跟读练习: 186. Do You Need a Routine? | No Stupid Questions - 通过视频学习英语口语
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1
gosh i hope this isn't too personal i'm angela duckworth i'm mike mon
天啊，希望这不会太涉及隐私，我是安吉拉·达克沃斯，我是迈克·蒙
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and you're listening to no stupid questions today on the show
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how important are routines they need to live a chaotic life with no rules no plans Angela,
日常规律到底有多重要？安吉拉，他们过着毫无规则、毫无计划的混乱生活。
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today I think we have a really fun question, but I'm even more excited because it's from a really fun person.
今天我觉得我们有一个特别有意思的问题，而且我更兴奋的是，这个问题来自一位特别有趣的人。
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Okay, do tell.
好，那你说吧。
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This is a question that was sent in from my brother, Peter.
这是我弟弟彼得发来的一个问题。
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Perfect Peter, right?
完美彼得，对吧？
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He's the neurosurgeon.
他是那位神经外科医生。
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Yes, I love that you call him Perfect Peter.
对呀，我超爱你叫他完美彼得。
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I do think he's incredible.
我确实觉得他非常了不起。
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I think he's the smartest of all my siblings.
我觉得他是我所有兄弟姐妹里最聪明的。
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I'll give him that.
这一点我得承认他做得对。
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I can't wait to hear what the other siblings think.
我迫不及待想听听其他兄弟姐妹的想法。
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I think they'd all acknowledge it.
我觉得他们都会承认这一点。
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Okay, what does Perfect Peter want to know?
好的，完美彼得想知道什么？
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Okay, so Peter's asking a question.
好的，彼得正在提问。
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He says, how important is routine in life?
他说，日常生活的规律到底有多重要？
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To what extent does sticking closely to routine help someone be or feel more productive, happier, et cetera, versus limit them?
严格遵循日常规律在多大程度上能帮助人们提升工作效率、获得更强的幸福感等，又会在多大程度上对他们形成限制？
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Or perhaps better phrased, when is routine helpful and when can it be harmful?
或许换个说法更恰当：日常习惯什么时候是有益的，什么时候又可能是有害的？
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Interesting.
有意思。
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I am guessing that Perfect Peter has lots of routines.
我猜完美彼得有很多固定的习惯。
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Just a wild guess.
只是瞎猜的。
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He absolutely does.
他绝对是这样的。
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He continues his question with this.
他接着又问了这个问题。
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I can see how at times being too focused on routine
我能理解有时候过于专注于日常惯例会怎样
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causes one to feel like their life is overly regimented and doesn't allow for enough free flow and spontaneity,
会让人觉得自己的生活过于刻板僵化，缺乏足够的随性和自发性。
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while at other times routine can be an essential element of goal attainment and accomplishment.
而在另一些时候，规律的日常安排则是实现目标、取得成就的关键要素。
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So he says, Angela and Mike, how should we think about routine and incorporate or not incorporate routine into our lives?
所以他问，安吉拉和迈克，我们应该如何看待日常规律，又该如何将其融入或不融入我们的生活呢？
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I think it's a great question.
我觉得这是个很好的问题。
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I mean, have you heard the phrase firm opinions loosely held?
我是说，你有没有听过这句话：观点要坚定，但持有的态度要灵活？
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Yes.
是的。
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Well, I wonder if like firm opinions loosely held, there are times when routine can guide our lives but shouldn't control it.
嗯，我在想，就像那些坚定却又不失灵活的观点一样，有些时候日常惯例可以引导我们的生活，但不应该支配它。
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And I have a good friend who he's one of those people with what I would call firm routines loosely held.
我有一个好朋友，他属于那种我称之为“有固定习惯但又不会过于死板”的人。
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So every Friday, for example, at 2 p .m., he stops and gets together with a few friends
比如说，每个星期五下午两点，他都会停下手里的事，和几位朋友聚一聚。
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and they debrief on their week and kind of make their transition into the weekend.
他们会复盘一周的工作，慢慢过渡到周末状态。
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But it's both this productive element and this signaling of friendship that we're transitioning into a different space.
但正是这种富有成效的元素，以及这种传递友谊的信号，让我们得以进入一个全新的领域。
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And he has so many of these types of just routines, but it's not so firmly held that he won't do anything else they're not
他有很多这类固定的日常习惯，但这些习惯并没有死板到让他完全不肯做其他事情。
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so firmly held that like
如此根深蒂固，以至于就像
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if he were on a plane at two o 'clock on a friday he'd be freaking out
如果他周五两点钟在飞机上，他肯定会慌得不行。
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because he couldn't do that right and i thought to myself
因为他那件事做不好，我当时心里就想
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so much of life is really busy all the time
生活中很多时候一直都忙得不可开交。
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and you get ripped from one place to another it's really
你被从一个地方猛地拽到另一个地方，那种感觉真的……
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beautiful to have a few of these i'll call them quasi non -negotiables in terms of routine
能拥有几项这样的日常惯例真是太好了，我把它们称为准非协商事项。
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that say this is how i'm going to approach my life to make sure i get these things into it
这就是我打算对待自己人生的方式，确保能把这些事融入生活中。
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that are important to me you You know, routine isn't studied as much in psychology as habit.
