When people find out I write about time management,they assume two things.One is that I'm always on time,and I'm not.I have four small children,and I would like to blame them for my occasional tardiness,but sometimes it's just not their fault.I was once late to my own speech on time management.We all had to just take a moment together and savor that irony.

当人们发现我在写关于时间管理的内容时，通常会有两个想当然的想法。一个就是我肯定总是很守时，但并不是。我有四个年幼的孩子，我倒是很想把偶尔迟到怪到他们头上，但有时候并不是他们的责任。我有一次连自己的时间管理讲座都迟到了。当时大家只得一起体会了一下其中的讽刺意味。

The second thing they assume is that I have lots of tips and tricks for saving bits of time here and there.Sometimes I'llhear from magazines that are doing a story along these lines,generally on how to help their readers find an extra hour in the day.And the idea is that we'll shave bits of time off everyday activities,add it up,and we'll have time for the good stuff.I question the entire premise of this piece,but I'm always interested in hearing what they've come up with before they call me.

第二件会被大家想当然的事，就是我有很多诀窍和小窍门来节省各种零散时间。有时候我会收到杂志的来信，说他们正在根据这样的思路写文章,通常是关于如何帮助读者在一天中抽出一小时时间。这个想法是说我们从日常活动中省出零散的时间，加起来就有足够时间来做有意义的事了。我对这个概念的整个前提保持怀疑，但我总是很感兴趣他们在打电话给我前想出了什么点子。

Some of my favorites:doing errands where you only have to make right-hand turns、Being extremely judicious in microwave usage:it says three to three-and-a-half minutes on the package,we're totally getting in on the bottom side of that.And my personal favorite,which makes sense on some level,is to DVR your favorite shows so you can fast-forward through the commercials.That way,you save eight minutes every half hour,so in the course of two hours of watching TV,you find 32 minutes to exercise.Which is true.You know another way to find 32 minutes to exercise?Don't watch two hours of TV a day,right?

有几个是我很喜欢的，出去办事选择一路全是右转弯的地方、极其谨慎地使用微波炉：包装上说叮三到三分半钟，那就绝对只叮三分钟。我个人最喜欢的，从某种程度来说还算有道理，就是把喜欢的节目录下来这样就能快进广告。通过这个办法，每半小时能节省八分钟,那么在看两小时电视的过程中，就有了三十二分钟来锻炼。这倒是真的。可你们知道找三十二分钟锻炼的另一种方法吗？就是一天不要看两小时电视，对吗？

Anyway,the idea is we'll,save bits of time here and there,add it up,we will finally get to everything we want to do.But after studying how successful people spend their time and looking at their schedules hour by hour,I think this idea has it completely backward.We don't build the lives we want by saving time.We build the lives we want,and then time saves itself.

总之这个理论就是，我们节省零散的时间加起来，最终就能做到我们想做的所有事情。但是在研究了成功人士如何使用时间之后，并且逐个小时审视了他们的日程表，我认为这个理论已然彻底落后了。并不是通过节省时间创造想要的生活。而是先创造想要的生活，然后时间就自动节约下来了。

Here's what I mean.I recently did a time diary project looking at 1,001 days in the lives of extremely busy women.They had demanding jobs,sometimes their own businesses,kids to care for,maybe parents to care for,community commitments...busy,busy people.I had them keep track of their time for a week,so I could add up how much they worked and slept,and I interviewed them about their strategies,for my book.

接下来我会进行说明。我最近在做一个时间日记项目，观察那些非常繁忙的女性一天零一天的生活。她们都有繁忙的工作，有些是自己创业，要照顾孩子或许还要照顾老人，要做社区服务……都非常非常忙。我让她们每周做时间记录，这样我就能计算她们工作和睡觉的时间总和，为了收集资料，我还询问她们的安排策略。

One of the women whose time log I studied...she goes out on a Wednesday night for something.She comes home to find that her water heater has broken,and there is now water all over her basement.If you've ever had anything like this happen to you,you know it is a hugely damaging,frightening,sopping mess.So she's dealing with the immediate aftermath that night,next day she's got plumbers coming in,day after that,professional cleaning crew dealing with the ruined carpet.All this is being recorded on her time log.Winds up taking seven hours of her week.Seven hours.That's like finding an extra hour in the day.

