翻译天堂  2016-10-12

How to Spend the First 10 Minutes of Your Day

If you’re working in the kitchen of Anthony Bourdain, legendary chef of Brasserie Les Halles, best-selling author, and famed television personality, you don’t dare so much as boil hot water without attending to a ritual that’s essential for any self-respecting chef: mise-en-place.安东尼·伯尔顿（Anthony Bourdain）是法式餐厅 Brasserie Les Halles 的传奇主厨，还是一位畅销书作家兼著名节目主持人。在他的厨房里工作，凡事都得守规矩，哪怕是烧开水也要注意“妥善准备”；对于一名干练的厨师而言，“万事俱备”乃是至关重要的。

The “Meez,” as professionals call it, translates into “everything in its place.” In practice, it involves studying a recipe, thinking through the tools and equipment you will need, and assembling the ingredients in the right proportion before you begin. It is the planning phase of every meal—the moment when chefs evaluate the totality of what they are trying to achieve and create an action plan for the meal ahead.法语“万事俱备”（mise-en-place, “meez”）是专业人士的说法，翻译过来就是“一切准备就绪”。放到实际操作中，要先研究菜谱、清点所要用到的工具和设备、把食材按照恰当的比例配好，然后再着手开始做菜。这是准备餐点的计划环节，在这个环节里，厨师要从整体上考虑自己想要达成的目标，制订出一套行动计划。

For the experienced chef, mise-en-place represents more than a quaint practice or a time-saving technique. It’s a state of mind. “Mise-en-place is the religion of all good line cooks,” Bourdain wrote in his runaway bestseller Kitchen Confidential. “As a cook, your station, and its condition, its state of readiness, is an extension of your nervous system… The universe is in order when your station is set…” 对于资深厨师来说，“妥善准备”不仅是传统惯例或者某种节约时间的手段，而且是一种心境。“水平好一点的初级厨师都要遵守这条准则，”伯尔顿在他的成名作《厨房机密档案》（Kitchen Confidential）中写道，“身为厨师，你的厨房、厨房的状态和准备程度就是你自己神经系统的外延。……你的厨房万事俱备，宇宙便依序而行……”

Chefs like Anthony Bourdain have long appreciated that when it comes to exceptional cooking, the single most important ingredient of any dish is planning. It’s the “Meez” that forces Bourdain to think ahead, that saves him from having to distractedly search for items midway through, and that allows him to channel his full attention to the dish before him. 论及卓越的烹饪，名厨如安东尼·伯尔顿始终推崇这样的观点：计划是制作菜肴最为重要的原料。“妥善”原则促使伯尔顿在动手之前先进行思考，免得做到一半再回头忙乱地找东西，如此一来，他就可以全神贯注地做好面前这道菜。

Most of us do not work in kitchens. We do not interact with ingredients that need to be collected, prepped, or measured. And yet the value of applying a similar approach and deliberately taking time out to plan before we begin is arguably greater.我们大部分人并不在厨房工作，用不着准备食材、拿捏份量。但是，运用相似的方法，在开始行动之前从容地制订计划，其意义可谓重大。

What’s the first thing you do when you arrive at your desk? For many of us, checking email or listening to voice mail is practically automatic. In many ways, these are among the worst ways to start a day. Both activities hijack our focus and put us in a reactive mode, where other people’s priorities take center stage. They are the equivalent of entering a kitchen and looking for a spill to clean or a pot to scrub.坐到办公桌前，你要做的第一件事是什么？很多人几乎是自动地开始查看电子邮箱和语音信箱了。从许多方面来讲，这是开始一天工作的最差方法。因为这个举动劫持了我们的注意力，让我们进入以他人事务为中心的“反应模式”，就相当于走进厨房，先去查看有没有洒出来的水迹要擦、有没有锅子要洗。

A better approach is to begin your day with a brief planning session. An intellectual mise-en-place. Bourdain envisions the perfect execution before starting his dish. Here’s the corollary for the enterprising business professional. Ask yourself this question the moment you sit at your desk: The day is over and I am leaving the office with a tremendous sense of accomplishment. What have I achieved?比较明智的做法，是在开始工作之前设置一个简短的计划环节，以此让一切准备就绪。伯尔顿在开始备餐之前先把整个完美无缺的操作流程预想一遍。此法同样适用于每一位有进取心的商务人员。坐到办公桌前的那一刻，先假设今天的工作已然结束、自己即将带着满满的成就感离开办公室，问问自己：今天我都做了些什么？

This exercise is usually effective at helping people distinguish between tasks that simply feel urgent from those that are truly important. Use it to determine the activities you want to focus your energy on.这种练习通常能够有效地帮助人们将“感觉上非常紧迫的任务”和“真正重要的任务”区分开来。你可以先运用这个方法来决定自己要把精力集中在哪一项活动上。

Then—and this is important—create a plan of attack by breaking down complex tasks into specific actions.然后，制订攻坚计划，把复杂的任务分解成具体的行动。这一步很重要。

Productivity guru David Allen recommends starting each item on your list with a verb, which is useful because it makes your intentions concrete. For example, instead of listing “Monday’s presentation,” identify every action item that creating Monday’s presentation will involve. You may end up with: collect sales figures, draft slides, and incorporate images into deck.效率大师大卫·艾伦（David Allen）建议，任务清单上的每一条都用动词开头，这样做非常有用，会让你做事的动机变得更为具体。例如，与其写“星期一的讲演”，不如详细地列出要为星期一的讲演做准备所涉及的每一个具体行动，写出来可能是这样子：收集营业数据、起草演示文稿、插入图片。

Studies show that when it comes to goals, the more specific you are about what you’re trying to achieve, the better your chances of success. Having each step mapped out in advance will also minimize complex thinking later in the day and make procrastination less likely.相关研究显示，在设立目标时对目标的描述越明确，成功的几率就越大。预先计划好每一步行动，还可以使这一天接下来的时间里要进行的复杂思考大大减少，并且降低拖延的可能性。

Finally, prioritize your list. When possible, start your day with tasks that require the most mental energy. Research indicates that we have less willpower as the day progresses, which is why it’s best to tackle challenging items – particularly those requiring focus and mental agility – early on.最后一步，给你的任务清单排序。如果能做到的话，把最耗心力的任务排在最前面比较好。研究表明，我们的意志力在一天之中会逐渐减弱，因此最好尽早处理某些富有挑战性的事务，特别是那些需要注意力集中、反应灵敏的事情。

The entire exercise can take you less than 10 minutes. Yet it’s a practice that yields significant dividends throughout your day.

By starting each morning with a mini-planning session, you frontload important decisions to a time when your mind is fresh. You’ll also notice that having a list of concrete action items (rather than a broad list of goals) is especially valuable later in the day, when fatigue sets in and complex thinking is harder to achieve.

这整个计划环节用不了十分钟就能完成，但却会让你受益一整天。

每天上午用这样一个小小的计划环节做为开端，相当于把重大决策提前到精神最为饱满的时候来处理。以具体的行动清单取代宽泛的目标清单，其重要性在稍后疲劳累积、难以进行复杂思考的时候就得以凸显了。

Now, no longer do you have to pause and think through each step. Instead, like a master chef, you can devote your full attention to the execution.事先做好计划，让一切准备就绪，你就不用再时时停下来思索下一步该如何行事。像个名厨一样，专心地做好手中这道菜吧。