个财务概念被讨论，但它也适用于职业生涯，而且很神奇。 50 年复合的生产力小幅提高是值得的。因此，弄清楚如何优化生产力是值得的。如果你每天比别人多完成 10% 的工作，提高 1%，那么复合差异是巨大的。

What you work on 您的工作内容

It doesn’t matter how fast you move if it’s in a worthless direction. Picking the right thing to work on is the most important element of productivity and usually almost ignored. So think about it more! Independent thought is hard but it’s something you can get better at with practice.如果它朝着毫无价值的方向移动，你移动多快都无关紧要。选择正确的工作是生产力的最重要因素，通常几乎被忽视。所以多想想！独立思考很难，但你可以通过练习变得更好。

The most impressive people I know have strong beliefs about the world, which is rare in the general population. If you find yourself always agreeing with whomever you last spoke with, that’s bad. You will of course be wrong sometimes, but develop the confidence to stick with your convictions. It will let you be courageous when you’re right about something important that most people don’t see.我认识的最令人印象深刻的人对世界有着坚定的信念，这在普通人群中是罕见的。如果你发现自己总是同意你上次交谈的人，那就太糟糕了。当然，你有时也会错，但要培养坚持信念的信心。当你在大多数人看不到的重要事情上是对的时，它会让你有勇气。

I make sure to leave enough time in my schedule to think about what to work on. The best ways for me to do this are reading books, hanging out with interesting people, and spending time in nature.我确保在我的日程安排中留出足够的时间来考虑要做什么。对我来说，最好的方法是读书、与有趣的人闲逛以及花时间在大自然中。

I’ve learned that I can’t be very productive working on things I don’t care about or don’t like. So I just try not to put myself in a position where I have to do them (by delegating, avoiding, or something else). Stuff that you don’t like is a painful drag on morale and momentum.我了解到，在我不关心或不喜欢的事情上，我不可能很有成效。所以我只是尽量不让自己处于必须做这些事情的位置（通过委派、避免或其他方式）。你不喜欢的东西会痛苦地拖累士气和动力。

By the way, here is an important lesson about delegation: remember that everyone else is also most productive when they’re doing what they like, and do what you’d want other people to do for you—try to figure out who likes (and is good at) doing what, and delegate that way. 顺便说一句，这里有一个关于授权的重要教训：请记住，当其他人做他们喜欢的事情时，他们也会最有成效，并做你希望其他人为你做的事情——试着弄清楚谁喜欢（并且擅长）做什么，并以这种方式授权。

If you find yourself not liking what you’re doing for a long period of time, seriously consider a major job change. Short-term burnout happens, but if it isn’t resolved with some time off, maybe it’s time to do something you’re more interested in. 如果您发现自己长时间不喜欢自己正在做的事情，请认真考虑换一份重要的工作。短期倦怠时有发生，但如果休息一段时间没有解决，也许是时候做一些你更感兴趣的事情了。

I’ve been very fortunate to find work I like so much I’d do it for free, which makes it easy to be really productive.我很幸运能找到我非常喜欢的工作，而且我愿意免费做，这让我很容易真正高效。

It’s important to learn that you can learn anything you want, and that you can get better quickly. This feels like an unlikely miracle the first few times it happens, but eventually you learn to trust that you can do it.重要的是要知道你可以学任何你想学的东西，而且你可以很快变得更好。这在最初几次发生时感觉像是一个不太可能的奇迹，但最终你学会了相信你能做到。

Doing great work usually requires colleagues of some sort. Try to be around smart, productive, happy, and positive people that don’t belittle your ambitions. I love being around people who push me and inspire me to be better. To the degree you able to, avoid the opposite kind of people—the cost of letting them take up your mental cycles is horrific. 出色的工作通常需要某种类型的同事。尝试与聪明、高效、快乐和积极的人在一起，他们不会贬低你的抱负。我喜欢和那些推动我并激励我变得更好的人在一起。在你能够做到的程度上，避免与相反的人——让他们占据你的心理周期的代价是可怕的。

You have to both pick the right problem and do the work. There aren’t many shortcuts. If you’re going to do something really important, you are very likely going to work both smart and hard. The biggest prizes are heavily competed for. This isn’t true in every field (there are great mathematicians who never spend that many hours a week working) but it is in most.你既要选对问题，又要做好工作。没有太多的捷径。如果你要做一些真正重要的事情，你很可能会既聪明又努力地工作。最大的奖品竞争激烈。并非每个领域都是如此（有些伟大的数学家每周不会花那么多时间工作），但大多数领域都是如此。

