什么是努力？

Recently, I wrote a piece asking why taking action is hard. Why do we so often struggle to take our ideas and actually do something about them? It’s tempting to just say people are lazy or unmotivated, but I think the question is a lot more complex and interesting than it first appears.

最近，我写了一篇关于采取行动为什么困难的文章。为什么我们总是很难把想法付诸行动？很容易把这仅仅归因于人们懒惰或缺少动力，但我认为这个问题比乍看上去复杂得多，也有趣得多。

Related to this question is what makes something effortful? Why is it “easier” to watch Netflix than solve math problems?

与此相关的一个问题是，什么使得有些事情需要付出努力？为什么看网飞的电视剧比解决数学问题更“容易”？

Like taking action, this question risks being overlooked because of our familiarity with it. It’s “obvious” to us that television is easier than algebra, so we don’t bother to ask why. However, like action, I think effort is also more mysterious than it first appears.

与采取行动一样，这个问题也有被忽视的风险，因为我们对它太熟悉了。对我们而言，看电视比学习代数更容易是“显而易见的”，因此不会多此一举地询问原因。然而，与行动一样，我认为努力也比它乍看上去更神秘。

Effort as Energy Expenditure

努力作为能量消耗

A simple view of effort is that it simply represents an investment of a fixed resource, possibly calories or glucose.

对努力的一个简单看法是，它仅仅表示投入一种固定资源，可能是卡路里或葡萄糖。

Running is more effortful than sitting for this reason. If you run constantly, you use up more calories than sitting, and thus need to eat more to stay alive. Since calories were historically scarce, it might be that we have an aversion to effort because it keeps us from wasting energy.

跑步比静坐需要更多努力，原因即在于此。如果你一直跑步，则比静坐消耗更多卡路里，因此需要吃更多食物来维持生命。由于卡路里长期以来都是稀缺的，有可能我们厌恶努力是因为这样可以避免我们浪费能量。

Running also strains muscles and joints (if done excessively) so there’s another possible reason for making it harder. If you run non-stop, eventually your muscles will wear out, so preventing strain and damage to your body may also be involved in the effort in some activities.

跑步（如果过量）也会造成肌肉和关节紧张，因此这是造成跑步困难另一个可能的原因。如果你不停歇地跑步，最终肌肉会精疲力竭，因此有些活动需要付出努力，可能也与防止肌肉劳损和损害身体有关。

This simple idea makes sense, but it breaks down when you consider it carefully. For starters, many activities that have similar caloric consumption or wear-and-tear on the body have wildly different amounts of effort required. Watching lectures in physics isn’t going to consume more calories than YouTube.

这个简单的解释能说得通，但如果你仔细思考，它就不攻自破了。对于初学者而言，许多活动对卡路里的消耗和对身体的磨损是类似的，但是需要的努力程度却大不相同。看物理学讲座的视频不会比看YouTube消耗更多卡路里。

Neurological studies also show that glucose consumption in the brain, which was one of the hypothesized constraints for effort, doesn’t change very much when mental effort is changed, so this doesn’t work as a good explanation for effort.

关于努力受约束的一个假设是它会消耗葡萄糖。但神经科学的研究也表明，当改变脑力活动时，大脑消耗葡萄糖的水平并没有发生很大改变，因此这也不能很好地解释努力。

Finally, sometimes we like to get up and move, expending more effort, rather than sitting still. Playing tennis is much more fun (and less effortful) than staring at a blank wall all afternoon, but the former burns way more energy.

最后，有时候我们想要站起来动一动，付出更多努力，而不是坐着不动。相比于盯着一面白墙一下午，打网球要有趣得多（需要付出的努力也更少），但是前者会燃烧掉更多能量。

Effort as Attention

努力作为注意力

Other research points to a link between effort and the conscious mind. Attention seems to be linked to effort, as the deliberate control of attention is effortful. Daniel Kahneman, best known for his work on cognitive biases, even published a book arguing for this connection, Attention and Effort.

