世．界．之‧窗－如何在星期四就完成一週重要工作

Is it possible that we have all the important tasks (1)wrapped up by Thursday? If we use our time efficiently, it is doable. Even if we can't actually take Friday off, we can see Friday as a "bonus day" to stop putting out fires, clear your head, and get a jumpstart on next week or the next big plan. Let's see how people manage to (2)pull this off.

一週的工作，到星期四就搞定，可能嗎？有效運用時間就可能。雖然不是真的星期五就可以休假去，但我們因此有機會把星期五視作額外收穫的一天，不忙着滅火，能夠理清頭緒，啓動下一週或爲下個大計劃做準備。來看看怎麼達成。

1.Schedule Intentionally

特意規畫

"You'll want to avoid scheduling meetings, phone calls, and other important get-togethers on that day (unless it's just a casual coffee get-together with a networking contact). Instead, you want Friday to provide a large chunk of totally uninterrupted time that you can use however you'd like." "This intentional scheduling applies throughout your entire workweek."

星期五不要安排任何會議，通話或其他重要聚會（除非是喝杯咖啡、熱絡關係的社交聚會。）爲週五保留大量不被打斷的時間，由你自由運用。整週都要這樣特意規畫。

2.Focus on Priorities

專注於優先要務

Does this sound familiar: You start a week with the best intentions and list out what you are going to tackle, but you are too busy with the emergencies that (3)crop up. When Friday comes, you just realize that you barely accomplish any tasks on the list. "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Constantly take a step back and then focus on the things that are critical, rather than time-pressing. The time management matrix can be a lot of help.

是不是感覺很熟悉：帶着一片赤誠開始一週，列出本週要務，到了週五才發現清單上的事項幾乎沒動，原來都忙着處理突發事件。「關鍵不在排定行事曆的先後次序，而在排定優先順序。」不時退一步評估，專注在真正重要，而非時間急迫的事。善用時間管理矩陣圖也會大有幫助。

3.(4)Tune Out Distractions

不理會分心事物

Minimizing distractions helps you maximize every minute you have. Avoid office chatter and other's phone conversations with headsets or white noise apps. "Another distraction you'll want to (5)keep at bay? Emails. So, close out that browser tab and resist the siren song of your inbox…set an out-of-office message that lets everybody know you're only reading your emails at a certain time. That way, you won't feel as tempted to keep checking in on your inbox."

把注意力分散減到最低，就是讓你手上的每一分鐘極大化。耳機、白噪聲apps都是避開辦公室聊天和電話閒聊的好工具。還有一個最好不要接近的是email。關掉瀏覽器所有分頁，拒絕收件夾傳來的誘惑聲響…甚至可設定不在辦公室的自動回覆，讓人知道你只在特定時間收信。這樣一來，你也不會覺得非查收件夾不可。

4.Find Shortcuts 找到捷徑

Do you repeatedly draft a document? Create a template for it. Is there an email you're always sending? Save a canned response. "These changes seem small. But, if you managed to save yourself 15 minutes each day between Monday and Thursday, that'd be an entire hour."

有反覆需要寫的文件？做出一份文件樣板。總是要寄的email？存一個預設回覆吧。這些改變看起來微小，但每天省下15分鐘，週一到週四就省下整整一小時了。

世界公民，這是商業英語的last mile！

很多人都說，英文好薪水會加倍，可以換到外商工作、可以更輕鬆溝通……英文確實可以爲你做很多很多事，但是，它能爲你的人生帶來的最大祝福是：找回失去的自信、耐心、膽量……還有，花了二十年還在跟英文纏鬥的人。人生不要一輩子都在跟英文纏鬥吧，要嘛放棄它不要有罪惡感，要不就征服它帶來成就感，英文學習的最後一站，報名電話（臺北）02-27215033、（新竹）03-5782199，www.core-corner.com。