Prioritization 优先级

My system has three key pillars: “Make sure to get the important shit done”, “Don’t waste time on stupid shit”, and “make a lot of lists”.我的系统有三个关键支柱：“确保完成重要的狗屎”、“不要在愚蠢的狗屎上浪费时间”和“制作大量列表”。

I highly recommend using lists. I make lists of what I want to accomplish each year, each month, and each day. Lists are very focusing, and they help me with multitasking because I don’t have to keep as much in my head. If I’m not in the mood for some particular task, I can always find something else I’m excited to do.我强烈建议使用列表。我列出我每年、每个月和每天想要完成的事情。列表非常集中，它们可以帮助我进行多任务处理，因为我不必在脑海中保留那么多东西。如果我没有心情做某项特定任务，我总能找到其他我很高兴做的事情。

I prefer lists written down on paper. It’s easy to add and remove tasks. I can access them during meetings without feeling rude. I re-transcribe lists frequently, which forces me to think about everything on the list and gives me an opportunity to add and remove items.我更喜欢写在纸上的清单。添加和删除任务很容易。我可以在会议期间访问它们而不会感到粗鲁。我经常重新转录列表，这迫使我考虑列表中的所有内容，并给我一个添加和删除项目的机会。

I don’t bother with categorization or trying to size tasks or anything like that (the most I do is put a star next to really important items). 我不会费心进行分类或尝试调整任务大小或类似的事情（我最多做的是在真正重要的项目旁边加一个星号）。

I try to prioritize in a way that generates momentum. The more I get done, the better I feel, and then the more I get done. I like to start and end each day with something I can really make progress on.我尝试以一种能产生动力的方式确定优先级。我完成的越多，我感觉就越好，然后我完成的就越多。我喜欢以我真正可以进步的事情开始和结束每一天。

I am relentless about getting my most important projects done—I’ve found that if I really want something to happen and I push hard enough, it usually happens. 我坚持不懈地完成我最重要的项目——我发现如果我真的希望某件事发生并且我足够努力，它通常会发生。

I try to be ruthless about saying no to stuff, and doing non-critical things in the quickest way possible. I probably take this too far—for example, I am almost sure I am terse to the point of rudeness when replying to emails.我尽量毫不留情地对事情说不，并以最快的方式做非关键的事情。我可能做得太过分了——例如，我几乎可以肯定我在回复电子邮件时简洁到粗鲁的程度。

I generally try to avoid meetings and conferences as I find the time cost to be huge—I get the most value out of time in my office. However, it is critical that you keep enough space in your schedule to allow for chance encounters and exposure to new people and ideas. Having an open network is valuable; though probably 90% of the random meetings I take are a waste of time, the other 10% really make up for it.我通常会尽量避免参加会议，因为我发现时间成本很高——我在办公室的时间得到了最大的价值。但是，您必须在日程安排中保留足够的空间，以便偶然相遇并接触新的人和新的想法。拥有一个开放的网络很有价值;虽然我参加的随机会议可能 90% 都是浪费时间，但其他 10% 确实弥补了它。

I find most meetings are best scheduled for 15-20 minutes, or 2 hours. The default of 1 hour is usually wrong, and leads to a lot of wasted time.我发现大多数会议最好安排在 15-20 分钟或 2 小时。默认值 1 小时通常是错误的，并且会导致大量时间浪费。

I have different times of day I try to use for different kinds of work. The first few hours of the morning are definitely my most productive time of the day, so I don’t let anyone schedule anything then. I try to do meetings in the afternoon. I take a break, or switch tasks, whenever I feel my attention starting to fade. 我一天中的不同时间尝试用于不同类型的工作。早上的前几个小时绝对是我一天中最高效的时间，所以我不会让任何人安排任何事情。我尽量在下午开会。每当我感觉我的注意力开始消退时，我就会休息一下，或者换个任务。

I don’t think most people value their time enough—I am surprised by the number of people I know who make $100 an hour and yet will spend a couple of hours doing something they don’t want to do to save $20.我认为大多数人都不够珍惜他们的时间——我认识的很多人每小时赚 100 美元，但会花几个小时做一些他们不想做的事情来节省 20 美元，这让我感到惊讶。

Also, don’t fall into the trap of productivity porn—chasing productivity for its own sake isn’t helpful. Many people spend too much time thinking about how to perfectly optimize their system, and not nearly enough asking if they’re working on the right problems. It doesn’t matter what system you use or if you squeeze out every second if you’re working on the wrong thing.另外，不要落入生产力色情的陷阱——为了生产力本身而追求生产力是没有帮助的。许多人花了太多时间思考如何完美地优化他们的系统，而没有足够多地询问他们是否在解决正确的问题。无论您使用什么系统，或者如果您做错了事情，您是否每秒都挤出来。

