双语：关于时间管理的18条小建议

　　Are you usually punctual or late? Do you finish things within the time you stipulate? Do you hand in your reports/work on time? Are you able to accomplish what you want to do before deadlines? Are you a good time manager?

　　你是个守时的人还是经常迟到？你能在规定的时间内完成事情吗？你能按时提交报告/工作吗？你能在最后期限前完成想做的事情吗？你是一个擅长管理时间的人吗？

　　If your answer is “no” to any of the questions above, that means you’re not managing your time as well as you want. Here are 18 tips on how to be a better time manager:

　　如果上面的问题中你有一个回答的是“不”，那表明你没能像你所想的那样管理好时间。下面的18个小贴士能让你更好地管理好时间。

　　1. Create a daily plan.

　　每天制订计划。

　　Plan your day before it unfolds. Do it in the morning or even better, the night before you sleep. The plan gives you a good overview of how the day will pan out. That way, you don’t get caught off guard. Your job for the day is to stick to the plan as best as possible.

　　提前计划好一天的工作。可以在早晨做，但在前一晚睡觉前做更好。计划能让你想清自己的一天会如何展开。这样你就不会措手不及。你当天的工作就是尽可能按计划坚持去做。

　　2. Peg a time limit to each task.

　　为每项任务设定时间期限。

　　Be clear that you need to finish X task by 10am, Y task by 3pm, and Z item by 5:30pm. This prevents your work from dragging on and eating into time reserved for other activities.

　　弄清楚你想在早晨10点前完成任务X，下午3点前完成任务Y，下午5:30完成任务Z。这会防止你拖延工作，占用其他活动的时间。

　　3. Use a calendar.

　　使用日历。

　　Having a calendar is the most fundamental step to managing your daily activities. If you use outlook or lotus notes, calendar come as part of your mailing software. Google Calendar is great – I use it. It’s even better if you can sync it to your mobile phone and other hardwares you use – that way, you can access your schedule no matter where you are.

　　使用日历是管理日常活动的最基本的步骤。如果你用outlook或lotus notes，你电子邮件软件也会自带日历。谷歌日历很不错——我在用它。如果你能把日历同步到手机或所用的其他硬件上那就更好了。——那样的话，无论你在哪里，你都可以访问自己的日程安排。

　　4. Know your deadlines.

　　了解最后期限。

　　When do you need to finish your tasks? Mark the deadlines out clearly in your calendar and organizer so you know when you need to finish them.

　　你需要何时完成任务？在日历和备忘本上清楚地标记最后期限，让自己知道何时需要完成它们。

　　5. Learn to say “No”.

　　学会说“不”。

　　Don’t take on more than you can handle. For the distractions that come in when you’re doing other things, give a firm no. Or deferit to a later period.

　　不要接太多任务以至于自己完成不了。 若当你在做其他事情时有事儿让你分心，你要坚决说不。或把它推迟以后再做。

　　6. Target to be early.

　　把目标时间设定地提前一点。

　　When you target to be on time, you’ll either be on time or late. Most of the times you’ll be late. However, if you target to be early, you’ll most likely be on time. For appointments, strive to be early. For your deadlines, submit them earlier than required.

　　当你的目标是“按时” 时，你要么按时要么延后，大多数时候你会延后。然而，如果你打算提前一点的话，你很有可能会按时。约会时，尽量提前一点儿。对有最后期限的任务而言，提交得比规定时间提早一点。

　　7. Have a clock visibly placed before you.

　　在你的面前摆放一个时钟。

　　Sometimes we are so engrossedin our work that we lose track of time. Having a huge clock in front of you will keep you aware of the time at the moment.

　　有时我们工作时太全神贯注了以至于都忘记了时间。 在面前摆放一个大的时钟能让你意识到当前的时间。

　　8. Set reminders 15 minutes before.

　　把提醒时间提前15分钟。

　　Most calendars have a reminder function. If you’ve an important meeting to attend, set that alarm 15 minutes before.

　　大部分的日历都有提醒功能。如果你要参加重要的会议，让闹铃提前15分钟响。

　　9. Focus.

　　集中注意力。

　　Are you multi-tasking so much that you’re just not getting anything done? If so, focus on just one key task at one time. Close off all the applications you aren’t using. Close off the tabs in your browser that are taking away your attention. Focus solely on what you’re doing. You’ll be more efficient that way.

