Does This Sound Familiar?
這聽上去很熟悉是嗎？

Everyone seems to complain about being busy nowadays. That’s no surprise considering the wealth of information, activities and opportunities that we have at our fingertips when compared to just a few decades ago, but it also means that one of our most precious resources – time – is becoming even harder to control.
如今每個(gè)人似乎都在抱怨自己很忙。考慮到我們觸手可及的信息、活動和機(jī)會的數(shù)量和幾十年前相比已經(jīng)不可同日而語，這并不奇怪。但這也意味著我們最珍貴的資源之一——時(shí)間——正在變得更加難以控制。

That said, there are people who are achieving amazing things every day in the same 24 hours that we all have available. So what do they know that most people don’t?
即便如此，還是有人每天都做到了不可思議的事情，而他們和我們擁有的同樣都是每天24小時(shí)。他們知道什么大部分人不知道的秘訣呢？

What’s Really Important to You?
什么是對你真正重要的？

We’re surrounded by distractions that will steal our time if we’re not careful. Everyone is busy for 24 hours a day but it’s important to remember that we’re all busy doing different things.
我們周圍充滿了讓我們分心的東西，一不小心，我們的時(shí)間就會被偷走。每個(gè)人一天都忙碌了24小時(shí)，但重要的是你要記住，我們忙碌所做的事情是不同的。

The question is whether you are busy doing the things that are really important to you, or if you find your days filled with endless time vampires.
問題在于，你每天是否在為那些對于你來說真正重要的事情忙碌，還是說你的時(shí)間只是被無盡的時(shí)間吸血鬼所吞噬。

How to Organize Your Life to Maximize Your Productivity
怎樣管理你的生活，讓效率最大化？

Here’s a simple exercise to look at where your time is going on an average day and to help prioritize the important stuff:
下面這個(gè)簡單的方法可以看出你每天的時(shí)間都用在哪里，并且?guī)椭銉?yōu)先處理重要事項(xiàng)：

1. Take out a piece of paper and divide it into 3 sections
拿出一張紙，分成3個(gè)區(qū)

2. In the first section write “Sleep – 8 hours” or whatever that number is for you
在第一區(qū)里寫上“睡覺——8小時(shí)”或者你平時(shí)的睡眠時(shí)間

3. In the second write “Work – 8 hours”
在第二區(qū)里寫上“工作——8小時(shí)”

4. Now in the final box write down the following things and the time they take
在最后一個(gè)區(qū)里寫上下面的事項(xiàng)和它們所需要的時(shí)間

1）Things that you have to do (showering, commuting, eating, etc)
你必須要做的事情（洗澡，上下班，吃飯等）

2）Things that you want to do (activities, time with family, etc)
你想做的事情（活動，陪家人等）

3）Other things that you currently do (TV, Facebook, etc)
其他你正在做的事情（看電視，用Facebook等）

4）Anything else that takes your time each day and isn’t captured already
任何其他你每天花時(shí)間做但還沒有完成的事情

Now you simply ask yourself if you’re happy with where your time is going in that additional 8 hours. If you wish you had more time to spend on your hobby or with your family but find you’re spending a couple of hours in front of the TV each night then you might want to change that.
現(xiàn)在你只需要問問自己，對于自己在剩下這8小時(shí)的時(shí)間安排是否滿意。如果你希望有更多時(shí)間用在興趣愛好上，或者用來陪家人，但發(fā)現(xiàn)你每晚花了幾個(gè)小時(shí)看電視，那么你也許想要改變一下了。

This exercise is designed to show us the places where we’re leaking time into activities we don’t really care about. At the end of the day it’s up to you how you structure your life. Maybe you’d rather spend more time watching TV and less time with your family; it’s completely up to you.
這個(gè)測試告訴我們，我們把許多時(shí)間浪費(fèi)在了那些我們其實(shí)并不在意的事情上。在一天結(jié)束時(shí)，你可以決定該如何規(guī)劃你的生活。也許你寧愿花更多時(shí)間看電視，而不愿意多陪陪家人，這完全取決于你。

