Time is the great equalizer—everybody gets the same twenty-four hours each day. Making productive use of that time can mean the difference between getting things done and scrambling to keep up. These time management tips will help you streamline your day and work smarter.
时间是最公平的——每个人每天都会获得同样的二十四个小时。但对时间的有效利用与否却决定了你是高效完成工作还是勉强赶完任务。以下的这些时间管理技巧能帮助你提高工作效率,让你更聪明地开展工作。

1. Do a time audit.
1. “审查”时间
 
Do you get to the end of every workday and wonder where the time went? Maybe you wonder why you didn’t manage to accomplish as much as you’d hoped you would. You could be wasting more time than you realize. There may well be a discrepancy between how you think you spend your time and how you actually spend it. A time audit can be an eye-opener!
当你工作一天,忙到天黑的时候,是不是总在想时间跑去哪儿了?也许你也想知道为什么自己没有完成预期的计划呢?那么很可能你浪费了比你原先意识到的更多的时间。你认为自己花费的时间和实际花费的时间可能会非常不同。而对时间进行一番“审查”肯定会让你大开眼界!
 
Here’s a simple method for conducting a time audit.
以下是一个进行时间“审查”的简单方法
 
Get some sort of timer that you can set to go off every thirty minutes. (The alarm app on your phone could do the trick.)
使用某种定时器,可以每三十分钟设置一次。(手机上的闹钟应用就可以做到这一点。)
 
Begin the timer and go about your day. Try not to think about the timer—just let it run quietly in the background.
设定好计时器后,你就可以开始一天的工作了。尽量不要在意这个计时器——让它在后台静静地运行就可以。
 
When the timer goes off, write down what you’re doing at that very moment. Be honest! If you’re checking Facebook or sending your best friend a funny text, own up to it.
当定时器响起时,记录下当时你正在做什么。要诚实地面对自己!如果你正在检查Facebook或者正在给好朋友发送一则有趣的消息,爽快地承认吧。
 
Set the timer for another thirty minutes and repeat the process until the end of your day.
重新将计时器设置三十分钟,然后重复上面的过程,直到结束一天的工作。
 
Review how you’ve spent your time. How often were you caught doing something that wasn’t productive?
回顾一下自己是怎么分配时间的,又是多久就被一些低效的事情绊住了工作的步伐?
 
Try conducting an audit every day for a week to get a good overview of how you’re spending your time. (You can vary the time between check-ins so that you don’t begin to anticipate the alarm going off every thirty minutes.) If you find that you’ve been spending too much time checking your email, scrolling through your social media feed, or chatting with co-workers, you’ll know exactly where you have to make adjustments.
试试每天“审查”一下时间,一周之后,你就能很好地了解自己是如何分配时间了。(你可以变换两次检查间隔的时间,而不是总惦记着计时器每30分钟会响一次。)如果你发现自己花了很多时间在检查电子邮件,浏览社交媒体状态更新或者与同事闲聊上,你就可以对症下药,知道对哪一块儿进行调整了。
 
2. Block out distractions
2. 屏蔽干扰
 
Now that you have a better idea of what’s distracting you, it’s time to block that thing out. If social media is your downfall, for instance, try a productivity app that blocks online distractions. FocusMe, Cold Turkey, and SelfControl are a few available options. If you’re working on a writing project, try going into fullscreen mode to prevent yourself from opening tabs or answering desktop notifications.
既然你已经知道了是什么东西让你分心,那么是时候屏蔽这些干扰因素了。举个例子,如果社交媒体是你的弱点,那么可以使用某些应用来阻止这些网络干扰以促进工作效率。FocusMe,Cold Turkey和SelfControl不失为一些可用的选择。如果你正在进行一个写作项目,可以试试全屏模式,以防自己打开浏览器标签页或点击桌面通知。
 
Speaking of notifications, turn them off. Unless it’s critical to your job, odds are good you don’t need to be alerted every time a new email comes in or someone interacts with you on social media.
至于通知,还是把它们都关了吧。除非有些通知对你的工作至关重要,其实很多情况下,你不必时刻留意着每次收到一封新的电子邮件或别人在社交媒体上发来的消息。
 
3. Schedule yourself
3. 制定计划表
 
Worrying about how you’ll fit all your tasks into the average workday can put a serious strain on your productivity. When we’re stressed, we struggle to stay productive, which can lead us to work longer hours to meet deadlines. Who needs that?
担心着如何才能将所有任务都纳入一天的计划中,这可能会严重影响我们的工作效率。当处于压力中时,我们又尽力想保持高效,这可能会导致花费更长的时间才能按时完成任务。谁想这样事倍功半呢?
 
To-do lists can become overwhelming if you’ve got a lot to accomplish. Instead, use your favorite calendar tool (or even a good old-fashioned datebook) to schedule yourself. You might set aside an hour for answering emails, two for researching and outlining that important report for next week’s meeting, one for a lunch date with a colleague, and so on. If you have a shared corporate calendar, all the better. You can remind your colleagues to interrupt you only when absolutely necessary if you have time blocked off for important tasks.
如果你有很多工作要做,罗列任务清单可是会压地你喘不过气来。相反地,使用你最喜欢的一个日程表工具(甚至可以是一本老式的记事本)来制定自己的计划表。你可以拨出一个小时来答复电子邮件,另外两个小时用于研究和概括下周会议的重要报告,再分出一个小时与同事共进午餐等等。如果你们公司有一个公用的日历表,那就更好了。你可以提醒您的同事,如果你专门腾出时间做重要任务的时候,除非非常有必要,他们才能来打扰你。
 
