We are told the winter holidays are supposed to be a magical time of deep connection with loved ones, good meals, warm fires, and gift-giving. And yet, for many of us, the winter holidays don’t live up to our expectations, because we don’t know how to strike the right balance between rest and productivity.
我们知道,寒假应该是与亲人、美食、温暖的炉火和礼物相伴的神奇时刻。然而,对于我们许多人来说,寒假并没有达到我们的期望,因为我们不知道如何在休息和生产力之间找到正确的平衡。
 
While it can be tough to find that balance – especially if our in-laws, spouses, friends, and even bosses have strong opinions for how we should spend our holidays – there are some ways you can get what you need this holiday season.
虽然很难找到平衡——特别是如果我们的亲戚、配偶、朋友、甚至老板对我们应该如何度过假期有许多意见——这里有一些方法可以让你在这个假期里得到你需要的东西。
 
The last week of the year offers a special opportunity to rest, reflect on the past year, and prepare for the year ahead. To understand how to recapture this opportunity and make our holidays both restful and productive, it’s important to first understand our tendencies. Among working professionals, we have found that there are three types of “holiday time misusers.”
一年的最后一周提供了一个休息的特别机会,可以回顾过去的一年,为来年做准备。要理解如何抓住这个机会,让我们在假期既能休息好又有成果,首先要了解我们自己的意向。在调查了许多上班族后,我们总结出了三种典型的“假期误用”。
 
What is your default holiday mode?
不正确的假期模式是怎么样的?
 
Couch Potato:
After couch potatoes send their last work email before the holidays, they flip the off switch and sink into complete disengagement. Their only goal for the holidays – and it’s less of a goal and more of an involuntary compulsion – is to see how many full seasons of TV shows they can binge watch. While they expect to come to the end of their holidays refreshed by this extreme inactivity, they instead often feel frustrated and unprepared. They typically ask themselves: “What did I do that whole time?” and find it difficult to answer.“
沙发土豆”:度假前,“沙发土豆”(Couch Potato)把最后一封工作邮件发送出去,之后关掉电脑,开启了隔绝工作的状态。他们唯一的目标——而且这不是一个目标,更多的是一种不由自主的冲动——是想看看他们能看多少个完整的电视节目。虽然他们希望在假期结束时,能够从这种状态中得到休息因而精力充沛,但通常他们会感到沮丧和毫无准备。他们通常会问自己:“我一直在做什么?”并且发现自己什么都没做。
 
Why is it that a couch potato holiday feels so unsatisfying when it appears to be so relaxing? The reason is that while you do need some time to disengage from productive activities, you also have a host of other needs that you have been neglecting for the last several months that aren’t replenished by “vegging out.” You need meaningful social interaction, physical activity, and active contemplation, among other things.
为什么沙发土豆的假期看起来如此令人放松,却让人感觉如此不舒服呢?原因是,虽然你确实需要一些时间来逃离工作,但你也有很多其他的需求,你在过去的几个月里一直忽视了这些需求。“你需要有意义的社交互动、体育活动、积极的思考等等。”
 
Holiday Humbug:
Holiday humbugs keep working straight through the holiday. Even if they’re technically taking time off, they cram work in around their holiday meals and other personal commitments. The problems here are obvious. Research shows that we all need regular lulls and breaks in our calendars. If we continue to ignore this need, it will, without a doubt, lead us to burnout.
假日谎言:他们假期里也会一直工作。尽管他们是放假了,但是还会插空完成工作。这里的问题是显而易见的。研究表明,我们都需要定期的休息。如果我们继续忽视这种需求,毫无疑问,它将导致我们精疲力竭。
 
If it’s so obvious that this is not a good idea, why is it so easy to become a holiday humbug? Certainly, sometimes it’s beyond our control: our boss or business simply demands it. However, for the chronically overwhelmed and over-tasked professional, there is often a more subversive reason. The holidays present an opportunity that is too difficult to pass up: the opportunity to catch up.
如果很明显这不是一个好主意,为什么很多人还是会这样做?这自然是因为有时候事情会超出我们的控制范围:我们的老板或公司要求我们这样做。然而,对于长期超负荷工作的上班族来说,原因更加明显。假期提供了一个很难错过的机会:赶上其他人。
 
Workaholidayic:
The workaholidayic takes their workaholic tendencies and simply applies them to a different context. Rather than rushing from one work meeting to next, they rush from one holiday party to the next. They travel miles and hours to meet every family member who will accept their offer, leaving themselves no time to stop, rest, or be alone. When they finally do get time to themselves, they are too tired to do anything but collapse in exhaustion.
工作狂:工作狂会继续疯狂工作,并将其应用到不同的环境中。他们不是匆匆忙忙地从一个工作会议赶到另一个工作会议,而是匆匆忙忙地从一个假日聚会到另一个假日派对。他们旅行数英里,探访每一个接受他们的邀请的家庭成员,他们没有时间停下来,休息,或者独处。当他们终于有时间做自己的事时,他们累得做不出任何事,精疲力竭。
 
那么该如何平衡假期与工作、真正做到在假期中放松呢?
 
