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There was a time, not so long ago, when I was busy, busy, busy. At least I thought I was.
就在不久前，有一段時間我很忙很忙。至少我自己覺得很忙。
I told people I worked 60 hours a week. I claimed to sleep six hours a night. As I lamented to anyone stuck next to me at parties, I was basically too busy to breathe. Me time? Ha!
Getty Images我跟人說我每周工作60小時。我聲稱自己每晚只睡六個小時。在派對上，我對每個在我旁邊無法脫身的人都大吐苦水，基本上忙得沒時間喘氣。自己獨處的時間？想都別想！
Now I work 45 hours a week and sleep close to eight hours a night. But I'm not getting any less done.
現在，我每周工作45小時，每天睡近八小時。但該做的事一件都沒少。
My secret? I started keeping track of how I spent my time, logging how many hours and minutes I devoted to different activities such as work, sleep and chores.
我的秘密在于：我開始記錄自己是如何花掉時間的，記下工作、睡覺和家務等不同活動分別投入多少時間。
I soon realized I'd been lying to myself about where the time was going. What I thought was a 60-hour workweek wasn't even close. I would have guessed I spent hours doing dishes when in fact I spent minutes. I spent long stretches of time lost on the Internet or puttering around the house, unsure exactly what I was doing.
很快我就意識到，對于時間是怎么花掉的，我一直在自欺欺人。我以為自己每周工作60小時，其實根本沒有。我會認為自己洗碗花了好幾個小時，而實際上只有幾分鐘。我把大把時間浪費在了網上或在房間里閑蕩，不知道自己到底在做什么。
I'm not alone in this time fog. If you believe results from the American Time Use Survey, done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other studies, plenty of Americans have faulty impressions of how they spend time in our 'too-rushed-to-breathe' world.
陷入這種時間迷霧的并不只有我一個。如果你相信勞工統計局（Bureau of Labor Statistics）所做的“美國人時間使用調查”（American Time Use Survey）及其他研究的結果，那么事實上，對于自己的時間是如何在這個“忙到喘不過氣”的世界花掉的，很多美國人都有著錯誤的印象。
We all have the same 168 hours per week -- a number few people contemplate even as they talk about '24-7' with abandon -- but since time passes whether we acknowledge it or not, we seldom think through exactly how we're spending our hours.
我們每周都有同樣的168小時，即便人們已經對“7*24”小時的說法習以為常，也很少有人仔細思考這個數字，但由于無論我們承認與否，時間都在流逝，所以我們很少會仔細思考自己的時間到底是怎么花掉的。
We also live in a competitive society, and so by lamenting our overwork and sleep deprivation -- even if that requires workweek inflation and claiming our worst nights are typical -- we show that we are dedicated to our jobs and our families. Being 'busy' and 'starved for time' is a way to show we matter. Put another way, it makes us feel important.
我們也生活在一個競爭激烈的社會，因此我們對加班和睡眠不足的抱怨恰恰顯示出我們對工作的盡職和對家庭的盡責，即便這要求每周工作時間增加、糟糕的夜晚成為常態。“忙”和“沒時間”的狀態是表明自己重要的一種方式。換言之，它讓我們覺得自己很重要。
But if you think about it, complaining about a lengthy to-do list is not only boring, it's a sad hook for one's self-esteem. Owning up to how we spend our hours gives us more control of our time, and ultimately, of our lives.
但如果仔細想想，因為一份長長的任務清單而不停抱怨不光很沒勁，也是對一個人自尊的可悲牽絆。坦承自己的時間是如何花掉的，能讓我們更好地掌控自己的時間，最終更好地掌控自己的生活。
Here's how to do it:
具體方法如下:
Keep a time log. If you've ever tried to lose weight, you may have tried keeping a food journal. Sure, you're eating grilled chicken for dinner, but the eight M and Ms you grab from the receptionist's candy jar add up, too.
記時間日志。如果你嘗試過減肥，那么可能嘗試過記飲食日志。沒錯，你晚餐吃的是烤雞，但你從前臺糖果罐里拿走的八顆M and M豆也得算上。
Like tracking meals, tracking time keeps us from spending it mindlessly or lying to ourselves about what we do with it. Write down what you're doing as often as you remember for at least a week. Add up the totals. Checking Facebook five times a day at six minutes a pop adds up to two-and-a-half hours in a workweek -- curiously, the exact amount of time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends we exercise.
和記錄飲食一樣，記錄時間能防止我們不知不覺地花掉時間或對如何花掉時間自欺欺人。經常記錄自己正在做什么，持續至少一周。最后算總數。工作日每天查Facebook五次，每次六分鐘，每周加起來就是兩個半小時。說來奇怪，這正好是美國疾病控制與預防中心（Centers for Disease Control and Prevention）推薦的鍛煉時長。
Be honest. While Americans claim to sleep six to seven hours per night, time logs show we sleep more than eight. One study tracking people's estimated and actual workweeks found that those claiming to work 70, 80, or more hours were logging less than 60.
要誠實。雖然美國人聲稱每天只睡六至七小時，但時間日志卻顯示我們的睡眠時間超過了八小時。一項跟蹤人們每周推測工作時間和實際工作時間的研究發現，聲稱工作70、80小時或更長時間的人實際上工作了不到60小時。
Ask yourself what you'd like to do with your time. Claiming to be busy relieves us of the burden of choice. But if you're working 50 hours a week, and sleeping eight hours a night (56 per week) that leaves 62 hours for other things. That's plenty of hours for a family life and a personal life -- exercising, volunteering, sitting on the porch with the paper, plus watching TV if you like. Set goals -- maybe three hours of exercise and swapping out two hours of TV for reading -- and see where in your 168 hours you could make that happen.
問問自己希望如何安排自己的時間。聲稱太忙讓我們不用費心去做選擇。但如果你每周工作50小時，每天睡八小時，也就是每周56小時，那么還剩下62小時用來干其他事情。這些時間足夠用于家庭活動和個人活動了，比如鍛煉身體、志愿者活動、坐在陽臺看報紙，想看電視也可以。制定目標，比如鍛煉三小時以及把兩小時看電視的時間用來閱讀，然后看看你能不能在168小時中抽出時間來實現目標。
Change your language. Instead of saying 'I don't have time' try saying 'it's not a priority,' and see how that feels. Often, that's a perfectly adequate explanation. I have time to iron my sheets, I just don't want to. But other things are harder. Try it: 'I'm not going to edit your résumé, sweetie, because it's not a priority.' 'I don't go to the doctor because my health is not a priority.' If these phrases don't sit well, that's the point. Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice. If we don't like how we're spending an hour, we can choose differently.
改變你的語言。不要說“我沒時間”，試著說“這不是優先事項”，看看感覺如何。通常情況下，這都是一個完全充分的解釋。我有時間熨床單，只是不想去做而已。但有的事情比較難。不信你試試看，說“親愛的，我不會修改你的簡歷，因為這不是優先事項。”或者“我不去看醫生，因為我的健康不是優先事項。”如果你不太能接受這些說法，那么這就是問題所在了。改變語言提醒我們，時間是一種選擇。如果不喜歡自己花掉時間的方式，那么我們可以做出不同的選擇。
LAURA VANDERKAM
英文來源于華爾街日報
