为了事业！别吃了，群奔吧！

译者 tomblack008

Sunset by F.M. on flickr

Imagine two people starting identical companies with the exact same resources, network, and time at their disposal (gender randomly assigned for brevity’s sake):

想象一下两个人开了两家相同的公司，他俩拥有完全相同的资源、人脉和自由支配的时间（图省事，男女随机吧）：

Person #1 wakes up every day with anxiety, stressed about his mounting to-do list.

He immediately buries himself in reactive work — striving to please everyone else but himself by responding to emails, taking meetings and delivering what others ask of him. He gets whipped around by his moods — one minute he’s happy and excited, the next he’s tired, anxious, unmotivated and depressed. His productivity on any given day is completely unpredictable — sometimes he wakes up excited to work, and on other days you couldn’t pry him off the couch with a forklift.

一号哥们每天醒来便一脸焦虑，被他计划要做的一串串事情压得喘不过气。很快，他就陷入了条件反射一样的工作中去——回电子邮件，开会，送各种各样的东西给别人——他努力使周围每个人都高兴，却忘了自己。他完全被自己的心情所驱使着——前一分钟他还兴高采烈，下一分钟他就疲倦痛苦，心情黯然。他的工作效率完全无法预测——有时候他工作起来干劲十足，但其他日子里他都倒在沙发上，简直连铲车都难把他给撬起来。

Person #2 starts her days with purpose.

No matter what her mood is upon waking up, she laces up her running shoes and gets her blood pumping with a 20-minute run. She uses that time outside to reflect and plan her day, and the resulting endorphins and morning shower give her energy to launch into her best work. She works diligently on her most important projects first, while she’s feeling sharp and creative. She takes a break in the afternoon by heading to yoga class, which centers and grounds her. By the time she attacks her inbox in the afternoon she already feels accomplished — the emails no longer assault her plans, they support them. Person #2 ends the day feeling calm, happy, confident and empowered.

二号妹子每天开始都是目标明确。无论她醒来那会心情如何，她总是穿上跑鞋，出去跑20分钟步，让血脉畅通。在跑步的时间，她就思考和计划这一天该做些什么，运动让大脑产生的内啡肽与随后的淋浴使她精神百倍的投入到工作中。她趁自己感觉精力旺盛创造力十足的时候把最重要的项目最先做完。下午她去瑜伽课堂让自己放松一下，这又使她重新站了起来。她已经非常有成就感了，这个时候她打开了收件箱——电子邮件已经阻挡不了这妞的计划了！一天结束，二号妹子感觉既团结紧张又严肃活泼。

Both of these people are me.

这两个人实际上都是哥。

I quit my job at Google two months ago to pursue my passion as an author, speaker and coach, and during my first month of solopreneurship I was Person #1.

哥两个月前辞掉了在谷歌的工作，渴望做个作家、演说家和教练，在我“单干者”的第一个月，我就是那个一号兄弟。

I wasn’t running my business, my business was running me.

 And as 100% of the company, the opportunity costs of operating at half-mast were extremely high.

我压根不是在搞事业，完全是事业在搞我。作为我公司的老板和唯一成员，为这半吊子工作状态所付出的机会成本实在太高了。

I knew I had hit a low when I ordered Panda Express and a King-Size Snickers bar on my way home from the airport after a speaking engagement in June. I felt lethargic, unhappy and mad at myself. Where was my discipline and self-respect when I was wanting it most? So I resolved to make a change.

六月，当我结束了一场演讲，从机场回家的路上，我订了熊猫中餐和一根巨无霸士力架，这个时候我知道我已经扛不住了。我昏昏欲睡，闷闷不乐，对自己非常恼火。我当时苦苦追求的规律和自尊早已无影无踪。所以我决定痛改前非。

Within three weeks, I became Person #2 — and it didn’t cost a cent. It didn’t have anything to do with sales, marketing, productivity or inbox management. It had to do with me.

三个星期之内，哥就变成了二号妹子那样的人物——没有花一点银子。这个过程跟销售额、营销手段、工作效率以及邮件管理没有半毛钱关系。它只跟我自己有关。

I resolved to put my health first.

我决定健康第一

I started a three-week cleanse where I completely eliminated caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol, wheat, dairy and red meat from my diet. I committed to going for a 20-minute run first thing in the morning, which is just short enough to be manageable — it’s hard to make the excuse that you don’t have time to run 10 minutes out the front door and 10 minutes back. Finally, I bought an unlimited yoga pass and committed to going a minimum of two times a week; it was so rejuvenating that I ended up going closer to 4-5 times per week.

我开始了为期三周的大“清洗”——我一个不剩的把咖啡因、方糖、酒精、小麦（酒？）、乳制品和红肉从我的饮食中踢掉了。我决定每天早晨第一件事就是跑他个20分钟，这时间对我来说短的能够管理——这也让我难以找到借口逃避——难道每天出门跑十分钟再跑回来的时间都没有吗？最后，我买了个无限制的瑜伽课培训卡，决定每周至少去个两次，但令人振奋的是我最后每周去了快5次。

During the first three days, I had complete monkey-mind — craving coffee, sugar and TV like the addict I was — unable to focus because I was thinking about them every five minutes. But on the fourth day and every day thereafter, I started noticing something incredible.

