Do you ever have those days where everything is a little overwhelming and hectic? Maybe you’ve had a few too many of those days; but it’s time to change that。

有没有一些日子让你觉得喘不过气，狂躁？也许你总是有着这样的感受，现在是时候做些改变啦。

The daily work we do – in school, at work or in a business – can easily become overwhelming, ineffective and suck the energy and joy out of what you are doing. Over the years my experience has been that it is essential to keep my work simple and light to get better results in less time and to make things more fun (or at least more acceptable). In this article I’d like to recommend 13 habits that have helped me to do so。

我们每天做的事情——上学、工作或者出差——都很容易把我们压得喘不过气来，低效榨干你的能量和乐趣。这么多年我的经验就是保持自己的工作简单，越简单越好，这样就能在最少的时候获得更好的结果，把事情弄得更加有趣一点(或至少能让人接受吧)。这篇文章我想推荐13个切实有效的办法。

1. Prepare your day the evening before。

睡前为第二天做好准备

Pack your bag or suitcase. Pack the leftovers from your dinner in a container and put it in the fridge. Put your keys, wallet etc. in a place where you can easily find them as you head out in the morning. This preparation will help you to have a less stressful morning。

把包或手提箱装好，把晚餐的剩菜剩饭装好放进冰箱。把钥匙、钱包等放到你能轻易找到的地方，这样能让你清早没有那么大的压力。

2. Just check your email once a day。

一天查看一次邮箱

Checking email, other statistics or social media accounts many times a day tends to drain a lot of time, energy and can leave you unfocused and stressed. Try checking and processing all of those things just once a day instead. I do it at the end of my workday. If that is not possible for you then try to postpone it for a few hours at least. And put your morning energy and focus into your most important task of the day。

一天多次查看邮件、其他数据或社交账户会浪费很多时间和精力，也会让自己不够专心，增加压力。不妨一天只查看一次吧。我每天都在工作结束之后查看一下。如果对于你而言不大么可能，那么不妨试着延迟几小时再来查看。把早上的精力和注意力放在一天最重要的任务上面。

3. Write shorter emails。

邮件越短越好

Limit your emails to 1-5 sentences when possible. You can also have some canned responses for common questions saved in a folder in your email program. This will help you to spend less time and energy on your daily email processing。

可以的话把邮件缩短到1-5句话就可以啦。你也可以把经常回复的一些话存在邮件文档里。这样在处理日常邮件时可以节省时间和精力。

4. Be 5-10 minutes early for appointments。

约会早到五——十分钟

This will make your time of travel during the day into a time of relaxation and recharging. Instead of a time of stress and anxiety. Plus, people tend to like when other people are on time。

这能让你在一天中这段忙忙碌碌的时间内放松充电。与其匆匆忙忙紧张焦虑不如早到，人们都喜欢守时的人呀。

5. Work on just one thing at a time。

一次只做一件事

It will be easier to focus and to do a good job. And to do it in less time compared to if you try to multi-task。

这样集中注意力更容易，事情也能干的更好。相比多项任务同时进行，这样也能省时间。

6. Work in a cone of silence。

在安静地环境下工作

Just before you start working on that one thing shut down your email program and instant messaging programs. Shut the door to your office. Put your cell phone in silent mode and put it in a drawer. If possible, shut down your internet connection。

在开始工作之前，关掉邮箱和即时信息工具吧。关上门，把手机调至静音模式放进抽屉。如果可以的话，断掉网络。

7. During your day regularly ask yourself questions for simplicity and focus。

每天都问自己几个问题来整理思绪和集中注意力

It is easy to get off track during a regular workday. To stay on track or to get back there if you get lost use questions like:

平常工作日很容易迷失方向。要想一直保持进度，在迷茫的时候问自己几个问题吧：

- What is the most important thing I can do right now?

我现在可以做的最重要的事情是什么？

- What would I work on if I only had 2 hours for work today?

如果我今天只有两小时工作，那我可以干什么？

- Is doing this bringing me closer to my goal?

我现在做的事情让我离目标更进一步了么？

- Am I keeping things extremely simple right now?

我现在把事情最简单化处理了么？

8. Let your lunch time be a time of relaxing。

让午餐时间成为完全的放松

Eat slowly. Put down the fork between bites to make that easier. Eat mindfully and savour each bite. Eating your lunch this way can help you to relax and to release quite a bit of stress in the middle of your workday. Plus, it can help you to not overeat because it takes your brain 20 minutes to register that you are full. By slowing down your eating your brain can stop you before you eat too much。

吃慢点。咀嚼每一口的时候都把叉子放下，这样会简单很多。集中注意力去吃饭，享受每一口食物。这样能帮你放松下来，减轻不少工作中的压力。另外还会有效抑制你多吃，因为大脑需要20分钟的时间来鉴别到底吃没吃饱。吃慢点，大脑也能让你不要吃得过多。

9. Spend 80% of your time focusing on a solution。

花80%的时间来集中找到解决方案

And only 20% of your time on dwelling on your issue, challenge or problem. Instead of doing it the other way around. This makes it easier to live a lighter and more action-filled life and to not fall down into a pit of self-pity or getting stuck in a mental habit of perceived powerlessness。

剩下20%的时间来处理事情，挑战和难题。而不是反过来哦。这能让你生活的更加轻松，生活富于行动力，也不至于总是陷入自责或者被那些无力的精神习惯死死捆绑住。

10. Ask for help。

寻求帮助

You don’t have to always do it alone. You can ask for help. You may not always get it but you may also be surprised at how helpful and kind people can be in helping you ease your burdens and solve a challenge. Just don’t forget to do the same for them as best you can when they ask。

你不用一直都孤军奋战。你可以寻求帮助。你也许不会每次都能获得帮助，但你会惊讶人们可以多么有力和友好的帮你减轻负担解决挑战。也不要忘记在别人需要时施以援手。

11. When overwhelmed, breathe and then say to yourself: just take care of today。

当无力应付时，深呼吸对自己说，先过好今天再说。

Focus only on that. Forget about all those tomorrows and your yesterdays. Go small, narrow your focus greatly and just take care of today. Then take care of tomorrow when it comes。

只关注今天，先别管明天和昨天的事情。从小事入手，大大缩减你的注意力，只顾好今天就可以了。明天的事，到时候再说吧。

12. Consciously set and maintain firm boundaries between your work and personal time。

在工作和个人生活中设定明确的界限

Have a set stop time for your daily work (mine is 7 o'clock). Do not work on weekends. Consciously manage your boundaries and you’ll have less stress and more energy and focus both to do better work and to have a personal life of higher quality。

设定一个时间作为工作的结束(我是晚上七点)，然后不要在周末工作。有意识的设定界限能减轻压力病获得更多的能量，既能干好工作又能享受到高质量的个人生活。

13. Be smart about the 3 fundamentals of energy。

善用能量的三大基础

By that I mean getting enough sleep, exercising a couple of times a week and eating healthy. This may seem very obvious in theory. But in practice it makes a world of difference for your optimism, energy levels, ability to handle stress and to think clearly。

我指的就是有充足的睡眠、一周运动几次和吃得健康。也许你觉得这只是理论上可行，但实际上会对你的积极态度、能量水平、应对压力的能力以及思考模式都产生很重要的影响。