成功人士不用睡觉吗

George Washington and his Revolutionary War victories. Robert Frost and the composition of 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.' Bill Gates and the founding of Microsoft. Steve Wozniak and the invention of color computer monitors. Tom Stemberg and the launch of the Staples company. Each is a great American success story. But do such stories share a common ingredient, one that you can incorporate into your career strategy in order to maximize your professional success?

乔治•华盛顿(George Washington)和他在美国独立战争中取得的胜利，罗伯特•弗罗斯特(Robert Frost)与《雪夜林中小驻》(Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening)的创作，比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)与微软(Microsoft)的创办，史蒂夫•沃兹尼亚克(Steve Wozniak)与彩色电脑显示器的发明，汤姆•斯坦伯格(Tom Stemberg)与史泰博(Staples)公司的创立──每一个都是了不起的美国式成功。但这些成功是否拥有某种共同的元素，你可以拿来融入到自己的职场策略当中，从而在职业上取得最大化的成功？

They do - but it's likely not what you would expect. In each case, an all-nighter a work session of 24 hours or more made all the difference.

共同元素是有的，但可能不是你所预料的那种。在每一个案例当中，都是通宵熬夜──连续工作达24小时甚至更久──带来了所有的改变。

Take Washington, for example. Before he became President, war was his profession, and all-nighters were the way he outwitted his enemy. The British, despite their technological and organizational superiority, took an orthodox approach to battle, one that assumed that major engagements would take place in open fields at fixed times. Washington, on the other hand, used the nighttime hours to plot, plan, and maneuver.

以华盛顿为例。在当上总统以前，打仗是他的职业，他正是用通宵熬夜的办法战胜了敌人。英国人尽管在技术上和组织上占优，但在打仗的时候采用的是一种正统方针，即重大交战要在固定时间、开阔场地上进行。而华盛顿则是利用夜晚的时间来策划和部署。

Thus, in 1776, Washington and his troops were pinned down by the British army and navy in northern Brooklyn, New York City. The destruction of the colonial army seemed inevitable. Yet, in one night, under cover of darkness, Washington evacuated his men across the river to Manhattan, undetected and without a single casualty.

在1776年，华盛顿及其部下被英国陆军和海军围困在纽约城布鲁克林北部，殖民地军队的瓦解似乎已不可避免。然而在一天晚上，华盛顿利用夜色作为掩护，神不知鬼不觉地，不费一兵一卒就将其人马撤离到河对岸的曼哈顿。

Washington used a similar gambit that winter in his successful ambush of the Hessian encampment near Trenton, New Jersey, immortalized by the famous painting 'Washington Crossing the Delaware.' Here, too, the general and his troops abstained from sleep for a full night to surprise the enemy and turn the tide of the war.

那年冬天，华盛顿采用同样的战术，在新泽西州特伦顿(Trenton)附近成功地伏击了黑森雇佣兵的营地。这次伏击因为《华盛顿横渡特拉华河》(Washington Crossing the Delaware)这幅名画而名垂千古。在这里，华盛顿及其将士同样彻夜未眠，从而出奇制胜、扭转战局。

When it comes to your career, all-nighters are not just about working when others are sleeping. They also can improve the quality of your creative work product. Consider Frost's 'Stopping by Woods.' One morning, after working all night, Frost was struck by a flash of inspiration, and wrote the poem in a matter of minutes. Or consider Wozniak's vision of monitors that could display color. As Wozniak has explained, in order to meet a deadline on another project, he had to stay up for days on end. His delirious exhaustion became a catalyst for uninhibited creativity, where ideas could flow without rigid conscious control, leading to an innovation that changed the computer industry.

在涉及职场的时候，通宵熬夜不只是在别人睡觉的时候工作，它还可以提高创造性工作成果的质量。想想弗罗斯特的《雪夜林中小驻》。一天清晨，在熬夜工作一整个晚上之后，弗罗斯特灵感突发，几分钟就写成了这首诗。或者是想想沃兹尼亚克对彩色显示器的构想。据他自己介绍，为了赶另外一个项目，他不得不连续几天熬夜，弄得筋疲力尽、精神恍惚。结果这种状态激发了他势不可当的创造性，不需有意控制便思如泉涌，结果便是一项改变整个计算机产业的创新。

From a scientific perspective, why do all-nighters work? Why are they an effective tool for purposes of career advancement? After all, conventional wisdom says that sleep is good, and that lack of sleep can lead to sloppy mistakes.

