“我們的生活被鎖事充斥著，簡化，我們需要簡化。”--亨利大衛梭羅

What would you do if you had an extra hour a day?

 如果每天的生活中可以多一個小時，你會做什麼呢？

This is a common barrier I run into when I write about making positive life changes: people don’t have time to pursue their dreams. People don’t have time to exercise. People don’t have time to get organized.

當我著手討論如何使生活更積極、更有意義時，這個問題就產生了，人們通常沒有時間去追逐夢想，沒有時間鍛煉，甚至沒有時間去思考。

Well, it’s time to make time.

好吧，現在是時間去想想這些了。

By using some combination of the following, you can free up an hour or more a day. Find the ones that work for you (not all will work for everyone), and then carve out that hour a day.

你可以通過以下的某個方法，使每一天都多出一小時甚至更多，找到那個適合你的（不是每一項都適合所有人），並堅持下去，使每一天都多出一小時，做你喜歡的事。

Then make sure you use that extra hour a day in the best way possible — book that hour on your calendar for something you really, really want to do, whether that’s work on a goal, write a book, start a business, exercise, read more, or whatever. Don’t squander this gift of time!

你要好好利用這段時間，珍惜生活給你的這個特別的禮物，做你真正想做的事，無論是為實現一個目標所做的努力、寫一本書、開展一項業務，或者是鍛煉、讀書都好，把它記錄下來。

Make an appointment right after work. Whether it’s exercise or working on some other goal, make an appointment to do it right when you get out of work (at 5 p.m., for example). This works especially well if you have to meet someone else, such as a workout partner or other group or team or coach or partner. You’ll be sure to meet the appointment, which means you won’t stick around work too long, and you’ll be sure to finish all your tasks on time so you can leave on time. This makes you more efficient in the afternoon especially.

1、下班後安排一個約會。在每天下班後（例如下午5點後），安排一點事去做，可以是健身，也可以是其它一些項目。如果這個時間可以與其他人一起那就更好了，這些人可以是工作以外的，例如健身教練、項目搭檔都可以。你每天都要堅持這樣做，這可以讓你從每天的工作中解放出來，也會督促你在上班時間做好所有的工作。這會讓你在下午工作時效率提高。

Wake up earlier. I’ve written about this before, of course, but I’ve found time for goals that are important to me by waking a bit earlier. Exercise, writing, reading — I do those now early in the day, so it doesn’t interfere with family time. Early in the day works well for me and many others, simply because there’s not much going on to distract or interrupt at this time of day.

2、早起一會兒。這一點我從前就提到過，我會找到一些對我很重要的事迫使自己早起一點。鍛煉、寫作、讀書，現在我都在早上完成了，不會再佔用跟家人共處的時間。由於這個時間段較少被打擾和轉移注意力，對很多人來說，包括我，早上的時間是更有效率的。

Turn off the phones. You don’t have to turn off phones all day long, but you should have some unbroken blocks of time when you don’t take calls, so you can concentrate on your important tasks. This allows you to get more done in less time, as phone calls can eat up chunks of your day if you let them.

3、關掉移動電話。當然不是全天都關閉電話，但每天都應該有一段時間不被別人打擾，專心於自已感興趣的、真正重要的事。這可以讓你在短時間內做更多的事情，而不會因為接電話而中斷本來專注的事情。

Stop checking email. This doesn’t work for everyone, but if you can stop checking email except at one or two times during the day, you can free up a lot of wasted time. Checking email constantly takes up a lot of time.

4、不去看郵箱。這不適合每一個人，但如果你每天只查看一到兩次郵箱，就會節省很多時間，不停的查看郵箱會浪費很多時間。

Brown bag it. Many people I know take an hour or more for lunch. While a relaxing lunch can be a good thing, if you take lunch to work, you can eat quickly and either spend the extra time 1) working on a goal; or 2) getting work done so you can leave earlier. Plus, brown bagging it saves money too.

5、叫外賣。據我所知，很多人會花費一到兩個小時在午餐上，當然一頓放鬆愜意的午餐是很美妙的，但如果叫外賣，你就可以節省時間去做更多的事，工作提前完成，就可以早點下班了。噢，對了，外賣更加省錢！

Figure out your core work activities. What is it that you really have to do each day? I mean, the stuff you have to do or your job would fall apart. If you really think about it, a lot of the tasks you do each day (and phone calls and emails, mentioned above, are included in these tasks) don’t really need to be done each day. Sometimes you can do them less often, sometimes you don’t need to do them at all. If you can learn to focus on your core activities, you can get your work done in less time.

6、掌握最重要的工作。你每天必須要做的是什麼？我是說那些必須做，不做會影響正常狀況的事。這樣認真思考你會發現很多事都不是必須的，比如接電話、查郵件，有時需要偶爾做，有時真的完全沒必要。如果你能瞭解什麼是最重要的，則不必浪費時間在無關緊要的事情上，重要工作會在更短的時間完成。

Cancel a meeting or two. Think about the last 4-5 meetings you’ve gone to. How many of them were really valuable? How many of them did you need to be at? It depends on your job, but sometimes you can beg out of a meeting — or just outright cancel it if you have that power — and accomplish the same thing through an email or two. You just saved yourself 30-60 minutes per meeting canceled.

