职场英语：如何精简繁杂工作 提高工作效率

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.
成功往往会引起生活的纷乱：开不完的会、做不完的项目和决定，任务清单上的事情越来越多。不过很多时候，做得越多反而收获的越少。
That's why subtraction can be the best addition, especially when you streamline your workday and, in the process, your professional life.
这就是为什么有时候减法往往是最好的加法。你在精简每日工作的同时，你的职业生涯也变得越发清晰。
Try a few of these:
你可以尝试下这些方法：
Eliminate one "permission."
取消一种“允许”
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.
你也许不会这么觉得，但你做的每件事都会影响你身边的人如何对待你。如果你允许你手下的人在“紧急情况”下可以随意打断你的会议和电话，他们会觉得可以随便在任何时候打扰你。在别人给你打电话时马上就放下你在做的事情会让他们觉得总是可以得到及时的注意。及时地回复邮件会让别人期待你总是立刻回复他们。
In short, your actions give other people permission to keep you from working the way you work best.
简而言之，你的行为会允许别人在你工作得好好的的时候来打断你。
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.
有个朋友创建了一个“紧急”电邮地址；他会立刻回复其中的邮件。与此同时，他的员工也知道，他每天只会查看“标准”邮箱两次。所以他们也会据此来行动。
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“训练”你身边的人以确保你能保持你的效率。
Cut one expense.
减少一项开支
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.
你总是在一些你用不到、你不需要或是不想要的东西上花钱。不过在你买的时候……你觉得你必须要它。我曾经订阅过大量的杂志（因为订阅比在报纸摊上买要便宜好多）。然而，一旦它们蜂拥而至，我就必须阅读它们，如果我不读，它们就会堆积如山，让我很有罪恶感。
So I dropped three or four. I don't miss them.
所以我取消了其中的三四种，而且我并不怀念它们。
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.
很多时候减少开支所带来的最大收益并不是减少真正的成本；而是减少了花在维持或是消费这些开支背后的东西的时间。
Streamline your lunch.
简化你的午餐
You already make enough decisions. What to have for lunch shouldn't be one of them.
你已经要做足够多的决策了。不要再把午饭要吃什么也包括在内了。
Pick something healthy, something simple, even something you can eat at your desk. Save the decision-making for what's really important.
随便挑选一些健康、简单、甚至是可以在办公桌上吃的东西。把省下的时间花在做那些真正重要的决策上。
As a bonus, you'll lose a little weight and feel a little better.
作为回报，你会减少一些体重，并且心情也更好。
Eliminate one category of decisions.
减少一系列的决策
Instead of making serial decisions, try making just one: Decide who will decide.
与其做一系列的决策，不如只做一个：决定由谁来决策。
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.
比如你经常需要决定是否要加快物流速度以解决生产链上的延迟。这时候与其去做一个决策者，不如挑选公司里的某个人来做这些决策。你可以提供一些指导和建议。然后每隔一段时间检查一下是否需要更多的指示。这样你就能花时间想清楚如何能消除这种延迟，而不是去处理其所带来的后果。
Almost every decision you currently make can be taken over by people you trust. How will you learn to trust them?
几乎你正在做的每项决策都可以由一位你信任的人来替你做。如何让你能够信任他们？
Teach, train, guide, verify. In time you'll give your employees the authority and responsibility they earn.
教育、培训、指导、挑选。然后你就能授予你的员工足够的权限和责任了。