職場雙語:7個方法讓你的上午更高效(1)
Just as it's rare for anyone to experience overnight success, it's also rare for our lives to crumble to pieces in an instant. Most unproductive or unhealthy behaviors are the result of slow, gradual choices that add up to bad habits; a wasted morning here, an unproductive morning there.
就像很少有人能一夜成名一樣，我們的生活也不太可能在頃刻間支離破碎，許多低效或不健康的行爲習慣都是由這種緩慢而持續的選擇疊加而成的。早上起來在這裏浪費點時間，在那邊拖延一陣。The good news is that exceptional results are also the result of consistent daily choices. Nowhere is this more true than with your morning routine: the way you start your day is often the way that you finish it.
但好消息是，如果每天堅持健康正確的選擇，就能產生與衆不同的結果。從早晨的例行程序開始做改變最合適不過了，通常你以什麼樣的方式開始一天，也會以同樣的方式結束這天。What you do each morning is an indicator of how you approach your entire day. It's the choices that we repeatedly make that determine the life we live, the health we enjoy, and the work we create. Here are the strategies that I've found to be most effective for getting the most out of my morning.
你每個早上的作爲影響着你一整天的生活方式。你平時反覆做出的選擇最終會決定你的生活、健康和工作。我認爲，以下這幾種方法能很有效地利用好上午這段時間。
1. Manage your energy, not your time.
分配好你的精力，而非時間。If you take a moment to think about it, you'll probably realize that you are better at doing certain tasks at certain times. For example, my creative energy is highest in the morning, so that's when I do my writing each day.
如果花些時間想一想，你可能會發現你在某一段時間能更好地完成某些任務。比如說，我在上午最富有創造力，所以我每天會專門在這段時間裏寫作。By comparison, I block out my afternoons for interviews, phone calls, and emails. I don't need my creative energy to be high for those tasks, so that's the best time for me to get them done, and I tend to have my best workouts in the late afternoon or early evening, so that's when I head to the gym.
相比之下，我會在下午做採訪、打電話，回郵件。這些事情不需要太多創造力，因此把它們放在下午做會更好。我在傍晚前後更適於鍛鍊身體，所以選擇這個時間段去健身房運動。What type of energy do you have in the morning? What task is that energy best suited for?
你在早晨哪方面能力最強？在這段時間裏做什麼事情最適宜？2. Prepare the night before.
前一天晚上做好準備。I don't do this nearly as often as I should, but if you only do one thing each day then spend a few minutes each night organizing your to–do list for tomorrow.
其實我應該多這樣做幾次纔對，要是你第二天有不止一件要做，還是在頭天晚上花幾分鐘列個清單爲妙。When I do it right, I'll outline the article I'm going to write the next day and develop a short list of the most important items for me to accomplish. It takes 10 minutes that night and saves 3 hours the next day.
我這樣做時，會列出我第二天要寫文章的提綱，再記下幾個需要完成的重要項目。這一晚上花10分鐘，就能爲第二天省下3個小時。3. Don't open email until noon.
中午之前不要查郵件。Sounds simple, yet nobody does it. It took me a while to get over the urge to open my inbox, but eventually I realized that everything can wait a few hours.
聽上去挺簡單，但沒人這樣做。我要花很大力氣才能抑制打開收件箱的衝動，但最終發現所有事情都可以等幾個小時再處理。Nobody is going to email you about a true emergency (a death in the family, etc.), so leave your email alone for the first few hours of each day. Use the morning to do what's important rather than responding to what is “urgent.”
沒有人會發郵件通知你緊急事件（比如說家人去世等等），所以每天早上的幾個小時還是不要查郵件了。應該利用早晨做重要的事情，而非回覆那些貌似緊急的郵件。
