職場英語：如何給你的每日大量工作做“減法”

Success tends to create clutter: more meetings, more projects, more decisions, more items on your to-do list. But often doing more can mean achieving less。成功往往會引起生活的紛亂：開不完的會、做不完的項目和決定，任務(wù)清單上的事情越來越多。不過很多時候，做得越多反而收獲的越少。

That's why subtraction can be the best addition, especially when you streamline your workday and, in the process, your professional life。這就是為什么有時候減法往往是最好的加法。你在精簡每日工作的同時，你的職業(yè)生涯也變得越發(fā)清晰。

Try a few of these:你可以嘗試下這些方法：

Eliminate one “permission.”取消一種“允許”

You probably don't think of it this way, but everything you do “trains” the people around you how to treat you. Let employees interrupt your meetings or phone calls because of “emergencies” and they'll feel free to interrupt you any time. Drop what you're doing every time someone calls and they'll always expect immediate attention. Return emails immediately and people will expect an immediate response。你也許不會這么覺得，但你做的每件事都會影響你身邊的人如何對待你。如果你允許你手下的人在“緊急情況”下可以隨意打斷你的會議和電話，他們會覺得可以隨便在任何時候打擾你。在別人給你打電話時馬上就放下你在做的事情會讓他們覺得總是可以得到及時的注意。及時地回復郵件會讓別人期待你總是立刻回復他們。

In short, your actions give other people permission to keep you from working the way you work best。簡而言之，你的行為會允許別人在你工作得好好的的時候來打斷你。

A friend created an “emergency” email account; he responds to those immediately. Otherwise his employees know he only checks his “standard” email a couple times a day and they act accordingly。有個朋友創(chuàng)建了一個“緊急”電郵地址;他會立刻回復其中的郵件。與此同時，他的員工也知道，他每天只會查看“標準”郵箱兩次。所以他們也會據(jù)此來行動。

Figure out how you work best and “train” the people around you to let you be as productive as you possibly can。你要搞明白你如何才能最有效的工作，并“訓練”你身邊的人以確保你能保持你的效率。

Cut one expense 減少一項開支

Right now you're spending money on something you don't use, don't need, or don't want. But since you buy it… you feel you have to use it. I subscribed to a number of magazines (because subscribing is really cheap compared to buying at the newsstand)。 Great--but then the magazines show up. Then I have to read them. If I don't, they sit around making me feel guilty。你總是在一些你用不到、你不需要或是不想要的東西上花錢。不過在你買的時候……你覺得你必須要它。我曾經(jīng)訂閱過大量的雜志(因為訂閱比在報紙攤上買要便宜好多)。然而，一旦它們蜂擁而至，我就必須閱讀它們，如果我不讀，它們就會堆積如山，讓我很有罪惡感。

So I dropped three or four. I don't miss them。所以我取消了其中的三四種，而且我并不懷念它們。

Often the biggest savings in cutting an expense isn't the actual cost; it's the time involved in doing or maintaining or consuming whatever the expense represents。很多時候減少開支所帶來的最大收益并不是減少真正的成本;而是減少了花在維持或是消費這些開支背后的東西的時間。

Streamline your lunch 簡化你的午餐

You already make enough decisions. What to have for lunch shouldn't be one of them。你已經(jīng)要做足夠多的決策了。不要再把午飯要吃什么也包括在內(nèi)了。

Pick something healthy, something simple, even something you can eat at your desk. Save the decision-making for what's really important。隨便挑選一些健康、簡單、甚至是可以在辦公桌上吃的東西。把省下的時間花在做那些真正重要的決策上。

As a bonus, you'll lose a little weight and feel a little better。作為回報，你會減少一些體重，并且心情也更好。

Eliminate one category of decisions 減少一系列的決策

Instead of making serial decisions, try making just one: Decide who will decide。與其做一系列的決策，不如只做一個：決定由誰來決策。

Say you regularly need to decide whether to expedite shipping due to work-in-progress delays. Instead of being the go-to decision-maker, pick someone in the organization that will make those decisions. Provide guidance, parameters, and advice, and turn that person loose. Then check in periodically to see if they need more direction. That way you get to spend time figuring out how to eliminate the delays instead of dealing with the repercussions。比如你經(jīng)常需要決定是否要加快物流速度以解決生產(chǎn)鏈上的延遲。這時候與其去做一個決策者，不如挑選公司里的某個人來做這些決策。你可以提供一些指導和建議。然后每隔一段時間檢查一下是否需要更多的指示。這樣你就能花時間想清楚如何能消除這種延遲，而不是去處理其所帶來的后果。

Almost every decision you currently make can be taken over by people you trust. How will you learn to trust them?幾乎你正在做的每項決策都可以由一位你信任的人來替你做。如何讓你能夠信任他們?

Teach, train, guide, verify. In time you'll give your employees the authority and responsibility they earn。教育、培訓、指導、挑選。然后你就能授予你的員工足夠的權(quán)限和責任了。