永远不会再为工作感到不知所措：如何使用MIT技术 (Never feel overwhelmed at work again: how to use the M.I.T. technique)

Have you ever felt exhausted after a day at work? At the end of a busy day, you couldn’t remember how you spent your time. All you knew was that there was more to be done tomorrow. You were tired, overwhelmed, and even a bit frustrated — the to-do list always out-ran you.

工作一天之后，您是否感到筋疲力尽？在忙碌的一天结束时，您不记得自己是如何度过的。您只知道明天还有更多工作要做。您已经感到疲倦，不知所措，甚至有些沮丧–待办事项清单总会超出您的范围。

You might have wanted to review your day and see how to be more productive. But the pain you had in your head from a long day was so strong that all you could do was drag yourself home and collapse on a couch until it’s time for bed. The next day, the same story repeats and it’s a never ending cycle.

您可能想回顾一下自己的一天，看看如何提高工作效率。但是，从一整天的头痛中，您所遭受的痛苦是如此之大，以至于您只能将自己拖到家里然后躺在沙发上直到睡觉的时间。第二天，同样的故事重复了，这是一个永无止境的循环。

That was my life over the past few months. As my role evolves, coding is no longer my sole responsibility. My days often consist of a mix of interviewing, various meetings, code reviews, ad-hoc discussions, and coding. Often, at the end of a day, I feel like a failure because I didn’t make as much progress on my project as I had wanted to. All I could think of was all the remaining work that needed to be done, which could be discouraging since I never seemed to be able to get to the bottom of the to-do list.

那是我过去几个月的生活。随着角色的发展，编码不再是我的全部责任。我的日子通常包括面试，各种会议，代码审查，临时讨论和编码的组合。通常，在一天结束时， 我会感到失败，因为我在项目上没有取得想要的进展 。我只想到需要完成的所有剩余工作，这可能会令人沮丧，因为我似乎从未能够做到。

This troubled me for a long time. I knew objectively that I worked harder than ever. After a day of hard work, I deserve to feel accomplished and proud.

这困扰了我很长时间。我客观地知道我比以往更加努力。经过一天的努力，我值得感到成就感和自豪。

麻省理工学院的技术如何帮助我 (How the M.I.T technique helps me)

Things changed after I discovered the M.I.T. technique: a powerful way to keep me focused and productive throughout the day.

当我发现了MIT技术后，事情发生了变化：一种使我整日专注和高效的有效方法。

A Most Important Task (MIT) is a critical task that will create the most significant results. Every day, create a list of two or three M.I.T.s, and focus on getting them done as soon as possible. Keep this list separate from your general to-do list. - The Personal MBA
最重要的任务(MIT)是一项至关重要的任务，它将产生最重要的结果。每天，创建两个或三个MIT的列表，并集中精力尽快完成它们。将此列表与常规任务列表分开。 - 个人MBA

Here is how I apply it to my day-to-day work. After I get to the office, first thing in the morning, I open my note-taking app (I use Workflowy). First off, I start a new section for the day and write down two to three most important tasks I want to focus on and get done under the M.I.T. section. Then I list out tasks, both M.I.T.s and non-M.I.T.s, in the order I plan to do them under the log section. I then check my schedule for the day and plan blocks of time for the M.I.T.s. I will try to get them done as soon as possible.

这是我将其应用于日常工作的方式。到办公室后，第一件事就是早上，我打开我的笔记应用程序(使用Workflowy )。首先，我将在这一天开始一个新的部分，并写下我想重点关注并在MIT部分完成的两到三个最重要的任务。然后我按计划在日志部分中列出的顺序列出MIT和非MIT的任务。然后，我检查我的日程安排并为MIT计划时间段，我将尽力尽快完成它们。

Lastly, before actually starting to work, I tell myself as long as I get the most important tasks (M.I.T.s) done, it’s a productive day that I should be proud of. Finishing these tasks is my definition of success for the day.

最后，在真正开始工作之前，我要告诉自己，只要我完成了最重要的任务(MIT)，这就是我应该为之富有成果的一天。 完成这些任务是我今天成功的定义。

Here’s an example of how my note will look like:

这是我的便笺看起来的示例：

As the day goes, new tasks come in. According to their urgency and importance, I add them to the log section. Here is how it might look like in the middle of the day:

随着时间的流逝，新任务开始出现。根据它们的紧迫性和重要性，我将它们添加到日志部分。这是一天中的样子：

My M.I.T.s for the day are flexible and can change. It’s totally fine if I need to swap a M.I.T. with a new one or even decide to not work on it and move it to another day altogether.