Once you’ve recognized your tendencies, the challenge is to figure out a strategy for charting a healthier course. A few tips may help:
一旦确定假期中你的目标,唯一的困难就是给自己制定计划来有效利用假期了,下面的一些方法应该能帮到你:
 
Set sustainability goals for your holiday: Most high-performing professionals are driven at work, focused on getting tasks done and achieving goals. To make the holidays restful, we can channel that drive to benefit us. I’d recommend setting goals around how much you want to sleep, how much you want to exercise, how much you’ll allow yourself to do “work work,” among other categories of importance to you.
为你的假期设定可持续发展目标: 在工作中,大多数表现出色的上班族都专注于完成任务和实现目标。为了使假期过得舒适,我们可以利用这一动力。我建议你设定一个目标:你想要多少睡眠时间,你想锻炼多久,你允许自己做多少“工作”,以及其他对你重要的事情。
 
Prioritize processing time: If you’re as busy as most are, there’s a good chance that you haven’t taken the time to sufficiently process your past year. Not processing your experiences is like leaving the email inbox of your mind overflowing: it taxes your cognitive load and reduces your ability to calmly and effectively address new experiences. Whether processing looks like finding a quiet place with a journal or having deep conversations with friends or family, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you take the time to clear your mental inbox.
优先反思过去一年:如果你和大多数人一样忙碌,那么你很有可能没有花时间充分思考过去的一年。不反思你的经历就像把你大脑中的电子邮件收件箱塞满了:它会增加你的认知负荷,降低你冷静和有效地处理新经历的能力。处理过程可以是找一个安静的地方写日记或与朋友或家人进行深入交谈。最重要的是你要花时间整理你的经历。
 
Set goals for the next year and spend more time planning how to achieve your goals than you do setting your goals: Many take advantage of the winter holidays to set New Year’s resolutions, but the data shows many of these will go unfulfilled. This creates angst and anxiety. A way to increase our chances of achieving our goals and give ourselves peace during the holidays is to spend sufficient time planning upfront. You’re less likely to set unrealistic goals if you also come up with an execution plan. “I will work out three times a week for 20 minutes before going to work” may not sound impressive, but you’ll be more likely to lose the weight you want with this plan than ending your holiday with only this goal, “I will lose 20 pounds by March.”
为下一年设定目标,花更多时间规划如何实现目标,而不是一直专注于设定目标:许多人利用寒假来制定新年计划,但数据显示,这些计划中的许多都是无法实现的。这会使人更加焦虑。增加我们实现目标的机会、并在假期里充分休息的方法是花足够的时间提前制定计划。如果你制定了一个执行计划,你就不太可能设定不切实际的目标。“我每周锻炼三次,每次20分钟,然后去上班。”这听起来可能不太令人印象深刻,但相比只是说“3月前我要减掉20磅”更有可能减掉体重。 
 
Create and uphold holiday traditions: Traditions are a form of habits, and habit development and modification is the key to meeting our goals and becoming more productive without driving ourselves crazy. It is no different for the holidays. Developing meaningful, productive, and restful traditions around the holidays will guarantee that we do the things that actually ensure we have the holidays we want. Productive and restful holiday traditions also help shield us against the demands of the many other people in our lives who have their own ideas for how we should spend our holidays.
创造和维护节日传统:传统是习惯的一种形式,习惯的发展和修改是实现我们目标的关键,可以让我们一步步更有效率。这和假期没有什么不同。在假期中培养有意义的、有成效的、可以休息的习惯,将保证我们可以做一些我们真正想做的事情。也可以帮助我们不受其他人意见的困扰。
 
For many working professionals, the holidays hold great promise of a time to really rest and rejuvenate. Grab that chance before the New Year is here.
对于许多上班族来说,假期是一个可以真正休息和恢复活力的好机会。在新的一年到来之前抓住这个机会吧!