You’ll be surprised what time blocking will do for your productivity. For example, if you’re in the habit of answering emails as they come in, you may well be interrupting your own workflow to do it. That means that after you’ve dropped everything to answer that email, you’ll have to take extra time to reorient yourself to the task you’d been working on before it came in. Scheduling yourself allows you to set your priorities in advance and avoid being distracted by less important matters.
你会惊讶地发现,时间规划将对你的效率产生多么大的影响。例如,如果你总是习惯于在收到电子邮件时进行回复,那么你就很可能要打断自己原先的工作流程来处理这些邮件。这意味着,当你放下手头的工作去回复邮件,之后你得再多花些时间重新让自己集中到之前所进行的工作。制定计划可以让你提前分清轻重缓急,避免被不太重要的事情分散注意力。
 
4. Avoid multitasking
4. 避免同时进行多项任务
 
You may think you’re good at multitasking, but odds are you’re wrong. When you divide your focus between tasks, you’re actually diverting attention from one task to another and using more brain bandwidth. You’ll perform better if you give your full attention to one task at a time.
你可能认为自己很擅长同时执行多项任务,但通常是你弄错了。当你将重点放在多个任务上时,实际上也将注意力从一个任务转移到另一个任务上,并且消耗了更多的脑力。如果一次只集中在一项任务上,你的表现会更好。
 
Grouping similar tasks can also keep you in the right mindset. You might, for instance, group your writing tasks together and do them during one particular block of time. Administrative tasks can fall into another time block. Need to be active on social media? Cool. Block time for using a scheduler like Buffer to queue up your posts for the day so you won’t feel the constant need to check in.
将相似的任务进行分类也可以让你保持良好的思维状态。例如,你可以将所有的写作任务放在一起,并在特定的时间段内进行。管理型任务可以安排在另一块时间。你需要在社交媒体上保持活跃?没问题,使用像Buffer这样的调度程序将你的邮件按顺序排好,这样你就不用时不时地进行查看了。
 
Here’s a tip: Keep a small notebook handy when you’re working. When you suddenly remember another task you need to do (“Whoops! Did I schedule my electric bill payment?”), jot it down. That way, you won’t forget that important thing, but you won’t interrupt your jam, either.
小建议:工作时可以随身带着一个小的笔记本。当你突然想起你还需要做另外一件事情时(“哎,我有把付电费这事儿安排进计划表了吗?”),把它记下来。这样,你不会忘记待会儿要去做这件重要的事情,也不会中断手头上的工作。
 
5. Insist that others respect your time.
5. 要相信别人会尊重你的时间。
 
You know that meeting you were asked to attend that had almost no relevance to you? The one where you had nothing to contribute? That’s an hour of your time you’ll never get back. Get out of those do-nothing meetings. Every meeting should have to justify its existence, and every meeting organizer should have to justify your required attendance, especially if not attending the meeting would ultimately make you more productive.
你知道你被要求参加的会议与你几乎没有任何关系?在这个会议中你也不会有什么贡献?这是属于你的一个小时,过去了就不再回来了。所以想办法摆脱那些对你而言无事可做的会议吧。每个会议都应该有其存在的意义,每个会议组织者也应该为所需的出席者提供正当的理由,尤其是不参加会议反而能提高你的工作效率的情况。
 
The same goes for chatty coworkers. You have a right to work time free from unnecessary interruptions, so ask for it. You could say something like “I have a lot of trouble concentrating sometimes, and interruptions take me out of the flow when I’m working. Could we save chit-chat for when we’re off the clock?”
这点同样适用于爱闲聊的同事。你有权在没有任何不必要的干扰下工作,所以和他们直言说明吧。你可以这样说“有时候我很难集中精神,工作中有人打扰可能会让我脱离工作的状态。我们下班后再聊可以吗?”
 
6. Keep your “call to action” in mind.
6. 请牢记你的“行动呼吁”。
 
What do you want to get out of that phone call you’re about to make or that meeting you’re about to schedule? You need to know what you’re asking for, or at least what you hope to achieve, before you dive in. Otherwise, you’ll end up spending time in conversations and meetings that aren’t ultimately productive.
在接下来要打的这个电话和要安排的这个会议中,你想获得什么?在行动之前,你应该明确自己想要什么,或者至少弄清楚自己希望达成的目标。否则最后你会浪费很多时间在这些低效率的对话和会议中。
 
Take a few minutes after meetings and phone calls to reflect on whether you achieved the outcome you were hoping for. If you didn’t, plan your next steps so you can attain it. You’ll be more prepared when the opportunity to address the issue comes around again.
在开完会议和打完电话后,花几分钟时间,好好反思一下自己是否取得了原本希望的结果。如果没有,计划接下来的步骤实现它。当解决问题的机会再次出现时,你会准备地更好。
 
7. Get enough down time and rest.
7. 放下工作,得到足够的休息时间。
 
Taking a break when it’s crunch time may seem counterproductive, but one study found that lack of sleep is costing the U.S. workforce $411 billion annually. You’re not at your best when you’re sleep-deprived.
在关键时刻停下来休息似乎会降低效率,但一项研究发现,睡眠不足使美国劳动力每年损失4110亿美元。睡眠不足的时候,你并不会处在最佳状态。
 
And don’t shy away from taking your vacation time. Skipping vacation is actually bad for your health. Not only that, but taking time to relax can make you more productive. When you’re well rested and refreshed, you’re far more likely to tackle your tasks with focus and enthusiasm.
不要躲避你的休假时间。放弃度假实际上对你的健康不利。相反的,花点时间放松可以让你的工作更有效率。当你休息好了,身心舒畅的时候,更有可能集中注意力和以高涨的热情来处理工作。
 
所以,现在你该知道怎么管理自己的时间,做一个高效率的人了吧!
 
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