我今天的MIT非常灵活，可以更改。 如果我需要将MIT换成一个新的MIT，或者甚至决定不使用它而将其完全转移到另一天，那完全没问题。

At the end of the day, I will update the progress of all the tasks, especially the M.I.T.s, and leave a note for tomorrow.

最后，我将更新所有任务(尤其是MIT)的进度，并为明天做笔记。

Here is how it might look like at the end of the day:

这是一天结束时的样子：

It feels great to be able to see all the tasks you worked on and how you spend your time at the end of a hard working day. (I also create a Google calendar event to log how I spend my time after I finish a task.)

能够在辛苦的一天结束后看到您完成的所有任务以及如何度过的时间，这真是太好了。 (我还创建了一个Google日历活动，以记录完成任务后的时间。)

这种方法的三大好处。 (Three great benefits of this approach.)

Listing M.I.T.s at the beginning of a day sets the tone for the day. The M.I.T. list is an anchor of my day. It keeps me focussed and calm. No matter how many meetings I have to go to or how many ad-hoc tasks pop up, I always return to my M.I.T. list and remind myself these are the focus of my day. If important things come up, I evaluate them with my M.I.T. list and update the list accordingly.
在一天开始时列出MIT可以为一天打好基础。 麻省理工学院的名单是我今天的主播。 它使我保持专注和冷静。 不管我要参加多少次会议或弹出多少个临时任务，我总是回到MIT列表中并提醒自己，这是我今天的重点。如果有重要的事情发生，我会用我的MIT清单对其进行评估，并相应地更新清单。
Reviewing my log at the end of the day is an opportunity to reflect on how today went and identify areas of improvement. Besides that, it’s a time to celebrate all the tasks I accomplish and feel proud of my hard work. Software development is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s important that we regularly acknowledge the great work we have done and celebrate the small successes we have along the way. Before using this technique, I often felt overwhelmed and discouraged because I was too focused on the end goal and all the remaining work and failed to acknowledge the progress I made. This technique helps me enjoy every step of the journey.
在一天结束时查看我的日志，这是一个反思今天的情况并确定需要改进的地方的机会。除此之外， 这是庆祝我完成的所有任务并为我的辛勤工作感到自豪的时候 。软件开发是一场马拉松，而不是短跑。重要的是，我们必须定期表彰我们所做的出色工作，并赞扬我们在此过程中取得的小成就。在使用这项技术之前，我经常感到不知所措和灰心，因为我太专注于最终目标和所有剩余的工作，而未能承认我所取得的进步。 这项技术可以帮助我享受旅程的每一步。
Having a log of how I spend my day makes weekly and monthly planning easier. At the end of each week, I can see how I spend my time and if it's aligned with my priorities.
记录一下我的工作方式将使每周和每月的计划变得更加容易。在每周结束时，我可以看到自己如何度过时间以及时间是否与我的优先事项保持一致。

There are other areas in which I can improve my productivity and achieve better work-life balance while getting more done. I will explore and experiment with different techniques and share them on my personal blog (not Medium) when I find something interesting. Subscribe if you’re interested and don’t want to miss out!

在其他领域中，我可以提高自己的生产力，并在完成更多工作的同时实现更好的工作与生活平衡。当我发现有趣的东西时，我将探索和尝试不同的技术，并在我的个人博客 (不是Medium)上分享它们。订阅，如果您有兴趣，不想错过！

My career plan for the year is to grow into a tech lead. I’m excited about all the learnings ahead and would love to share this journey with you in a brutally honest fashion. I will be sharing my weekly learnings on my personal blog (not Medium).

我这一年的职业计划是成长为技术领先者。我对未来的所有学习感到兴奋，并希望以残酷诚实的方式与您分享这一旅程。 我将在我的个人博客 (不是Medium)上分享我的每周学习情况 。

In the next few months, I will focus on growing in the following areas, so you can expect to see learnings related to them:

在接下来的几个月中，我将重点关注以下领域的增长，因此您可以期望看到与它们相关的知识：

focusing on the big picture of the project instead of near-term implementation details;
着眼于项目的整体情况，而不是近期的实施细节；
balancing my efforts between leading projects and coding;
在领导项目和编码之间平衡我的努力；
work-life balance for long-term productivity;
工作与生活之间的平衡，以实现长期生产力；
the human side of software development: making sure everyone riding with me enjoys the ride and feels fulfilled and inspired.
软件开发的人性化一面：确保与我一起骑行的每个人都喜欢骑行，并感到充实和启发。

Originally published at www.sihui.io on January 24, 2019.

最初于2019年1月24日发布在www.sihui.io 。