如何为更重要的事情挤时间

There are many important things in life. Your family and friends. A hobby perhaps. Working out and staying healthy.Reading, learning and growing as person.

人生中有许多重要的事情等着我们去做。比如说你的家人和朋友，或是一个兴趣。努力工作，保持健康。阅读、学习、成长。

But finding the time for what is most important in life is not always easy. It sometimes feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day.

但是为了人生中那些最重要的事情腾出时间并不总是那么容易。有时候我们总是会觉得时间不够。

But even if it may not feel like it, there are often ways to improve how you use your time. In this article I’ll share some of the most effective strategies I have found for doing so and for shaking yourself out of a rut and reconsider how you actually spend your time.

虽然有些人并不觉得如此，但总是有一些办法能够改善你利用时间的方式的。在本文中我会分享一些我曾经试过的最有效的方法，能够帮助你打破桎梏，重新思考你应该如何利用你的时间。

Focus.

专注。

With a lack of focus on what is most important in your life it becomes easy to spend too much time and energy on aimless actions or work. On things that aren’t really that important but you do out of old habit or other unhelpful reasons.

如果你对你人生中最重要的那些东西缺乏专注，你就很容易花太多时间和精力在那些漫无目的的行为和工作上。这些事情并没有那么重要，你只是因为旧习惯或是其他错误的原因而去做它们。

To become more focused:

尝试下面的方法让自己更加专注：

Write down your top 4 priorities where you see them every day. To keep your attention in the right place it is essential to remind yourself every day of what is truly most important to you. So think about it and reduce what is important in your life at this moment to the top 4 most important priorities. Write those four things down on two notes and post one in your workspace and one your night table.

把你最想做的4件事情写下来，放在你每天都能看到的地方。为了让你的注意力保持在正确的地方，你必须每天都提醒自己什么是对你真正重要的事情。所以，好好想一想，把你认为最重要的事情缩小到4件，然后把这4件事情写在两张便签上，一张贴在你工作的地方，一张贴在你的床头柜里。

Reduce distractions. Ask yourself: what are the 3 most common distractions that keep me from doing my work in a focused way? Figure out how you can prevent those things from distracting you. It could be by shutting the door to your office, by putting your phone on silent mode for an hour at a time or by having notifications for email shut off.

减少分心。 问问自己：当你专心工作的时候，哪三点是你最大的困扰因素？想一想你能怎样避免这些事情让你分心。比如关上你办公室的门，把手机调成一个小时的静音，或是关掉email的通知等等。

Find balance. If you just work and work you will quickly become unfocused and the longer the week drags on the more tired you become. To work smarter try using a timer – on your cell phone or use an egg-timer – and set it for 45 minutes. Then put in a drawer or somewhere where you can’t see it. During those 45 minutes dive in and immerse yourself in the no-distraction zone and your work until the clock rings. Then set you timer for a 15 minute break where you get away from your work space if possible. Take a walk, go for a snack or have a conversation about something else than work.

劳逸结合。 如果只是一味的工作，你很快就会注意力不集中。随着日子一天天过，你也会觉得越来越累。你可以用一个更聪明的方式——在手机或是闹钟上设个闹铃——把它设定为45分钟。然后把它放在抽屉里或是某个你看不到的地方。在这45分钟里，让自己进入无干扰环境中，尽可能地专注于你的工作，直到闹铃响了为止。然后再设置一个15分钟休息的闹铃，你可以在这段时间尽可能地休息休息。出去走走、吃点小点心，或是和别人聊聊天。

Simplify.

简单化。

Your daily input. Reduce the number of blogs, newsletters, magazines, book clubs, podcasts, TV-shows etc. you follow. Just keep the ones you are really getting something out of.

限制信息摄入量。减少你看的博客、报纸、杂志、播客、电视节目等，只是选择一些你能够真正知道一些东西的来看。

Email. Just check and process your email during one chunk of time once per day. Instead of checking it 10 times or more each day.

限制电子邮件。每天只在特定的时间收发邮件，而不是频繁地去注意它。

Social activities. Write down a list of the social activities you are involved in after school or work. Maybe you are involved in a club or an activity that it is not as fun or rewarding as it used to be. Maybe you want to rearrange your priorities a bit to focus on something else this year.

限制社交活动。为你在放学和下班后要参加的社交活动列一张表。或许你在参加的一个社团或者活动没有原先那么好玩和有意义了，或许你应该重新规划一下，看看哪些才是你更应该做的。

Minimize or eliminate.

最小化。

What else can you eliminate or minimize besides the things listed above? Some meetings at work or in school? Redditing or some online forum you hang out on a lot?

除了上面列出来的东西以外，还有什么是你可以精简或删除的呢？或许是一些无聊的会议？或是一些网上论坛的活动？

Question and reconsider your own habits regularly instead of moving along in the same old tracks just because it what you usually do. See if you want make changes to make more room for things you would honestly get more out of.

问问自己，经常思考一下自己的习惯，而不是仅仅因为你经常那么干就由着旧习惯走。你要是希望做出些改变来为其他事情腾出更多的时间，你就一定能得到更多时间。

Find unnoticed free time in your day.

寻找生活中被忽视的时间。

One final tip. There is often quite a bit of open travel- or waiting-time during a year. What will you use your such time for? Perhaps you would like to read more while riding the train or listen to audio books while waiting for a meeting to start or while you are out driving your car.

这是最后的建议。每年中你肯定有不少时间花在路上或是在等待中。你会如何利用这些时间呢？或许你会在火车上读些东西，或者在等待开会时或是开车的时候听点电子书。

Even if you only have 20 minutes of commuting time each day then you still have a many, many hours in a year that you may want to, at least partly, use in a new way.

即使你每天只花20分钟在上下班的车上，但是一年365天，每天20分钟还是一段不短的时间。你还是需要更好地利用好它们。