我研究了其中一位女士的时间日志……有个星期三晚上她出门办了点事。回家时发现家里的热水器坏了，地下室已经被水淹了。如果你曾经历过类似的事就知道，这可怕的事会造成很大破坏，淹得一塌糊涂。那天晚上她就面临了这场突发灾难，第二天她找来了水管工，又隔一天，她找来专业清理团队处理损毁的地毯。这些都记录在她的时间日志上。占用了她那一周七小时。七小时。那就是每天多出了一小时。

But I'm sure if you had asked her at the start of the week,"Could you find seven hours to train for a triathlon?""Could you dind seven hours to mentor seven worthy people?"I'm sure she would've said what most of us would've said,which is,"No...can't you see how busy I am?"Yet when she had to find seven hours because there is water all over her basement,she found seven hours.And what this shows us is that time is highly elastic.

但我相信如果那一周开始时问她“你能挤出七小时进行铁人三项运动训练吗？”“你能挤出七小时辅导七个值得辅导的人吗？”我相信她会跟我们大多数人一样，说“不行…你看不出来我多忙吗？”可是当家里地下室淹着水她不得不因此挤出七个小时，她挤出了这七个小时。这向我们证明了时间的弹性是很强的。

We cannot make more time,but time will stretch to accommodate what we choose to put into it.And so the key to time management is treating our priorities as the equivalent of that broken water heater.To get at this,I like to use language from one of the busiest people I ever interviewed.By busy,I mean she was running a small business with 12 people on the payroll,she had six children in her spare time.I was getting in touch with her to set up an interview on how she "had it all"...that phrase.I remember it was a Thursday morning,and she was not available to speak with me.Of course,right?

我们无法创造出更多时间，但时间会得到充分的利用，这取决于我们选择用时间来做什么。所以时间管理的关键就是对待重要的事像对待坏掉的热水器一样。为了说明这一点，我想借用我曾经采访过最忙的一个人的话。她很忙，因为她经营着一家小公司有十二名雇员，其余时间她要照顾六个孩子。我跟她联系想预约一次访问，了解她如何“日理万机”…原话如此。我记得那是个星期四早上她跟本没空跟我谈话。当然了，对吧？

But the reason she was unavailable to speak with me is that she was out for a hike,because it was a beautiful spring morning,and she wanted to go for a hike.So of course this makes me even more intrigued,and when I finally do catch up with her,she explains it like this.She says,"Listen Laura,everything I do,every minute I spend,is my choice."And rather than say,"I don't have time to do x,y or z,"she'd say,"I don't do x,y or z because it's not a priority.""I don't have time,"often means"It's not a priority."If you think about it,that's really more accurate language.

可是她没空跟我谈话的原因是因为她去徒步了,因为那是一个美好的春日清晨，她就想去徒步。所以这当然给了我更大的触动，等我终于见到她时，她是这么解释的。她说“听着，劳拉，我做的每件事，花的每一分钟，都是我的选择。”她没有说，“我没时间做甲乙丙丁”，她说的是“我没做甲乙丙丁是因为那不是最重要的事。”“我没时间”通常意味着“这事不重要”。各位想想，这其实才是更准确的说法。

I could tell you I don't have time to dust to dust my blinds,but that's not true.If you offered to pay me $100,000 to dust my blinds,I would get to it pretty quickly.Since that is not going to happen,I can acknowledge this is not a matter of lacking time,it's that I don't want to do it.Using this language reminds us that time is a choice.And granted,there may be horrible consequences for making different choices,I will give you that.But we are smart people,and certainly over the long run,we have the power to fill our lives with the things that deserve to be there.

我可以跟你说我没时间给百叶窗除尘，可那并不是真的。如果你付我十万美元给百叶窗除尘，我立马就去做了。由于这只是异想天开，因此我可以承认这不是时间不够的问题，而是我不想去做。使用这种说法能提醒我们时间是选择。诚然，做出不同的选择有可能导致恶劣的后果，我承认。但大家都是聪明人，而且从长远来看，我们一定有能力让我们的人生充满有价值的事物。

So how do we do that?How do we treat our priorities as the equivalent of that broken water heater?Well,first we need to figure out what they are.I want to give you two strategies for thinking about this.The first,on the professional side:I'm sure many people coming up to the end of the year are giving or getting annual performance reviews.You look back over your successes over the year,your "opportunities for growth."And this serves its purpose,but I find it's more effective to do this looking forward.

