2. Create a Plan 制定计划

At the start of your workday, before you even check your emails, make a plan. Jot down the three most important tasks you want to accomplish that day. Put a big star next to the most important. Now, before you get into the busy work of emails and photocopying and tidying your desk, start on that important task and see it through to the end.

在你刚开始工作时，趁着还没查看邮件，赶紧定个计划吧。写下当天必须完成的三个最重要的任务，最重要的那个打上标记。然后趁着还没开始检查邮件、影印资料或整理办公桌等工作内容前，赶紧着手那个最重要的任务并保证完成它。

Surprisingly few people take the time to plan their workday, and end up spinning their wheels on a number of low-priority tasks without really accomplishing anything big.

奇怪的是，很少有人能有计划地工作，一天下来后还是周旋在几个效率甚低的任务上，最后其实什么实事都没做成。

3. Batch Tasks Together 分批处理任务

When you're going through the workday, try to keep similar tasks together. When you switch from one thing to another, your brain takes a few minutes to catch up and settle in: constantly jumping between answering emails and writing a report and tidying up your desk just means you'll lose track of where you'd got to. You might feel like you're working super-efficiently (because your mind is buzzing all over the place), but you'll actually be wasting a lot of time.

工作时可以将相似的任务并在一起处理。当你从一个任务换到另一个任务时，大脑会花几分钟进行调整：同时既要回复邮件、撰写报告，又要整理办公桌，到头来你可能会手足无措。虽然这样你可能觉得自己效率超级高（因为大脑一刻没停），但其实并没有优化利用时间。

If you need to answer a number of emails, do them all at once. The same goes for phone calls, filing, photocopying and other similar tasks.

如果要回复的邮件很多，那就一起处理掉。电话、整理文案、影印等同样如此。

4. Block Out Chunks of Time 腾出大段时间

Do you have some big project that you'd love to get round to? Maybe it's writing a novel, starting a business, training for a marathon... whatever your particular venture or goal, you never get around to making progress.

你是否有个大计划总想花时间去做？比如写小说、创业、或马拉松训练，不管个人想法或目标是什么，你就是还没时间去落实吧？

The best way to tackle big projects like this is to force them into your schedule. Spare time doesn't just appear from nowhere – you need to make a conscious effort to create it. Block out a weekend afternoon, for instance: tell family and friends you have another engagement that day. Then storm on ahead with that project. Trust me, you'll feel great for having made a start.

对付这种大计划的办法就是强行做出安排。时间就像海绵里的水，你得用心去挤才行。比如，你可以腾出一个周末下午的时间，告诉亲友自己另有安排，然后开始拿出行动吧。相信我，一旦开始你就会感到妙不可言。