There’s a good chance most of the problems in your life and work come down to insufficient slack. Here’s how slack works and why you need more of it.

你生活和工作中的大多数问题，很可能是因为缺乏弹性时间或空间。了解弹性如何运作，以及为什么你需要更多弹性。

Imagine if you, as a budding productivity enthusiast, one day gained access to a time machine and decided to take a trip back several decades to the office of one of your old-timey business heroes. Let’s call him Tony.

想象一下，作为一个刚开始热衷于提高生产力的人，有一天你获得了一个时间机器，然后决定回到几十年前，去拜访一个你一直以来的商业偶像，我们就称他为 Tony。

You disguise yourself as a janitor and figure a few days of observation should be enough to reveal the secret of that CEO’s incredible productivity and shrewd decision-making. You want to learn the habits and methods that enabled him to transform an entire industry for good.

你伪装成一名保洁员，认为只需几天的观察就能揭示那位 CEO 惊人高效和精明决策的秘密。你希望学习他那些能够永久改变整个行业的习惯和方法。

Arriving at the (no doubt smoke-filled) office, you’re a little surprised to find it’s far from a hive of activity. In fact, the people you can see around seem to be doing next to nothing. Outside your hero’s office, his secretary lounges at her desk (and let’s face it, the genders wouldn’t have been the other way around.) Let’s call her Gloria. She doesn’t appear busy at all. You observe for half an hour as she reads, tidies her desk, and chats with other secretaries who pass by. They don’t seem busy either. Confused as to why Tony would squander money on idle staff, you stick around for a few more hours.

你来到这个办公室时，没想到这里完全没有想象中的忙碌景象。实际上，周围的人都显得无所事事。你的上司办公室外，他的秘书悠闲地坐在桌前，我们来称呼她为格洛丽亚。她看起来一点都不忙。你观察了半个小时，她读书、整理桌面，有时候还和路过的其他秘书闲聊，他们看起来也不忙。你不明白托尼为什么要花钱雇佣这些无所事事的员工，于是决定再待几个小时看看情况。

With a bit more observation, you realize your initial impression was entirely wrong. Gloria does indeed do nothing much of the time. But every so often, a request, instruction, or alert comes from Tony and she leaps into action. Within minutes, she answers the call, sends the letter, reschedules the appointment, or finds the right document. Any time he has a problem, she solves it right away. There’s no to-do list, no submitting a ticket, no waiting for a reply to an email for either Tony or Gloria.

稍加观察后，你意识到自己最初的印象完全错了。格洛丽亚确实大部分时间没做什么事情，但每隔一段时间，托尼会有请求、指示或提醒传来，她就会立刻行动起来。在几分钟内，她能完成打电话、发送信件、重新安排约会或者找到合适文件等任务。每当托尼遇到问题，她总能立即解决。这两人之间没有待办事项清单，无需提交工单，也不需要等待邮件回复。