Boost Your Productivity, Embrace the 'Hard Stop'

One reason why mountaineering can be so dangerous is because of the sunk cost fallacy. The idea that just because you've invested time and effort in something, that's reason enough to stick with it. Once you've traveled a long distance, it's easy to downplay obstacles like bad weather or slow progress.

In 1996, eight people died during a trek to the top of Mount Everest. That's why mountaineers have started using stop rules to ensure they get home alive. For example, if we haven't made it to checkpoint D by 3 pm, we turn around, no matter what. Establishing terms like these, force them to override the emotions that arise in the heat of the moment.

Personally, I won't be climbing the world's tallest mountain anytime soon. But, I do employ stop rules or hard stops throughout my work day. Having them in place boosts my productivity and keeps me focused on my goals.

One strategy I recommend is time blocking. The process of blocking off time on your calendar to work on your most important projects. It saves you from a common trap of administrative creep which happens when innocent-looking tasks, such as responding to a message on Slack or quickly processing your email inbox, take much longer than expected. Before you know it, the best hours of your work day are gone. And you don't remember what you spent them on.

When you start each day by blocking off time for at least one important task, two things happen.

First, you activate Parkinson's law which states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. You'll somehow find a way to get all the administrative stuff done in the time that remains.

And second, your focus will improve. Planning your day makes it painfully clear just how little time you actually have. That's a good thing because you understand what's at stake. As a result, you take your time block seriously. You turn off notifications, close your office door, and focus on that one, most important task to get it done.

Stock traders often set hard stop rules like if the stock price drops more than 10 percent, I'll sell immediately. This prevents the sunk cost bias from pushing them to hold on too long. It allows them to act fast and minimize losses by preventing a drawn-out analysis while prices drop.

Our productivity can be like stock prices. We often keep telling ourselves that we'll improve tomorrow. But have no clear thresholds to trigger action. Hard stops help us focus on the work that matters and protects us from one of our biggest roadblocks ourselves.

词汇表
mountaineering [ˌmaʊntəˈnɪərɪŋ] 登山运动，登山
sunk cost fallacy [sʌŋk kɒst ˈfæləsi] 沉没成本谬误（因已投入成本而不愿放弃某项无益行动的不合理决策倾向）
downplay [ˌdaʊnˈpleɪ] 淡化，贬低，对…轻描淡写
trek [trek] （徒步）长途跋涉，翻山越岭
Mount Everest [ˌmaʊnt ˈevərɪst] 珠穆朗玛峰（世界最高峰）
checkpoint [ˈtʃekpɔɪnt] 检查站，检查点
override [ˌəʊvəˈraɪd] 压倒，推翻，不顾（情感、意愿等）
in the heat of the moment 在一时激动下；在盛怒之下
stop rule / hard stop 止损规则/硬止损法（指预先设定的停止某项行动的明确标准或时间点）
time blocking [taɪm ˈblɒkɪŋ] 时间块规划（在日程表中预留特定时间段处理特定任务的时间管理方法）
block off 预留，划出  （时间等），封锁，隔断
administrative creep [ədˈmɪnɪstrətɪv kriːp] 行政事务蔓延（指琐碎行政任务逐渐占用过多时间的现象）
innocent-looking [ˈɪnəsnt ˈlʊkɪŋ] 看起来无害的，外表单纯的
inbox [ˈɪnbɒks] （电子邮件的）收件箱
Parkinson's law [ˈpɑːkɪnsənz] 帕金森定律（指工作会自动膨胀，占满所有可用时间的现象）
at stake [steɪk] 利害攸关，在危急关头
stock trader [stɒk ˈtreɪdə(r)] 股票交易员，证券交易人
minimize losses [ˈmɪnɪmaɪz ˈlɒsɪz] 最大限度减少损失，将损失降到最低
drawn-out [ˌdrɔːn ˈaʊt] 持续很久的，冗长的，延长的
threshold [ˈθreʃhəʊld] 阈值，界限，起点
roadblock [ˈrəʊdblɒk] 路障，障碍物

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