The right goal is to allocate your year optimally, not your day.正确的目标是以最佳方式分配您的一年，而不是您的一天。

Physical factors 物理因素

Very likely what is optimal for me won’t be optimal for you. You’ll have to experiment to find out what works best for your body. It’s definitely worth doing—it helps in all aspects of life, and you’ll feel a lot better and happier overall.很可能对我来说最好的不会对你来说是最好的。您必须进行实验才能找出最适合您的身体的方法。这绝对值得去做——它对生活的方方面面都有帮助，你总体上会感觉好多了，也更快乐了。

It probably took a little bit of my time every week for a few years to arrive at what works best for me, but my sense is if I do a good job at all the below I’m at least 1.5x more productive than if not.几年来，我可能每周都花一点时间来找到最适合我的方法，但我的感觉是，如果我在以下所有方面都做得很好，我的工作效率至少比没有做好时高 1.5 倍。

Sleep seems to be the most important physical factor in productivity for me. Some sort of sleep tracker to figure out how to sleep best is helpful. I’ve found the only thing I’m consistent with are in the set-it-and-forget-it category, and I really like the Emfit QS+Active.对我来说，睡眠似乎是影响工作效率的最重要物理因素。某种睡眠追踪器来弄清楚如何最好地睡觉是有帮助的。我发现我唯一一致的是 set-it-and-forget-it 类别，我真的很喜欢 Emfit QS+Active。

I like a cold, dark, quiet room, and a great mattress (I resisted spending a bunch of money on a great mattress for years, which was stupid—it makes a huge difference to my sleep quality. I love this one). Not eating a lot in the few hours before sleep helps. Not drinking alcohol helps a lot, though I’m not willing to do that all the time.我喜欢一个寒冷、黑暗、安静的房间和一张很棒的床垫（多年来我一直拒绝花一大笔钱买一张很棒的床垫，这很愚蠢——它对我的睡眠质量有很大的不同。我喜欢这个）。睡前几个小时不吃很多东西会有所帮助。不喝酒有很大帮助，尽管我不愿意一直这样做。

I use a Chili Pad to be cold while I sleep if I can’t get the room cold enough, which is great but loud (I set it up to have the cooler unit outside my room).如果我不能让房间足够冷，我会在睡觉时使用辣椒垫来变冷，这很好但声音很大（我把它设置为在我的房间外面有冷却器）。

When traveling, I use an eye mask and ear plugs.旅行时，我会戴上眼罩和耳塞。

This is likely to be controversial, but I take a low dose of sleeping pills (like a third of a normal dose) or a very low dose of cannabis whenever I can’t sleep. I am a bad sleeper in general, and a particularly bad sleeper when I travel. It likely has tradeoffs, but so does not sleeping well. If you can already sleep well, I wouldn’t recommend this.这可能是有争议的，但每当我无法入睡时，我都会服用低剂量的安眠药（如正常剂量的三分之一）或非常低剂量的大麻。总的来说，我睡得不好，旅行时睡得特别差。它可能有权衡，但睡眠不佳。如果你已经睡得很好，我不会推荐这个。

I use a full spectrum LED light most mornings for about 10-15 minutes while I catch up on email. It’s great—if you try nothing else in here, this is the thing I’d try. It’s a ridiculous gain for me. I like this one, and it’s easy to travel with.我大多数早上都使用全光谱 LED 灯大约 10-15 分钟，同时赶上电子邮件。这太好了 — 如果您在这里不尝试其他任何内容，这就是我会尝试的事情。这对我来说是一个荒谬的收获。我喜欢这个，而且很容易带着它旅行。

Exercise is probably the second most important physical factor. I tried a number of different exercise programs for a few months each and the one that seemed best was lifting heavy weights 3x a week for an hour, and high intensity interval training occasionally. In addition to productivity gains, this is also the exercise program that makes me feel the best overall. 运动可能是第二重要的身体因素。我尝试了许多不同的锻炼计划，每个计划都尝试了几个月，看起来最好的是每周举重 3 次，每次一小时，偶尔进行高强度间歇训练。除了提高工作效率外，这也是让我整体感觉最好的锻炼计划。

The third area is nutrition. I very rarely eat breakfast, so I get about 15 hours of fasting most days (except an espresso when I wake up). I know this is contrary to most advice, and I suspect it’s not optimal for most people, but it definitely works well for me.第三个领域是营养。我很少吃早餐，所以大多数日子我都会禁食大约 15 个小时（除了醒来时的一杯浓缩咖啡）。我知道这与大多数建议相反，我怀疑这对大多数人来说不是最佳选择，但它对我来说绝对有效。