那些对我来说很重要的事。你知道，在心理学领域，人们对日常惯例的研究远不如对习惯的研究多。
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There's so much, I want to say hype about habit only because that sounds good and it's alliterative.
我有太多话想说，之所以要大肆宣扬习惯的重要性，纯粹是因为这个说法听起来很顺耳，还押头韵。
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Like there's so much talk about habit.
大家都在聊习惯这个话题，聊得特别多。
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There's so many books about habit.
关于习惯的书实在太多了。
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Habits are really when your brain is on autopilot.
习惯其实就是大脑进入自动驾驶模式的时候。
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In fact, my favorite habit neuroscientist, Colin Kammerer at Caltech, uses the phrase neural autopilot.
事实上，我最欣赏的研究习惯的神经科学家、加州理工学院的科林·卡默勒，使用了“神经自动驾驶”这一说法。
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And there is an entirely separate part of your brain.
而你的大脑中还有一个完全独立的区域。
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And sometimes people say this kind of thing, like, oh, there's a part of your brain that, you know, fill in the blank.
有时候人们会说这种话，比如说，你大脑里有某个部分会自动补全空白。
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In this case, there really is what is called the habit system.
在这种情况下，确实存在所谓的习惯系统。
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And it's a different part of the brain that you use when you do something which is so automatic.
当你做一些完全是下意识的事情时，你使用的是大脑的另一部分。
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You've done it so many times.
你都做过那么多次了。
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And it's been so consistently the right thing to do that you really don't have to think.
而且这么做一直以来都无比正确，你根本不需要多想。
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So stopping at a red light, you know, red light, hit the brakes.
遇到红灯的时候，你知道的，红灯亮了就踩刹车。
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That's the kind of thing that people talk about when they talk about neural autopilot.
这正是人们谈论神经自动驾驶时会提到的那种情况。
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And I think that these routines that we're talking about here, like, oh, on Fridays, I do this.
我觉得我们刚才聊到的那些日常习惯，比如说，每到周五我都会做这件事。
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You're not completely using cruise control, but there is some kind of default nature to it.
你并没有完全依赖巡航控制，但它本身确实存在某种默认的运行特性。
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You know, the reason why we have any of these things, like true habits, where your brain is really on autopilot, to routines where you're sort of like kind of awake,
你知道吗，我们之所以会有这些状态，从大脑完全进入自动模式的真正习惯，到那种你有点清醒的日常例行行为，
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but there's a strong default, to even a plan.
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All of these are on a continuum of how much did
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I know in advance what I was going to do and not have to think about it too much to, on the other hand, like,
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wow, I have to use all of the cognitive bandwidth I have to figure out what I'm going to do.
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And I'll just say that the human brain is a miracle, but it's very small.
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And human beings have had to do smart things with this little.. few pounds of cranial material.
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And one of the reasons why human beings are so smart is
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because we have this ability to put some things on autopilot or near autopilot or I already planned this yesterday.
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You know, if you wake up and you have already planned what your day is going to be like the day before, that frees up a lot of cognitive bandwidth to like now negotiate what's happening.
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People who wake up and they're just making every single decision like reactively, They just are not living a very efficient life.
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So I'm a big fan of habits, like pure habits, and also I'm a big fan of routines.
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Let me jump in then for a second.
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What are some routines that you have in your life
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that have helped you maybe free up cognitive bandwidth for other things kind of on the regular?
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I call three girlfriends three different days of the week.
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Sue is on Saturdays, Michelle is on Sundays, and Shalini is on Wednesdays.
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That is amazing we talk and we run at the same time, or I should say jog, at least for me.
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It's a routine, I would say, because it's not like I start to do this automatically without any intentionality.
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There's a Google Calendar invite.
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It often needs to be moved a little bit.
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One person needs to start a little earlier.
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I have to switch the day.
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But anyway, I have that routine.
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I think it is the one thing i have done as a friend
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that has been a real game changer like i would not
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say i'm the best friend i never remember anyone's birthday i'm
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not the most thoughtful human i have to say the routine
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of weekly calls has not only preserved these three friendships but actually made them
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so much richer than they were before we started this
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which is i don't know like 10 years ago
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or something that's incredible and forgive me i'm going to use the term i shouldn't
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but is this a form of habit stacking?
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What did you learn about habit stacking?
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Katie Milkman.
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Oh, right.
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A lot of people call it habit piggybacking.
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And my collaborator and friend Katie Milkman will talk about it.
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Also, James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits, which I just want to go on record as saying it's a pretty gosh darn good book.
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He's not a professor or psychologist, but he's incredibly intuitive.
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So maybe I should call him a psychologist.
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But habit stacking
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or habit piggybacking is great advice for anybody who's going to try to develop a routine or a pure habit.
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So, gosh, I hope this isn't too personal.
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But you know what?
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In the world of podcasting, you can always edit things out.
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So I was at the gynecologist.
