一分钟让你学会如何处理事情

一分钟让你学会如何处理事情

I finished reading David Allen’s unofficial productivity bible, “Getting Things Done” (GTD) about 2 and a half months ago.  Since then I’ve made an asserted effort to implement his suggestions.  The fundamental goal was to simply increase my daily rate of productive output.

大约两个半月前，我读完了戴维·艾伦的《尽管去做》（简称GTD)，这是一本非官方的高效圣经.从那时起，我就努力实施他的建议。根本目的就是要提高我每天的工作效率。

I found that some of David Allen’s suggestions were instantly applicable, some needed a little tweaking to better suit my needs and others were a bit too rigid and were thus substituted for alternative methods.  After 2 months of fine-tuning I’m happy to report that I have implemented a productivity system that works really well.

我发现戴维·艾伦的有些建议能立即适用，有些则需要一点调整以便更适合我的需求，其他的就有点太苛刻了，因此要找替代方法来代替。经过两个月的精确调整，我很高兴向大家报告，我已经实行了一种高效方法，这种方法真的很有效。

That’s what this short article is about.  A crystal clear, 1 minute read on increasing your productivity by using the slightly modified GTD-based methods that have worked for me.  Let’s get to it…

这就是我这篇短文所要表达的内容。显然，为了应用这些在《尽管去做》的基础上做了微调的方法，从而提高你的工作效率，就花一分钟时间阅读这篇文章吧。这些方法对我已经产生了效果。让我们开始吧！

1. Create 1 Inbox (Entry Point) for All New Tasks – This should be the only place you record the new things you must get done and the only place you need to reference when you are ready to review them.  I use my Outlook inbox as my GTD inbox.  This will work well for anyone like me who receives a large quantity of tasks via email.  If a task comes in any other format (snail mail, face to face meeting, phone call, etc.), I immediately send myself one email with a descriptive subject and body (more info below) for each new task.

1. 为所有的新任务创建一个目录（这是切入点）——这个目录应该是你用来记录自己必须要做的事情的唯一地方，也是你检查事情进展时唯一要参考的地方。我用Outlook收件箱作为GTD的目录。这对于任何像我一样通过邮件接收大量任务的人来说，都非常适用。如果通过其他形式（信件，面对面会议，电话等等）接收到一项任务，我会立即给自己发送一封电子邮件，每项任务都有一个描述性的主题和正文（下文将介绍更多信息）。

2. Create “Work”, “Personal” and “Someday Maybe” Folders – I created 3 subfolders under my main Outlook inbox for this purpose.  All work related tasks that must be done will be filed under “Work” and all personal tasks that must be done will be filed under “Personal”.  Any less urgent tasks or miscellaneous ideas will be filed under “Someday Maybe” (these are open ended tasks like “learn Spanish”).

2. 创建“工作”、“个人”、“也许/将来某一天”文件夹——为此，我在Outlook主收件箱下面创建了三个子文件夹。所有必须完成的与工作有关的任务，都归在“工作”文件夹下；所有必须完成的私人事务，都归在“个人”文件夹下。任何不太紧急的任务或者各种各样的计划，都归在“也许/将来某一天”文件夹下（这些是开放型的任务，比如“学习西班牙语”）。

3. Completely Empty Your Inbox Every Morning – I completely empty my inbox every single morning without failure.  This entails deleting any garbage emails, instantly completing the open tasks that take less than 2 minutes to resolve (more info below) and then filing all the remaining tasks into their appropriate subfolders.

3. 每天早上彻底清空你的收件箱——我每天早上都会彻底清空我的收件箱，从未有过例外。这里，需要删除所有的垃圾邮件，立即完成两分钟以内能够解决的开放型任务（下文将介绍更多的信息），然后将剩下的所有任务分类归在合适的子文件夹里。

4. Instantly Complete All 2-Minute (or less) Tasks – This is the most useful GTD method in the whole book.  Every time you review new tasks (or new small parts of bigger tasks) ask yourself this question: Will this task take me longer than two minutes to complete if I start on it now?  If the answer is no, do it now.

