一份能完成的to do list
每个人都是带着满腔热血开始新的一天。
You're going to get a lot of things done: write that essay, keep the pilates appointment (for once), get your tax papers in order, bake that cake for mom's birthday.
你要完成很多事情：比如写篇文章、预约一次普拉提、按顺序整理好税务文件、烘焙妈妈生日要用的蛋糕等等等等。
The trouble is, you might still be dreaming.
然而问题是，你现在可能还在睡梦中。
There's a fundamental disconnect between what we think we can get done in a day and what's actually possible. That's because, as the alarm clock reminds us every morning, our lives are on the meter.
一天之中，我们认为自己可以完成和实际上可能完成基本上没联系。那是因为，闹钟每天早上叫醒我们时，这一天的生活就开始打表了。
Think of time in concrete terms
第一步：具体化时间。
"Time is actually not intangible; it is concrete and measurable," productivity consultant and author Julie Morgenstern explains in, appropriately, Time magazine. "You can compare [organizing time] to organizing a closet. There's a limited amount of space that is oftentimes crammed with way too much stuff that you can possibly fit."
效率顾问和作家Julie Morgenstern解释道：“时间实际上不是无形的，它是具体可丈量的，你可以把「组织时间」比作「整理壁橱」。通常情况下，很小的壁橱塞满了太多你觉得可能适合放这里的东西。
Ironically, there may not be enough time in our entire lives to soak up all the time management strategies touted on the internet. Much of it focuses on slimming down the non-essentials, like watching TV or browsing the internet — also known as relaxing.
可笑的是，我们一生中也没足够的时间来一直学习网上整理好的管理策略。大多数策略都瞄准缩短不必要事情上的时间，比如看电视啊，浏览网页啊，也就是众所周知的放松休闲。
But Morgenstern, who has written the bestselling "Time to Parent," has developed a uniquely simple method for managing the day: approach it like a mathematician.
但最佳畅销书《Time to Parent》的作者Morgenstern研究出了一种简单的，独一无二的管理一天的方法：像数学家一样处理这一天。
If math isn't your strong suit, particularly first-thing-in-the-morning arithmetic, don't despair. It's a pretty simple formula. When you add a task to your to-do list, roughly estimate how long it should take and subtract that time from what you've got to work with in a day.
如果数学不是你的强项，尤其一大早第一件事儿还是算数的话，不要绝望。它其实是一个非常简单的方程式。当你在任务清单上加上一个任务时，粗略地估计一下应该多长时间可以完成它，然后再从一天中你已经在做的事情里抽出些时间给它。
People who do the math, Morgenstern says, are time realists — their lists may not be long, but those jobs get done.
Morgenstern称，做这些数学题的人是时间现实主义者，他们的清单可能不长，但所有任务都已完成。
Then there are the people who wake up with a head full of steam, frantically filling their to-do list with nary a thought to how long each task will take.
有很多人带着一腔热血醒来，疯狂地填满任务清单，想也不想这些事情会花多少时间。
Invariably, they end their days with a heaping to-do-tomorrow list. And the cycle of daily frustration and stress continues.
不变的是，他们结束了自己的一天，任务又堆积到明天，于是日常失落和压力继续循环着。
Thankfully, Morgenstern doesn't blame poor time management on our nature. We can all change.
庆幸的是，Morgenstern没把管理不好时间归咎于我们的本性。我们都还能改变。
"When you get a label, you can feel very channeled, like there's no opportunity for change or development," she tells The New York Times.
她说：“当你得到一个标签时，会感到自己被指引了，就像没机会改变和发展了。”
So how do you get from time optimist to time realist? Lump the urgent tasks into a handful of tidy buckets to help you keep track of them.
所以，怎样从一个时间乐观者变为时间现实主义者呢?把紧急的任务全放在一手能提的篮子里可以帮你随时跟踪它们。
"If you're a writer, your responsibilities probably include ideating stories, researching, writing, editing, interviewing," Morgenstern tells Time. "Everyone has three to five buckets. You have to make it simpler. The brain can't keep track of more than that."
“如果你是一个作家，你的责任可能包括构思情节、调研、写作、采编，”Morgenstern说，“每个人都有3到5个篮子。你得让它变简单点，太多了大脑就不能跟踪它们了。
Next step: get your math on and assign a time for every task.
下一步：开始解题，然后给每一项任务分配时间。
To-do items that float freely outside of time could haunt you for months. Instead tack everything to a schedule.
自由游荡在时间之外的要做事项，可能会困扰你数月，不如每件事情都做个时间表。
"A 'to-do' not connected to a 'when' rarely gets done," she explains. "A to-do requires a certain amount of time in your day. If it's just sitting on a list and you're just waiting for time to materialize, it's not going to."
“一个和‘何时’没联系的‘要做’是很难完成的，”她这样说明，“‘要做’需要一天中某段特定时间。如果只是在列表上列下来，而你只是等着它实现，那么就不会实现。”
About the only thing Morgenstern doesn't want us to classify is ourselves. There's no workaholic type in her theories. Or procrastinator or downright slacker box that we can't break out of.
Morgenstern唯一不想让我们给自己分类，她的理论中没有工作狂类型，也没有拖延症患者和不折不扣的懒鬼。
There are just people who do the math. And people who don't.
有做数学题的人，也有不做数学题的人。
So maybe the first thing on our to-do list every morning should be a little math.
因此，我们每天任务清单上的第一件事儿，可能就是早上做点儿“数学题”。
