所有的主管都知道，順暢的溝通是讓團隊順利運作的關鍵，習慣使用這四種片語，能大幅提高員工的工作效率。
“Budget your time”
幫時間加上金錢觀
What does it mean to use your time effectively? People have many ways of using time that range from developing a set schedule to doing what people tell them to do at any moment. Some develop their schedule by checking their email to see what they're supposed to do next or they will develop a list before they go to bed. Either way, thinking of what time is affects how much we get done in a day. By knowing how we should think about the time, we can make better use of our time every day.
On any given day, you might hear the phrase Time is money. Have you considered what that means to our perspective on what time means to us? You might say, “Do you have time to spare for a meeting”. This means we think we have time available to speak to that person in the same way we have money to spare to lend someone.
Another example is the way you budget your time. We have to make a budget for how we use our paycheck or our time for a given week. Is it worth your time to do this? If something is worth your time, it has some value to you and will benefit you in the future. For example reading is definitely worth your time. Similarly, we run out of time and don't have any time available just like we might run out of money and need to wait until the next paycheck to get what we need. If we cannot complete tasks on time, we must be living on borrowed time which means you might not be working much longer because you need other people to lend you time to complete the task. All these phrases shape the way we think about time. Time equals money but what we do with that time will benefit us in the future.
“I don’t have any meetings this afternoon, so I have time to spare.”
“In order to complete this project, they have to assign duties so they can budget their time.”
“Have you tried yoga? It is definitely worth your time.”
“We ran out of time to eat lunch because we were working on our proposal.”
“If we don’t complete the project by next week, we will be on borrowed time until we complete it.”
“On top of the situation”
掌控大局者從上俯瞰
How can we have better control of our time? When we have control, we always think it is up. When people think that they are in control of what they're doing, they say, “I am on top of the situation and will finish it soon”. This shows that they're making plans and looking ahead to what they're going to do. Once it is established that they are on top of their situation, they will be in high command of what they're doing. A basketball player will be in high command if he is able to control the ball the whole game. They can also view things from above when you have control over the situation or what you are going to do with your life. Once you have your plans in order, you can view things from above and make changes that you think are necessary.
“Since I am on top of the situation, we will finish the project on time.”
“He has been working here for 5 years and is in high command of his position.”
“Once your team is better organized, you can view things from above and finish tasks on time.”
“Stay ahead”
永遠先留後手
Like having control, future events are also referred to as up. We need to find ways to stay ahead in life. This means we have to always make plans to achieve what we're going to do in the future. Then, we have to make sure things are on the up-and-up. When things are on the up-and-up, we believe that we have them all worked out and planned. We can raise our sights to see what we can do in the future once we have accomplished what we set out to do. By raising our sights, we start to make more future plans that we can accomplish.
“We should do more research to stay ahead of the competition.”
“Make sure your team has everything on the up-and-up, so we are prepared for the next meeting.”
“After our last sales report, we are going to raise our sights by going into the European market.”
“The wheels are turning”
如機械般精準運作
How should we think about our mind? We should consider our mind to be a machine. We can spend every week trying to grind out different tasks which means we get as many things done as possible like a machine will create new objects. When we start to think of an idea, we can see the wheels turning in our heads. This means we’re starting to think about what we're going to do to accomplish that goal. When we start achieving things that are beyond our expectations, we are said to be operating at a different level. How we want to achieve a goal, we need to think of the logic we use when we're trying to complete anything.
“They needed to grind out this month’s sales report in less than 2 hours.”
“I haven’t made any final decision but the wheels are turning.”
“You deserve employee of the month because you are operating at a different level.”
效率取決於「敘述」
Our perspective can do a lot to change how effective we are in completing tasks every day. We need to keep our chin up when thinking about the future or when we want to control things. The more we treat ourselves as machines the more efficient we can become at completing different tasks. In addition, we need to think of time as a limited resource the same way we treat money. By altering the way we think about time and ourselves, we can improve ourselves as well as our view of the present.
本文作者：Riley Bilgo
來自機械化學雙工程背景，愛音樂也愛運動。Riley的腦中裝了經濟、行為心理學、社會學，當然也有哲學。
本文收錄於英語島English Island 2017年8月號
訂閱雜誌
世界公民文化中心是一所兩年制英語學院。
以「英語島學程」獨有的一對一教學和國際商業趨勢同步的團體討論課程，幫助企業人士善用英語整合能力，達成個人和企業國際化的目標，為高科技與國際跨國公司仰賴的商務英語學習機構。
