七项法则助你事半功倍！

译者 smmo

Some people are incredibly effective and efficient. They get lots of work done – and it’s all high-quality. They seem to have boundless energy and enthusiasm. Maybe you’ve got a friend who’s like that – or perhaps it’s your colleague, or your spouse. You might think that they were born that way: they had the “productivity gene.”

   有一类人他们拥有令人难以置信的高效率。他们完成了很多工作——同时都是高质量的。对待工作，他们好像有无穷的能量和热情。也许你就有这样的朋友——也许他们是你的同事，亦或是你的另一半。你也许认为他们是天生就这样：他们拥有“高效基因”。

The truth is this: you can massively increase your own productivity by understanding and using the secrets that highly productive people know.

Perhaps you’ll find that some of these are familiar tips: if so, are you actually following them?

   真相就是：你也可以使用高效率人士所遵守的秘密法则来大幅提高你自己的效率。也许你将会发现这些法则比较相似：这样的话，实际上你会遵守吗？

Understanding “Peak” Times of Day

Productive people have a good sense of their daily rhythm, and they allow for this when planning their day. They recognize that not all hours are created equal.

   高效率的人十分了解自己的高峰时刻，同时他们以此来安排他们一天的工作。他们承认并不是同等对待一天中的每个小时。

Do you know when your “peak” hours are? You probably have a good gut sense. Maybe you work really well in the mornings but struggle to focus in the afternoons. Perhaps you have a boost of energy at 3pm every day

    你知道何时才是你的”高峰“时刻吗？你也许有个良好的感觉。也许你在早上工作出色但是下午就要努力去集中精力。也许你每天下午三点的时候精力充沛。

Use it: Once you know your best hours, use those for your hardest tasks – anything requiring lots of concentration or creativity. If you’re highly focused between 10am and 12noon, don’t use that time for reading emails.

使用它：一旦你知道你的效率最高的时段，在这时段内去完成最艰难的任务——任何事情需要你的专注和创造。如果你在早上10点——中午12点精力最充沛，不要在那段时间浏览邮件。

cusing on One Task at a Time

2.一次只做一件事情  

How about you? Perhaps you’ve fallen into the trap of trying to work while you’ve got Facebook and Twitter open. You check your inbox every few minutes. Or, at home, you try to study while you’re watching television. By trying to multitask, you’re losing focus every single time you switch between things.

   你是如何做的呢？也许你正挣扎着要完成工作，然而你的脸谱和推特却开着，你每隔几分钟刷新一次。或者，在家里，你在看电视的时候，想要学习。尝试着一脑多用，然而你却在转换这些事情的时候失去专注的焦点。

使用它：尝试一次只做一件事情——先完成你的报告，然后刷新你的收件箱，然后做完你的论文，一步一步完成。接下来再去做另一个任务。

proctive people understand that multitasking is a myth. They don’t try to juggle five things at the same time. They focus on one task

   高效率的人们认为多任务共同进行仅可以是神话。他们不会同时做五件事情。他们每次只是专注一件事情。

Eating Healthy Food (Especially at Lunch)

3.健康饮食（尤其是午餐）

Productive people know that they need to carefully manage their physical energy throughout the day. That means fueling their bodies with good, nutritious food.

What does your usual lunch look like? If you scoff down fast food, plus a large coke, at your desk, you’ll get a quick energy boost from all the simple carbs – followed by a crash soon after. If you go out to a restaurant and eat a three-course meal, you’ll struggle to stay awake later in the day.

   高效率的人们知道他们需要心细地管理好他们一天之中的体能。在你的写字台放上一大瓶可乐，你的能量会因碳水化合物而快速迸发——不过不久之后能量就会衰减。如果你外出去饭店吃一顿三道菜的饭，在之后的时间段你依然会有能量保持清醒。

Use it: Aim for a moderate-sized lunch, and focus on foods that give you sustained energy (like whole grains and protein). Try fruit, nuts or seeds as mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.

