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看起来很努力,为什么结果总是不如人意?

HBR-China 哈佛商业评论 2022-07-21

小佛爷说



耐力跑步和价值投资虽然是两个不同的世界,但它们却有相似之处。两者似乎都倾向于采用极端化的、低-高强度8-2开的策略来选择工作强度。在耐力跑步中,这种选择可以让身体建立耐力,而不会因过度训练而受伤。在价值投资中,它允许投资者树立信念,而不会因为过度交易而损失金钱。


我是一个价值取向的投资者。我也是一名休闲马拉松运动员。当我妻子最近把一个跑步俱乐部的会员资格作为礼物送给我时,我发现这两个世界之间存在意想不到的联系。这种联系不仅让我重新思考了我的马拉松跑步方式,也让我重新思考了自己对企业管理的理解。
      
跑步俱乐部有像我这样的消遣型人士,但也有竞技型的耐力运动员。这些人是你看到在起跑线最前端开始比赛的人。他们也是那些在完成比赛时成绩名列前茅的人。对于这个竞技型群体来说,跑步不是业余爱好。它类似于全职职业,需要专门指导和认真培训的职业。
      
我一直敬佩这些努力竞争的跑步选手,远远地惊叹于他们鼓舞人心的表现。加入跑步俱乐部让我有机会与他们并肩跑步,并密切观察他们的训练方式。我对自己的收获大感意外。
      
请将训练强度设想为三个级别:
      
低强度。感觉很轻松,而且速度相对缓慢——就像一个人几乎没在努力。
中等强度。这需要将自己逼到不舒服的地步,但远未达到开足马力的程度。
高强度。这是以达到或接近一个人的绝对极限在奔跑。
      
通常,像我这样的休闲跑步者几乎总是坚持中等强度。它让人觉得具有挑战性,且吸引人——不舒服,但也不是那么无法忍受。它与我们带到比赛中的强度水平相当,因此时间花费似乎非常值得。从直觉上讲,我们遵循的是过去“像你要参赛一样去练习”的指令。

相比之下,许多竞技型跑步者将80%左右的训练时间用来进行低强度训练。他们故意拖延,以如此轻松的速度有条不紊地打下里程基础,以至于看起来他们根本没有做什么。余下的训练时间——另外那20%——主要用于高强度训练。这些都是极其专注、艰苦的训练,具有超人那样的爆发速度和力量。

中等强度训练怎么样?竞技型群体几乎没有花时间做这件事。他们认为这是浪费精力。我曾听到耐力专家这样描述过:“太多的劳累换来太少的收获。”

事实上,研究人类耐力的科学家发现,极端化的低-高强度训练方法可以最大限度提高比赛成绩,同时降低严重受伤的风险。许多世界级的跑步选手、自行车手、滑雪运动员和铁人三项运动员都是以这种方式进行训练的。这一理念也开始进入日常文化,耐力运动方面的畅销书以及“高强度间歇训练(high intensity interval training, HIIT )”方面的文章都强调了这一点。

这种极端化的耐力训练方法立刻让我想起了著名的价值投资者沃伦·巴菲特(Warren Buffett)。巴菲特称他的投资方式是“近乎树懒的怠惰”。他大部分时间都花在阅读年报、浏览商业刊物以及与同事和联系人交谈上。他刻意打下了投资知识的基础——这可能看起来根本没做什么事情。然而,他偶尔会以极度旺盛的精力采取行动,在少数罕见的情况下进行大规模投资。与巴菲特的做法相反,研究表明,消遣型投资者通常总是在“做点什么”——通过一连串“中等”点滴交易不断涉足市场。
 
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I am a value-oriented investor. I am also a recreational marathon runner. When my wife recently gifted me a membership to a running club, I found an unexpected connection between these two worlds. This connection has made me rethink not only my approach to marathon running, but also my understanding of business management.


Running clubs have recreational types like me, but they also have competitive endurance athletes. These are the folks you see start races from the front corrals. And they are the ones who finish with times that put them near the top of the field. For this competitive group, running is no hobby. It is akin to a full-time profession, one that requires dedicated coaching and serious training.


I had always admired such competitive runners, marveling from afar at their inspiring performances. Joining a running club gave me the opportunity to run alongside and closely observe how they train. I was very surprised by what I learned.


Imagine training intensity as having three levels:


Low Intensity. This feels easy and relatively slow — like one is barely even trying.

Medium Intensity. This involves pushing oneself to the point of discomfort but far short of full throttle.

High Intensity. This is running at or near one’s absolute limit.


Recreational runners like me usually stick to medium intensity almost all the time. It feels challenging and engaging — uncomfortable, but not intolerably so. It matches the intensity level we bring to races, and therefore seems like time well spent. Intuitively, we are following the old dictate “practice like you’ll play.”


In contrast, many competitive runners spend around 80% of their training time at low intensity. They are deliberately holding back, systematically building a base of miles at a pace so easy that it looks like they are not doing very much at all. The rest of their training time — the other 20% — is mostly spent at high intensity. These are extremely focused, hard workouts with superhuman bursts of speed and power.


What about medium intensity training? The competitive group spends almost no time doing this. They consider it a waste of energy. I’ve heard endurance experts describe it this way: “Too much pain for too little gain.”


Indeed, scientists studying human endurance have found that the polarized, low-high training approach maximizes race performance while reducing the risk of serious injury. Many world-class runners, cyclists, skiers, and triathletes train in this manner. And the concept is also making its way into everyday culture, as highlighted by popular books on endurance sports and articles on “high intensity interval training,” or HIIT.


This polarized endurance training approach immediately made me think of Warren Buffett, the famed value investor. Buffett talks about his approach to investment work as being “lethargy bordering on sloth.” He spends most of his time reading annual reports, browsing business publications, and speaking with colleagues and contacts. He’s deliberately building a base of investment knowledge — which can look like not doing very much at all. But then he occasionally acts with extreme vigor, making massive investment bets on a handful of rare occasions. In contrast to Buffett’s approach, research shows that recreational investors tend to always be “doing something” — constantly dabbling in markets via a steady stream of “medium” drip-and-drop trades.

 

哈沙·米斯拉(Harsha V. Misra) |  文

哈沙·米斯拉是一家以价值为取向的投资公司的创始人。他拥有剑桥大学的数学学位和西北大学凯洛格管理学院(Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management)的商学位,此前曾在麦肯锡公司(McKinsey & Co.)从事管理咨询工作。

刘隽 | 编辑


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