7、取消一兩次會議。想一想最後參加的這幾次會議中，有多少是真正有用的？有多少是你要親自參加的？這取決於你所做的工作，如果你有這個能力可以不去參加，或者通過郵件方式解決，取消一次會議就可以為你節省個把小時了。

Delegate. Not everyone has this option, but if you can give some of the tasks on your list to others who are better suited to doing those tasks, you’ll free up time. Do you really need to be doing everything you do, or can some of those tasks be delegated?

8、找人替代你。不是每個人都可以這樣做的，但如果你能夠把工作交給較為合適的人去完成，你就節省了時間。想一想，是不是每項工作都要你親歷親為，找人代為完成不可以嗎？

Consolidate errands. If you routinely do errands throughout the week, you’re spending a lot of time driving. Instead, try to do all errands on one day, and plan out an efficient route. Most people will save at least an hour a week in total.

9、壓縮途中時間。每天上班路上都要花費時間，嘗試一下是否可以在一天內做盡量多的工作，尋找一條更有效的線路。很多人通過努力每週都可以節約一點時間。

Know your priority. What is the one thing you need to do today? Get that done, above all else, and do it first. After you do that priority task, the rest is extra really. Cut back on some of the rest to free up time.

10、瞭解首要完成的事。每天你必須完成的工作時什麼？在做其它事之前做好它，簡化那些次重要的事節約時間。

Shrink your task list. Once you’ve identified your core work activities and your top priority for the day, go over your task list and whittle it down to the essentials. Put tasks you don’t need to do now on a someday/maybe list, delete others, delegate others. Keep your task list down to the essentials, to keep from wasting time.

11、壓縮任務表。通過核心工作確定任務表中必須完成的事，將不是必要完成的事列到另外一張表格中，或直接刪除。為了不浪費時間，只完成那些必要的工作。

Say no. One of the biggest groups of time eaters is requests from other people. All day long we get requests, in person, on the phone, in email, through paperwork. Meetings, assignments, requests for information, requests to be on a committee or team … these are all requests that will eat up your time. Say no to all but the essentials.

12、學會拒絕。時間消耗的一個重要原因是來自他人的要求，我們每天都要通過電話、郵件、文件等接到來自別人的要求。會議、任務、提供資料、請求成立委員會或小組等等，這些消耗了大量的時間，拒絕那些不必要的事情吧。

Get to the point. While I’m a fan of long, slow conversations, if you’re trying to make time for goals, you need to whittle down needlessly long conversations — especially if it’s just with a co-worker who isn’t a close friend. In person or on the phone, you need to get straight to the point with a minimum of chit-chat, and if the other person isn’t getting to the point, politely ask what he needs from you.

13、直切要點。我不喜歡漫長而緩慢的交流方式，所以當想要談出結果時，需要把那些不必要的冗長內容簡化，特別是與合作夥伴而非親密朋友時。在電話中或單獨見面時，你需要直切主題或幾分鐘內進入重點，而當對方未切入要點時，你可以直接提醒他。

Watch less TV. Many people watch hours of TV a day. You can easily save an hour a day if you cut TV out, or just watch your single favorite show each day. Don’t channel surf.

14、少看電視。很多人每天花很多時間在電視上，如果不看電視每天可以很輕鬆的多幾小時。可以看你非常喜歡的表演，切記不要無所事實的換台。

Read less online. If you’re like me, you can spend hours a day reading online. Limit your online reading and focus on your essential tasks.

15、減少上網時間。如果像我一樣每天都會花些時間在網上，盡量減少所花的時間吧，將精力放在基本工作上。

Don’t talk long on the phone. Long phone conversations can eat up a lot of your time. Instead, know what you want to accomplish and try to get that done quickly. If someone else is calling you, encourage them to get to the point, and then wrap it up when you’re done. Tell them you have to go because you’ve got something else to get to.

16、別堡電話粥。電話粥佔用了你大量的時間，所以通電話時要盡量簡明的表述以達到目的，與通話的對象直接切入主題，講明白後就掛電話，告訴對方你有其它事情正在忙。

Avoid IM and Twitter and the like. I’m not saying these types of instant communication don’t have their uses, but if they’re always on and you’re always available, you’re always at the mercy of others. Instead, just make yourself available at set times if necessary, or not at all if it’s not necessary. (And yes, I know the irony of giving this advice after I just started Twittering.)

17、盡量避免短消息。並不是說這種方式的交流沒有優點，但如果總是用短信方式交流就會佔用大量的時間，彷彿被此支配一般。相反，在極有必要時才採用這種方式。（呵呵，我知道大家會笑我，因為我正用這種方式與大家交流著。）

Search, don’t file. I used to spend a lot of time filing all my computer files and all my emails into nice, organized folders. I’d spend time every day doing this. Now, I just archive everything, on computer and email, and search when I need something. With Quicksilver on the Mac, every file is within a few keystrokes. With Gmail, every email is accessible instantly. No time spent filing!

18、搜索，不保存。我曾經儲存大量的文件在計算上，文件分別歸類，郵箱也分門別類，每天都會花費一定的時間在這些事情上。但現在，我只是會講有用的文件儲存，當需要什麼時我會重新搜索，信息是每日更新的，每封郵件都是即時訪問，過多的儲存沒什麼意義，因而不要浪費時間。