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I feel like if I finish my sentence, Mike's going to get up and leave.
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I just feel like every story that starts with, I probably shouldn't say this, is either going to be really good or really bad.
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Like there's no in between.
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Nothing else in the middle there.
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I mean, I'll say this.
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I was at the gynecologist and I'm a woman of a certain age.
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So I'm in menopause, we think.
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And one of the things that happens at this time of life, Mike, is that you basically, you know, have a hard time not peeing on yourself.
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You get told a joke.
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Somebody bumps you.
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You get surprised.
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You do an aerobics class.
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And, like, all of a sudden you have a problem because you're not 17 anymore.
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And these Kegel muscles that are in the pelvic floor aren't working so well.
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So basically, every woman of my age, I think, has been told at some point that you should do these very simple Kegel exercises.
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It's free, it's invisible, and every woman that I know of my age doesn't do them.
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So what my gynecologist said to me is that I should essentially have it stack.
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She was like, for example, you could stack it onto something like a cue, like when you're watching TV and there's a commercial, right?
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But I think the most common example that's given is that brushing teeth is something that most people do twice a day,
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and that means you have two opportunities to habit stack, or I might say, thinking about Peter, routine stack.
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It doesn't have to be like a purely automatic habit, but even something where, like, okay, I will give you a less embarrassing example, perhaps.
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I habit -stacked doing my physical therapy routine during my toothbrushing.
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So I have lunges and squats, and they're all doable exercises while you're holding a toothbrush in your right hand.
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And so that has become my routine.
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And actually, it's like you said, it's a strong opinion loosely held in the sense that, you know, if I'm like doing something unusual,
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like I have to brush my teeth in the shower because I'm late, I don't also try to do my physical therapy there because that could be dangerous.
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So anyway, my point is, if you think about trying to establish a new routine or a new habit, without something to hook on to, it's really hard
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so first of all i try i won't claim
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that i do this all the time but
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when i brush my teeth i try to do wall sits yes at the same time i'm doing it wait
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when you say try does that that means that i don't do it all the time
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I did not do it this morning.
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Yeah, wall sets are so hard.
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I did brush my teeth.
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I did not do wall sets.
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Let's clarify.
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You know, a lot of people are under the misunderstanding that if you do something like a million times, it becomes a habit.
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But that's actually not how the habit system works.
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We only migrate things from what's sometimes called the goal system in the brain, which is something that takes a lot of intentionality in the moment.
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You know, you're thinking, you're maybe simulating options, you're deciding.
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We move from the goal system to the habit system when a behavior is repeated and it's rewarded.
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So I have to ask you, when you finish brushing your teeth and doing these wall sits, do you feel rewarded?
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Well, I think like all exercise, nobody wants to do it in the moment, but you're always grateful that you did.
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And when are you grateful?
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Are you grateful like right away?
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Do you feel rewarded right then?
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Yeah.
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Yes, I do.
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So if you feel really good right away, I have some hope that this might become a habit.
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I think one of the challenges is that wall sits are painful.
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So when I say that habits are behaviors that are repeated and rewarded, one of the things going against you in this case,
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Mike, and one thing that might keep it a routine
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and never a full -fledged habit is the pain of doing it, right?
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Like if you had another exercise, by the way, that was maybe less good for you, but was less painful, I'm guessing
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that you would have a greater chance of keeping up the routine and even that routine becoming a habit.
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Let me take it this way, then.
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Here's another one where I do feel deeply rewarded, but would still call it a routine.
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There's this man named Jesse Itzler, and he's written some books about life with a seal.
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David Goggins is this Navy SEAL who is super well -known.
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So he had David Goggins before David Goggins was well -known come live with him at his house and train him.
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But one of the things that he does, and he didn't make any of this up, but he's kind of the one who's the biggest evangelizer of it.
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He talks about every year having a year -defining event.
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So you can always look back and say, in 2024, I did this.
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In 2023, I did this.
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And then he also says, I plan six mini adventures.
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So every other month, I know that I'm going to have a mini adventure.
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And that's something to look forward to.
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And I am excited about that.
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So I love the idea of year -defining event.
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I think it's really important.
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And I love the idea of six mini adventures.
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And you plan it in advance, right?
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It's not just that every year he looks back and he picks one thing as a year -defining event.
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Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Which, again, on this continuum, from pure habit to like, wow, I have to think about everything in the moment, I would call this a plan.
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So there's a spectrum of how much this thing is already foregone or automatic. For sure.
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So if you're going to have your year -defining event, and I try to do that, have your six mini -adventures, I try to plan all those out as well.
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Then I want to have what I call my 365 moments of awe.
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Ah, this is daily then.
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This is my daily thing where no matter how busy life is or crazy life is or challenging the day,
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I challenge myself to have at least one moment.
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And that can just be 30 seconds.
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So can I have an example of an annual life -defining experience?
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Well, year -defining.
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I'm not going to call it life -defining.
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Okay, right.
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Like lower the stakes a little bit.
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So 2022 for me, the year -defining event was Kilimanjaro, hiking Mount Kilimanjaro.