那么从科学角度讲，通宵熬夜为什么有此奇效？为什么它是职业发展过程中的有效工具？毕竟，一般想法都是睡觉是好事、缺觉可能会犯糊涂。

In fact, while sleep is a vital element in a professional life, all-nighters, when employed wisely, also can play a unique role. For instance, in a 2011 study, 'Time of Day Effects on Problem Solving: When the Non-Optimal Is Optimal,' by researchers at Michigan State University and Albion College (Michigan), two groups of adults were presented with riddles that required the use of creative insight. The first group attempted to tackle these problems at the 'high point' in their circadian rhythm. The other group had to do so when feeling less awake and alert. The tired subjects were significantly better at solving these problems, while just as effective at solving other, less creative tasks.

事实上，虽然睡眠是职业生涯中不可或缺的元素，但熬夜只要得当，也可以发挥独特的作用。比如密歇根州立大学(Michigan State University)和密歇根阿尔比恩学院(Albion College)的研究人员2011年的论文《连轴转对解决问题的作用：非最佳时间表现最佳》(Time of Day Effects on Problem Solving: When the Non-Optimal Is Optimal)写道，两组成年人都拿到要求动用创造性思维的思考题，第一组要在他们生物钟的“高点”解答这些问题，第二组则要在感到没那么清醒、警觉的时候来解答问题。结果疲惫的那一组解答这些问题的成绩明显更好，而在完成其他对创造性要求更低的任务时，他们的效率跟第一组是一样的。

What is the explanation for this phenomenon? When well-rested, we tend to marshal our executive-level cognitive resources to focus efficiently on narrowly defined tasks. But creativity often mandates that we do the opposite namely, to give expression to ideas that are 'outside the box,' ideas that we might normally dismiss as silly or irrational. During an all-nighter, the walls of that 'box' can break down, to your benefit.

出现这种现象的原因是什么？在休息充分的时候，我们往往会调用自己执行层面的认知资源，有效地集中在狭义的任务之上。但创造性常常要求我们做相反的事情，也就是把“框框之外”的创意、平时我们或许觉得愚蠢或不理性的创意表达出来。在熬夜的过程中，“框框”可以打破，而这对你是有利的。

What about projects that are not creative in nature, and that simply require sustained attention, patience, and linear thinking? If you go into an all-nighter well-rested, this type of cognitive horsepower also can keep up for a surprisingly long time. For instance, a 2009 study out of Harvard Medical School, 'Failure to Find Executive Function Deficits Following One Night's Total Sleep Deprivation in University Students Under Naturalistic Conditions,' found that, despite being subjected to over 30 hours of sleep deprivation, young adults were no less effective than their well-rested counterparts at a variety of cognitive tests having to do with language, logic, and comprehension.

那些本质上不具创造性、只需要持续专注、耐心和线性思维的项目呢？如果你是休息充分地熬夜，那么这种认知能量也可以维持超乎想象的时间。比如哈佛医学院(Harvard Medical School)2009年论文《自然条件下大学生整夜未眠之后未发现执行功能障碍》(Failure to Find Executive Function Deficits Following One Night's Total Sleep Deprivation in University Students Under Naturalistic Conditions)指出，在多项涉及语言、逻辑和理解的认知测试中，年轻成年人在30多小时不眠之后的效率不低于其他休息充分的年轻成年人。

So what's the bottom line? If you want to take your career to the next level by improving the quality or quantity of your work, the occasional all-nighter, properly planned and executed in time-tested American tradition, may be the perfect prescription.

结论是什么呢？如果你想通过提高工作的质量和数量来把自己的职业生涯带入新的层面，那么偶尔熬夜，并按久经考验的美国传统进行合理的规划和执行，或许就是完美的药方。