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.

　　时间管理在如今这个高效地，不断发展地文化氛围中是非常重要的。但是迄今为止关于时间管理的建议仍是很模糊的。“设定目标”以及“让时间为你工作”确实都很重要，但是实际效率也是非常重要的。很多成功自主创业人士为我们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.

　　虽然标题说的是时间管理的五个步骤，但总的说来只有一个规则，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.”

　　完成你开始了的事情。

　　这一点至关重要：尽可能的完成一件任务更有效率。实际上，当你坐下来开始工作时，你需要几分钟来进入工作状态。如果你总是工作到一半又去做另外一件事情，那你会浪费很多作无用功的时间。

　　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.

　　从小处着想。

　　不要总是认为应该花几个小时去解决一个大而艰巨的任务中。列一份工作清单，然后按照清单来一项项的完成工作。除非有十万火急的事情，否则执行时就不要间断。就拿求职者来说，不是说你今天下午要找很多份工作，而是应该检查以前投递的简历是否有了回复，浏览一些适合的工作网站，写几分求职信，并认真修改你的简历，使之切实可行。

　　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.

　　拒绝拖延。

　　一旦将你的工作分割成几个小的部分，就更加容易完成任务。总所周知，在高潜水时需要做大量的热身工作，但进入高潜水之后，我们就不会再介意深入一点了。

　　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.

　　与他人良好的合作。

　　如果你在一个团队中的工作是做好一些重要的零件，那么你应该优先做好你的工作，以确保生产线能正常运转。没有比要其他人等着你的工作完成才能进入下个工序更糟糕的事情了。在找工作时，优先回答那些等待你答复的人；聘用经理时寻找那些能主动做事的人（谁不是呢？），这样大家一定会明白并记住你的高效率。

　　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？

　　分析你的产出。

　　怎么样才可以更有效的工作？你有多少时间是浪费在世俗的琐事上，而不是用来完成你所热爱的挑战或者你上司所赏识的工作上呢？求职者们，记录下你们在不同招工场所所花的时间，并计算下真正达到效果的时间是多少吧。如此一来，你便能重新努力去追求高价值的事情。如果一个就业局两年前就倒闭了，为什么你还在那里徘徊不前呢？

　　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.

　　这是一个多任务化的世界，这点是不会改变的。但是即使有很多事情摆在你面前，我们仍可以按我们的方式有效的处理好它们。