使用它：制定一份合适的午餐，关注那些能够为你提供持久动力的食物（像全麦和蛋白质）。尝试将水果，坚果或者种子作为早中午和午后小餐。

Allowing Others to Help

Productive people don’t try to do everything alone. They delegate at work. They get their family to pitch in at home – or they hire a maid or gardener. They’re good at managing people, not just their own workload

4.寻求他人帮助

   高效率的人并不是一个人完成每件事情。他们会委派别人工作。他们和家人一同完成家务——或者雇佣一名家佣或者园丁。他们善于委派别人去做不是他们自己的事情。

Do you ever ask for help? Perhaps you’re afraid that you’ll look weak – but the truth is, none of us achieve anything alone. We’ve always got support (whether emotional or practical) along the way.

   你曾经向别人寻求过帮助吗？也许你会觉得这样的自己看起来很弱小——但其实，没有任何人独自完成一件事情，我们经常得到帮助（不管是精神支持还是物质支持）。

e it: What time-consuming tasks could you delegate at work? Could you pay someone to clean the house (or take care of the garden, etc) instead of struggling to do it yourself?

使用它：什么样的耗时的工作你会去请求别人？你是否会付些钱去请人打扫家里而不是自己完成（或者照顾花园等）？

saying “No” to Unwanted Commitments

5.对于不想做的事情说”不“

Productive people might seem to do everything, but they also say “no” to commitments that would conflict with what they’re already doing. They’re not afraid to set priorities and stick with them.

   高效率的人看起来什么事情都做，但是他们也会对那些可能与以前做过相矛盾的任务说”不“。他们会对要完成的任务制定先后次序。

Do you find it hard to say “no”? Maybe you’re afraid of offending someone, or you feel bad turning down their request. But if you take on every commitment that comes your way, you’ll soon find that you’re not able to complete anything on time and to a high standard.

   你是否发现很难说”不“？你害怕得罪别人，或者你不喜欢拒绝别人的感觉。如果你要去做你手头上的所有事情，你也许会发现无法准时高质量地去完成任何事。

e it: Be choosy about what new things you take on. If you don’t have much choice (e.g. it’s your boss asking) then explain that you’ve got a full workload, and that you’ll need to give up something else.

使用它：选择你要做的事情。如果你没有选择（例如你老板要求的），就应该说明你已经满负荷运作了，同时放弃一些任务。

Productive people make time to exercise. That might be one of the things that surprises you – How can Sam have enough energy to do a full day’s work and then hit the gym? I feel exhausted just watching him.Exercising Regularly

6.定时锻炼

   高效率的人通常有安排时间运动。那也许会成为使你兴奋的事情之一——Sam如何能够在锻炼之后拥有足够的能量去完成一天的工作？我看见他的时候很吃惊。

How often have you said “I don’t have time to exercise”? Perhaps you feel too tired at the end of the day – so you slump on the sofa in front of the TV instead. You think that if you exercise, you’ll be exhausted the next day. But, as productive people know, exercising doesn’t tire you out – it gives you more energy.

   你一般多久会说”我没有时间运动“？也许你会发现一天结束之后很累——然后你就躺在沙发里看电视。你认为如果你去运动，下一天你会精疲力尽。但是高效率的人们都知道，运动并不会让你累趴——相反会给予你能量。

Use it: Start small. Get out in your lunch hour for a brisk 15-minute walk – and see what a difference it makes to your energy levels during the afternoon.

使用它：慢慢来，在你午餐后花15分钟去散步——与以往不同的是，你会觉得下午精力充沛。

Productive people know that the smart choice is to spend a little bit of time right now in order to save lots of time in the future.

7.做好选择以节省时间

   高效率的人们知道一个小小的选择只是用了当下一小会儿时间，然而却节省了之后的很多时间。

Have you ever struggled on with an inefficient method, because you “didn’t have time” to change it? Perhaps you can complete a particular task in 30 minutes, and it would take two hours to put in place a more efficient method. If that 30 minute task crops up every week, though, and a two-hour fix would cut it to 5 minutes each time, it’s a fix well worth implementing

   你曾经是否使用一个不当的方法去做事情。是因为你”没有时间“去改变？也许你能够在30分钟内完成这件事情，然而要花费两个小时去思考一个更高效的方法。如果每周都有那30分钟的工作，但是我们可以花两个小时将工作时间减少到5分钟，那也是一项值得去做的事情。

使用它：当你在做重复长时间的电脑工作时，要想一想是否还有更高效的办法？