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Last year, my year -defining event, I'm only doing one in my life for other people.
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This is one of their many adventures.
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It was doing a marathon.
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That will always be my year of the marathon.
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Oh my gosh, I forgot you ran a marathon.
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You know, I'm going to go ahead and say I finished a marathon in 2023.
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There were parts where I hobbled and waddled, but yes, I finished a marathon.
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Okay, and then what would be an example of a mini -adventure?
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So a mini -adventure, for example, I'm going down to the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament for a weekend.
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Or I have a couple of friends that we get together for a surfing trip every year.
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I should clarify, they surf and I sit on a surfboard in the water and miss every wave.
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I have seen you in a photo in a wetsuit holding a board.
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It turns out you do not have to be able to get up on said board to take a picture with it.
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That is true and you were on the sand, so.
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Yes, yes, yes.
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You've never seen a video of me surfing.
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These were just props.
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Okay, so what's an example of an every day?
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So I will just say yesterday was a crazy day
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and I just walked outside for one minute and looked up at the mountains.
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So this doesn't have to be planned in advance, but maybe like a daily practice of gratitude?
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Maybe you could call it a moment of gratitude.
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I also try to do that.
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So maybe the moment of awe is the same thing, but I treat them separately right here's what i say angela
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and i would love to hear your thoughts on the importance
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of routines do you find them particularly helpful do you find them restrictive to you
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or how does your current routine affect your productivity
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and your mood record a voice memo in a quiet place with your mouth close to the phone
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and email it to us at nsq at freakonomics .com
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and maybe we'll play it on a future episode of the show
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and if you like the show
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and want to support it the best thing you can do
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is tell a friend about it you can also spread the word on social media
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or leave a review in your podcast app.
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Still to come on No Stupid Questions.
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Is having a solid morning routine crucial for leading a productive life?
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For a time, I thought every productive person has a morning routine.
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But let me tell you how I was wrong about that.
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now back to Mike and Angela's conversation about routines
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so a lot of people when they talk about routines talk about their morning routines yes
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and I'll just share one that I found from a video
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that Tony Robbins did that I actually really love And
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so he basically talked about how he starts his morning with three minutes of a breathing exercise,
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three minutes of gratitude, three minutes of prayer, and then three minutes of what he, I think, calls prioritization.
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And he says, here are the three things that I need to accomplish today, regardless of whatever else comes into my life or time, et cetera.
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And I love that idea of a morning routine.
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You know, I love morning routines, too.
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And for a time, I thought every productive person has a morning routine.
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But let me tell you how I was wrong about that.
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I still think that most productive people have a morning routine.
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And by the way, you could have like an afternoon routine or an evening routine.
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And some people do.
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But there's something about the morning, I think, because it's tabula rasa, right?
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Like you can wake up and there aren't already a lot of competing things.
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So morning routines do, as a rule, I think, end up being in the toolbox of very productive people.
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But let me tell you, not everyone.
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So Katie Milkman, aforementioned friend, collaborator, behavioral scientist, and I were hosting Cass Sunstein, who was the co -author of Nudge,
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the famous book that kind of launched behavioral economics into the popular consciousness.
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And also under Obama, he was like the nudge czar
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and actually helped establish the first team to get governments to use nudges to make the world better.
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But Cass is actually not an economist or behavioral scientist.
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He's a lawyer.
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He's a law professor.
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His current appointment is at Harvard.
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And Cass is truly the most productive writer that I know by a long shot.
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We joke that he gets on a plane, flies across the country, and gets off the plane and has another book.
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I've quite literally lost count of his books, but I think it's well over 50 now.
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Oh, wow.
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I know.
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I was like, oh, Cass, do you have a book coming out?
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And he was like, oh, which one?
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I was like, what?
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So I had to ask him because we were doing this conversation.
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I was like, Cass, I got to know.
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What's your morning routine?
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So he thought for a moment.
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He's like, well, I guess I get up around, well, whenever the dogs get me out of bed.
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And then he sort of like staring off into space as he was like recreating this.
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So it's obviously not something where he was like, okay, here's my morning routine.
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I have calibrated this over the years.
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He was like, oh, I guess after I walk the dogs.
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Well, then I get back into bed.
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I'm like, wow, this is not sounding like a productive morning routine.
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This is not sounding like David Goggins.
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I was like, okay.
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And then what?
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He's like, I don't know.
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I guess I get up.
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I like coffee.
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And then I said, Cass, what do you eat?
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Because I'm thinking now we're going to get somewhere, right?
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He's going to have some high -protein, you know, invigorate.
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He's like, I had like a donut?
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I don't know.
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Maybe I like donuts.
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And then I, you know, usually want to start writing.
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And I was like, okay.
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So I will say that some people have very regimented morning routines.
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For some people, it is bordering on a habit because it's so automatic.
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And then I guess there's Cass Sunstein who gets woken up by his dogs
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because his dogs need to go to the bathroom and then is kind of like vaulted into his life.
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If I might venture a guess, which is unfounded because I have to ask Cass, I think one of the reasons why he doesn't need a routine as much as other people
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is that he is really driven to write, like in an intrinsic way.
