851

Why time management so often fails

这是清晨朗读会第851篇文章的双语版本，节选自BBC。在浏览器中打开文末链接可阅读英文原文；美音音频可点击文章尾部“阅读原文”跳转至“清晨朗读会”获取。

把时间当做朋友真的不容易呀。

Why time management so often fails

为什么时间管理总是以失败告终

Productivity hacks promise a better, less stressful life. Why do they deliver the exact opposite to many people?

Productivity hacks承诺了一个更好，压力更少的生活。但是为什么他们向许多人交付的结果却恰恰相反呢？（Productivity hacks没有很好的中文译法，大概意思为旨在提升人们工作效率的方法）

By José Luis Peñarredonda

People are obsessed with time management. Every single person I have discussed this subject with had a strong opinion. There were fierce debates between those who say nothing works, those who swear by their low-tech Moleskines, and those who cannot live without their apps.

swear by 对…发誓；极其信赖

人们痴迷于时间管理。 与我讨论过这个问题的每一个人都有各自强烈的观点。那些说不起作用的人，那些极其信赖低技术含量的Moleskines的人，以及那些没有他们的应用程序就无法生活的人彼此之间为此激烈争论。

The stories always start in a hopeful tone, but often end on a sour note. Charlotte Bordewey, an entrepreneur in Herefordshire, UK, has tried all sorts of apps, books, and techniques – and wasted hours later, she still feels like time is melting between her hands. “I never seem to be organised enough to set myself tasks and actually complete them,” she despairs.

entrepreneur /ˌɑːntrəprəˈnɜːr/ n. 企业家

e.g. You have to be an optimist to be an inventor or entrepreneur.

要成为一位发明家或企业家，你必须得是个乐天派。

这类故事总是以充满希望的语气开始，但往往以一种消极的态度结束。 英国赫里福德郡的企业家Charlotte Bordewey尝试过各种各样的应用程序，书籍和时间管理技术——每种方法都浪费了她几小时后，她仍觉得时间在她的双手之间不受控制地不停流逝。 “我似乎从未做到过组织化地设定任务并实际完成它们，”她绝望了。

Ana Cecilia Calle, a PhD student in Austin, Texas, started to keep track of so many tasks she thought her mind would not be able to cope. Time-management tools offered “this promise that you would gain certain control over your life”, she says. “But whatever you start doing, it works for a while, and then it stops working.”

Ana Cecilia Calle是德克萨斯州奥斯汀的博士生，她开始记录她认为自己无法应对的许多任务。 她说，所有的时间管理工具都提供了一种承诺说“你可以获得对生活的某种控制”，“但无论你做什么，这些工具都会在开始的时候有效一段时间，然后就再也不起作用了。”

When this happens, most people try another app or another technique. There are hundreds out there, from straightforward to-do lists to complicated services with dozens of features. It is its own genre of internet self-help, with countless blogs and videos about it. Most universities in the US and the UK offer time some form of time-management training.

genre  /'ʒɑnrə/ n. 类型；种类；

e.g. ...his love of films and novels in the horror genre. 

 …他对恐怖体裁电影和小说的热爱。

每当这种情况发生时，大多数人会尝试其他软件或工具。网上有数以百计的时间管理工具，从简单明了的待办事项清单到包含数十个功能的复杂服务不等。它在网上自助方面自成一派，拥有数不清的相关博客和视频。美国和英国的绝大部分大学都提供某种形式的时间管理培训。

Still, searching for a technique that works leaves many people frustrated, anxious and guilty – the opposite of the ‘stress-free productivity’ that time management is supposed to achieve.

然而，寻找一种有效的时间管理工具这个过程却让人徒增沮丧、焦虑和内疚——这与时间管理应该达到的“无压高效率”背道而驰。

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