一份能完成的to do list

Everyone starts the day with a head full of ambition.

每個人都是帶著滿腔熱血開始新的一天。

You're going to get a lot of things done: write that essay, keep the pilates appointment (for once), get your tax papers in order, bake that cake for mom's birthday.

你要完成很多事情：比如寫篇文章、預(yù)約一次普拉提、按順序整理好稅務(wù)文件、烘焙媽媽生日要用的蛋糕等等等等。

The trouble is, you might still be dreaming.

然而問題是，你現(xiàn)在可能還在睡夢中。

There's a fundamental disconnect between what we think we can get done in a day and what's actually possible. That's because, as the alarm clock reminds us every morning, our lives are on the meter.

一天之中，我們認為自己可以完成和實際上可能完成基本上沒聯(lián)系。那是因為，鬧鐘每天早上叫醒我們時，這一天的生活就開始打表了。

Think of time in concrete terms

第一步：具體化時間。

"Time is actually not intangible; it is concrete and measurable," productivity consultant and author Julie Morgenstern explains in, appropriately, Time magazine. "You can compare [organizing time] to organizing a closet. There's a limited amount of space that is oftentimes crammed with way too much stuff that you can possibly fit."

效率顧問和作家Julie Morgenstern解釋道：“時間實際上不是無形的，它是具體可丈量的，你可以把「組織時間」比作「整理壁櫥」。通常情況下，很小的壁櫥塞滿了太多你覺得可能適合放這里的東西。

Ironically, there may not be enough time in our entire lives to soak up all the time management strategies touted on the internet. Much of it focuses on slimming down the non-essentials, like watching TV or browsing the internet — also known as relaxing.

可笑的是，我們一生中也沒足夠的時間來一直學(xué)習(xí)網(wǎng)上整理好的管理策略。大多數(shù)策略都瞄準(zhǔn)縮短不必要事情上的時間，比如看電視啊，瀏覽網(wǎng)頁啊，也就是眾所周知的放松休閑。

But Morgenstern, who has written the bestselling "Time to Parent," has developed a uniquely simple method for managing the day: approach it like a mathematician.

但最佳暢銷書《Time to Parent》的作者Morgenstern研究出了一種簡單的，獨一無二的管理一天的方法：像數(shù)學(xué)家一樣處理這一天。

If math isn't your strong suit, particularly first-thing-in-the-morning arithmetic, don't despair. It's a pretty simple formula. When you add a task to your to-do list, roughly estimate how long it should take and subtract that time from what you've got to work with in a day.

如果數(shù)學(xué)不是你的強項，尤其一大早第一件事兒還是算數(shù)的話，不要絕望。它其實是一個非常簡單的方程式。當(dāng)你在任務(wù)清單上加上一個任務(wù)時，粗略地估計一下應(yīng)該多長時間可以完成它，然后再從一天中你已經(jīng)在做的事情里抽出些時間給它。

People who do the math, Morgenstern says, are time realists — their lists may not be long, but those jobs get done.

Morgenstern稱，做這些數(shù)學(xué)題的人是時間現(xiàn)實主義者，他們的清單可能不長，但所有任務(wù)都已完成。

Then there are the people who wake up with a head full of steam, frantically filling their to-do list with nary a thought to how long each task will take.

有很多人帶著一腔熱血醒來，瘋狂地填滿任務(wù)清單，想也不想這些事情會花多少時間。

Invariably, they end their days with a heaping to-do-tomorrow list. And the cycle of daily frustration and stress continues.

不變的是，他們結(jié)束了自己的一天，任務(wù)又堆積到明天，于是日常失落和壓力繼續(xù)循環(huán)著。

Thankfully, Morgenstern doesn't blame poor time management on our nature. We can all change.

慶幸的是，Morgenstern沒把管理不好時間歸咎于我們的本性。我們都還能改變。

"When you get a label, you can feel very channeled, like there's no opportunity for change or development," she tells The New York Times.

她說：“當(dāng)你得到一個標(biāo)簽時，會感到自己被指引了，就像沒機會改變和發(fā)展了。”

So how do you get from time optimist to time realist? Lump the urgent tasks into a handful of tidy buckets to help you keep track of them.

所以，怎樣從一個時間樂觀者變?yōu)闀r間現(xiàn)實主義者呢?把緊急的任務(wù)全放在一手能提的籃子里可以幫你隨時跟蹤它們。

"If you're a writer, your responsibilities probably include ideating stories, researching, writing, editing, interviewing," Morgenstern tells Time. "Everyone has three to five buckets. You have to make it simpler. The brain can't keep track of more than that."

“如果你是一個作家，你的責(zé)任可能包括構(gòu)思情節(jié)、調(diào)研、寫作、采編，”Morgenstern說，“每個人都有3到5個籃子。你得讓它變簡單點，太多了大腦就不能跟蹤它們了。

Next step: get your math on and assign a time for every task.

下一步：開始解題，然后給每一項任務(wù)分配時間。

To-do items that float freely outside of time could haunt you for months. Instead tack everything to a schedule.

自由游蕩在時間之外的要做事項，可能會困擾你數(shù)月，不如每件事情都做個時間表。

"A 'to-do' not connected to a 'when' rarely gets done," she explains. "A to-do requires a certain amount of time in your day. If it's just sitting on a list and you're just waiting for time to materialize, it's not going to."

“一個和‘何時’沒聯(lián)系的‘要做’是很難完成的，”她這樣說明，“‘要做’需要一天中某段特定時間。如果只是在列表上列下來，而你只是等著它實現(xiàn)，那么就不會實現(xiàn)。”

About the only thing Morgenstern doesn't want us to classify is ourselves. There's no workaholic type in her theories. Or procrastinator or downright slacker box that we can't break out of.

Morgenstern唯一不想讓我們給自己分類，她的理論中沒有工作狂類型，也沒有拖延癥患者和不折不扣的懶鬼。

There are just people who do the math. And people who don't.

有做數(shù)學(xué)題的人，也有不做數(shù)學(xué)題的人。

So maybe the first thing on our to-do list every morning should be a little math.

因此，我們每天任務(wù)清單上的第一件事兒，可能就是早上做點兒“數(shù)學(xué)題”。