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A lot of writers, including me, need these like crutches and supports, like a calendar where you can X off the day, like, okay, you know, I want to keep my streak.
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Like, I think Cass is so driven to write that he doesn't need any of these external supports to just do it.
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it's really interesting that you say that
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because i was reading this review of mason curry's book daily
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rituals how artists work oh i read his books both of
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them then you're going to know more about this i've only read excerpts
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but i thought it was really interesting how he talked about this idea
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that maybe doesn't apply as much to cast
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but like you're saying many writers need and it's this idea
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that order and routine is what allows for creativity and daring yeah
309
and new york times columnist david brooks wrote this great opinion
310
piece inspired by mason curry's work he says quote children need emotional
311
and physical order so they can go off
312
and explore a parent's main job is to provide daily predictability
313
and emotional security then he continues communities need order to thrive
314
and cooperate since when there's chaos and disorder there's distrust
315
and withdrawal the main job of local leaders is to provide basic infrastructure
316
and security roads police honest judges orderly schools etc so
317
that your community can thrive he made the same argument about
318
what people who are in creative fields need in order to actually be creative
319
so it's almost this reverse understanding what you think you think a creative person is just free flowy
320
and go with whatever yeah they need to live a chaotic life with no rules no plans no routines
321
and no habits right like that could be the mental image of an artist right but i loved kind of his thing.
322
I don't know if you've ever read the book Evicted.
323
I have not.
324
Evicted, I think, is a fascinating and heartbreaking exploration into poverty in the United States
325
and how not having a stable housing situation, not knowing that there's a place that you can come home to every day,
326
really disrupts the development of children because they're constantly in flex, whether that's not knowing where they're going to live or going into an unhoused situation,
327
etc., etc. And the massive negative ramifications that has on people's development, their grades, their emotional security, et cetera.
328
Children need this emotional and physical order so they can explore.
329
It's kind of this idea that Curie's talking about here.
330
Creatives need this order and routine so that they can actually be creative, et cetera.
331
I think he has an intuition that is now supported, and I say now because I think this is very recent research.
332
So just the other day, I'm reading this article.
333
It's called What's Next?
334
Advances and Challenges in Understanding How Environmental Predictability Shapes the Development of Cognitive Control.
335
And what these scholars argue is that when a child is growing up, if they grow up in a relatively,
336
not entirely, but relatively predictable, orderly world, like breakfast happens in the morning,
337
not sometimes you get breakfast And sometimes you go hungry.
338
You know, adults in your life say things like, after you do your chores, then we'll have some time to read.
339
That is a kind of world that is very different from a child growing up where, like, you do your chores and then your parents aren't even there anymore.
340
Like, where'd they go?
341
Like, they left the house.
342
Right, right.
343
So what they claim is very bold, and that is that across species,
344
actually, a predictable world is essential for the development of cognitive control.
345
And that is this ability to regulate your thoughts and your actions.
346
Cognitive control is a little bit like the CEO of your brain.
347
But the idea is that it needs to have a predictable environment to develop properly.
348
The reason why this is so interesting is that it not only dovetails with what Mason Curry is observing about artists,
349
but also parenting researchers since forever have been saying that when you observe parents who have the healthiest and happiest kids,
350
and by the way, also the kids who are the most ethical, I mean, all these things go together.
351
Oh, so it's like all the above.
352
It's not just physical health and happiness.
353
Right.
354
You know, parenting is hard.
355
But the one thing I will say is that the things that you want a child to be are all correlated.
356
And consistency in parenting, this is something I wasn't that great at, but I tried.
357
I knew the research.
358
When I was in graduate school, as you know, my one daughter was in the womb.
359
The other daughter was just in her toddlerhood.
360
And I knew that consistency mattered.
361
So I knew they needed to have regularity in when mealtimes were, also in discipline.
362
I knew that I was supposed to be consistent.
363
Okay, I was not so great at that.
364
But I think in many other ways, there was really a kind of orderly predictability.
365
And one theory behind this is that if you grow up in a world like that, you have the incentive to develop a great prefrontal cortex,
366
lots of cognitive control, do lots of planning.
367
If you grow up in chaos, you have an incentive to be an impulsive, reactive, in the moment, I guess I'll do this because it feels good.
368
So I think it's a very deep idea.
369
I don't think anybody is saying you should be so regimented that if you don't have breakfast exactly at 8, the world doesn't come to an end.
370
But I do think it's, like you said, it's paradox going away, right?
371
Like these are the kids who end up being risk -taking
372
and creative and able to deal with uncertainty because they've grown up with a lot of certainty.
373
Right.
374
You actually can't jump that high off of a sand foundation versus a really solid one.
375
You know, I mean, we've been kind of extolling routines as awesome, and I do think they are.
376
I do think productive people have morning routines on average, maybe not Cass Sunstein.
377
And I think children need much more consistency than they're getting in some cases.
378
But as somebody who has studied the downside of routine and habit,
379
I guess I should probably put a word in for why sometimes people resist these rules, if you will, right?