Eating lots of sugar is the thing that makes me feel the worst and that I try hardest to avoid. I also try to avoid foods that aggravate my digestion or spike up inflammation (for example, very spicy foods). I don’t have much willpower when it comes to sweet things, so I mostly just try to keep junk food out of the house.吃大量的糖是让我感觉最糟糕的事情，也是我最努力避免的事情。我还尽量避免吃会加重消化或加剧炎症的食物（例如，非常辛辣的食物）。说到甜食，我没有太多的意志力，所以我主要只是尽量把垃圾食品挡在屋子里。

I have one big shot of espresso immediately when I wake up and one after lunch. I assume this is about 200mg total of caffeine per day. I tried a few other configurations; this was the one that worked by far the best. I otherwise aggressively avoid stimulants, but I will have more coffee if I’m super tired and really need to get something done.我醒来后立即喝了一大杯浓缩咖啡，午饭后喝了一大杯。我假设这大约是每天 200 毫克的咖啡因总量。我尝试了其他一些配置;这是迄今为止效果最好的一个。否则我会积极避免使用兴奋剂，但如果我非常累并且真的需要完成某事，我会喝更多的咖啡。

I’m vegetarian and have been since I was a kid, and I supplement methyl B-12, Omega-3, Iron, and Vitamin D-3. I got to this list with a year or so of quarterly blood tests; it’s worked for me ever since (I re-test maybe every year and a half or so). There are many doctors who will happily work with you on a super comprehensive blood test (and services like WellnessFX). I also go out of my way to drink a lot of protein shakes, which I hate and I wouldn’t do if I weren’t vegetarian.我是素食主义者，从小就开始吃素食，我补充甲基 B-12、Omega-3、铁和维生素 D-3。我通过一年左右的季度血液检查进入了这个列表;从那以后它就对我有用（我可能每年半左右都会重新测试一次）。有许多医生很乐意与您一起进行超级全面的血液测试（以及像 WellnessFX 这样的服务）。我还特意喝很多蛋白质奶昔，我讨厌这些，如果我不是素食主义者，我就不会这样做。

Other stuff 其他内容

Here’s what I like in a workspace: natural light, quiet, knowing that I won’t be interrupted if I don’t want to be, long blocks of time, and being comfortable and relaxed (I’ve got a beautiful desk with a couple of 4k monitors on it in my office, but I spend almost all my time on my couch with my laptop).我喜欢在工作空间中的地方是：自然光、安静、知道如果我不想被打扰，我不会被打扰、长时间工作、舒适和放松（我的办公室有一张漂亮的桌子，上面放着几台 4k 显示器，但我几乎所有时间都花在沙发上和笔记本电脑上）。

I wrote custom software for the annoying things I have to do frequently, which is great. I also made an effort to learn to type really fast and the keyboard shortcuts that help with my workflow.我为我必须经常做的烦人的事情编写了自定义软件，这很棒。我还努力学习快速打字和有助于我的工作流程的键盘快捷键。

Like most people, I sometimes go through periods of a week or two where I just have no motivation to do anything (I suspect it may have something to do with nutrition). This sucks and always seems to happen at inconvenient times. I have not figured out what to do about it besides wait for the fog to lift, and to trust that eventually it always does. And I generally try to avoid people and situations that put me in bad moods, which is good advice whether you care about productivity or not.像大多数人一样，我有时会经历一两周的时间，我就是没有动力做任何事情（我怀疑这可能与营养有关）。这很糟糕，而且似乎总是在不方便的时候发生。除了等待迷雾散去之外，我还不知道该怎么做，并相信它最终总是会散去的。我通常会尽量避免让心情不好的人和情况，无论你是否关心生产力，这都是很好的建议。

In general, I think it’s good to overcommit a little bit. I find that I generally get done what I take on, and if I have a little bit too much to do it makes me more efficient at everything, which is a way to train to avoid distractions (a great habit to build!). However, overcommitting a lot is disastrous.一般来说，我认为过度投入一点是件好事。我发现我通常会完成我所承担的事情，如果我有太多事情要做，它会让我在所有事情上都更有效率，这是一种避免分心的训练方式（一个养成的好习惯！然而，过度投入是灾难性的。

Don’t neglect your family and friends for the sake of productivity—that’s a very stupid tradeoff (and very likely a net productivity loss, because you’ll be less happy). Don’t neglect doing things you love or that clear your head either.不要为了生产力而忽视你的家人和朋友——这是一个非常愚蠢的权衡（而且很可能是净生产力损失，因为你会不那么快乐）。不要忽视做你喜欢的事情或让你头脑清醒的事情。

Finally, to repeat one more time: productivity in the wrong direction isn’t worth anything at all. Think more about what to work on.最后，再重复一遍：在错误的方向上提高生产力根本不值钱。更多地考虑要做什么。