双语：提升效率的五种你想不到的办法

You already know that you should wake up early to become more productive, and perhaps you have also heard that you shouldn’t check your email first thing in the morning. While this advice is good and well-documented, there is also another kind of productivity advice that is as effective as well. Even if the tips are less-known and somewhat counter-intuitive, you just have to give them a try and see how they work for you。

你早已了解为了提升效率你应该早起，可能你也早已耳闻你不该在早上头一件事就检查邮件。这类建议都是非常不错的而且证据充分的，然而还是有不少其他同样有效的提升效率的办法。尽管这类建议相对来讲比较不为人知，而且有点有违常理。但你还是应该尝试一下，看看它们在你身上起不起用途。

1. Work when there is a distraction around1.在有干扰的状况下工作

Your environment doesn’t have to be 100% quiet if you want to get work done. Let’s say that you are working from home and you have kids. Let’s also assume that you don’t have a dedicated workspace in your home to do your work. Naturally, you could decide to do work during the quiet hours ， but not all of the tasks have to be done then。

在你想要完成一件工作的时候，你周围的环境并不必须要100%的安静。比如你在家工作，而你有几个孩子。假设你在家并没专门的工作场合，当然，你可以选择在安静的时间工作。，但那样的话就不肯定能把所有些工作都做完了。

The fact is that there are certain tasks which allow more distraction than others, and when you know this, you can plan your days more efficiently. In fact, you could dedicate those quiet hours to working on something valuable while the rest of the time you can finish less valuable tasks. For instance, I can check most of my social media accounts, do some simple blog-related maintenance tasks or check my e-mail even if my son is pulling my sleeve or if the TV is on in the background. When I know that certain tasks do not require my full concentration, it’s easier to plan my days with that knowledge in mind。

事实上，有的任务比起其他任务来讲可以忍受更多的干扰，假如你了解这点，你就能更有效率地规划你的生活了。事实上，你可以花些安静的时间去做那些更有价值的工作，而用剩下的时间做一些不那样有价值的任务。譬如说，即便我儿子正在扯我的袖子，或者电视打开着，我还是可以检查我大多数的社交媒体账户，做一些简单的博客维护工作，检查邮件。当我了解了有的特定的任务无需完全的精神集中，我安排日程的时候就便捷得多了。

2. Drink coffee before taking a nap2.在小睡前喝一杯咖啡

Want to boost your afternoon productivity? Then take a caffeine nap! According to a study by Jim Maas, PhD, professor of psychology at Cornell University, combining coffee and napping time can have a big improvement in one’s personal productivity. Coffee enters your bloodstream approximately 20 minutes after you have consumed it. The minute figure is exactly the same as the length of your nap, so these two play well together. In order to implement this technique, do this:

你想要大幅提升你下午的效率吗？打个带咖啡因的盹吧！依据康奈尔大学心理学教授Jim Maas博士的一项研究表明，把咖啡和午睡结合起来能大大地提升一个人的效率。你喝了咖啡大约20分钟后它才会进入你的血液循环中。这个时间和你午睡的时间正好相等，所以它们可以合作无间。为了推行好这个办法，你要这么做：

Drink a cup of coffee喝一杯咖啡

Take a 20-minute nap right afterward喝完立刻打一个20分钟的盹

Wake-up refreshed清醒地醒来

If you are not a coffee drinker, that’s fine too: even with a 20-minute nap alone, you can feel super-fresh and productive as well。倘若你不是个爱喝咖啡的人，也没问题：即使只不过打个20分钟的盹，你也会感到很清醒，充满效率。

3. Work in a train3.在火车上工作

It’s so funny to think that the places that seem like the last ones in which to get anything done are the best for productivity. I’m talking about trains, and when I travel alone, I look forward to getting work done there. The effect is almost like working in a coffee shop, where people come and go and there is some distraction around all of the time. This kind of ambience

is the same on trains, but the distraction doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I have done a lot of work during my trips when I’m moving from one place to another. To maximize your train working experience, prepare yourself in the following way:

把看着最不合适工作的地方想效果率最高的地方，这看着有的好笑。没错，我确实是在说火车，当我自己旅游的时候，我很期待在上面完成工作。那种成效就仿佛在一家咖啡馆里工作一样，大家走来走去，无论何时都充满了干扰。这种氛围和在火车上是一样的，只不过这种干扰完全不会对我产生困扰。事实上，我已经在旅途中完成了很多工作了。为了最大化地合理的利用你在火车上的工作时间，你应该如此做：

Have your material ready 筹备好资料

The material can be used offline if necessary 确保资料能离线用

Have a mobile Internet access with you带一个移动上网工具

Headphones 筹备好耳机

An e-book reader 带一个电子书阅读器

Finally, decide in advance what you want to do. For instance, I have been writing e-books, blog posts or going through some educational materials while I travel. When you plan your train time, you can get started with your tasks right away and no time is spent on figuring out what to do when you should be already working。

最后，提前决定好你要干什么。譬如说，我过去在旅游时写电子书、博文或是听一些教育性的材料。当你计划你在火车上的时间时，应该确保你可以直接开始工作，如此当你正在工作时就不需要考虑要干什么了。

4. Close the curtains4.拉上窗帘

It may sound funny that closing the curtains can improve your productivity but it’s actually true. For instance, I might do some work at the dining table where there is a window to the left of me. Since I can see the nearby parking space through the window ， the movement might catch my attention, so the simplest way to prevent the distraction is to close the curtains. That way I’m not able to sense the movement and I can put all of my attention to my work. If you have similar kinds of experiences, do this simple thing to fix the situation。

拉上窗帘能提升效率听上去可能看上去有的好笑，但这是真的。比如，我需要在餐桌上做一些工作，而我左侧正好有一面窗。我从窗里能看到附近的停车位，这类动静可能会吸引我的注意力，因此最简单的防止干扰的办法就是把窗帘拉上。如此我就不会去关注那些动静，从而能把所有注意力都集中在工作上。假如你也有类似的历程，和我一样做来解决这个问题吧。

5. Multitasking5.一心多用

Would you believe me if I said that multitasking can make you more productive? Well, that’s what I’m telling you and I’ll let you know how. In normal circumstances you should focus on one thing at a time: for instance, if you are creating something ， you should focus on the writing part and nothing else. But what about those boring tasks that you have to do—no matter what? Let’s imagine that you have to do manual data input work and there is no way around that. To make things a little bit easier, you could do something that is referred as “mindful multitasking,”  and the basic idea is to use multitasking to get the boring thing done。

如果我说一心多用能提升你的效率你会相信吗？好吧，这正是我要说的，我也会对你说要如何做。通常情况下，你同时只能关注于一件事情：比如，你在创作什么东西，你应该专注于写作。但干那些无聊的任务的时候呢？想象一下你要做手工信息输入工作，而且除去手打没别的办法。为了让事情更简单，你可以进行“提神性的一心多用”，它的基本思想是，在做无聊的事情时做些别的事情。

In our example, when you are doing a data entry task, you could check your Facebook page or your e-mail every once in a while to make you more alert. When you do this, you are more energized to take care of the boring tasks. The mindful part comes from understanding that you are indeed multitasking. You also realize that this is decreasing your performance, but at the same time, you are willing to accept the cosplayts, since it helps you to get the tedious work done。

比如，当你在做信息录入工作时，你可以隔一段时间看你的Facebook主页或是邮件来叫你维持清醒。当你这么做的时候，你就更有动力做那些无聊的任务了。提神的部分源于你了解你在一心多用，而你也了解这会减少你的效率，但同时，你也欣然同意这份损失，由于它帮你完成了那件无聊的工作。