那么要怎么做呢？我们如何对待重要的事情像对待坏掉的热水器一样呢？首先，我们需要分析哪些是重要的事。我想给你们两个思考的策略。第一，从工作角度来说：我相信很多人在年末前会给别人或收到自己的年度绩效评估。你们会回顾这一年的成绩，你们的“发展机会”.这当然很有用，但我发现做未来的展望更加有效。

So I want you to pretend it's the end of next year.You're giving yourself a performance reiew,and it has been an absolutely amazing year for you professionally.Write next year's review:What 3-5 things would make it a great year for you professionally.So you can write next year's performance review now.And you can do this for your personal life,too.

所以我想请大家假想现在是明年年底。你要给自己做绩效评估，而这一年里你的工作表现非常良好。写出明年的评估：哪些事会让你这一年的工作表现优异，列举三到五件事。所以你们可以现在就写下明年的绩效评估。这一招也可以用于私人生活。

I'm sure many of you,like me,come December,get cards that contain these folded up sheets of colored paper,on which written what is known as the family holiday letter.Bit of a wretched genre of literature,really,going on about how amazing everyone in the household is,or even more scintillating,how busy everyone in the household is.But these letters serve a purpose,which is that they tell your friends and family what you did in your personal life that mattered to you over the year.

我相信在座很多人跟我一样，到了十二月会收到贺卡，就是那种对折的彩色制片，上面写着所谓的家庭假期贺词。说真的，简直是种拙劣的文学体裁，写的都是家里所有人都是多么出色，甚至更妙的是，说家里所有人都有多忙。不过这些文字有个作用，就是告诉你的亲朋好友这一年来你在个人生活中做了哪些对你来说重要的事。

So this year's kind of done,but I want you to pretend it's the end of next year,and it has been an absolutely amazing year for you and the people you care about.Write the family hollday letter:What three to five things did you do that made it so amazing?So you can write next year's family holiday letter now.Don't send it.Please,don't send it.But you can write it.And now,between the performance review and the family holiday letter,we have a list of six to ten goals we can work on in the next year.And now we need to break these down into doable steps.

今年差不多要结束了，但我希望你们假设现在是明年年底，而这一年过得十分精彩，对你和你关心的人来说都是。写下家庭假期贺信：你做的哪三到五件事让今年如此精彩？你们可以现在就写好明年家庭假日贺卡，别寄出去。摆脱，千万别寄。不过可以写好。现在有了绩效评估和家庭假期贺卡，我们就有了明年要努力的六到十个目标。现在就需要把这些目标分解为可行的步骤。

So maybe you want to write a family history.First,you can read some other family histories,get a sense for the style.Then maybe think about the questions you want to ask your relatives,set up appointments to interview them.Or maybe you want to run a 5K.So you need to find a race and sign up,figure out a training plan,and dig those shoes out of the back of the closet.And then...this is key...we treat our priorities as the equivalent of that broken water heater,by putting them into our schedules first.

或许你想编一份家谱。首先，你可以查阅一些别人的家谱，对家谱形式有所了解。然后想一想你要问亲戚们的问题，跟他们约面谈的时间。或者，也许你想跑五公里比赛。那么你就要找个赛事报名，做好训练计划，把跑鞋从衣柜深处找出来。然后……这就是关键……我们要对待重要的事像对待那台坏掉的热水器一样，把它们写到日程表的第一栏。

We do this by thinking through our weeks before we are in them,I find a really good time to do this is Friday afternoons.Friday afternoon is what an economist might call a "low opportunity cost" time.Most of us are not sitting there on Friday afternoons saying,"I am excited to make progress toward my personal and professional priorities right now."But we are willing to think about what those should be.But we are willing to think about what those should be.

要在一周开始前就想好这一周的计划，我发现星期五下午是做计划的好时间。星期五下午可能会被经济学家称为“低机会成本”时间。我们大多数人是不会在星期五下午坐下来说“此时此刻，我很期待朝着我的个人和工作的首要目标努力。”但我们都愿意思考什么事应该成为首要目标。

So take a little bit of time Friday afternoon,make yourself a three-category priority list:career, relationships, self.Making a three-category list reminds us that there should be something in all three categories.Career,we think about;relationships,self...not so much.But anyway,just a short list,two to three items in each.Then look out over the whole of the next week,and see where you can plan them in.