380
So let's talk about flexibility because I think that is actually the cost, if you will, if the routine is too tightly held.
381
And by the way, this is the cost of habit also, right?
382
So pure habits where you're truly on autopilot have a lack of flexibility to them that is sometimes not good.
383
That is why the brain is very conservative about what it puts on autopilot.
384
That's why you not only have to repeat a behavior like brushing your teeth or doing wall squats or whatever, but it has to be basically immediately rewarded.
385
You know, I mentioned this Caltech neuroscientist, Colin Kammerer.
386
He says really what puts something on autopilot is what he calls prediction error.
387
The prediction error is the difference between how rewarding you think something is going to be and then how it turns out.
388
So the prediction error can be really high if you're like, I thought that cheesesteak was going to be amazing.
389
And oh, my gosh, I got food poisoning.
390
Right.
391
So it could be close to zero.
392
In the case of, by the way, like junk food and going to fast food restaurants, you know, the prediction error is close to zero because those products are so consistent.
393
Oh, you just know exactly what you're going to get.
394
Right.
395
Colin and I believe that is one of the reasons why they are so habit -forming.
396
And then it becomes like, again, on the continuum, you stop paying attention to it.
397
You do it without a lot of intentionality.
398
But one of the costs of that, of course, is like maybe you're inflexibly doing something that's wrong or that's bad.
399
I mean, obviously, junk food has its own whole Pandora's box of bad things.
400
But I guess what I say is this.
401
I think flexibility is a cost of routine.
402
So let me tell you about a study that I did with Katie Milkman and also her Ph .D student, whose name is Anish Rai.
403
He's now a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business.
404
And we wanted to ask the question, what is this tradeoff between flexibility on one hand and routine
405
or kind of I know what I'm going to do in advance, right?
406
Where do we draw that line?
407
And so what Anish did was he partnered with this organization called Crisis Text Line.
408
It's this nonprofit where if you are having a crisis, like you're having maybe even suicidal thoughts,
409
that you actually can text a certain number and then a volunteer on the other end will text you back.
410
And you have a conversation for people of a certain generation.
411
They're more comfortable, actually, with texting when they're in distress.
412
Oh, than having a phone call conversation, you're saying.
413
Than having a phone call, especially with a stranger.
414
So we knew that this nonprofit, Crisis Text Line, needed their volunteers to log 200 hours of volunteering over the course of,
415
I think it was a year.
416
And we randomly assigned people to either have just like, could you do some hours every week so that you could get to 200 hours, right?
417
So that was the control condition.
418
Then there was a condition that was on the other end of the continuum was like, can you volunteer four hours every week?
419
So that was a very granular sub -goal condition.
420
And then there was a condition that we designed that we thought was going to benefit from the granularity of the goal, but also have a built -in little bit of flexibility.
421
So in this case, instead of four hours every week,
422
we thought, okay, let's ask this group of people to think about volunteering eight hours every two weeks.
423
So now we're giving them, you know, like there's a little latitude, oh, this week is really hard for me.
424
And essentially what we found is that both of the goal -setting conditions,
425
they actually increased volunteering by roughly 8 % over just the first 12 -week period even of this time.
426
But we also found that the flexible condition, eight hours every two weeks,
427
seemed to have more enduring benefits as we looked at the data over time.
428
I love that idea, the flexibility, because obviously everyone's lives go a little bit differently.
429
So, Angela, we have talked about the benefits of routine, the benefits of flexibility, and the challenges of routine.
430
What would you say?
431
you want to change about your own routines or maybe advice you'd want to give me about routines?
432
So this question that Perfect Peter, your neurosurgeon brother asked, is bringing to mind just like one last study that ends up being,
433
I think, advice.
434
So this study was done by Sidney Scott and Eleanor Williams.
435
They're at Wash U in St. Louis.
436
And it's about how people, when they think about their own life,
437
pretty much want flexibility and they don't want routines and they don't want the rigidity of deciding in advance.
438
But when they are asked for advice for other people that they care about, they are much more likely to choose this kind of rigid plan routine option.
439
And what Sydney and Eleanor conclude is that when you're thinking about other people, you use your head.
440
And when you think about yourself, you use your gut, right?
441
Or your heart.
442
I was going to say heart, but you're going to go with gut.
443
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
444
You know, like, oh, what feels right for me?
445
But when you're thinking about your friend, you're sort of really thinking.
446
You're like, what would be the best thing?
447
And I think the advice then is that if there really is a benefit to routine,
448
then maybe what we should do is think of our own life sometimes as if we're planning for someone else.
449
I think this is just a great life hack.
450
Many business leaders do this when they have to make business decisions.
451
Like if it weren't me, but if it were my best friend making this business decision, right, if it weren't me ordering lunch right now, but like actually somebody I really care about,
452
my best friend, my significant other, what would I order for them?
453
What would I have them do in the morning?
454
Because I think it's true that sometimes we would make a better decision that way.
455
So I think my closing advice is like, yeah, there are trade -offs, but routines are awesome.
456
And there are ways to develop strong routines, but to loosely hold them, right, to build in some flexibility as well.