在最初的三天，我简直像只坐立不安的猴子——我渴望着咖啡、方糖和电视，跟中了毒一样——我完全无法集中注意力，因为我每五分钟就要在脑海里想一次。但是从第四天开始的后面的日子里，我注意到不可思议的事情发生了。

I felt clear-headed. Creative. Confident. Energized. Productive. HAPPY.

我感觉头脑清晰、思维敏捷、自信满满、充满力量、富有效率以及最重要的——心里爽！

I was getting more done in one week than I had completed in one month. I was no longer experiencing crazy mood swings or unproductive days. I started sleeping like a rock. I was in a great mood, glowing and energetic at conferences and razor sharp during my coaching and speaking engagements. I was on a roll and I stayed there.

我接下来的一周搞定的事情比我之前一个月完成的还要多。我再也不必体验那些情绪起伏和毫无效率的日子。我开始睡的跟死猪一样。开会的时候我心情舒畅，容光焕发，当教练和做演说时则犀利威武，霸气外露。我好运连连且状态稳定。

I used to scoff at the countless magazines that preach healthy eating and exercise — get over yourself! Until I experienced, firsthand, the insanely powerful impact it had on my business’s bottom line (not to mention my actual bottom, which now fits nicely back into my best jeans).

我过去总是对无数倡导健康饮食和运动的杂志呲之以鼻——都什么玩意！直到我亲身体验过，我才知道这玩意对我的事业的巨大影响（更别提我的身材了，现在我又能穿我原来最爱的牛仔裤了）。

How to grow your business, a big goal, or improve your life by putting your body first:

如何把身体放在第一位去开展事业、完成目标或改善生活

Start with four-day wins.

This is a concept I learned from Martha Beck, who wrote the book The Four Day Win. That book forever changed how I think about diet and exercise — Beck emphasises tackling one thing at a time, for four days at a time. That’s it! Start with something ridiculously easy and build up confidence and momentum over time.

从“四天胜利法”做起。这是我从Martha Beck的《四天胜利法》中学到的概念。这本书永久地改变了我对饮食和锻炼的看法。作者Beck强调一次做一件事，先一次持续四天。就这么简单。从那些极端容易的事情开始做起，逐步建立自信和动力。

Organize your days around healthy eating and exercise.

No matter how much you resist this, thinking “But I don’t have time!” try it. If you try this for one week and don’t see business results, then ignore me. But at least give your body the chance to speak for itself.

围绕健康饮食和运动安排你的一天。无论你有多么抵触这些，心里想着”老子才没这闲工夫！“试试看，如果你尝试做了一周缺没有看到你事业状况的改善，你就可以无视哥了。但至少你要给你的身体一个机会自己说话。

Track your progress and engage friends.

I started this health challenge on my own, but quickly realized it would be more fun with friends, so I created a template that we could all track our progress on (feel free to use it too!). At the end of each week, I emailed the group four questions: How do you feel this week? What are you proud of? What challenges did you face? And what do you want to focus on next week?

记录你的进步并结交朋友。我开始是独自一人做这些挑战的，但我很快意识到如果有朋友加入会更有趣。因此我做了个模板，这样我们都能够不断记录追踪自己的进步。每周周末我都给我的伙伴们发电子邮件，邮件中有四个问题：你这周感觉如何？你为什么事情感到自豪？你现在面临了哪些挑战？你下周打算关注什么？

Optimize for your best energy windows.

This is generally common knowledge, but as long as you’re putting your body first, make sure you put your best work first too. Start your days with your most creative, important tasks, and everything will seem easy after that. My favorite book on this subject is Eat that Frog, by Brian Tracy.

优化你的精力安排。这可以说是常识了。不过只要你把你身体放在第一位，确保你把你最重要的工作也放在第一位。让你一天从最有创造力和最重要的工作做起，之后的所有事看起来都会很简单。在这个问题上我最喜欢的书是Brian Tracy所写的《吃了那只青蛙》。

You don’t have to do a crazy cleanse like I did (though I highly recommend Dr. Alejandro Junger’s Clean Program if you are interested); see what experiments you can run in your own life that work for YOU.

你不必像我一样做那么疯狂的”清洗“（虽然我非常推荐Alejandro Junger博士的《清洁程序》一书，如果你有兴趣的话），看看你在你生活中能有什么实验对你有效就够了。

Now that I’m in maintenance mode I’m adding some coffee back in (can’t skip those deliciously foamy lattes forever!) and one cheat day per week, borrowing from Tim Ferris’s Slow Carb Diet. I’ve lost almost 15 pounds without even trying — a very welcome side effect of eating in a way that facilitates my best work.

由于我现在正在保持阶段，我又开始喝点咖啡了（我永远抵挡不了这些洋溢着浓香的泡沫！)，并且一周打一次牙祭。这是从Tim Ferris的《低碳饮食悠着点》一书中借鉴的。我现在毫不费力的减了将近15磅了——这只是为了更好的工作而饮食的一点可爱的副作用。

Other books that you might find helpful and motivating:

其他你可能觉得有价值的书籍：

The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolfe

The Four-Hour Body by Tim Ferris

Wheat Belly by William Davis

Clean by Alejandro Junger

The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry

Just as a business has start-up costs, so does making major health and lifestyle changes. The first few days might feel agonizingly difficult, but the rewards on the other side are absolutely worth it.

如同事业起步期的代价一样，做出重大的健康和生活方式的改变的第一步也不容易。最开始的几天你可能觉得非常艰难，但最终的结果会让你觉得付出值得。