這種時間觀念可能會讓你壓力山大

這種時間觀念可能會讓你壓力山大

Time: is there ever enough of it? According to many harried adults out there, definitely not. A quick internet search on "time management tricks" will lead you down a dark rabbit hole that might, in turn, only make you feel you just wasted more time.

《時代》雜志:這樣的事情夠多了嗎?據(jù)許多飽受折磨的成年人說，絕對不是。在網(wǎng)上快速搜索一下“時間管理技巧”會讓你掉進一個黑暗的兔子洞，反過來，這只會讓你覺得你只是浪費了更多的時間。

Are we really busier than ever? Or does it just feel that way? (Photo: Billion Photos/Shutterstock)

According to influential economist John Maynard Keynes, at this point in the 21st century, we should only be working a mere 15 hours a week. In 1930, he published a short essay, titled "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren," in which he imagined what the world would look like in a hundred years. In it, he extolled the technological advancements of society and an ever-globalizing economy, and predicted that by 2030, not only would we work less, but we'd have everything we could ever need.

有影響力的經(jīng)濟學(xué)家約翰•梅納德•凱恩斯認(rèn)為，在21世紀(jì)的這個時候，我們每周的工作時間應(yīng)該只有15個小時。1930年，他發(fā)表了一篇題為《子孫后代的經(jīng)濟可能性》的短文，在文中他設(shè)想了一百年后的世界會是什么樣子。他在書中贊揚了社會的科技進步和日益全球化的經(jīng)濟，并預(yù)測到2030年，我們不僅會減少工作，而且會擁有我們所需要的一切。

According to an Atlantic article by Derek Thompson on the "myth" of being busy: "We work less, both at the office and at home. Between 1965 and 2011, time spent on housework and childcare for women declined by 35 percent (or 15 hours each week), thanks to dishwashers, TVs, and other appliances that assist the work of stay-at-home parents." Studies show we spend considerably less time on work and chores than we used to, so why do we feel busier?

《大西洋月刊》刊登了一篇德里克•湯普森有關(guān)忙碌的“神話”的文章。從1965年到2011年，由于洗碗機、電視和其他幫助全職父母工作的電器，女性花在家務(wù)和照顧孩子上的時間減少了35%(每周減少15個小時)。”研究表明，我們花在工作和家務(wù)上的時間比過去少了很多，那么為什么我們會覺得更忙呢?

The article suggests that while modernity brought us convenience, it also brought us new headaches. Consider the notion of FOMO (fear of missing out). Thanks to social media and 24-hour news, we are constantly updated with new information, whether it's a friend's beach vacation or the latest political gaffe. Thompson writes, "Knowing exactly what we're missing out makes us feel guilty or anxious about the limits of our time and our capacity to use it effectively."

這篇文章指出，現(xiàn)代化在給我們帶來便利的同時，也給我們帶來了新的難題。想想FOMO(害怕錯過)這個概念。多虧了社交媒體和24小時新聞，我們不斷獲得新信息，無論是朋友的海灘度假還是最新的政治失態(tài)。湯普森寫道:“確切地知道我們錯過了什么，會讓我們對自己有限的時間和有效利用時間的能力感到內(nèi)疚或焦慮。”

If every day feels like a battle for more time, you might want to rethink your priorities. (Photo: Hyejin Kang/Shutterstock)

Another thing technology has gifted us is the blurring between work and downtime. While constant connection has made the workday much more flexible and fluid, it's also harder to turn off at the end of the day. Always being "on" is an exhausting state of mind. Consider putting a hard stop on media and electronic devices an hour or two before bed.

科技帶給我們的另一件事是模糊了工作和停機時間。雖然持續(xù)的聯(lián)系使工作日變得更加靈活多變，但在一天結(jié)束時也很難關(guān)掉它?？偸?ldquo;開著”是一種讓人筋疲力盡的精神狀態(tài)?？紤]在睡前一兩個小時停止使用媒體和電子設(shè)備。

Of course, working hard can have its pay-offs. If you want to move up the corporate ladder and get a bigger paycheck, working long hours has long been a favored tactic. But if you don't have passion for your job or care about what you do, you might just be working yourself into more misery.

當(dāng)然，努力工作是有回報的。如果你想獲得更高的職位和更高的薪水，長時間工作一直是一個受歡迎的策略。但是如果你對你的工作沒有激情或者不關(guān)心你做什么，你可能只會讓自己陷入更多的痛苦。

Writer Josh Spector shared a study on Medium that found "people who work the same hours feel completely different levels of time pressure depending on their passion for their work." If most of the hours of your day are spent doing something you don't feel passionate about, it's no wonder you start to feel out of control and anxious about your time. Taking back control of your time, both physically and psychologically, can ease this mental stress. Writes Spector, "It sounds cliche, but your time management goal shouldn't be to figure out how to do more, but instead to figure out how to want less."

作家Josh Spector分享了一項關(guān)于媒體的研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)“工作時間相同的人會感到完全不同的時間壓力，這取決于他們對工作的熱情。”如果你一天中的大部分時間都花在了你不感興趣的事情上，難怪你會開始感到失控，對自己的時間感到焦慮。重新控制你的時間，無論是身體上還是心理上，都可以緩解這種精神壓力。Spector寫道，“這聽起來很老套，但是你的時間管理目標(biāo)不應(yīng)該是找出如何做得更多，而是找出如何想得更少。”

Though Keynes was sadly wrong about our projected 15-hour work week, he did dole out some timeless advice. People who could enjoy "the art of life itself," he wrote, would "be able to enjoy the abundance when it comes." We know that buying more stuff doesn't make us happier, so why do we insist on working longer hours to continue these acts of consumption? Take a note from the Italians and try practicing dolce far niente, a philosophy that literally means the sweetness of doing nothing. You might find that the more time you take for yourself, the more you'll be able to give to others.

盡管凱恩斯對我們每周工作15小時的預(yù)測是錯誤的，但他確實提出了一些永恒的建議。他寫道，那些能夠享受“生活藝術(shù)本身”的人，將“能夠在豐盛降臨時享受它”。我們知道買更多的東西不會讓我們更快樂，那么為什么我們要堅持工作更長時間來繼續(xù)這些消費行為呢?不妨學(xué)學(xué)意大利人的做法，試試“dolce far niente”，這是一種哲學(xué)，字面上的意思是什么都不做的甜蜜。你可能會發(fā)現(xiàn)，你為自己花的時間越多，你就能給別人更多的時間。