source: Small Surface Area
🗒️我的笔记
A different take on what makes us feel so busy, stressed, and anxious. 对让我们感到如此忙碌、压力和焦虑的不同看法。
As a rule, the larger your surface area, the more energy you have to expend maintaining it. Of course, when most of us think of surface area, we think of the area of a rectangle or how much grass we have to mow. But there is a surface area of life, and most of us never realize how much it consumes.
通常，表面积越大，维护它所消耗的能量就越多。当然，当我们大多数人想到表面积时，我们会想到矩形的面积或我们必须割多少草。但是生命有一个表面积，我们大多数人从未意识到它消耗了多少。
If you have one house, you have a relatively small surface area to maintain (depending on the age and size of the house, of course). If you buy another one, your surface area expands. But it doesn’t expand linearly – it expands slightly above that. It’s all the same work plus more.
如果你有一栋房子，你需要维护的表面积相对较小（当然，这取决于房子的年龄和大小）。如果您再买一个，您的表面积就会扩大。但它不是线性扩张的——它略高于此。这都是一样的工作，还有更多。
Friends are another type of surface area. You have a finite amount of time to spend with friends before you die. The more friends you have, the less time you can spend with each one individually.
朋友是另一种类型的表面积。在你死之前，你和朋友在一起的时间是有限的。你拥有的朋友越多，你与每个人相处的时间就越少。
Money is another form of surface area. The more money you have, the more you have to keep track of different types of assets and investments.
金钱是表面积的另一种形式。你拥有的钱越多，你就越需要跟踪不同类型的资产和投资。
When your surface area expands too much, you hire people to help you scale. Assistants, property managers, family offices, etc. They’re scaling you – but they’re also scaling the surface area of responsibility. This, of course, only masks the rapidly expanding surface area by abstracting it.
当您的表面积扩张过多时，您可以雇用人员来帮助您扩展。助理、物业经理、家族办公室等他们正在扩展你，但他们也在扩展责任的表面积。当然，这只能通过抽象来掩盖快速扩展的表面积。 我们觉得我们需要更多的时间，但我们渴望的是更多的专注。我们需要的是更小的表面积。
Beliefs are another type of surface area.
信念是另一种类型的表面积。
The thing about surface area is that the more you have, the more you have to defend and maintain. The larger your surface area, the more you are burdened with mentally and physically.
关于表面积的事情是，你拥有的越多，你就越需要防御和维护。你的表面积越大，你在精神上和身体上的负担就越大。
If you think in terms of surface area, it’s easy to see why we are so anxious, stressed, and constantly behind.
如果你从表面积的角度来思考，很容易理解为什么我们如此焦虑、压力和不断落后。
We feel like we need more time, but what we’re craving is more focus. What we need is a smaller surface area.
我们觉得我们需要更多的时间，但我们渴望的是更多的专注。我们需要的是更小的表面积。
Your surface area becomes part of your identity. She’s the ‘busy person’ with her hand in every project. He’s the guy with four houses.
您的表面积成为您身份的一部分。她是每个项目中都亲力亲为的“忙碌人”。他是那个有四栋房子的人
Competition can drive expansion. Most people want a bigger house to compete with someone else who has a nicer house. We are animals, after all. On a group level, this causes great benefits. On an individual level, it can cause unhappiness.
竞争可以推动扩张。大多数人都想要一个更大的房子来与其他拥有更好房子的人竞争。毕竟，我们是动物。在团队层面上，这会带来巨大的好处。在个人层面上，它会导致不快乐。
Most of the really happy people I know have a relatively small surface area. I know billionaires with two houses. Most of my close friends only have 4-5 close friends – everyone else is a friend in the loose sense of the word. Most of the productive people I know at work are focused on one or two things, not 5.
我认识的大多数真正快乐的人的表面积都相对较小。我认识有两栋房子的亿万富翁。我的大多数亲密朋友只有 4-5 个亲密朋友——其他人都是松散意义上的朋友。我在工作中认识的大多数有生产力的人都专注于一两件事，而不是五件事。
The way to maximize your enjoyment in life is to keep your surface area small. It’s a lot of work but if the happiest people I know are any indication, it’s a lot less work to keep it small than to maintain it when it’s large.
最大限度地提高生活乐趣的方法是保持较小的表面积。这是一项艰巨的工作，但如果说我认识的最快乐的人有任何迹象的话，那么保持它小比当它大时维护它要少得多。