Why is it that geniuses tend to have the most intriguing routines?
为什么大师们的日常事务总是那么有趣呢？
According to Mason Curry, author of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, a solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for ones mental energies.
在《日常事务：艺术家如何工作》的作者麦森-卡里看来，固定的日常事务为人们的心理能量提供了烂熟的套路。
In other words, having a set routine lets you put all of your energy into the work you're doing, rather than spend your time deciding which work to do.
换句话说，固定的日程安排能让你把精力专注到正在做的事情上，而不用浪费时间犹豫该做哪件事情。
Harvard Business Review writer Sarah Green recently looked into the routines of brilliant artists, including Pablo Picasso, Jane Austen, and Ernest Hemingway, to find out how they got their work done. Here's what she found:
《哈佛商业评论》的作者萨拉格林最近调查了毕加索、奥斯汀以及海明威等杰出艺术家们的日常活动，进而探究他们是如何完成工作的。下面就是萨拉的发现：
1. They minimized distractions.
他们尽量避免分心。
With our increasing use of technology, brain researchers are finding that we're more distracted, and it's making us dumber. But history's creatives authors especially knew to block out the noise. William Faulkner didn't have a lock on the door to his study, so he brought the doorknob with him. Austen kept a door hinge squeaky so she'd always know when people were approaching. And if Mark Twain's family wanted to speak with him, they'd blow a horn, so as to not disturb him with a knock.
随着科技应用的日益普及，大脑研究人员发现，人们变得更容易分心，也更加愚钝。但历史上的大师们，尤其是作家，都懂得如何屏蔽干扰。威廉福克纳的书房没有门锁，所以他就把门把手带在身边。奥斯汀则刻意让门有吱呀声，这样一有人来她就知道了。还有马克吐温，家人要跟他讲话时就吹喇叭，这样就不用敲门打扰他了。
2. They went for a daily walk.
他们每天都散步。
Armed with a notebook, Friedrich Nietzsche took a two-hour walk twice a day, once in the morning and again after lunch. Immanuel Kant also had a daily walk after lunch. Meanwhile, Charles Dickens, Soren Kierkegaard, and Ludwig van Beethoven all did their thinking while meandering. (Although Beethoven did some of his best composing while bathing.)
尼采每天早上和饭后都要夹上一本笔记去散步，每次都有2个小时。康德每天饭后也必定会去散步。此外，狄更斯、索伦克尔凯郭尔和贝多芬通常也在散步时进行思考。（不过贝多芬一些最好的作品是在泡澡时萌发灵感的。）
3. They drew a line between important work and busywork.
他们将重要事务和繁忙事务分得很清楚。
Before there was email, there were letters, Green writes at HBR. Many (creative geniuses) would divide the day into real work (such as composing or painting in the morning) and busywork (answering letters in the afternoon).
邮件未发明之前，人们都是采用信件，格林在《哈佛商业评论》中这样写道， 许多大师会将一天分成真正的工作（比如早上创作或作画）和繁忙的工作（下午回信）。 1/2 12下一页尾页