　　你是不是在进行多任务处理，但是什么也没有做完？如果这样的话，一次只做一件主要的任务。关掉你不用的应用。把浏览器上吸引你注意力的浏览窗口都关闭掉。把注意力集中在你做的事情上。这样你的效率会更高。

　　10. Block out distractions.

　　阻挡住让你分心的事情。

　　What’s distracting you in your work? Instant messages? Phone ringing? Text messages popping in? I hardly ever use chat nowadays. The only times when I log on is when I’m not intending to do any work. Otherwise it gets very distracting. When I’m doing important work, I also switch off my phone. Calls during this time are recorded and I contact them afterward if it’s something important. This helps me concentrate better.

　　什么事情使你在工作时分心？即时消息？电话铃声？跳出来的短消息？我现在几乎不使用聊天工具。只有在我不打算工作时我才登录到聊天工具上，否则的话会让人分心。当我在做重要工作的时候，我也会关掉电话。这段时间的来电会被录音下来，把重要的事情做完后我会联系他们。这样我能更好地专心工作。

　　11. Track your time spent.

　　记录所用的时间。

　　Egg Timer is a simple online countdown timer. You key in the amount of time you want it to track (example: “30 minutes”, “1 hour”) and it’ll count down in the background. When the time is up,the timer will beep. Great way to be aware of your time spent.

　　Egg Timer是一个简单的在线倒数计时器。你输入想让它倒数的时间（比如：“30分钟”，“1小时”），它会在后台倒数。当时间到时，计时器会发出蜂鸣声，这是知道所用时间很好的一种方式。

　　12. Don’t fuss about unimportant details.

　　不要计较那些不重要的细节。

　　You’re never get everything done in exactly the way you want. Trying to do so is being ineffective.

　　你不可能让所有的事情都以你想要的方式完成。尝试这样做会让你效率低下。

　　13. Prioritize.

　　区分事情的轻重缓急。

　　Since you can’t do everything, learn to prioritize the important and let go of the rest. Apply the 80/20 principle which is a key principle in prioritization.

　　既然你不可能完成所有的事情，学着优先做重要的事情，放手其他的事情。80/20原则是区分事情优先次序的一条重要原则，要学会使用。

　　14. Delegate.

　　委托处理。

　　If there are things that can be better done by others or things that are not so important, consider delegating. This takes a load off and you can focus on the important tasks.

　　如果有些事情别人可以做得更好或不是很重要的事情，你可以考虑委托他人处理。这会减轻你的负担，让你专注于重要的任务。

　　15. Batch similar tasks together.

　　相似的任务批量处理。

　　For related work, batch them together. For example, my work can be categorized into these core groups: (1) writing (articles, my upcoming book) (2) coaching (3) workshop development (4) business development (5) administrative. I batch all the related tasks together so there’s synergy. If I need to make calls, I allocate a time slot to make all my calls. It really streamlinesthe process.

　　把相关的任务批量处理。例如，我的工作主要可以分为这几组：（1）写作（文章，即将出版的新书） （2）培训 （3）研讨会发展 （4）业务发展（5）行政工作。我把这些相关的任务放在一起来协同处理。如果我需要打电话，我会安排一段时间专门打电话。这样做简化了工作过程。

　　16. Eliminate your time wasters.

　　排除浪费时间的因素。

　　What takes your time away your work? Facebook? Twitter? Email checking? Stop checking them so often. One thing you can do is make it hard to check them – remove them from your browser quick links / bookmarks and stuff them in a hard to access bookmarks folder. Replace your browser bookmarks with important work-related sites. While you’ll still check FB/Twitter no doubt, you’ll find it’s a lower frequency than before.

　　什么占据了你工作的时间？Facebook？Twitter？ 查看电子邮件？ 不要这么频繁地去查看它们。你可以让自己很难去查看它们——把它们从浏览器的快速链接/书签上移出，放在很难找到的书签文件夹中。用和工作相关的重要网站代替它们放在浏览器的书签中。当然，你还是会查看Facebook/Twitter的，但你会发现查看的频率没以前那么频繁了。

　　17. Cut off when you need to.

　　在需要的时候可以放弃。

　　#1 reason why things overrunis because you don’t cut off when you have to. Don’t be afraid to intercept in meetings or draw a line to cut-off. Otherwise, there’s never going to be an end and you’ll just eat into the time for later.

　　事情太多的首要原因是该放弃的时候却没有放弃。不要害怕会议中途退出或取消会议。否则会没完没了，你会占用随后的时间。

　　18. Leave buffer time in-between.

　　预留缓冲时间。

　　Don’t pack everything closely together. Leave a 5-10 minute buffer time in between each tasks. This helps you wrap up the previous task and start off on the next one.

　　不要把事情安排的太紧。在每项任务之间留出5-10分钟的缓冲时间。这会帮助你总结前一项任务，并开始进行下一项任务。