Time management is essential in our high-speed， always-on culture， yet most advice you'll find on this topic is pretty vague. “Setting goals” and “making time work for you” are， um， great， but so are practical efficiencies. Because oDesk is home to thousands of self-starting contract workers， we've seen many efficiency tricks.

　　時間管理在如今這個高效地，不斷發展地文化氛圍中是非常重要的。但是迄今為止關于時間管理的建議仍是很模糊的。“設定目標”以及“讓時間為你工作”確實都很重要，但是實際效率也是非常重要的。很多成功自主創業人士為我們提供了不少行之有效的方法。

　　The headline promises five steps for time management， but they all come from a single principle： You can only do one thing at a time， so do it right.

　　雖然標題說的是時間管理的五個步驟，但總的說來只有一個規則，那就是：一次只做一件事情并且做好它。

　　Finish what you've started.

　　This is the core idea： Where possible， working a single task to completion is more efficient. When you sit down to work， you spend a few minutes just getting “settled in” before you're productive. If you jump from task to half-finished task all the time， that's a lot of minutes lost to “rolling up your sleeves.”

　　完成你開始了的事情。

　　這一點至關重要：盡可能的完成一件任務更有效率。實際上，當你坐下來開始工作時，你需要幾分鐘來進入工作狀態。如果你總是工作到一半又去做另外一件事情，那你會浪費很多作無用功的時間。

　　Think small.

　　You can't always spend several hours working straight through on a single big job. Don't think in those terms. Use a simple to-do list， and take each item to completion without interruption， unless something's literally on fire. An example for the job-seeker： It's not “I'll look for jobs this afternoon，” it's checking email for replies to previous applications， scanning preferred job sites， writing cover letters， and tweaking your resume for each solid lead， etc.

　　從小處著想。

　　不要總是認為應該花幾個小時去解決一個大而艱巨的任務中。列一份工作清單，然后按照清單來一項項的完成工作。除非有十萬火急的事情，否則執行時就不要間斷。就拿求職者來說，不是說你今天下午要找很多份工作，而是應該檢查以前投遞的簡歷是否有了回復，瀏覽一些適合的工作網站，寫幾分求職信，并認真修改你的簡歷，使之切實可行。

　　Quit stalling.

　　Once you're organizing by simple components， it's easier to dive right into the small tasks. It takes a lot of warm up and deep breaths before you jump off a high-dive and we're less hesitant about walking down a flight of steps.

　　拒絕拖延。

　　一旦將你的工作分割成幾個小的部分，就更加容易完成任務。總所周知，在高潛水時需要做大量的熱身工作，但進入高潛水之后，我們就不會再介意深入一點了。

　　Play well with others.

　　When you're working as part of a team， make sure you're prioritizing what you do to get the most important parts into the production line. Nothing's worse than having people stand around waiting for you to produce. In a job search， prioritize anyone who's waiting to hear from you； hiring managers looking for self-starters （and who isn't？） will appreciate and remember your promptness.

　　與他人良好的合作。

　　如果你在一個團隊中的工作是做好一些重要的零件，那么你應該優先做好你的工作，以確保生產線能正常運轉。沒有比要其他人等著你的工作完成才能進入下個工序更糟糕的事情了。在找工作時，優先回答那些等待你答復的人；聘用經理時尋找那些能主動做事的人（誰不是呢？），這樣大家一定會明白并記住你的高效率。

　　Analyze your output.

　　 How could you have been more efficient？ How much of your time goes to trivial， mundane work rather than the challenging stuff you enjoy and that your boss values？ Job-seekers， log the time you spend at various job sites， and count how many real leads that effort yields. This way you can reprioritize your efforts for high value results. Why are you still lurking on that job board that dried up two years ago？

　　分析你的產出。

　　怎么樣才可以更有效的工作？你有多少時間是浪費在世俗的瑣事上，而不是用來完成你所熱愛的挑戰或者你上司所賞識的工作上呢？求職者們，記錄下你們在不同招工場所所花的時間，并計算下真正達到效果的時間是多少吧。如此一來，你便能重新努力去追求高價值的事情。如果一個就業局兩年前就倒閉了，為什么你還在那里徘徊不前呢？

　　It's a multitasking world， and there's no changing it. But when a dozen things are clamoring for your attention， you can still organize them on your terms.

　　這是一個多任務化的世界，這點是不會改變的。但是即使有很多事情擺在你面前，我們仍可以按我們的方式有效的處理好它們。