其他研究指出了努力和显意识之间的联系。注意力似乎与努力有联系，因为有意识地控制注意力需要付出努力。以研究认知偏误知名的丹尼尔·卡尼曼甚至出版了一本书来论证两者之间的联系：《注意力与努力》（Attention and Effort）。

Still, attention alone can’t be the only explanation for effort. Some things are effortless to pay attention to, while others are hard to focus on for more than a few minutes. Watching an action movie and meditating to the flow of your own breath clearly illustrates that the object of your attention plays a big role in how effortful it is to sustain.

尽管如此，注意力不会是努力的唯一解释。有些事不费吹灰之力就可以注意到，另一些集中几分钟注意力都很困难。看动作片与冥想关注自己的呼吸，就清楚地说明了注意的对象对于保持注意力需要付出多少努力至关重要。

What makes focusing hard is that we’re trying to focus. That attention isn’t being held automatically, and thus needs conscious control, seems to be the relevant part for effort.

让集中注意力变得困难的是我们试图注意的东西。注意力不是自动保持的，因此需要有意识地控制，这似乎是与努力有关的方面。

Effort as the Opposite of Habit

努力作为习惯的反面

Another view of effort might be that it’s the opposite of something we do automatically. Certain behaviors and patterns occur automatically. This could be because they’re acquired habits or skills, such as always brushing your teeth before sleeping or knowing how to drive a car. Other automatic behaviors are instinctive, like pulling your hand away from fire.

关于努力的另一种观点可能是，它是我们自动完成的某些事的反面。有些行为和模式会自动发生，可能因为它们是需要的习惯或技能，例如睡前总是刷牙，或知道如何开车。另一些自动行为是本能的，例如把手从火上移开。

Effort, then, is what happens when we try to override an automatic pattern. Driving isn’t effortful, except when you change countries and have to drive on the other side of the road. Then you’re counteracting learned behaviors, and this requires effort.

于是，努力就是我们试图扭转自动模式时发生的事。开车不费力，除非你换了国家，需要在路的另一侧驾驶。你在抵制习得的行为，这是需要努力的。

This would explain the difference between Netflix and calculus in terms of effort. For most of us, the latter involves a lot more conscious control of our thoughts and behavior, and therefore a lot more effort.

这可以解释看网飞电视剧和学微积分在付出努力上的差异。对于大部分人来说，后者需要更多对思维和行为的有意控制，因此需要更多努力。

This explanation isn’t without issues, however. Games are often feel effortless, but they often require many deliberate actions that aren’t determined by habits. Doing household chores requires more “effort” yet this requires far less executive control over attention.

但这种解释也不是没有问题。玩游戏通常让人觉得毫不费力，但它们常常需要许多不由习惯决定的、深思熟虑的行为。做家务需要更多“努力”，但所需要的对注意力的执行控制要少得多

Effort as Moving Against the Balance of Rewards

努力与回报平衡反向而行

Still another way of looking at effort might be to see it as occurring whenever you need to make a choice that involves some internal conflict. Part of you wants to eat another cookie, but a part of you thinks you probably shouldn’t. This tug of war between different parts of yourself makes self- control effortful.

另一种看待努力的方式可以是将它视为每当你需要在某些内在冲突间做出选择时发生的事。你心里一部分想要再吃一块饼干，但另一部分认为可能不该再吃了。这种内心的激烈斗争导致需要付出努力来自我控制。

In this view of the mind, we all flow towards certain default behaviors like a river flowing downhill. What requires effort is moving “uphill” or resisting this downward gravity.

在对大脑的这种看法中，就像河水向山下流动一样，我们都会流向某种默认的行为。向“山上”流动，或者抵制这种向下的重力，就需要努力。

What defines the path of least resistance, instead of gravity, is something akin to a balance of pleasure or pain. The more strongly an activity is associated with an immediate reward, the less effort it requires to continue. The more you need to override an action that flows along a path of greater reward, the more effort is required.

规定最小阻力路径的不是重力，而是某种类似快乐或痛苦平衡的状态。一种活动与立即的回报关联越紧密，继续坚持所需的努力就越少。越是需要抵制某种沿着更大回报方向发展的行动，所需要付出的努力就越多。

Are There Different Kinds of Effort?