4. 立即完成所有两分钟（或者少于两分钟）的任务——这是整本书中最有用的GTD方法。每次你检查新的任务（或者大任务中新的细节部分）时，都要问自己这个问题：如果现在就开始处理，完成这个任务会占用我超过两分钟的时间吗？如果答案是否定的，那么现在就开始做。

5. File All Remaining Tasks with Actionable Labeling – As you’re filing all the tasks that take more than 2 minutes to complete, verify that the subject and description (for me this is placed in the subject line of an email message) of the task is clear and action oriented.  It’s easiest to think of this in labeling method as having two distincts parts, the task subject and the next action description.  For example, “Design New Website Layout | Meet with the CEO to discuss my design ideas.”

5. 为剩下的所有任务做上可行性标签——在你对需要两分钟以上时间来完成的所有任务进行归类时，要确定任务的主题和描述（我用邮件信息的主题行来代替描述）是明确的，并且附有行动导向。因为只有两个不同的部分：任务主题和实行描述，所以标签方法是最容易想到的。比如，“设计新的网站布局|约见CEO探讨我的设计思想。”

6. Set Reminders in Calendar for Time Dependant Tasks – You should place a reminder in your calendar (for me this is the Outlook calendar) for any task with an associated time dependency.  For example, a task entitled “Design New Website Layout | Design meeting Monday 10AM”, should also have a reminder entry placed in your calendar for 10AM Monday morning.

6. 对于有时间限制的任务，要在日历上设置提示——对于任何具有时间限制的任务，你都应该在日历上（我用的是Outlook日历）做一个记号。比如，对于题目是“设计新的网站布局|周一上午十点开设计会议”的任务，你应该在日历上设置周一上午十点钟的提示。

7. Review Every Open Task a Least Once a Day – Once your inbox is empty, read through all the tasks in your “Work” and “Personal” folders everyday just to review what you have in there.  During this quick review process you will be able to remove tasks that have been completed, edit tasks as necessary with additional information and refresh your memory on all the open tasks you have.  Note: Only review your “Someday Maybe” folder once a week at a set time.

7. 对于每一项开放型任务，每天至少检查一次——如果你的收件箱空了，那么每天通读你在“工作”和“个人”文件夹中的所有任务，检查文件夹里有哪些任务。在快速检查的过程中，你能够移除已经完成的任务，必要时，用附加信息编辑任务，更新你对所有开放型任务的记忆。注意：每周只在固定时间检查一次你的“也许/将来某一天”文件夹。

8. Create a Short “Everyday” List for Complex Tasks or Projects – Create a short list of the things you must do everyday to ensure that you remain in control of a specific complex task or project (a group of related tasks).  Review this list every morning or whenever you need a quick reminder.  This especially helps me get into the groove of managing new, long-term projects that I have not yet fully mastered.  An “Everyday” list might look something like this: Project X Everyday - 1. Meet with program managers, 2. Review active status reports, 3. Verify validity of open issues, etc.

8. 对于复杂的任务或者项目，创建一份简短的“每日清单”——对于你每天都必须要做的事情，创建一个简短的清单，以确保你仍然控制着某项特殊的复杂任务或项目（一组相关任务）。每天早上，或者当你需要快速提醒时，检查一下这份清单。每当我开始管理新的、长期项目，并且尚未完全掌握该项目时，这个方法尤其有用。一份“每日清单”看起来应该与下面这个类似：项目 X 每天 - 1.约见项目经理，2.检查执行状况报告，3.核实公开问题的有效性，等等。

Hopefully this 1 minute, GTD-based lesson will set you on the right track and motivate you to implement a similar system in your own life, a system for productively getting things done.

希望这一分钟基于GTD的课程，能让你走上正确的轨迹，激发你在自己的生活中实施一个类似的方法，一个有效处理事情的方法。