457
And if you have a problem with any of this, pretend that you're deciding on all this for another person who's not you.
458
I love that concept, though, of making sure that you have this almost third -party view into your life.
459
And look, I think that my life has been so much richer when I have tried to incorporate routines into it.
460
And I think that there are so many ways that routine breeds intentionality in life.
461
And I will say, I will go forward now with that advice.
462
And when I'm about to make these decisions on routine, think about my best friend or as you call him, perfect Peter.
463
You know, Mike, one of the new routines in my life that I have really appreciated, it's having conversations with you.
464
Oh my gosh, ditto.
465
And now here's a fact check of today's conversation.
466
Angela uses the example of performing pelvic floor strengthening exercises while watching television to illustrate the benefits of habit stacking.
467
She notes that as people age, the kegel muscles that support pelvic floor organs may stop functioning as well.
468
There is, in fact, no such thing as Kegel muscles.
469
The pelvic floor consists of the levator ani, which wraps around the pelvis, and the coccygeus, located in the back of the pelvis.
470
Kegel exercises were first described in 1948 by American gynecologist Arnold Kegel as a way to prevent incontinence.
471
The exercises are often recommended for women's health, as Angela mentions, But they can also be beneficial for men,
472
especially those who've had their prostate surgically removed or who have conditions like diabetes or an overactive bladder.
473
That's it for the fact check.
474
Before we wrap today's show, let's hear some thoughts about last week's episode on closure.
475
Hi, Angela and Mike.
476
I wanted to say that what really resonated with me was the fact that psychologically we need closure.
477
And yet there are all sorts of TikToks
478
and Instagram reels from certified therapists and influencers
479
and all sorts of people who claim
480
that you don't need to get closure from someone when you get ghosted or someone breaks up with you.
481
And so I think this episode is really important in helping shape
482
that conversation around how you can create closure for yourself or maybe why we do really owe each other explanations for things.
483
And it's not needy and it's not too much to ask why something happened.
484
Maybe this kind of content can help us improve our relationships with each other in this very digital and somewhat unaccountable world.
485
Hi, my name's Rachel.
486
When we moved to a new city several years ago, we enrolled our son in a new daycare.
487
And through this daycare, we made friends with another young family.
488
And we all got along so well.
489
Our kids played together really well.
490
They were best buddies.
491
And then suddenly in the fall of 2020, they stopped all communication with us.
492
They ignored our texts.
493
They ignored Instagram messages.
494
But we saw they were still hanging out with other people.
495
Anyway, I think about the abrupt cessation of this friendship every couple of days.
496
And I wonder if I'd had closure with the termination of this friendship
497
that I would not be brooding on it so frequently.
498
Hi, Angela and Mike.
499
This is Steve from Chicago, and your show about closure reminded me of one of the best and worst events in my life.
500
In college, I received a bouquet of flowers in the dorm, and not a few cheap carnations,
501
but a rather large and beautiful and probably expensive arrangement.
502
And the card only said, hey, you're kind of cute.
503
I asked around, I looked around, put an ad in the school paper, but I never found out who sent them to me.
504
And even after more than 30 years, I can still look back on that moment with great joy, but also a little bit of sadness for what might have been.
505
That was, respectively, Kelsey Simpkins, Rachel Hampton, and Steve Turner.
506
Thanks to them and to everyone who shared their stories with us.
507
And remember, we'd love to hear about your relationship with routines.
508
Send a voice memo to nsq at Freakonomics .com and you might hear your voice on the show.
509
Hi, everyone.
510
Angela here.
511
I want to tell you about a special project Mike and I are working on.
512
We're planning a series of episodes of No Stupid Questions about personality.
513
In anticipation of the first episode, we have a really fun quiz we're excited to share.
514
To check it out and to learn more about your personality, go to Freakonomics .com slash Big 5.
515
Take the Big 5 inventory and get an immediate personality profile.
516
Your results will remain completely anonymous.
517
And if you have a question about personality, feel free to email us at nsq at Freakonomics .com.
518
We may be able to answer your question during the series.
519
Thanks, and see you next week.
520
Coming up next week on No Stupid Questions, are you motivated by fear?
521
I'm sitting there and I can't move.
522
I can hardly breathe.
523
People are trying to talk to me and I'm like, don't, don't talk.
524
I can't cognitively function.
525
That's next week on No Stupid Questions.
526
No Stupid Questions is part of the Freakonomics Radio Network, which also includes Freakonomics Radio,
527
people I mostly admire, and the economics of everyday things.
528
All our shows are produced by Stitcher and Renbud Radio.
529
The senior producer of the show is me, Rebecca Lee Douglas, and Lear Boutich is our production associate.
530
This episode was mixed by Greg Rippin.
531
Our theme song was composed by Luis Guerra.
532
You can follow us on Twitter at NSQ underscore show and on Facebook at NSQ Show.
533
If you have a question for a future episode, please email it to nsq at Freakonomics .com.
534
To learn more or to read episode transcripts, visit Freakonomics .com slash NSQ.
535
Thanks for listening.
536
Enthusiastic.