存在不同种类的努力吗？

I’ve given a handful of possible theories of effort, and there are likely more that I’ve missed. Rather than one of these being unequivocally correct, it may also be the case that the word “effort” encompasses distinct phenomena that aren’t always related.

我已经提出了关于努力一些可能的理论，而我漏掉的可能更多。与其说其中一种理论绝对正确，更有可能的情况是，“努力”这个词包含了彼此并不总是相关的不同现象。

So there may be a physical effort associated with calorie expenditure, that explains why you’re exhausted after an otherwise enjoyable soccer game, but that this effort is different from the kind spent working on math problems all day.

因此，可能存在一种与卡路里消耗相关的生理努力，能够解释为什么你在一场原本很愉快的足球比赛后会感到精疲力竭，但这种努力与一整天解数学题付出的努力是不同的。

Similarly, there may be an effort involved in controlling attention, overriding automatic behavior patterns or otherwise choosing a path that has less short-term reward than competing options. These may actually be different kinds of difficulty, with different features and different obstacles, even though we often classify them as all requiring “effort.”

类似地，可能也有一种努力涉及控制注意力，抵制自动的行为模式，或选择一条与其他选项相比更少短期回报的道路。尽管我们经常把它们都归类为需要“努力”，但这些可能实际上是不同种类的难题，有不同的特点和不同的困难。

What Would Different Efforts Mean for Taking Action?

对于采取行动而言，不同努力意味着什么？

Returning to the question I asked previously about why taking action is hard, effort is clearly a factor. Action is hard because it requires effort. While that sentence is dangerously close to a tautology, it does match the phenomenon we have all experienced: some things feel easy and others feel difficult and this is a major reason we don’t always follow through on our plans.

回到我在前面提出的问题，为什么采取行动很困难，努力显然是其中一个因素。采取行动困难，因为它需要付出努力。尽管这句话危险地像是同意反复，但它符合我们都经历过的现象：有些事情感觉很容易，而另一些让人感到困难，这正是我们无法总是按计划行事的主要原因。

Resolving this problem would have huge implications for our lives. If we could consistently follow- through on our plans, our lives would be much happier, more productive and successful. Even if following through on everything turned out to be impossible (as it likely is), then at least the self- awareness of when action won’t be forthcoming could allow us to accept our fate.

解决这个问题对我们的生活有巨大意义。如果我们能够始终如一地遵循计划，我们的生活会变得更加快乐、更加高产、更加成功。即使坚持完成所有事最终证明是不可能的（这很有可能），至少在行动不力时能够自知，可以让我们接受自己的命运。

Yet, as the above explanations show, part of the issue might be that we’ve lumped together distinct problems: physical fatigue, attention control, automaticity, self-control, all under the label of “effort.” If we could tease apart these different impacts on the effort required for different tasks, we might be able to make changes to our environment, goals or tasks to ease the effort required to finally take action.

然而，正如上述解释所显示的，问题可能在于我们把不同方面混在了一起：生理疲倦、注意力控制、自动性、自我控制，都在“努力”的标签下。不同任务需要不同的努力，如果我们能够梳理对努力的这些不同影响，或许就能改变我们的环境、目标或任务，从而使最终采取行动所需要的努力变容易。

My own thoughts are that it’s hard to deceive ourselves about the effort of an activity. At the same time, the effort required to do things isn’t static. Habits and learning make frustrating things automatic. Our environment constrains our choices. Rewards for effort change as you do more of something.

我自己的看法是，在某项活动需要多少努力上欺骗自己是很难的。与此同时，做事情所需的努力并不是静止不变的。习惯和学习可以使令人挫败的事情自动化。所处的环境限制了我们的选择。随着你做一件事做得越多，努力的回报也会发生变化。

All of these things suggest that even if exerting effort is hard, there may be detours that allow us to make some actions less effortful than they might be now. This would not only have implications for taking action, but also living better, given the amount of difficult things we need to do.

所有这些都表明，即使付出努力很困难，但可能有迂回的道路，让我们可以使某些行为变得比现在费力更少。这不仅会影响采取行动，考虑到我们需要完成的困难事项的数量，这也会影响我们过上更好的生活。