The trick to being successful could, in fact, be simple.

　　事实上，成功的秘诀可能很简单。

　　From my own experience interviewing highly successful artists, writers, and creative entrepreneurs I’ve found one of the most common responses to the question of how they can be so prolific to be, ‘well, I don’t have a social life.’

　　从我个人采访极其成功的艺术家，作家以及创造性企业家的经验来看，我发现对于他们怎么如此多产这个问题的最常见的答案之一是，“我没有社交生活”。

　　As a freelancer working solo from home, while my housemates head out to work, I justified a very active social life as basic human necessity. Yet when it dawned on me just how much time I was spending socialising, I realised I may be taking it to an extreme.

　　作为一个独自在家工作，我的舍友在外工作的自由作家，我认为非常活跃的社交生活是基本的人类需求。但是当我渐渐明白我花了多少时间来社交时，我意识到我可能太极端了。

　　I calculated that, on average, I was spending 22 hours or more each week on social activities. So, in a bid to see what would happen to my work output, health and wellbeing, I decided to try and cut out my social life entirely.

　　我估算了一下，我每周平均花22个小时甚至更多进行社会活动。为了看看这给我的工作产出，健康和幸福带来了什么，我决定试试彻底切断自己的社交生活。

　　I knew, at times, I filled my schedule simply out of fear of missing out (FOMO), an inability to say no, but also as a sneaky way to procrastinate or shift focus away from my work.

　　我知道，有时候我仅仅是因为恐惧被遗漏而填满了自己的时间表，无法拒绝，但这也是一种拖延或者把注意力从工作上转移的卑鄙方式。

　　For one month, I declined all in-person activities with friends: going out for drinks; coffee catch-ups; dinners; parties and non-work related events, to see if it would make me more productive, improve my focus and career prospects.

　　一个月来，我拒绝了和朋友的所有亲子活动：出去喝酒，喝咖啡，晚饭，聚会和与工作无关的活动，来看看这是否能让我更加多产，提高自己的注意力和职业前景。

　　On day one of the month-long experiment, I had to confront some deep-seated anxiety over missing out. For me, FOMO often stems from choice – when there are several enticing options available for a Saturday night, how do I know I’m making the right choice?

　　长达一个月的实验中的一天，我不得不面对一些因为忽视而带来的深层次焦虑，对忽视的恐惧通常源自选择，当周六晚上有几个诱人的选择时，我怎么知道做出正确的选择呢?

　　But as the days passed, the FOMO began to subside and I started to relax. I only had one option to consider for Saturday night – to stay home – and this limitation left me more satisfied in my decision. I used to berate myself for staying in on a Friday night or leaving an event too early, but during the experiment I felt more content working, reading or watching Netflix instead of dwelling on the other things I could be doing.

　　但是随着时光流逝，对忽视的恐惧开始减弱，我开始放松。我周六晚上只有一个供考虑的选择——呆在家中——这种限制让我对自己的选择更加满意。我曾经痛斥自己周五不出门或者很早离家参加活动，但是试验期间，我对工作，阅读或者看Netflix更加满意，而不是凝想其它我可以做的事情。

　　A fun-free schedule also allowed for more ‘deep work’ (something computer science professor, Cal Newport, defines as the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task). No longer distracted by what I could be doing, or what fun everyone else was having, I was able to build concentrated pockets of work into my week at times that were usually reserved for socialising, such as spending Friday nights doing admin or Saturday mornings writing in a café.

　　没有娱乐的时间表也允许更多“深度工作”(计算机科学教授 Cal Newport将其定义为一种不被认知要求任务所分神的专注能力)。不再为我可以做什么，或是别人在玩什么而分神，我可以在本来通常用于社交的时间里专注工作，不如周五晚上做点行政工作，周六白天在咖啡馆写作。

　　While I found more time to work, I also noticed a change in my overall health and wellbeing. I found myself cooking more at home, doing daily exercise, getting to bed earlier each night, reading, and relishing moments of rest and boredom throughout the day.

　　当我发现有更多的工作时间时，我还注意到我的整体健康和幸福发生了变化。我发现自己在家做饭多了，进行日常锻炼，每天提早睡觉，阅读，享受休息的时刻和充斥每天的无聊。

　　Post-experiment, I have redefined what success looks like to me – it isn’t all work, or all play, or all balance, but a mix of different engagements within each day, and a steady smattering of breaks in between.

　　试验后，我重新定义了我眼中的成功——并不全是工作，或者玩，或者平衡，而是每天各种活动的综合，以及期间点滴的休息。