4 productivity tips to achieve more with less

Getting things done isn't working all day at 100 miles an hour. Looking for ways to do less and get more done sounds a bit counterintuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense. And the following tips can definitely help you. Suppose you've got a really important presentation to do. It's the kind of task productivity expert Professor Cal Newport says needs 'deep work'. Deep work is your concentration sweet spot, where you can achieve most.
把事情做好不是整天以每小时100英里的速度工作。寻找少做多得的方法听起来有点违反直觉，但实际上很有道理。下面的建议绝对能帮到你。假设你有一个非常重要的报告要做。就是那种如工作效率专家卡尔·纽波特教授说的需要“深度工作”的工作。深度工作需要你达到注意力集中的最佳状态，以取得最大成效。

1. Shut out the shallow.
排除浅层工作。

Smaller tasks like answering emails are 'shallow work'. Try to be more conscious of what your shallow tasks are, and give yourself permission to block them out for a while so you can focus on the important tasks that require 'deep work'. Lots of successful people have cut out the shallow to work more productively. Bill Gates went to a remote cottage. Others, like Maya Angelou, shut themselves away to write.
像回复邮件这样的小任务就是“浅层工作”。试着更清醒地认识到你的浅层任务是什么，并允许自己暂时屏蔽掉它们，这样你就能专注于需要 “深度工作”的重要任务。很多成功人士都会摒弃浅层的工作，从而提高工作效率。比尔·盖茨会去一个偏远的小木屋。其他人，比如玛雅·安吉洛，会把自己关起来写作。

2. Call it a day.
今天到此为止。
For good productivity, be strict about when your working day is over, and when you get to the end of your planned work session, ease yourself into a more relaxed state and try Cal Newport's shutdown ritual. Look through your unfinished work. Write a short plan of how you'll tackle it tomorrow. Then close that textbook or laptop and say something out loud like 'Shutdown complete!' It might sound silly, but it signals the end of your working thoughts for the day. After that? Have some fun. Give your mind the rest it's earned.
为了提高工作效率，请严格遵守一天工作结束的时间，当你计划好的工作时段结束时，让自己进入更放松的状态，并尝试卡尔·纽波特的关机仪式。仔细查看你未完成的工作。写一个简短的计划，说明你明天将如何处理它。然后合上课本或笔记本电脑，大声说出“关机完成！”这可能听起来很傻，但它标志着你一天的工作思考结束。之后呢？找点乐子。让你的大脑得到它应得的休息。

3. Find your top level goal.
找到你的顶级目标。

Businessman Warren Buffett's technique for getting people to focus on their most important goals was simple: Write down in order the top 20 things you want to do in life, and then draw a line under number five. Until you've done those first five, forget everything else. For a more structured approach, organise your priorities by making a pyramid of goals, designed by psychologist Professor Angela Duckworth. Find the big thing that we could call your life's purpose, like inspiring others, or helping people in society. Put that at the top.
商人沃伦·巴菲特让人们专注于最重要的目标的技巧很简单：按顺序写下你一生中最想做的20件事，然后在第5件事下面划一条线。在你完成前5个之前，忘掉其他的事情。心理学家安吉拉·杜克沃斯教授设计了一种更有条理的方法，通过建立目标金字塔来组织你的优先事项。找到我们称之为人生目标的大事，比如激励他人，或者帮助社会中的人。把它置于顶层。

On the next level you'll have mid-level goals like passing an exam. The goals below it should all feed into your top-level. They'll be smaller, more practical things — perhaps writing an email, or doing some research. If they don't help with achieving your top goal, then get rid of them! You could make a similar pyramid with a more specific task at the top — like that big presentation. Remember all the other to-dos should feed in.
在下一层，你会有中等级别的目标，比如通过考试。下面的目标都应该服务于你的顶级目标。它们会更小、更实际——也许是写一封电子邮件，或者做一些研究。如果它们实现你的顶级目标没有帮助，那么就去除掉它们！你可以用一个更具体的任务在顶层制作一个类似的金字塔——比如那个重要的报告。记住，所有其他待办事项都应该服务于它。

4. Make your breaks smarter.
让你的休息时间更高效。

Let's get back to the big presentation. It'll take a few hours to get it done properly, but in order to keep those stress levels at bay, try the Pomodoro technique named after a tomato-shaped kitchen timer. Time-management guru Francesco Cirillo says that for every 25 minutes of intense concentration, you should take five off to do nothing at all. The theory? Tackling a big task in focused chunks with regular breaks gives the brain time to recover and keeps your productivity high.
让我们回到那个重要的报告。要把它完成好需要几个小时，但为了控制压力水平，不妨试试番茄工作法，它以一个番茄形状的厨房计时器得名。时间管理大师弗朗切斯科·西里洛说，每集中精力工作25分钟，就应该休息5分钟，什么也不做。理论依据是什么？分块集中精力处理一项大任务，并定期休息，这样大脑就有恢复的时间，并保持较高的工作效率。

In the five-minute breaks, don't jump on your phone! Move around, stare out of a window. A recent study showed that regular five-minute walk breaks improve people's mood, and even make them feel less tired and hungry at work. And finally, if you really need to concentrate, find some pictures of kittens and puppies first. That's right. Research in Japan suggests that looking at cute baby animals brings out the natural caregiver in us, and improves our ability to focus on the details. Turns out productivity can be cute, too.
在5分钟的休息时间里，不要拿起手机！四处走动走动，或者凝视窗外。最近的一项研究表明，有规律的5分钟散步休息能改善人们的情绪，甚至让他们在工作时感觉不那么疲惫和饥饿。最后，如果你真的需要集中精力，可以先找一些小猫小狗的图片。这就对了。日本的研究表明，看着可爱的小动物能激发我们天生的照顾者天性，提高我们专注于细节的能力。原来，工作效率也可以很可爱。


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