所以用一点星期五下午的时间，给自己列一张三栏优先顺序表：工作、感情、个人。列出一张三栏表能提醒我们应该有些事是三种类型都包含的。我们会思考工作方面的事，但感情和个人……就不会想这么多。不过总之，只是列一个简单的表格，每一栏里写两到三项，然后纵览接下来的整个星期，看看可以把这些事安排在什么时候。

Where you plan them in is up to you.I know this is going to be more complicated for some people than others.I mean,some people's lives are just harder than others.It is not going to be easy to find time to take that poetry class if you are caring for multiple children on your own.I get that.And I don't want to minimize anyone's struggle.But I do think that the numbers I am about to tell you are empowering.

怎么安排是你的决定。我知道这对部分人来说会比较复杂。有些人的生活就是比别人辛苦。比如说如果有好几个小孩的话就很难找到时间去上诗歌学习班。我明白。我也不想小看任何人的努力。不过我认为，接下来我要告诉各位的数字是很有说服力的。

There are 168 hours in a week.Twenty-four times seven is 168 hours.That is a lot of time.If you are working a full-time job,so 40 hours a week,sleeping eight hours a night,so 56 hours a week...that leaves 72 hours for other things.That is a lot of time.You say you're working 50 hours a week,maybe a main job and a side hustle.Well,that leaves 62 hours for other things.You say you're working 60 hours.Well,that leaves 52 hours for other things.You say you're working more than 60 hours.Well,are you sure?

一周有一百六十八小时，二十四乘以七即一百六十八小时。这是很多时间。如果你是全职工作者，那么每周工作四十小时，每晚睡八小时，一星期就是五十六小时……还剩下七十二小时做别的事。这是很多时间。你说你一周要工作五十个小时，或许除了正职以外还有副业。那么，还有六十二小时做别的事。你说你要工作六十小时。那么，还有五十二小时做别的事。你说你工作时长超过六十小时。你确定吗？

There was once a study comparing people's estimated work weeks with time diaries.They found that people claiming 75-plus-hour work weeks were off by about 25 hours.You can guess in which direction,right?Anyway,in 168 hours a week,I think we can find time for what matters to you.

曾经有一项研究，把人们估算的一周工作时间和时间日志做了对比。发现人们声称一周工作超过七十五小时，实际上误差大约为二十五小时。大家可以猜到误差是多了还是少了吧？总之，每周一百六十八小时，我想大家可以找到时间来做对你重要的事。

If you want to spend more time with your kids,you want to study more for a test you're taking,you want to exercise for three hours and volunteer for two,you can.And that's even if you're working way more than full-time hours.So we have plenty of time,which is great,because guess what?We don't even need that much time to do amazing things.

如果你想花更多时间陪伴孩子，你想花更多时间学习备考，你想做三小时运动，两小时志愿者，都能做到。就算你工作时常远远超过八小时。所以说我们有足够的时间，这是好事,因为大家猜怎么着？要做精彩的事，我们甚至不需要那么多时间。

But when most of us have bits of time,what do we do?Pull out the phone,right?Start deleting emails.Otherwise,we're puttering around the house or watching TV.But small moments can have great power.You can use your bits of time for bits of joy.Maybe it's choosing to read something wonderful on the bus on the way to work.

不过大多数人有了一点时间时会做什么？拿出手机，对吗？开始删邮件。不然就是在家里晃荡，或者看电视。然而少量的时间也能起到大大的作用。你可以利用零散的时间得到小小的乐趣。或许是在上班的公交车上看本好书。

I know when I had a job that required two bus rides and a subway ride every morning,I used to go to the library on weekends to get stuff to read.It made the whole experience almost,almost, enjoyable.Breaks at work can be used for meditating or praying.If family dinner is out because of your crazy work schedule,maybe family breakfast could be a good substitute.

我以前有个工作需要每天早上搭乘两趟公交车再加上一段地铁,我常在周末去图书馆借书看。这让整个通勤的过程变得几乎是种享受。工作中的休息时间可以用来冥想或祈祷。如果因为繁忙的工作不能跟家人共进晚餐，或许改成家人一起吃早餐是个不错的选择。

It's about looking at the whole of one's time and seeing where the good stuff can go.I truly believe this,there is time.Even if we are busy,we have time for what matters.And when we focus on what matters,we can build the lives we want in the time we've got.

重点是留意一个人的整段时间，看看有意义的事能安排到什么时候。我真心相信这一点，时间总是有的。就算我们再忙，还是有时间做重要的事。而当我们关注重要的事情时，我们就能用我们拥有的时间打造我们的想要的生活。