537
Now they're going to put that at the end.
538
I hate that.
539
The Freakonomics Radio Network.
540
The hidden side of everything.
541
Stitcher.
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本课的词汇与口语要点
这节 B2 级别的口语课以视频“186. Do You Need a Routine?”为素材。 这段视频共有 541 个句子、6793 个单词可供跟读。 讲话部分时长为 38:28。 说话人语速自然，每分钟约 177 个词，接近日常对话。 只有 81% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词，词汇难度较高。
视频中的重点词汇
视频中最难的 15 个单词，附发音和释义：
| 单词 | 发音 | 释义 |
|---|---|---|
| autopilot 名词 | /ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/ | 自動駕駛儀 /自动驾驶仪, 自動駕駛 /自动驾驶 |
| stack 名词 | /stæk/ | 堆 |
| cognitive 形容词 | /ˈkɑɡ.nɪ.tɪv/ | 認知的 /认知的 |
| gosh | /ɡɑːʃ/ | 唉, 啊呀 |
| marathon 名词 | /ˈmæɹəθən/ | 馬拉松 /马拉松 |
| continuum 名词 | /kənˈtɪnjuəm/ | 連續體 /连续体 |
| prediction 名词 | /pɹɪˈdɪkʃən/ | 預言 /预言, 預估 /预估 |
| bandwidth 名词 | /ˈbændwɪdθ/ | 帶寬 /带宽, 頻帶 /频带 |
| predictable 形容词 | /pɹəˈdɪktəbləl/ | 可預見的 /可预见的, 可預言的 /可预言的 |
| incorporate 动词 | /ɪŋˈkɔɹ.pɚ.eɪt/ | 组成 |
| gratitude 名词 | /ˈɡɹæ.tɪ.tud/ | 感恩, 謝意 /谢意 |
| regiment 名词 | /ˈɹɛd͡ʒɪmənt/ | 團 /团, 軍團 /军团 |
| mason 名词 | /ˈmeɪsən/ | 石匠, 石工 |
| chore 名词 | /t͡ʃoɹ/ | 家務 /家务, 家事 |
| collaborator 名词 | /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/ | 合作者 |
视频中出现的短语动词
| 单词 | 发音 | 释义 |
|---|---|---|
| wake up 动词 | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | 醒, 醒來 /醒来 |
| end up 动词 | 到达 | |
| get up 动词 | 起床 | |
| grow up 动词 | 長大 /长大 | |
| look back 动词 | 回顧 /回顾 | |
| turn out 动词 | 原來 /原来 | |
| come out 动词 | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | 出, 出來 /出来 |
| come up 动词 | 上來 /上来 |
值得反复跟读的句子
视频中简短而完整的句子，可以直接用在日常对话里：
- What did you learn about habit stacking?
- Are you grateful like right away?
- Do you feel rewarded right then?
- He's like, I had like a donut?
- You're like, what would be the best thing?
视频中的语法
说话人最常用的结构，并附上视频中的原话：
| 结构 | 视频中的用法 |
|---|---|
| 现在完成时 have/has + 过去分词 — 过去发生但与现在仍有关联的事 | You've done · it's been · have had |
| 被动语态 be + 过去分词 — 强调发生了什么，而不是谁做的 | was sent · isn't studied · is called |
| 定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物 | friend who he · something which is · People who wake |
需要注意的发音
说话人用了 135 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 I'm, you're, don't。请按听到的简短形式来说。
- “th” 音: marathon /ˈmæɹəθən/, bandwidth /ˈbændwɪdθ/, thrive /θɹajv/, withdrawal /wɪðˈdɹɔ(ə)l/, ethical /ˈɛθɪkəl/
- “sh” 和 “zh” 音: gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, closure /ˈkloʊ.ʒɚ/, prediction /pɹɪˈdɪkʃən/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/
- 长单词——注意重音位置: autopilot /ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/, flexibility /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/, gynecologist /ˌɡaɪnəˈkɒləd͡ʒɪst/, predictability /pɹəˌdɪktəˈbɪlɪti/, predictable /pɹəˈdɪktəbləl/
中文母语者容易读错的音：
- /v/ — 不要读成 /w/，上齿轻触下唇: cognitive /ˈkɑɡ.nɪ.tɪv/, pelvic /ˈpɛlvɪk/, behavioral /bɪˈheɪvjəɹəl/, pelvis /ˈpɛlvɪs/, thrive /θɹajv/
- 词尾辅音 — 要读清楚，后面不要加元音: autopilot /ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/, stack /stæk/, cognitive /ˈkɑɡ.nɪ.tɪv/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, gynecologist /ˌɡaɪnəˈkɒləd͡ʒɪst/
- /r/ 和 /l/ 的区别: orderly /ˈɔɹdɚli/, predictability /pɹəˌdɪktəˈbɪlɪti/, predictable /pɹəˈdɪktəbləl/, behavioral /bɪˈheɪvjəɹəl/, collaborator /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/
如何用这段视频练习
- 先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
- 先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
- 录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 autopilot, stack, cognitive 这类单词。
什么是跟读法？
跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。