Punching a time clock makes no sense for professionals. Their contribution is not the time they spend on their work but the value they create through their knowledge.
对于职场人来说，掐表计时是毫无意义的。他们的贡献不在于花在工作上的时间，而在他们的知识所创造的的价值。

1. Know your priorities
1. 了解什么对自己最重要

Many things that you do at work are probably not the best use of your time. For instance, many professionals often spend much more time than necessary perfecting relatively low-priority tasks.
你做的工作中大部分都不是最能有效利用时间的。比如说，很多职员都把时间花在完善那些并不那么要紧的任务上。

Understand what really matters to you, your boss, and your organization, and then be willing to be less than perfect on your lower-priority tasks.
了解哪些是对你个人，老板，和所在的组织来说最重要的事情，然后想办法花更少时间在那些不是那么重要的事情上。

2. Avoid meetings like the plague!
2. 像躲避瘟疫一样避开会议！

In the same spirit, most professionals would agree that many business meetings are incredibly wasteful — they typically last too long, they usually fail to produce concrete results, and they are sometimes completely unnecessary. Yet, just as a misplaced focus on hours allows perfectionism to persist in the workplace, it also allows employees to keep scheduling redundant, poorly run meetings.
同理，大多数职场人觉得很多会议都是在浪费时间——它们往往持续时间很长，最后却没能得到什么实际的结果，大多数情况下这些会议根本没有召开的必要。不恰当地关注花了多少时间，会造成完美主义者坚持要在工作中达到一定的工时数，也会造成重复的计划和不必要的会议安排。

3. Don’t forget to recharge
3. 不要忘了给自己充电

On the other side of the coin, an organization that places too much emphasis on time spent at the office probably neglects the importance of time spent away from the office. In order to be productive at work, professionals need to be able to recharge, physically and mentally.
从另一方面讲，如果过多的强调员工花在办公室的时间，就会忽视了工作之外时间的重要性。实际上，想要工作高效，职场人士需要经常地给自己充电，这包括精神上和身体上。

4. Exercise every day and get enough sleep
4. 坚持每天锻炼和保证充足的睡眠

On the physical dimension, sleep and exercise are often the first two personal activities to face the chopping block when professionals have to increase their hours spent in the office.
在身体层面上来讲，只有充足的睡眠和经常的体育锻炼才能够保证职场人可以长时间工作。

5. Avoid burnout
5. 不要让自己身心俱疲

Long hours at work wear people down mentally. All too often, I see professionals work to 8, 9, or 10 every night and go into the office every day of every weekend, even if there is no real crisis. While these professionals might be increasing their output over the short-term, this type of overwork inevitably leads to burnout.
长时间的超额工作会让人精神崩溃。我经常看到有些人，每天工作8到10个小时，甚至周末还经常到办公室加班，好像这样做并没有什么危害。尽管超负荷地工作会这些人在短期内提高工作成果，但长此以往，他们最终会让自己身心俱疲。

So you should assertively protect your personal time. That means being firm with your boss about times when you are not available — family dinners or your child’s soccer games, perhaps.
所以，你应该学会保护自己的私人时间。这意味着当你有事的时候——参加家庭聚会或者孩子的足球比赛，你应该立场坚定地对老板说不。

6. Don’t be afraid to speak up
6. 不要畏惧，大声说出自己的想法

Obviously, asking for more flexibility at work is easier said than done. But while I certainly can’t guarantee that every request will be successful, I can state with confidence that there is little harm in asking politely.
很显然，“要求更灵活的工作时间”是一件说起来容易做起来难的事。虽然我不能保证每个请求都会成功，但我可以肯定的是，礼貌地要求是不会有多大坏处的。

Believe it or not, most bosses understand your desire to spend some time with your children or enjoy a romantic dinner with your spouse. Your boss can’t address your needs unless he or she knows what they are!
不管你相信与否，实际上大多数老板都能理解你想多跟孩子在一起，或者想跟配偶吃顿烛光晚餐的想法。如果你不说，老板又怎么会知道你的想法呢！