Eliminating Huge Time Sucks from Your Life
減少生活中浪費(fèi)掉的時(shí)間

There are also parts of our life that you might have to do right now but aren’t always the best use of your time. For example you might spend an hour or two commuting to and from work. That’s time that you’re losing every single day of your life and you’ll never get it back.
我們的生活中還有一些事情你現(xiàn)在也許不得不做，但并沒有讓這些時(shí)間得到最佳利用。比如說你也許要花一兩個(gè)小時(shí)上下班。這些時(shí)間你每天都在失去，而且永遠(yuǎn)不會再回來。

You might look at how you can get a job closer to home or tele-commute a few days a week. Since my commute is 7 steps from the bedroom to the office (yes I just counted), it saves me a ton of time every day that I’d otherwise lose. Again it’s your life and completely up to you which choices you make – just be aware that there are always choices available.
你也許可以考慮找一個(gè)離家近一些的工作，或者一周來回幾天。因?yàn)槲覐呐P室到辦公室的距離只有7步 （是的，我剛剛數(shù)過），所以每天我節(jié)約了大量可能失去的時(shí)間。再重申一次，生活是你自己的，你做出何種選擇完全取決于你——只要知道總有一些選擇可供你考慮。

Other things might include dropping off and picking up children when you could take turns with other parents. Perhaps you jump on Facebook or turn on the TV and it’s time for bed before you know it. Limiting yourself in these areas can reveal a whole bunch of wasted productive time.
還有一些事情，也許包括接送孩子，你可以和其他家長輪流來。也許你登陸Facebook或者打開了電視，而此時(shí)已經(jīng)該睡覺了。控制在這些方面花費(fèi)的時(shí)間，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)大量被浪費(fèi)的有效時(shí)間。

Using “Dead Time” Productively
有效利用“停滯時(shí)間”

If you still need to commute or do other tasks, then you’ll want to work out the most productive way you can do it. For example, you might start listening to personal development or business audios while commuting to up-skill in some area. By turning your car into a driving university you can easily listen to 5-10 hours of uplifting audio every week… that’s 250 to 500 hours a year!
如果你還是需要遠(yuǎn)距離上下班，或者有其他任務(wù)，那么你會想要研究出最有效利用這段時(shí)間的辦法。比如說，在上下班路上你可以開始聽一些關(guān)于個(gè)人發(fā)展或者商業(yè)的音頻資料。把你的車變成一所移動的大學(xué)，這樣你每周就可以聽5-10個(gè)小時(shí)令人振奮的內(nèi)容，一年下來就有250-500個(gè)小時(shí)呢！

When cooking or cleaning, you might get the kids involved or simply have them sit at the kitchen counter so you can chat. That way you have quality time with the kids every night as you cook and eat dinner at the same time. You’re basically asking yourself how to maximize the time spent on those “must do” activities.
當(dāng)你做飯或者打掃房間時(shí)，你可以讓孩子們參與進(jìn)來，或者讓他們坐在櫥柜邊，這樣你們就可以聊天了。這樣一來你每晚在做飯和吃飯的同事，就可以和孩子們共度黃金時(shí)光。你可以問問自己該如何讓最大化利用花在“必須要做”的事情上的時(shí)間。

It’s Your Time… So Organize Your Life to Get What YOU Want
輪到你了。管理你的生活，做你想做的事

We all have a limited amount of time each day and it’s up to us to make the most of it. By knowing what’s important to you and making the most of your dead time you change your life dramatically. Remember it’s about designing your ideal life – not somebody else’s – so focus on what works for you.
我們每天的時(shí)間都是有限的，能否最大化利用時(shí)間取決于我們。知道了對你重要的事情以及該如何利用大部分停滯時(shí)間，你可以讓你的生活得到巨大改變。記住，這樣設(shè)計(jì)你的理想生活，而不是別人的。所以專注于對你有用的東西吧。